I want to be an athiest

if not believing in God means that there is no devil , deamens ,.disenbodieed spirits the holy spirit .and the notion that i am a spirit that has a soul and lives in a bodie . so when the bodie dies the spirit lives on the spirit or the energy that aminated the body .does it just disapate or can it manafist as a ghost or what im sorry but im confused and im looking for the rite mindset and not trying to make peaple angry.if i offended u im sorry and mean u no harm. peace.

You could actually be an atheist and still believe in much of the other stuff.

Atheism is related to one particular concept - non-belief in gods.

For example, many buddhists can be considered atheistic, but hold positions considered spiritual etc.

You could accept that spirits and ghosts etc could exist, but just not believe a god does.

so, in sum, you appear to confuse philosophical/metaphysical naturalism with atheism. They do tend to be related, but not neccessarily.

[edit on 13-11-2007 by melatonin]

Well for me I just woke up one morning a total non believer in god after years of believing and praying. I have not really discounted all the other stuff, I am still sorting it out.

I don't really know how I became a non believer, I went to bed praying and awoke with the idea that there was no god and no hell, that it was all a myth, a lie. The only thing I can think of is that while sleeping I thought about it without all of the, browbeating and fire and brimstone ideas involved and used logic and arrived at the no god truth, once I got past the brainwashing.

To respond directly to your first statement;

Whether or not you believe in something doesn't change the fact about that thing's existence -- or nonexistence, as the case may be. If you stop believing in God, it doesn't suddenly mean that demons and devils don't exist; it means they don't exist to you. As Melatonin stated, atheism primarily means you don't believe in a deity, and/or you don't depend on said deity to 'keep you alive'.

Our civilization/society/science doesn't understand enough about such things as 'spirit' and 'life after death', so I don't think anyone will be able to satisfactorily answer those questions for you. However, if you're walking away from a standard belief system (e.g. Christianity), you will certainly find your mind preoccupied with these thoughts for some time.

Look on the bright side; Confusion means you're thinking for yourself. Thinking for yourself means no one is doing your thinking for you. Besides, it's easy to simply assume that God exists, or doesn't exist. Problem is, most people never take it past that assumption.

Good luck in your search; you're also welcome to send me a message if you ever feel the need.

P/S: Don't depend on finding the 'right' mindset -- and especially don't ask someone to tell you what that right mindset is, because no one knows. There is neither right nor wrong in the real world; only our interpretations of independent events.

[edit on 11/13/2007 by Mr Jackdaw]

What's there to discuss? =)

You say you don't want to believe in God...so don't.

I grew up a flavor of Christian and one day I decided to not worship a god that was prone to temper tantrums and vengeance. I believe in a higher being, but I don't believe he's the same guy Big Religion talks about. I feel like i have my own relationship with god that works *for me* instead of one that's shoved down my throat. I didn't suddenly lose all my posessions, end up in the street, etc. for turning my back. Don't let anyone scare you into believing in something you don't agree with - that goes for anything in life.

You want to be an atheist?

ok there is not much to it, you just dont believe in a higherpower. I guess you suppose it all started with a big bang. Personally I dont know why you would want to be an atheist. Believing in god is easy, you dont have to go to church or put money in the offering tray. Heck you dont even have to open the bible. Just have faith that there is a god, and love him because he loves you no matter what.

And taking a look at the bible is not a bad idea, trust me its a good read.

But if you choose to be an athiest, then more power to you. I have several friends that are athiest, and one of them introduced me to abovetopsecret.com.

I think you can believe in God and still be an atheist. Just depends on what your definition of God is. If God is just a higher power which doesn't require our worship or obidience than I think you could believe in God and still be an atheist. I think it all comes down to whether or not you believe in final judgement and all that mularkey. Personally I believe in a higher power, I don't believe that we owe it anything in particular or that it will judge us upon death. I even think that God, has it's own god.

I used to be a Christian actually not too long ago, now I am Agnostic. I do believe in a God but not one that is going to punish every person but good Christians. If I was going to be damned anyway for little sins and such, I would rather no believe in Christianity at all. If you do not want to believe in a God just keep questioning yourself until you truly believe that he does not exist.

This is a good example of free will. You have it and can choose whatever you like. You want to be an athiest, then I suggest you read up on all the material that's available about athiest. Listen and learn along the way and make your decision. I just want you to know that nobody can tell you what to do, so do it your way and have no regets in the end. I also suggest you read up on all religion so you'll have all sides to choose from.
The best decision you can make is one that took awhile to figure out and was totally researched. Don't take anybody else's word for your life decision. Best of luck to you and take your time.

congratulation
you are preparing to liberate yourself out of spiritual enslavement
from now on, you don't need to kneel down in front of vacancy
praying like a buffoon.

[edit on 13-11-2007 by gs001]

reply to post by Daytripper


What is it about the concepts you mentioned that you don't want to believe in that troubles you?

reply to post by gs001


That is such a ignorant statement that it worries me about our race and the acceptance of any race and religion that comes upon us. We should be open minded enough to learn from this.

To both sides: let's keep it civil...I think this thread could be meaningful, it would be a shame to let it degenerate into a typical atheist/theist mudfight.

reply to post by mentalempire


You know, " I gave up along time ago to discuss Religion with anybody", and here I am doing it again. But you know the good thing about it to me is that I just realized I won't do it again. You all got your own free will and it's your mindset, decision, faith or whatever. To me it's just treat people with respect whether you like them or not. The gift of knoing people is to look past their faults and see their hearts,



[edit on 11/13/2007 by Solarskye]

lol, at the topic of this thread.

I used to sorta believe in god, when I was a kid I believed without question. Then I got older and understood the concept of logic, I read a good percentage of the bible.
I merged the concept of logic with what the bible said, that is when my journey into agnosticism began. Then more and more I tried to believe the less and less I would, there is no god to tell me otherwise it seems.

But I hate that though, I want to believe, I feel now that it is all up to me, no higher being to lean on in times of stress, no being to share my depressions with, it is all up to me now.
Being atheist or agnostic means finally getting rid of your security blanket or your imaginary friend.
You gotta deal with it on your own and stop believing god helps you. (which was probably really you the whole time anyway)

It's the power of belief, not the god you believed in.

Atheism and Agnosticism is lonely, but logic never was comforting.

I agree with many of the other posters when they say only you can decide what you really believe.
I also agree that you can take your time about finding answers. If there is a God (and sometimes I'm not sure about that) I feel certain he (or she) is big enough to accept your scepticism.

When I was younger I looked at many spiritual belief systems; not just different types of Christianity but also Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen, even Wicca--just about everything. I think I'm much better for it.

I agree with you about demons, the devil, hell--all that fire and brimstone stuff. That's just used to scare people. I'm not sure about the afterlife, if there is one. I'd like to think there is. I am uncertain if I believe we have a soul in our bodies. I have come to the conclusion that I believe there is a higher power but he's not like the one you find in most religions. Getting older doesn't mean you get all the answers.

Enjoy your journey.

The Universe created us.
Therefore the Universe is my god.

The Universe exists, it is the creator, so I guess in this case my logic dictates that there is a god after all.

Well I'll be a monkeys uncle!