Religion as guidance

[saturnine]

I'd like to know what people think of religion as peoples' guiding force. You know? People with faith have the security of 'knowing' that God is guiding them in their decisions and their lives. We do not have this security.

As more of an agnostic, I get the feeling that maybe God is guiding me, and maybe one day I will see His light. But so far this hasn't hapenned.

So what is your guiding light if it is not God? As a non-believer, this might be a serious problem in my life. I don't know what kind of person I would be if I believed, but I know that I would be different.

[myleviathan]

I'd like to know what people think of religion as peoples' guiding force. You know? People with faith have the security of 'knowing' that God is guiding them in their decisions and their lives. We do not have this security.

I have thought about this, as well. It makes us as individuals directly accountable for our decisions. We can't blame anyone or anything for our poor choices, and glory goes to no one else but ourselves when we do well. Which in my opinion is a superior way of living. It makes morality and good deeds even more meaningful because it's harder when you know your good deeds go relatively un-noticed by man or gods. This way, you do good for no other reason than because it's good, not because you feel you have to, or because your church or some outside force encourages you to do so.

As an atheist I take comfort in that there is no guiding light. If I had one, it would be the guiding light of learning and a sober and rational outlook on life.

[MommaSquid]

People with faith have the security of 'knowing' that God is guiding them in their decisions and their lives. We do not have this security.

I have the security of knowing that I alone am responsible for my own stupid mistakes.

[Will]

"I can't figure out life for myself, so I'll let this book tell me the whole thing."

I call it philosophical laziness. I LOVE always allowing my understanding of the world to grow and evolve. It's the spice of life. Cumin today. Ginger tomorrow.

[myleviathan]

I let my misunderstanding of the world to guide me as well. Why can't we sit back and enjoy a good mystery? I revel in the mystery of it all. Anyone who thinks they have it figured out is selling salvation.

I hated trying to figure everything out through the narrow lens of scripture. Everything somehow had to make sense on the basis of the Bible. I'm so glad life is so much more profound than the experience of ancient scribes.

[rlrose328]

My guiding light?  Reality, I guess.  I don't have to "have faith" in something I can't see or can't feel.  I have the bliss of reality... knowing I'm here, my husband is here, my child is here... and we are a family, right here, right now.  We aren't killing time until we can be perfect in heaven.

The church where my son's school is had this sign up this week:

"Obedience to God is the pathway to Joy."

I don't think so.  Obedience to god is the pathway to deception, regression, repression, and ignorance.  I talked to my son about it when we went to school on Thursday morning.  Once I explained what obedience is... he said, "No, that's not true... I'm plenty happy and I don't have to obey god."  He's aware that his actions in the here and now are what are important in this world... I get all peeved when I'm faced with believers who insist I have no ethics or morals because I don't have god.  From where I sit, atheists and other non-believers have MORE ethics and morals because we can't break the rules and say, "Oh... god said I'm not perfect... god said I can make mistakes and ask his forgiveness."  I have to do what's right the first time and because it's the right thing to do... it's the ONLY thing to do.

Uh oh... I'll climb off my soap box now.

Bottom line for me is that my guiding light is the knowledge that this life is all that I have and I have to make it the best I can while I'm here because I don't get a second chance.

[Whitney]

Knowledge of my achievements as well as mistakes in life serve as my "guiding light."

Whether one believes god is a guide or that they must guide themsleves that person must still ultimately be responsible for following the correct path...whatever that may be (and there are many paths).  

In my view...even those who think they are allowing god to guide them are actually just following what they believe the god they believe in would want them to do...people like to create their own gods anyway (why do you think there are so many denominations of every religion?) so they are just calling following their own views following god.

[wadderus]

i think it's  not a very good idea to turn my brain off and wait for the superior guidance

I don't want to turn my judgement off and kill ppl in the name of holy wars( god guidance dictates its the right thing to do 4 some ppl)

I don't want to kill ppl because they were working friday night as another example of god guidance
and i also don't want to follow  god guidance to cut babies sex organs

just few examples of what may happen when we turn our minds off and wait for god guidance

[Mister Joy]

My guiding light is plain old materialism. Ie. if I work, I get money (yay!) & with money I buy my happiness. I'm a bit of a realist that way. I figure life is exactly what I see in front of me, nothing more and nothing less. Everyone seems to have some kind of scale in their heads, a point scoring mentality to measure the worth of their own humanity, whether it be 'the closer you are to God...', 'the more lives I change...', 'the better looking I am...', 'the more academic achievements I have...', 'the more money I have...' et cetera. All of that's made up. I do what makes me happy & ensures my happiness in the future. Stuff everything else.

