Am I losing my Religion?

I've been a lifelong member of the Roman Catholic church. I always believed in God and have prayed daily just like I was taught in my youth. Lately, the economy has tanked, my mother's health has taken a turn for the worse and things just generally stink - very badly.

I watch the nightly news and see nothing but bad news and disasters befalling humanity around the globe. I really can't believe it but for the first time I'm starting to question how this can be. How can my loving God allow these things to happen?

I have almost stopped praying for anything. I no longer believe that anyone is listening. I have always been taught that God answers ALL prayers, even if we might not like the answer but I must say that why MUST the answer ALWAYS be NO?? I don't constantly ask for things, just a little help with life.

I guess I'm about at my breaking point and floundering for help. Can anyone provide any advice here? Many thanks to you all.

I wanted to share something with you. I hope you understand.

I am not religious I am agnostic, and I would advice you to seriously follow your heart and what makes you feel right.

I wanted to post this in case this thread gets flooded with either the religious or non-religious, who sometimes carry their own agenda.

I hope that things get better for you, and I wish you all the best, in whatever may come.

Also take everything that you hear with a grain of salt. Listen to the advice, but in the long run the decision you make are ultimately YOURS!

A friend, NRE.

Originally posted by NoRegretsEver
I wanted to share something with you. I hope you understand.

I am not religious I am agnostic, and I would advice you to seriously follow your heart and what makes you feel right.

A friend, NRE.

Thank you SO much for your words. It causes me some pain but I feel that I am finally ready to do that which I feel is right and proper even it goes against a lifetime of training and practice.

Best to you.

I am also agnostic, and I would urge you to listen to the words of the above poster. However, isn't it perhaps a little arrogant to blame "God" when we turn this planet into a living hell?

Originally posted by AidanK

Originally posted by NoRegretsEver
I wanted to share something with you. I hope you understand.

I am not religious I am agnostic, and I would advice you to seriously follow your heart and what makes you feel right.

A friend, NRE.

Thank you SO much for your words. It causes me some pain but I feel that I am finally ready to do that which I feel is right and proper even it goes against a lifetime of training and practice.

Best to you.

Know that it is your own personal journey.

Many have taken the journey of discovery - - away from what they have always known.

Some will return - some will find new belief or ways of believing. Some will even stop believing.

Trust in yourself.

From an Atheist.

Peace & Love

Annee

reply to post by AidanK


First of all......I'm not a psychologist, or a religionist.

You're losing your religion?

Good!

My opinion.

I guess you are not only considering, "Where's God", but also considering, "What is my religion doing for me"?

Nothing is the answer. Unless you get spiritual advancement from it.

"Seek and ye shall find"

I'm not supporting any particular religion with this alledged quote by Jesus.
Just saying..........seek.......

God is within you. Am I not saying what many religions already teach?
Attain a higher awareness within yourself. There you will find "God".

Or not. Just saying...............

I know what works for me.

reply to post by Annee


Annee, I think we are on a similar path. I trust in the "God" within myself, and you trust in that which is within yourself.

Meanwhile, can we have some freakin', well deserved peace here?

I gotta agree with NoRegrets you have to do what feels right in your heart... If your religion doesn't feel right or something feels off then you might have to find your own path..... I don't have a religion but I look around for the answers and it keeps me pretty busy, kinda feels like a road to understanding... I'm sure once you start to break your old ties you will start to see things a little more clearly I wish the best of luck to you on your journey....

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.
Buddha

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.
Buddha

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
Buddha

hope these help

reply to post by AidanK


Hi there! I can't really tell you what to do, but I can tell you my story. For 14 years, I was married to a "preacher." During this time, it was crammed down our throats that all other religions except ours was going to hell... and especially you Catholics! lol! Don't be offended. I'm joking yet telling the truth at the same time.

Somewhere around the 10 year mark of our marriage, I really started questioning my beliefs. A lot of things didn't make sense to me and I had known that all along, but I never really stopped to think about it... just went on blindly believing what I had been told to believe. Also, church depressed the hell out of me. I couldn't figure out why. I couldn't understand why in the world a place that was supposed to help me feel uplifted, was making me feel flat out horrible about myself. It wasn't too long before I stopped going to church completely and then within a few years, I divorced my preacher husband. I couldn't take it anymore. It was the best move I ever made.

Here is what I have found out since being out of church. Nobody can tell you what to believe. Faith is a personal thing and something that you have to figure out for yourself. Now, I haven't turned atheist. I still believe there is a higher power... whether it be God/Spirit/Universe or whatever, but there are a lot of things I can't explain. I do know that God is not supposed to cause confusion, yet there are all kinds of contradictions in the Bible... the King James Version anyway. And I'm not dissing the Bible... that still feels wrong, lol. But many a Christian has told me that it doesn't contradict itself, but it does, and they know it and usually don't have an explanation. Maybe somebody on here does so don't go to attacking me because I said that. I merely talking about the ones I've had experience with.

Anyway, now that I have gotten away from church, I have found that I am closer to God/Spirit/Universe or whatever you want to call it. I'm spiritual now. I wasn't before. I'll admit that I did go through a phase where I was close to being an atheist. Got tired of praying. Didn't feel like it was doing any good at all. But now that I've meditated and took quiet time to really block out everything worldly and just go within myself, I realize that there is SOMETHING there. There is something bigger than us. I don't know what it is.

