Has Your Opinion About God Been Affected by Your Suffering?

[void]

:hello: Warning: If a discussion about God will trigger you please do not read this thread. This thread is not intended to offend believers but it may, please do not read this if your beliefs may be offended.


You have suffered more than most people can imagine and continue to suffer every day because of something bad that happened to you. It wasn't your choice and you could not have stopped it. It changed you forever, you are damaged. You are paying the price for someone else's actions. Is that justice? You reap what you sow? What comes around goes around? But you did not sow the seeds that led to this fear, anxiety, depression, sleepless nights, nightmares, flashbacks and inability to trust, did you? No! someone else did.

Could God have stopped them? If he could why didn't he? If god is all-powerful then he could have stopped the abuse, but he did not. Why? Did God want you to suffer? Is there some cosmic purpose to what you endured? These are just a few of the questions I struggle with and I would like to hear your thoughts.

Footnote: :naughty:Respectfully, please do not evangelize in this thread if you are an evangelical. I respect your beliefs but do not want this thread to turn into tent meeting.

Void

 

[morgan]

I have serious problems with the whole God thing. All of those questions you asked, I ask too.

My brother and sister-in-law are devout christians and often try to convert me. They know it's an issue with me so they try to ease me into the idea but my nieces automatically assume I believe as they do. It is a difficult situation for me but if asked I will not lie.

I find the whole subject uncomfortable because I no longer necessarily believe in God. I find it much more comfortable to consider the whole concept a big mystery and leave it at that.

If I feel the need to be spiritual I read buddhist and native american writings as I can resonate with those much better.

I'm sure I have much more to say on this but I don't really express myself well in writing. (One of my issues).:dontknow:

Take care, Morgan

 

[Moonshadow]

The whole idea of god is ludicrous, in my opinion. It's just not possible, for some omnipotent figure to be watching over us, knowing our thoughts, hearing our prayers, or guiding us, in any way. If there is, it's doing a shitty job.

So, as if the PTSD is not enough, to make me feel different from the rest of society, I have to live in this "body snatcher" world, where everyone praises Jesus, and is offended, if I don't believe in the same deity as they do.

The ancient Greek gods were much more interesting, and they have been written off as fantasy. Perhaps someday, Christianity will finally be written off in the same way. I hope it takes all of the other theistic theories with it.

Modern science has made god obsolete. God is a man-made fantasy, used to explain things, in a time when people did not understand the way of the universe. Humans still don't know everything about the universe, but we do know enough to let go of out-dated belief systems. One would think.

Yet, here we are, with a Republican VP nominee, who believes that the earth was created thousands of years ago, for man to conquer and pillage, among other frightening beliefs.

I tried to believe in god when I was 9 years old. I signed myself up for Sunday School, and went through the motions for a whole year. In the end, I decided that it was all a farce, and that was before most of the really bad things happened to me.

I have many friends whom are theistic, and we simply have to agree to disagree, or I would have no friends at all. Again, I'm the one in the body snatcher world.
It's scary.

 

[nic]

As the Jewish high holidays approach, and I do my obligatory reflection upon the year, I really do struggle with how trauma and PTSD calculate into my belief system. Part of me thinks that G-d has a plan for all of us, and our suffering is supposed to make us stronger individuals. (You know, the whole what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and G-d doesn't give us anything we can't handle.) But then again, if G-d IS the loving omipotent power that I would like to believe in, than why would G-d create such suffering in the first place? And what about PTSD? Isn't that what happens when we CAN'T handle what we're given?

I remember the Yom Kippur right after the 9/11 attacks. I was 20 years old. As I drove home from temple with my dad and step-mom, I told them that I don't believe G-d decided who lives, who dies, who by fire, who by water, etc. as stated in the scripture. I just couldn't fathom the G-d I love having any part in deciding that one of my friend's brothers could call her on the cell phone one second saying that he was about to get out of the tower only to be killed a minute or so after. G-d couldn't have decided his fate. Instead, G-d gave us free will, and it was those SOB terrorists who decided to take others lives.

So as another Yom Kippur nears, and I ask forgiveness for my sins so that I may be recorded in the Book of Life, I wonder who actually writes that book. Is it G-d, or is G-d simply giving us blank pages to create our own?

 

[2quilt]

There is no God

I was sent to a Baptist church when I was young, where I was taught that stillborn babies, aborted fetuses and the parents, people who danced, suicides, anyone who voted Democrat and all gays or transgendered people all go to hellfire forever. Oh yes, and all other religions other than the small group of Baptists that believe Exactly the way this particular preacher believed. Get in line, you're going to burn. Sinner.

Being born meant the cards were stacked against you and you were going to hell because of Original Sin, so just spend all your life trying to appease some force you could not see or guess His next whim.

By the time I was in junior high I saw through the BS that Christianity is, and stopped going to church. Would Jesus have these beliefs, with a list of those who can do nothing to change their afterlife? Christianity is an elitist religion. They proclaim to be loving and welcoming, but the truth is they are not at all like Jesus.

I was also taught to honor the people who abused, tortured and raped me. Nope. Nobody gets my honor or respect after using me as a sex toy.

