Getting religious

[defiant1]

I found myself in a similar situation as your self.  My wife and I were both laid off a few months ago and things got financially rough.  We would get into arguments, because of the stress.  We would get so many collection calls, that we just decided to ignore them, which was hard to do, because it was like 2 or three calls an hour.  It got to the point where I thought we would lose the house.  There were few times late at night where I would look and and say ...."a little help here".   1 month later, my wife and I were both employed and we are doing better..... still recovering.... but its way better.  This could be interpreted as an answer from god..... or it could just be that we both worked our asses off in finding a job, and that hard work paid off.

[NothingSacred]

I found myself in a similar situation as your self.  My wife and I were both laid off a few months ago and things got financially rough.  We would get into arguments, because of the stress.  We would get so many collection calls, that we just decided to ignore them, which was hard to do, because it was like 2 or three calls an hour.  It got to the point where I thought we would lose the house.  There were few times late at night where I would look and and say ...."a little help here".   1 month later, my wife and I were both employed and we are doing better..... still recovering.... but its way better.  This could be interpreted as an answer from god..... or it could just be that we both worked our asses off in finding a job, and that hard work paid off.

Ya, I think when we find ourselves in these situations we must remember that there are people far worse off than us (some of them children) that the all loving celestial being hasn't helped out so we should probably look for a way out ourselves because either he's not up there or he's super lazy.

[George]

New atheists... Do you ever find yourself reaching back for your religion or other superstitions you've let go of when facing situations you can't control?

Although not a new atheist (I'm lifelong) I have in the past found myself doing something similar.

The last time this happened was back when I was a heroin addict, about 5 years ago (I've been clean for around 3 years now). I had just, rather hurriedly, injected myself in the arm in a friends bathroom. Suddenly my arm began to sting like hell and started to swell up and I felt like I was passing out. I thought -Shit I've gone and done it now, I'm gonna die! At that point I put my hands together, looked up, and said outloud 'Please God don't let me die, if I get through this I'll never ever do this again'

In actual fact it wasn't 'bad gear' or an overdose but I had just missed the vein and was experiencing citric burn in my arm muscle, 10 minutes later I was fine! It certainly made me think about what I had said in the heat of the moment whist fearing for my life though. I think, although I said 'PleaseGod' at the time, I was trying to get through to my own subconcious more than anything to make myself stop taking silly risks. It didn't work and the needle was back in my arm the same evening but it was one of the many things that eventually led me to getting clean a couple of years later.

I suppose if I'd had a religeous background I may have thought god had answered my prayers. I'd now be one of the folks at Narcotics Anonymous claiming that only by putting my faith in a higher power was I able to recover.

[NothingSacred]

New atheists... Do you ever find yourself reaching back for your religion or other superstitions you've let go of when facing situations you can't control?

Although not a new atheist (I'm lifelong) I have in the past found myself doing something similar.

The last time this happened was back when I was a heroin addict, about 5 years ago (I've been clean for around 3 years now). I had just, rather hurriedly, injected myself in the arm in a friends bathroom. Suddenly my arm began to sting like hell and started to swell up and I felt like I was passing out. I thought -Shit I've gone and done it now, I'm gonna die! At that point I put my hands together, looked up, and said outloud 'Please God don't let me die, if I get through this I'll never ever do this again'

In actual fact it wasn't 'bad gear' or an overdose but I had just missed the vein and was experiencing citric burn in my arm muscle, 10 minutes later I was fine! It certainly made me think about what I had said in the heat of the moment whist fearing for my life though. I think, although I said 'PleaseGod' at the time, I was trying to get through to my own subconcious more than anything to make myself stop taking silly risks. It didn't work and the needle was back in my arm the same evening but it was one of the many things that eventually led me to getting clean a couple of years later.

I suppose if I'd had a religeous background I may have thought god had answered my prayers. I'd now be one of the folks at Narcotics Anonymous claiming that only by putting my faith in a higher power was I able to recover.

Congrats on getting clean. It's a hard habit to kick and I've got a few friends still wrestling with it. Maybe it's due my being ignorant but I didn't realize that those not raised as theists fell prey to the god begging situation. That's really interesting. I guess religion is so pervasive in society that those sorts of things could be ingrained in anyone. I think n/a is disgusting. Courts mandate that recovering addicts attend and they have a captive and vulnerable audience for theism.Have you ever attended a meeting ? If so what was it like ?

[Gawen]

New atheists... Do you ever find yourself reaching back for your religion or other superstitions you've let go of when facing situations you can't control? ...Anywho, just wondering....{quote] Absolutely no uhuh. There's not a superstitious bone in my body.

[George]

Congrats on getting clean. It's a hard habit to kick and I've got a few friends still wrestling with it. Maybe it's due my being ignorant but I didn't realize that those not raised as theists fell prey to the god begging situation. That's really interesting. I guess religion is so pervasive in society that those sorts of things could be ingrained in anyone. I think n/a is disgusting. Courts mandate that recovering addicts attend and they have a captive and vulnerable audience for theism.Have you ever attended a meeting ? If so what was it like ?

I attended na regularly for around a year. Although it works for some people I can honestly say it made me worse. They say it's a non-religeous, spiritual programme and that the 'higher power', which you must put you're faith into, need only be 'the God of your understanding'. There were apparently atheists there, for whom the programme was working, who used things such as the universe, nature or love to be 'the God of their understanding' but I could not make any of these things work for me!

I made some good friends there, who were all 1 year+ clean and I thought were good role models. In the end all of these peole relapsed and I ended up using with them! After you have been taught how 'powerless over drugs' you are, when you relapse you kind of go with it, thinking that it's somehow out of your control and you just carry on and wait to hit your next 'rock bottom'.

I could go on all day about all the problems I have with the 12 step programme. It does work for some but for me (and many others I've known) it made things a whole lot worse. I was only able to sort myself out when I realized that I was the only person that could do it and that I was 'powerful' not 'powerless'..

[notself]

The whole idea at the base of Christianity is to teach people to be powerless, especially over their flaws.

What mental/physcial process did you use to get clean of drugs?  Congrats, by the way.

[George]

What mental/physcial process did you use to get clean of drugs?  Congrats, by the way.

Willpower, lifestyle changes, good friends and a long slow methodone reduction!

[Asmodean]

Love your enemy - if you do, then he becomes your friend and neither of you has hate in your heart.

Not likely. If I was that particular enemy and you suddenly decided to love me, I'd still oppose you - only with much more ease. One does tend to look after his own in situations involving enemies, does one not..?

Let ye who is without sin cast the first stone - obviously I don't believe in the concept of sin, but that is irrelevant. Jesus is suggesting that no one has the moral authority to judge others since we are all imperfect.

Any self-respecting sociopath would stone the bugger to death.

The Parable Of The Good Samaritan - sometimes the people who help you in life are those you least expect and vice-versa.

Expecting help might get a guy killed, you know...

The Parable Of The Lost Talents - don't waste or suppress any skill you have  - use it to the best of your ability.

If my skill being deployment of WMDs too..?

The Bookâ,,¢ is just SO full of holes...

[George]

Hey NothingSacred, did you get that job? I prayed for ya!!

Only kidding, I had my fingers crossed for you though! Just being nosey really..

[deekayfry]

I realized that I was the only person that could do it and that I was 'powerful' not 'powerless'..

[NothingSacred]

Hey NothingSacred, did you get that job? I prayed for ya!!

Only kidding, I had my fingers crossed for you though! Just being nosey really.. :upset: