Why I don't believe in God..

First off let me start by saying I used to believe in God. I have been christened, done my holy communion and been confirmed. For all intents and purposes I am a fully fledged Roman Catholic.

I was going to put a long list of personal reasons for why I stopped believing but that would have come across as selfish. So I won't. I will simply tell what has upset me so much today and has more than ever caused me to lack faith in a supposedly loving being.

Approximately 1 hour ago I recieveved a phone call. A phone call that brought me to tears within the first sentence: "Hi hunny I thought you should know, **** has cancer. It's in her pancreas, lungs, neck and very probably in her lymph nodes."

Now the person given this diagosis is not a drinker or a smoker or even an elderly and worn out body. No. This young woman is just 19yrs old. In the prime of her life and one of those people who never fails to make people smile. She has fought her whole life with a spinal disease and has recently got her life on track. College, job, boyfriend etc etc She had finally found her own happiness. Then this. I know it's cliche but i keep asking WHY? Why her? She never hurt anybody, she never smoked or drank or broke the law..... why her?
If a God existed how can he let these things happen to such wonderful people?
Why doesn't he send these diseases to the rapists, murderers and peadophiles?
How is it justice that a person who hurt little children can live to 90 yet a good, honest loving 19yr old is going to die soon? How could a God allow that?

I am in so much pain right now and I can't turn to the one person I used to because I just don't think He cares anymore.

It has often been said that only the good die young....I sympathize with you for your pain, but know this: No body "dies" really, because the Spirit is fully composed of Pure, Divine Energy, and is Immortal, in that energy cannot be destroyed. I have seen the dead for most of my life, and the ones that I have seen that I knew in life are very happy, young in appearance, with no pain, no suffering at all. And the best part is, you don't have to follow Jesus or be a Christian to enjoy this afterlife, it is there for all to enjoy. I wish your friend well on her journey.

I'm very sorry about your friend (or family member). That's awful news to receive.

There wasn't an event that turned me away from belief in God. Like you, I was raised in religion and was a born again Christian, complete with baptism and all the fanfare of "being saved", but none of that means anything to me now. I didn't turn against God, I just found that it wasn't logical to believe in a being that seemed to be unfair, malevolent and insecure (in need of being worshiped) among other reasons.

I really don't have any advice for you, but one thing I do know is that we are never given more than we can handle. I know that's from the bible, but it's a good thing to remember. This, too, shall pass. Good luck in finding and defining your beliefs.

I empathize. Pain hurts.
As for dealing with personal pain and impersonal despair, remember what Edith Bunker said when asked why there's so much suffering: it's "so we'll notice the difference when we get to heaven."
Poetic.

But God is not simply a huge meta-person-- He/She doesn't care about anyone or anything in particular.
Reality and truth don't need to be believed in or disbelieved in.
Belief is an immature way of dealing with the unknown and fear of death.

Religions are for the most part simply fire escapes.

One should be careful that one's disbelief doesn't become an anti-belief.
That's just as myopic and consciousness-retarding as believing in stuff.

All I know is:
This, too, shall pass.
The sun goes all the way down before it can rise again.
And crap grows beautiful flowers.

reply to post by ScorpioRising


Thats life, like how some people live till 100, and some start dying at 19.

The problem with the attitude you have is that why are you so selfish you want to ask for things from god?

It may be sad, but its life. We are not the ptb, that steal energy from others to keep us alive, we all have just to do what we can to live with what we have.

You see it all the time in life, some people degrade early in there bodies and some later, its not there fault, and it certainly is not gods. If you have lost faith as a result of it, you do not know the meaning of the religion in the first place. You may be a superficial christian, and to put it bluntly thats your problem. I do not want to sound heartless, if your telling the truth, than its sad, but why are you angry at god over it?

People always want to have there faith reinforced, but it does not work like that.

Thank you for your kind words. I do believe in the afterlife, I've experienced it myself, but to me someone entering the higher plain should not be an innocent 19yr old. It's not like a car crash, there's no-one to blame for causing it. So you're left hanging not knowing who to turn to, who to scream at. I don't know. My mind is all jumbled right now. Though nothing like what she must be going through.
Maybe it's wrong to post here so soon after the news but I didn't know what to do. It's like a family here so I guess it just feels 'safe'. They say talking helps, so thats what I've done. Instead of crying in front of my kids all night.
Sorry if I'm rambling. Think I'll go make a cup of tea... xxx

I don't think its productive to wish the badness onto bad people...thats just fueling negativity and will drive you nuts if you keep thinking about it.
I won't go into the god debate...lets just say..hey, 19 years old..its very young, but comparatively, there are good people all over the world dying from simple starvation whom have never known love, or hugs, or kissing someone they enjoyed being with, etc.
This isn't supposed to make it feel better...it sucks..but you know what, a 100 year old dying also sucks. when a person dies, a library burns.

I would recommend inviting her to try some alternative methods of treatment to fight the cancer, along with standard western style meds. there are many threads here on ATS on cancer "cures" and treatments that can be given a shot (so long as that is not the only treatment being given). Find some and approach her and her doctor to see if any would be harmless to try given whatever treatment she is going through.

I personally don't believe in a God...would like some evidence before I die..or even a really cool personal experience to change my mind, but until such a time, I will stick with non-belief in such a deity(s). I however have had some exceptionally cool "ghost" experiences...I do not claim to know what a ghost is mind you, but if presented in the way it was is true, then I am open to discussions of a afterlife of some sort (even though it makes no sense to me...but then again, calculus makes no sense to me either). I would venture to say to simply be open about such stuff, but don't accept anyone's word for it without evidence.