[JebusKryst]

My guiding light are my two kids. I want to give them a good honest role model. I dont need some warped set of ancient morals to guide me, or the threat of some almighty peeping tom.
Two kids who see me as their moral guide is enough to keep me on the straight and narrow (at least until they've gone to bed)

[Bella]

There are some great responses to this thread, so I guess my bit has already been said.

I don't buy into God guiding people, obviously. People guide themselves for various reasons and they use God as an excuse to consider themselves the center of the universe. The bible is full of such violent crap that anyone who says that they get their morals from it is fooling themselves. How is someone who gets the whole "don't murder or steal" rule any better than the ones who get it from the constitution... especially when the constitution doesn't include any tales of human sacrifice?

 I don't believe that human beings have a "nice" nature, therefore, it's all about following laws so that we can live together in a "civilized" society. I guess you could say that my "guiding light" is simply my hopes and dreams (living a happy long and healthy life with the man of my deams) and trying to make the world a better place (e.g. following the rules) so that the human race can continue after I'm gone.

[cantthinkofaname]

I don't need a magical made up god to guide me in decisions in life.  Critical thinking, rational thinking  and common sense along with as much education I can get and my brain is able to learn.  Knowng I have loved ones to help me when and if they can if I should need them.  

I really don't need someone to tell me how to be guided in life or make up a god and hereafter as the excuse to tell, order, me to live the way they want me to. They being the clergy, evangelicals and the religious society in general.  

I have to say all of the answers you have been given are very very good not much more I could add.

[kimmance]

I'd like to know what people think of religion as peoples' guiding force. You know? People with faith have the security of 'knowing' that God is guiding them in their decisions and their lives. We do not have this security.

There are some good responses to this post. I'd add that I don't need guidance from some guys in the Iron Age who were trying to control various desert societies telling me what's moral today. Words written by people for whom aqueducts were cutting edge are the basis for all modern religions.

I put a link to a very interesting article about moral instinct on my blog. I think science has a pretty damned good answer about what makes us moral beings...with or without a desert god guiding us.

[dirtyd12]

I'd like to know what people think of religion as peoples' guiding force. You know? People with faith have the security of 'knowing' that God is guiding them in their decisions and their lives. We do not have this security.

I have thought about this, as well. It makes us as individuals directly accountable for our decisions. We can't blame anyone or anything for our poor choices, and glory goes to no one else but ourselves when we do well. Which in my opinion is a superior way of living. It makes morality and good deeds even more meaningful because it's harder when you know your good deeds go relatively un-noticed by man or gods. This way, you do good for no other reason than because it's good, not because you feel you have to, or because your church or some outside force encourages you to do so.

As an atheist I take comfort in that there is no guiding light. If I had one, it would be the guiding light of learning and a sober and rational outlook on life.

I completely agree. Doing good should be done for it's aesthetic beauty. People who are good in hope of reward (going to heaven), or fear of punishment (going to hell) are not truly good. They might be evil were the concepts removed from society. There are many negative consequences of religion. They invoke superiority complexes, while concealing rotten people and emotions from themselves and society. But, I also think that religion holds a personal value. I have often thought to myself, how can so many reasonable creatures (humans) act so unreasonably?

Religion is not so different from nationalism, gangs etc. because we humans have a curse. That curse comes from the very thing Atheists rely on--Reason. Yes. It can make our lives easier. I mean, look at us. We don't hunt or hide, yet we dominate the earth. The cost?--reason d'etre. We know our lives will end. Our curse is that we MUST act with reason. The idea of living without reason is painful. So we're unreasonable--that's where religion steps in.

[Ashe]

Basically what has already been pointed out by others and what you have said - people take comfort in having something "higher" to guide them and make them feel better. Something bad happens? Not their fault and, anyway, there's a bigger (better) plan for them. Bad things happen "for a reason." Having a higher being watch you at all times and notice all the good things you do makes you feel ever better about doing those good things.

I don't blame people for feeling that way. I guess if I had it in me to believe in God, I'd feel that way too.

I don't, though. My driving force? I don't know. Just...living, I guess. The possibilities of life. I feel better knowing I'm responsible for my success and I've got myself to blame for my failures. It makes me feel involved in life or one with reality...or whatever.