I don't know why bad things happen to innocent people. I can't explain that, so if this post doesn't help, I apologize. But I can tell you that you will never get anywhere by believing what someone else has told you believe. I don't care how many hundreds of years this belief system has been around. You need to take some time away and decide for yourself what it is you believe. I was almost an atheist before I started meditating and experiencing whatever the higher power is for myself and after that, I KNEW that there is something much bigger than us and in control. I can't explain it, but I feel that it exists. However, I wont criticize people who decide that there is nothing there... that we are alone. I don't believe it, but I wont push what I believe on anyone else. Had that done to me for years and it sucked. I refuse to be a hypocrite myself.

Hello and welcome to the human condition. While i am Not an athiest or agnostic or anything else, I am a human being and it seems you have a problem that quick answers or snappy replies from ignorant posters will not solve. Have "faith'" in yourself and make your 'religion' that of understanding and patience.

It is never a bad thing to question your faith/beliefs.

Regardless of whether you turn away forever or take a break while you work out how to balence what you believe with what you see; you will be a stronger person for it.

There is a quote that I like very much on this topic...

"Religion is for those who have never hit rock bottom; Spirituality is for those who have."

Stephen Jones

You may have heard of his father, Jim.



[edit on 28-8-2010 by [davinci]]

reply to post by AidanK


There's some varying, but good advice coming from the responders in this thread.

And it all seems very "spiritual" and centered upon you, yourself, OP.
Enjoy the posts that have been made so far. I'm trying to discount the posssible asswipes who might show up.



It's all within you. Seek it. Find it. And be satisfied with what you find inside. Or, not. And if you are not happy with what you find, then change it!
It IS, after all, about you inside.

reply to post by redbarron626


Really you come in here and tell the person we're ignorant for telling this guy to do what his heart/gut tells him or be patient and look for answers??? WOW you must be from that doom and gloom crowd waiting for the big asteroid of 2012...... Have fun being miserable...

Originally posted by AidanK


....I guess I'm about at my breaking point and floundering for help. Can anyone provide any advice here? Many thanks to you all.

AidanK,

Thank you for the transparency...

You have my prayers friend...

Prayers for insight, wisdom and perseverance...

This helped me when doubts arose many yrs ago...

www.tonycampolo.org...

Feel free to U2U me

OT

AidanK, I know how you feel. I too was brought up Roman Catholic. Very early on, I decided organized religion (all of them) was a racket, and stopped participating. Now, I find myself questioning further, is there a God? And if so, does he care about his progeny? Why is it that we are taught to think of him as male (I don't). A part of me is still reluctant to dismiss the possibility of a greater intelligence/being. I wan't to believe, but my faith is dying. It is a very lonely and, dare I say, scary road we are on. I wish you the best in your journey.

Strangely, I still think of myself as spiritually aware, but I can't adhere to the traditional dogmas.

I take it the Roman Catholic Church does not teach Revelation? Are they not speaking about these "times" in their Sunday messages to the faithful that attend mass?

Recently I read where the truth behind the Vision of Fatima was that the Church must embrace the Holy Mother, in that they have failed to include her.

I also recently read where the Bishop in England has declared a set of Gospel that cannot be considered "real", and that the resurrection of Christ is not to be taken literally, along with several distinct others, not to mention Moses and the great Exodus across the desert (not sure how he would justify any of this unless it is true Satan resides in the Vatican).

To me, knowing the Vision of St. Malachy, or the list of Popes rather, I am awestruck that anyone is not running from this Institution and fast!

As well as the ominous death of Pope John Paul I, just one month after being crowned. Here is a post on the subject: www.abovetopsecret.com...

At any rate, your Faith is being tested and you are overwhelmed, saying to put your worries in the Hands of God is almost mute at this point because you have not embraced the fact that we are it, we are the ones that were meant to see the Return of Christ. Pain and loss are part of our Journey, on this end, if we continue to be a part of the cycle to understand. Once we do understand we can simply step back and be swept up in these most illuminating of times without most of the pain and a release of the suffering. We simply accept the end without holding on to our measures of control, which includes the Church.

I pray that your burdens are lifted and I pray that your heart is less heavy by such overwhelming events in our lives. You are obviously hurting and I am deeply touched by your anguish.

It may be time to let the TV go unnoticed and begin to look around for the smallest miracles in your World. The change in the air as the Season's pass, the smells in the air after a light autumn rain, the celebration of Life that is so abundant to us all if we seek it. It is still there, hidden away but not invisible, and you only need to whisper the name of Our Lord and he will hear you! Then you find the real Church within!

Originally posted by kyred
reply to post by Annee

 

Annee, I think we are on a similar path. I trust in the "God" within myself, and you trust in that which is within yourself.

Meanwhile, can we have some freakin', well deserved peace here?

Peace on earth - amongst humans - a totally different subject.

I watch Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot" to keep my perspective. Show it to a back porch flag waiver - - and they laugh at you.

reply to post by OldThinker


Prayers for insight, wisdom and perseverance...

This helped me when doubts arose many yrs ago...


What's up my Lean Sigma Six amigo..?


Now, you don't really see the 'conflict' between those 2 sentences, do you OT..?


Your solution is a quick fix...it doesn't really quench your thirst, it only makes you want more.


Let the OP question it all - that way no matter the decision he was diligent, the choice was righteous.

Either way, hope all is well...





content edit

[edit on 28-8-2010 by facelift]

reply to post by AidanK


You are suffering from information overload. You are not Atlas and cannot support the weight of the world and its problems on yourself. Do what you can in your little space here on Earth and let God handle the rest. We are only meant to handle the stresses of 24 hours at a time no more.

Sorry about your mother, I pray she gets better soon.

When looking for God, dont always look up, look within too for he is there as well.