Friday
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My experience is pretty much the opposite. Even those that do, though, are usually crying for their mommy, not god, when they're hurt and dying.
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Has anyone ever had faith/religion as a part of your healing process?
- Post starter Emily L
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My experience is pretty much the opposite. Even those that do, though, are usually crying for their mommy, not god, when they're hurt and dying.
intheprocess
Bronze Member
I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for God.
And I wouldn't be here, on this forum today if it weren't for the misguided beliefs of some incredibly gullible people that thought beating and torturing me to save my soul from the lake of fire and the wrath of god was a good thing to do.
When I was repelled by it and separated myself, every contact was an attempt to destroy me. They never relented. They even said that my success in life away from their church was the devils way of tempting them away from the true church. Their beliefs in their god turned their own child into something to be destroyed, my children (their grandchildren) were the work of the devil to them, sent here to tempt them away.
People like them are everywhere. Most just give of themselves in the form of money and time spent recruiting new members. We should all be glad that they aren't being told that flying airplanes into buildings to defy satan and promote the greatness of god is the right thing to do or people like them would be doing it, or worse.
Lots and lots of worse things have happened in the name of a god, to save the wretches like me. I am a lucky one, I survived.
Atheists in foxholes? Try to remember that the reason those holes were dug was most often to protect the occupant from someone acting on their religious beliefs.
Onward, christian soldiers.
When I was repelled by it and separated myself, every contact was an attempt to destroy me. They never relented. They even said that my success in life away from their church was the devils way of tempting them away from the true church. Their beliefs in their god turned their own child into something to be destroyed, my children (their grandchildren) were the work of the devil to them, sent here to tempt them away.
People like them are everywhere. Most just give of themselves in the form of money and time spent recruiting new members. We should all be glad that they aren't being told that flying airplanes into buildings to defy satan and promote the greatness of god is the right thing to do or people like them would be doing it, or worse.
Lots and lots of worse things have happened in the name of a god, to save the wretches like me. I am a lucky one, I survived.
Atheists in foxholes? Try to remember that the reason those holes were dug was most often to protect the occupant from someone acting on their religious beliefs.
Onward, christian soldiers.
Well I certainly defer to your experience @Friday , no offence intended. :notworthy: FWIW, and I could be wrong, I think it was coined in WWI that my grandfather was in at 16 and came back mustard-gassed then filled with cancer by 20 (and genetically passed to all his kids). Even then I think of the novel Generals Die in Bed. :(
Maybe their mothers were, in their case, the people who were the most loving- the most unconditionally-loving-like?
I think that's terrible @enough. :( :cry:
What I hope, is that everyone can find 'a' path to heal- always one that does not harm innocent others in any name, or with justification of harm.
D
Deleted member 37085
Me too...hope I haven't hurt anyone with my above-rant of where I am this moment re faith...sure hope not. I am questioning right now the very faith and beliefs that got me to this point in time...and I wish no harm to anyone...and I profusely apologize if I've harmed a soul here. Going through hell right now...and keeping on...going.
Sorry you went through this @enough.
D
Deleted member 12723
You did not hurt anyone, being honest with where you are at is being real. No worries for you on this one.:hug:
I can't believe in an all-powerful yet merciful god could possibly exist. I pulled out a lot of quotes before posting this. Too many to choose from!
I'm going to be / sound anti-religion. Same as I don't take offense to others' around me practicing their faith, I do not want others to take offense that I am coming from a place that seems radically different from many of the people who have posted to this thread.
I would LOVE to believe in something like a god, because I think that would leave me with a sense of purpose.. and to be brutally honest, lacking a sense of purpose is not good for a person who has been suicidal at multiple times in her life. Very "What's the point?" [please don't try to answer that question; please take that as I intend it - as a rhetorical question that i struggle with].
I don't believe in sin. Even if I did believe in sin, I don't want anyone to suffer on my behalf. Let ME suffer for my own sins, if you think they're sins. That's a major problem I have with many Christian religions. Catholicism is, to my mind, amongst the worst of that group. because my first real exposure to a Catholic Church was at my grandfathers funeral when I was 9 years old. The crucifix scared me and I CRIED. Not for my grandpop... well, I was crushed by that. But the frigging crucifix scared me to bits and I still cringe at thorns and dripping and carrying things on a person's back... I don't think I would have found that helpful as a kid. We did have a Children's Bible - for the stories more than anything else - and again, I sobbed at many of the stories and so the Children's Bible, that my older brother loved so much, was put aside for my sake.
You could say, that left me ignorant of some important things - and you'd be correct.
Just as the religious have been asked to hold back, I hope people reading this will hold back and accept what I believe (even if you don't understand it).
I believe in beauty. I believe in finding beauty in the world. Whether it be nature, or man-made, resplendent things exist in the world.
@Emily L, It was very brave of you to bring up the topic and follow through with it. I admire you for that. I have avoided these questions, for the most part - just because it's easier, and I have no problem with others thinking good thoughts for me. And that's what I do for others, I wish for good things and send all my good, positive thoughts for people. In my own beliefs, that translates roughly to what people mean when they say prayer. I still doubt its efficacy but I can't imagine how it makes the world any worse than it already is. But letting people know you care. That's it. I believe in Beauty, and I believe in letting people know that you care.