I see Jesus and Santa Clause as the same persona. "You'd better watch out, You's better not cry..." Both entities have a "second coming"; you have to behave a certain way or you will not receive any reward from either one, Both claim to know when you are sleeping and awake (omnipotence), both are said to be loving and caring of children.

Most importantly: Both are ideas created by adults who use the stories to manipulate the behavior of others, to conform with rules the people in charge set up.

Could God have stopped the abuse I suffered?

The idea of an omnipotent and loving entity is comforting to many people, but in fact, humans are responsible totally for their actions, and there is no invisible force that controls human behavior or has any grand scheme. I see no cosmic purpose. God is not the loving parent we never had. People talk to themselves (not an invisible man who's a really good listener), ask for what they want and then do what they really want anyway.

Humans have good imaginations, and from that imagination comes various religions because it is natural for humans to question where the earth came from, and to ask other questions that science has no answers to today.

And people think that their religion is better than your religion. And if you are not white, don't think about coming into a white church. That messes up the comfort zone of all those people who think they are better than you are, that they are a shoo in to heaven. They don't wonder if heaven is segregated. They are happy only if you stay in your own church on the other side of town.

Humans also feel a strong need to control each other. Religion to the rescue again: it's very easy to tell someone that if they don't stop doing that thing that annoys me so much that you will suffer some bad event like hell or my God will do something to show you (your sub-group of humans) His anger and distain for all your ilk. So-called Christians protest gay weddings, war veteran funerals, the funerals of suicides, abortion clinics, dances and proms, etc.

Every religion has a list of do's and don'ts. It's natural when there are groups of people living together to make ground rules so that everyone's civil rights are maintained.

I just say, "Be fair, be nice, be quiet." I do not need religion to tell me how to live. Common sense handles that, and it costs less.



Q: Why did God allow the planes to fly into the World Trade Center towers?

A: He wasn't there.

 

[linasmom]

I'm a staunch atheist.

I'll leave it at that. =)

 

[Grama-Herc]

GOD and PTSD-----has my opinion changed? No! I'm still just as confused as I was before:think:

 

[UmightKnowMe]

I don't know what I think. I grew up with a skewed view of God...my parents were very strict religious and there were all these rules and if you were bad God was mad and his angels are always watching and you cant hide. It seemed like EVERYTHING was bad bad bad. I grew up feeling shame from as early as I can remember. Literally. And was taken to church every Sunday without fail. And so scared of hell and all that I prayed and tried to believe and be good...just never could be good enough. Not for my parents and I was sure not for God either. All these things happened to me (trauma I mean) and I could not go to my parents for help. I was all alone with no devices to make sense of it because I knew they would only punish me for being such a dirty nasty creature to bring up such topics. They teach about forgiveness at church but I never felt forgiven or loved. Just shamed.

So yeah...trauma didn't really change my views about God. And still I am in terror of 'the end of the world'. Because I don't know. What if my parents were right? What if it IS the end? If it is then I am probably going to hell and also my husband and children and I worry it is ALL MY FAULT. I don't know. Does being raised this way count as a different kind of trauma perhaps?

 

[empowered]

Hi Void,

I have found answers to all those questions, It has taken years, but I would have to say I enjoy a great deal of peace in God.

 

[reallydown]

I guess I've always been an agnostic leaning towards atheism...if that makes sense. I can't say there's no God but I don't necessarily believe there is one and I certainly respect people's beliefs...but then again...organized religion is just soemthing I've never been comfortable with. I guess I figure that if there is a God that's good etc. he/she? won't mind that you don't go to church or whatever if you live your life in away that I guess is what most religions try to teach (ie no killing, stealing etc. etc.)...but if such a being exists and will throw you into hell (if such a place exists) for not flattering his/her vanity...then that is a tyrannical megalomaniac and we're all screwed anyway.

"He was a wise man who originated the idea of God." ~ Euripides

Hmmm...not so sure that's accurate given the amount of nasty stuff that has resulted because of people's twisting of religions etc but...give the guy a break ;P

Anyway...just my 2 cents...

 

[Marlene]

There's not enough money in the world to make me associate with organized religion ever again. I am in no way, shape or form any sort of religious person. I have my own beliefs and I leave it at that.

But in answer to the question-No my opinion about God has not be affected by my PTSD. And as for God stopping what happened to me (or anyone else)-life is all about free will. You make your decisions and live by the consequences of those decisions. Good and bad. And if it's a bad decision others can be harmed by that decision. But everything, every action, every decision is based upon someones will to do something. Unfortunately a whole lot of people in the world suffer due to someone else's free will and decisions. And even more unfortuantely people can either clothe their actions as the 'will of God' or put it at the feet of God as his/her responsibility.

Lisa

 

[Lost_in_FL]

All,

Wow, I am understanding my husband better now. His words are echoed here, along the lines of "If there IS a GOD, why does he let such horrible things happen to innocent people, mostly children?"

Incidentally, he does relate to a spiritual being in the way of the American Indians, that makes sense to him.

My Christian faith has grown by leaps and bounds over the years, but I see that his firm reluctance to hear me out regarding religion is certainly a typical response considering his past...

Again, thank you all for your continued enlightenment. I also find great peace in God, but I respect each person's right to believe or not.

Peace,
Lost