I still can't let go...

[Kevin]

Some of you may remember how some while ago I made that thread about how I still have this feeling about God, and like how it seems like I can't let it go.

I still can't.

I can say to myself I don't believe in God all I want, tell others, etc, but I still just have this feeling sometimes that I can't explain.
I know logically, God can't exist. I have gone through that part, have posted some on here about it, I know that whole thing, and through logic, I don't believe in God. But at the same time, I feel as if I can't let it go. I have no idea what it is, or why.

Anyone else go through this?...

[Kylyssa]

It sounds an awful lot like loneliness or possibly anxiety.

[Will]

Most people born into the world are told, in no uncertain terms, that we have a hole in our self, in our essence. We're told this by people who stand to gain by filling this hole that they themselves have forced us to dig out of ourselves. Often times we give in, we fill the hole with money, religion, drugs, sex, anything that we think will fit, but nothing ever makes that hole go away.

You've got a hole, Kevin. It's time to admit that hole only exists because you think it exists. Will it away. You can do it.

[reynolds]

Some of you may remember how some while ago I made that thread about how I still have this feeling about God, and like how it seems like I can't let it go.

I still can't.

I can say to myself I don't believe in God all I want, tell others, etc, but I still just have this feeling sometimes that I can't explain.
I know logically, God can't exist. I have gone through that part, have posted some on here about it, I know that whole thing, and through logic, I don't believe in God. But at the same time, I feel as if I can't let it go. I have no idea what it is, or why.

Anyone else go through this?...

I'm not going thru it now but I did at one time. Maybe God doesn't want to let go of you.

[Will]

I'm not going thru it now but I did at one time. Maybe God doesn't want to let go of you.

You're certainly welcome to your opinion, but I must disagree with your conclusion even based on what I would guess are your own standards. The Judeo-Christian god not allowing someone to follow their own nature would be direct intervention in free will. According to the Bible, we've already had a bite of the fruit, we already understand good and evil, and we have free will. We have to have free will or the choice to believe in god is meaningless, right? So Kevin, even by the standards of Christianity, is free to make his own decisions. I know it sounds like the Christian thing to say "god doesn't want to let you go", but from my perspective, it's just cruel to Kevin and it's not even in line with what most Christians believe.

Sorry to be so rough on you right after joining.

[curiosityandthecat]

Kev, I'd say it's probably the same sort of feeling Carl Sagan got when stared up at that oak tree he so easily compares us to: wonder at the beauty, complexity and ironic simplicity of life. It ain't God, man... s'just life.

[maestroanth]

It's old, but Socrates felt this way.

[Kevin]

Most people born into the world are told, in no uncertain terms, that we have a hole in our self, in our essence. We're told this by people who stand to gain by filling this hole that they themselves have forced us to dig out of ourselves. Often times we give in, we fill the hole with money, religion, drugs, sex, anything that we think will fit, but nothing ever makes that hole go away.

You've got a hole, Kevin. It's time to admit that hole only exists because you think it exists. Will it away. You can do it.

It took me like 3 times reading that, but I get what your saying. Me being 16 though, none of that stuff I've ever had to fill the whole with, especially religion. My dad and I have talked about it, he decided not to shove religion down my throat since it was shoved down his and he didn't like it, so I've never had that fill up the whole. Closest thing would be when I was baptized, but look how well that worked out.
But I get what you're saying about me willing it away. I guess it's just hard to accept it sometimes, especially when you see stuff on TV about ghosts, for example, and think about how much there seems to be for ghosts to exists, but I don't believe in even a spirit, so I'm thinking maybe I'm thinking wrong, and that's what probably gets to me.
Though us just finishing evolution in biology helped me out some... Too bad we really just focused on Charles Darwin and the Galapagos...

[VanReal]

Kevin, if you knew exactly how you felt and who you were at 16 you would be a literal freak of nature.  The fact that you take the time to think about things so important and reflect on your feelings is impressive and rare.  Questions at your age are normal and I wouldn't worry too much about the conflict between your emotional feelings and your logical thinking, truly it happens within us all about one thing or another.  Mine is my career at this point, my friend's is how he is raising his children, and my son's is what he wants to do after his senior year next year.  Yours is a tough one because it is very personal and not something someone can easily tell you how to handle.  I think by your continued questioning of that feeling that just "won't let go" you know really that you don't believe but worry about what to do without that comforting belief.  Hang in there, keep contemplating and thinking and before long you'll have a conflict that's entirely new to work through.