And that's what I have to work with. I personally believe that organized religion has been responsible for many of the worst atrocities this world has ever seen. - This is NOT what goes through my head when people offer prayers - this is my get-through-life feeling. I can't believe in a being that would allow so much suffering. If there's a God, either he/she/it is all-powerful and evil, or well-meaning but somewhat incompetent or powerless. Again this is from the thoughts that run incessantly through my mind; I came to these conclusions many years ago - I do continue to examine them, when I am well enough.
I'm going to be / sound anti-religion. Same as I don't take offense to others' around me practicing their faith, I do not want others to take offense that I am coming from a place that seems radically different from many of the people who have posted to this thread.
I would LOVE to believe in something like a god, because I think that would leave me with a sense of purpose.. and to be brutally honest, lacking a sense of purpose is not good for a person who has been suicidal at multiple times in her life. Very "What's the point?" [please don't try to answer that question; please take that as I intend it - as a rhetorical question that i struggle with].
I don't believe in sin. Even if I did believe in sin, I don't want anyone to suffer on my behalf. Let ME suffer for my own sins, if you think they're sins. That's a major problem I have with many Christian religions. Catholicism is, to my mind, amongst the worst of that group. because my first real exposure to a Catholic Church was at my grandfathers funeral when I was 9 years old. The crucifix scared me and I CRIED. Not for my grandpop... well, I was crushed by that. But the frigging crucifix scared me to bits and I still cringe at thorns and dripping and carrying things on a person's back... I don't think I would have found that helpful as a kid. We did have a Children's Bible - for the stories more than anything else - and again, I sobbed at many of the stories and so the Children's Bible, that my older brother loved so much, was put aside for my sake.
You could say, that left me ignorant of some important things - and you'd be correct.
Just as the religious have been asked to hold back, I hope people reading this will hold back and accept what I believe (even if you don't understand it).
I believe in beauty. I believe in finding beauty in the world. Whether it be nature, or man-made, resplendent things exist in the world.
@Emily L, It was very brave of you to bring up the topic and follow through with it. I admire you for that. I have avoided these questions, for the most part - just because it's easier, and I have no problem with others thinking good thoughts for me. And that's what I do for others, I wish for good things and send all my good, positive thoughts for people. In my own beliefs, that translates roughly to what people mean when they say prayer. I still doubt its efficacy but I can't imagine how it makes the world any worse than it already is. But letting people know you care. That's it. I believe in Beauty, and I believe in letting people know that you care.
And that's what I have to work with. I personally believe that organized religion has been responsible for many of the worst atrocities this world has ever seen. - This is NOT what goes through my head when people offer prayers - this is my get-through-life feeling. I can't believe in a being that would allow so much suffering. If there's a God, either he/she/it is all-powerful and evil, or well-meaning but somewhat incompetent or powerless. Again this is from the thoughts that run incessantly through my mind; I came to these conclusions many years ago - I do continue to examine them, when I am well enough.
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It was in my personal near equivalent (I don't want to undermine the reality of a real foxhole, which I will never have to experience, but life threatening none the less), that I realized I no longer believed, so my experience is the exact opposite of that saying.
D
Deleted member 8714
Same here loner. I'd be six feet under and never knowing him.
deeplyloved
Platinum Member
Religion is what we practice in community. Spirituality is individual. I think those distinctions are important. I don't think all religions have the same goals, nor should they. I believe in pluralist society. I think most people who evangelize should be ashamed of themselves. Abuse is never part of God's plan. We don't suffer from PTSD because we need religion or don't have some particular deity in our hearts. That's ridiculous. I stayed away from religion for a very long time. Now I'm highly involved in safe congregations work. I want religion and churches to do better. I don't care what another person's personal relationship with a higher power looks like. It's not my business. It is my business what we do in community.
Tornadic Thoughts
VIP Member
I don't pay as much attention to beLIEfs nowadays as much as I do practice. People can believe and say anything on the surface, but their actual doing (practicing) is what I pay close attention to.
I did not want to question someone's faith. If faith in God helps somebody it's ok. And trust me, I do not want to take anyone anything what helps him/her. We are on the same boat here and we all know how important is to have something that helps us (If it does not hurt us e.g. drugs, alcohol). So I just wrote my subjective opinion (english grammar - I think = first person - same for slovak grammar). Maybe I'm completely wrong, maybe God do exist. I don't know for sure, who knows. But the fact is that I can only think about it with cold rationality. That's me, that's the way I think. And there was a question - Has anyone ever had faith/religion as a part of your healing process? - and I answered. So no, it didn't help me. Once I was believer (as a child) but I found that scientific way of thinking is closer to my personality. I am not atheist. I am open-minded but same time strictly rational. That means that if something emerges to indicate existence of God then I say let us do some scientific research and when it turns out we (unfaithful) were wrong all the time we should overwrite theories. Because that's how the science work. It is not built on dogmas. It's about curiosity, about finding the truth, about searching, about knowledge and there is also some methodology behind it. Dogma is a dead end, you can't move from there. This is the most important difference for me. That means it's not about denying of God no matter what.
But it doesn't matter. I agree with what Tornadic Thoughts wrote "People can believe and say anything on the surface, but their actual doing (practicing) is what I pay close attention to."
But it doesn't matter. I agree with what Tornadic Thoughts wrote "People can believe and say anything on the surface, but their actual doing (practicing) is what I pay close attention to."
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