Celebrate the years you have known her, carry her (and everyone you know) in your heart and in that respect, she will live as long as you or anyone else knows her will.

Awhile back, I had a 19 year old friend die..beautiful girl, exceptionally smart, fun loving, etc. Cancer.
3 days before she died, all of us got together and gave her a traditional roast...with crude dark humor, insults, "hurry up and die so we can have your sterio" type stuff...it was a blast and she couldn't thank us enough for giving her that.
of course, this played out in a virtual world environment, so she ended it by killing everyone.
Make her smile, don't deny the fight she has to deal with now and the outcome may be crap, just make what may be her last few days of life fun, humorous, and accepting of lifes odd sense of humor. It will help both yourself and her through this time...and laugh at death..no need to go into it shattered..much better with a smile.

reply to post by ScorpioRising


I'm not going to argue about God with you. I think at the moment your pain overshadows everything else. I offer my condolences. I think your pain is talking. I'm not being condescending. It's just the truth. You won't have perspective for a long time. I've been at junctures in my life when the rug was ripped out and nothing was left but emptiness. I know how that is. Again, I'm sorry for your bad news.

reply to post by ScorpioRising


Don't worry about rambling. I think many of us have experienced some of what you're going through and understand how it is. I lost the only baby I could ever have. My young niece died after she gave birth to a gorgeous and healthy baby. My best friend got cancer and died. My nephew was recently in a fatal accident. My mother got bone marrow cancer. It goes on and on. Life is full of these challenging times, but we get through.

My thoughts are with you...

reply to post by ScorpioRising


Did god ever say he could control these things? ...Nope, Hes Not there for anyone.
God is a moral to live by not a force that is All judging and all giving, He has no part in our lives whatever amount of Burden we put on our faith in him.
I had a freind once, Sadly i lost contact with him a long time before i found he had Lukemia, He 2 Had done nothng wrong and was a good person as far as i know and unfortunately he died, a short while after his funeral my Familly was driving to the gym and that boys greiving mother who was drunk allmost killed my parents and two sisters by driving them off the road, She drove off and left them there in a ditch because she didnt want to take the blame because she thought she was entitled to greive in some way. She was a familly freind.

Greivance and anger will get you nowhere and neither will God.

The point is, What will this experience inspire you to acheive, Will you Raise money for cancer research or will you volunteer in a cancer clinic and help famillys through the pain?
Or will you sit there and condemn god for his lack of kindess and talk about rapists and murderers Deserving the same fate?
Nobody deserves a fate such as your freind, But what the world NEEDS is somone to help it, Cast your anger aside and turn it into something positive Then tell your freind what your doing Because of her, And i guarentee you, she will be so happy that her case has inspired somone to Improve the lives of others.

reply to post by SaturnFX


Thank you, what you say makes sense. I will try and do what you suggest. thank you again x

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


I am so so sorry for all that pain you must have gone through. Makes me feel quite small and has put perspective on things. Thank you for being honest xx

reply to post by autowrench

Firstly I must say that I do feel for you regarding this matter. However it is not God that makes these diseases and gives them to us, man makes all the chemical compounds and adulterates our food so that our bodies become sick and them big pharma adds to it by poisoning us with drugs. It is impossible for us to eat healthily as God intended us to and almost impossible to get hold of the foods that can cure us when we become ill. My prayers are with you and yours at this time and as I have a family member with terminal cancer myself I do know what you are going through. However, thanks to some (natural) food that we were able to get she is still with us 10 months after the medical profession said she would be dead. That and prayer, and we can't say which it is means she is still very much alive and well even with cancer that has spread about her body. God didn't give her cancer man and his messing with nature etc and pollution did. I will keep you in my thoughts.

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (Jn. 20:29). They are blessed, for they did not seek logical proofs, but the fire which God places in people’s hearts.

We all die, but that is such a true statement. Its sad, but we all die. If the person understands that, and this story is true, and she understands we all die. Not much more to be said. We are all mortal, and people forget this.

That one sentence above explains Christianity, but those who lost faith never understood what that meant in the first place.

reply to post by andy1033


Everyone dies, but its how we live that matters, Make a difference and through the Goodness in your heart you will live longer than any human being can

reply to post by TedHodgson


That is awful, I am sorry that happened.
I already raise money for Cancer research and also support the fight for funding into treatment of Neuroblastoma in the U.K. My Nan died of cancer and a little girl from the U.K sparked the fight for Neuroblastoma, her name was Sophie Atay.


I am sorry to everyone if posting this thread has come across as selfish. It was never intended that way. It was more an outlet. Somewhere to vent without upsetting the people who need me to be strong. Just knowing that people from all over the world understand and care has lifted the cloud a lot. I thank everyone for their contributions and will take what has been said on board. I'm not going to post on this anymore. At least for now but I will come back to read it again when i lose perspective.

Again, thank you all so much. Love to you and yours. xxxxxxx

reply to post by TedHodgson


I do not want to live any longer than one single life. You people can do all that you want to live longer but not me.

Me once is enough.

reply to post by ScorpioRising


I that caase i commend you
By the way my post wasnt intended to make you feel selfish or anything negative otherwise.

But it was a call to lay-aside your anger and create a postive spark that could spread like wildfire throughout peoples hearts

reply to post by andy1033


I mean through memorys of thinks that youve done and leaving a mark of goodness on the planet, Silly.

Not life in heaven etc..

reply to post by TedHodgson


A person can live a life without ever having anything to do with people, and still be a christian, and understand that sentence. We all have our path, and what ever it will be, so be it.