[Kylyssa]

Kevin, if you knew exactly how you felt and who you were at 16 you would be a literal freak of nature.  The fact that you take the time to think about things so important and reflect on your feelings is impressive and rare.  Questions at your age are normal and I wouldn't worry too much about the conflict between your emotional feelings and your logical thinking, truly it happens within us all about one thing or another.  Mine is my career at this point, my friend's is how he is raising his children, and my son's is what he wants to do after his senior year next year.  Yours is a tough one because it is very personal and not something someone can easily tell you how to handle.  I think by your continued questioning of that feeling that just "won't let go" you know really that you don't believe but worry about what to do without that comforting belief.  Hang in there, keep contemplating and thinking and before long you'll have a conflict that's entirely new to work through.

This is really on target and great advice.

[Kevin]

Kevin, if you knew exactly how you felt and who you were at 16 you would be a literal freak of nature.  The fact that you take the time to think about things so important and reflect on your feelings is impressive and rare.  Questions at your age are normal and I wouldn't worry too much about the conflict between your emotional feelings and your logical thinking, truly it happens within us all about one thing or another.  Mine is my career at this point, my friend's is how he is raising his children, and my son's is what he wants to do after his senior year next year.  Yours is a tough one because it is very personal and not something someone can easily tell you how to handle.  I think by your continued questioning of that feeling that just "won't let go" you know really that you don't believe but worry about what to do without that comforting belief.  Hang in there, keep contemplating and thinking and before long you'll have a conflict that's entirely new to work through.

What do you mean if I knew how I felt and who I was at 16? I AM 16, so I know pretty well who I am and how I feel at 16.

And I REALLY like how you put that, thank you for that. I guess you're probably right with that I don't know how to comfort it. I can't really comfort it with there being no one to talk to it about that I know in real life really, besides my dad (who we share a lot of the same beliefs), and he is the only one I would seriously talk to it about... Well, besides my older brother.
And also, me living in the "Bible Belt" of the U.S. doesn't help that either.

But thanks.

[VanReal]

What do you mean if I knew how I felt and who I was at 16? I AM 16, so I know pretty well who I am and how I feel at 16.

I know you are 16, which is why I started with that.  My point is that at 16 you are still growing, learning, exploring, and developing who you are.  I also know it doesn't feel like that because I remember being 16 myself.  Although it may not mean anything to you know I'm trying to say that what worries you have now are not the same you will have a year from now.  And, I was commending you for being unconventional in actually thinking about things instead of just acting (like most teenagers me included).

[Kevin]

What do you mean if I knew how I felt and who I was at 16? I AM 16, so I know pretty well who I am and how I feel at 16.

I know you are 16, which is why I started with that.  My point is that at 16 you are still growing, learning, exploring, and developing who you are.  I also know it doesn't feel like that because I remember being 16 myself.  Although it may not mean anything to you know I'm trying to say that what worries you have now are not the same you will have a year from now.  And, I was commending you for being unconventional in actually thinking about things instead of just acting (like most teenagers me included).

Oh! OK, I understand now. And yes, for sure I will. With college coming up in less than 2 years, if I go that soon. I still don't know what I want to be for sure, where I want to go, etc. I have ideas (i.e. choral director), but I'm not sure, so that will definitely be a worry. But I think about this stuff a lot, especially when I hear even the word 'God' or something else, this stuff immediately enters my mind.

And thanks about me being unconventional in my thinking. I honestly got started on thinking about this when in Spanish we went over Day of the Dead, and learned how most Mexicans view death as just the next stage of our existence, so that got me thinking on afterlife, then George Carlin's thing on "Religion is bullshit" got me really thinking about religion. I know it's weird, but it worked. Then logic and being home on the internet a lot really set that stuff off. (Rofl I'm not fat though, even if I am home a lot. Idk why I added this in :p)

[Will]

I'm 25 and I'm still learning who I am. It's a picture that comes into clearer and clearer view as you live your life. By the time I'm 80, I'll finally know what the puzzle picture on the box is supposed to look like!

[Kylyssa]

Heck, it took me until my mid-thirties to figure out what I want to do when I grow up!