To want to make myself believe in god?

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I have always been very logical and so despite going to a Christian primary school, having a very religious mum(though not in a pushy way) and reading the bible when I was younger(the story version I was a bit of a book worm) I have never really got my head around how god could be possible.

But I really wish I had the extra "something" that some people seem to find by believing in god. I'm probably not making much sense, but I wish I could get myself to feel like there's somebody watching out, that there's something after death, that everything happens for what'd ultimately a good reason/what's meant to be so on.

AIBU to try going to church for a bit even though I don't believe in god? Or am I just being silly, is it something you can't 'make' yourself feel?

That should have been "life", not "live" in the first sentence.

I think, and I could be wrong, that it is a two way thing. A person needs to seek [agreed that you cant make yourself believe, it doesnt work like that], and the person needs to be called or prompted along their life, by God.

So if the person seeks, and is never called, what does that mean? You are rejected by God?

Honest question, by the way, no sarkiness here, but I have heard that explanation before, but never really heard it fleshed out.

How strange that for the most part, people who seek god in Saudi Arabia find Allah, whereas if you're Welsh you're most likely to find Yahweh. You'd think there'd be a less clear geographical distinction. Does the real god not hear the people in the county with the false religion?

Solari. Difficult question to answer. This is my take on it. There is the parable of the weeds to take into account. So I am of the opinion that not everyone is able to come to God. And I assume, rightly or wrongly, that they wouldnt seek God in the first place?
So I assume, that if a person seeks God in the first place,then yes, if they carry on, God will help them too, and they will become a Christian.

If you damage the left side of your brain you will lose reason, logic and rationality, leaving you the perfect subject for religious brainwashing. You will believe anything. You'd be better off getting a hobby.

I am not too hot on my knowledge of other religions.
Yahweh, is he not God still, just the Jewish name for God?
And Allah, is the Arab name for Him?

zaty, that must mean billions of people have damaged left sides of their brains!

Caster8 I didn't entirely understand your question.

I am rarely swayed by people, though I think discourse is extremely important, and there are many lessons in many teachings that make sense to me and I am happy to live alongside.

I LOVE my local Church. I got married there, for my own reasons which included my friendship with the Vicar, he knew I lacked 'faith' that conviction that his Religion was the one true one that represented the one true God who I wasn't even sure I believed in. However, I was brought up with Christianity as part and parcel of a very close community and I know the Church's value to the non-believer as well as one with faith. It is something to celebrate. I have never been unwelcome, I have never pretended to be something I am not, I am respectful.

I cannot make myself believe in God. I can use my own judgement as to whether any Religious Word feels right or wrong to me, I can use my self-knowledge to know that unless I believe in a particular God then I cannot pretend. I CAN believe in good people, and then it doesn't matter who's name they do things in.

I also love history, but history is made up of the words and minds of people, usually the people with more power (military, intellectually, or simply being close to pen and paper, or chisel and stone) so much as I find it fascinating, and as much as I think there are many truths within the story weaving I do not 'believe'.

I suppose it depends how you measure things. Science proves a lot, but there's a lot unanswered because we don't know how to measure the unknowable. Same with Religion, to a believer's mode of measuring, there is evidence enough. Not so for me.

I am interested in all the ideas that are 'out' there in our species. Our histories, our stories, experiences and beliefs.

True faith is simply something I lack. I am at peace with it.

Saying that, there is nothing wrong with being involved in a community, and the Christian community is a welcoming one, if that's what you need. I don't.

Ah. Thank you for that answer. I think I slightly misunderstood. I thought that you meant that you changed your mind depending on whose company you are with, but you mean that you take bits of belief from all over the place.

Ah so Allah is Yahweh. Maybe Allah could broadcast this and stop all the killing over this silly misunderstanding? Why would god allow some of his followers to fight amongst themselves? Doesn't it seem mean to start 2 different religions knowing the trouble it will cause?

I don't 'take' I either think it makes sense to me or it doesn't. It comes back to how certain things sit with me.

Caster8, the most illiterate countries are also the most religious. Religion is for uneducated people. I would also say that many people in this world have damaged brains through foetal deprivation, childhood deprivation, lack of education and cultural deprivation. They tend to be overly religious because that is the only thing outside their impoverished lives that they're exposed to.

In wealthier environments, religion tends to be limited to those who were indoctrinated from an early age and never developed independent thought and those who are desperate to believe in something, anything because for some reason they can't cope with life. If it's not religion that gets them, it will be political ideology or similar where they can direct their crazy.

Much of humanity is insane and stupid, the terrifying numbers that are doesn't make them right, rather it explains all the problems of this world.

'In wealthier environments, religion tends to be limited to those who were indoctrinated from an early age and never developed independent thought and those who are desperate to believe in something, anything because for some reason they can't cope with life.'

Hold on, Tony Blair believes in God.

Dont know where to start with that post, zatya. [not sure whether I should even try]
I think I am right in saying that 80% of this country believe that God exists, so I suppose that sustains your theory that much of humanity is insane and stupid.

claig, well that makes him stupid too!

'claig, well that makes him stupid too!'

Well, I won't disagree that he is stupid, but I don't think it is for that reason. I could go into the reasons why, but that would fill the entire thread and only serve as an introduction!

Caster8

I think I am right in saying that 80% of this country believe that God exists,

59% believe in the Christian god (or to be accurate, 59% state their religion is Christianity - not necessarily the same thing); 75% don't state 'No Religion'

Source: 2011 census - www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/detailed-characteristics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/sty-religion.html

zaty does have a point, but I disagree with it.

If you saw the people in Oklahoma who had their houses destroyed you would have been struck by the stoicism with which they dealt with that calamity and you would also have been struck by how much faith they had in God, and as one woman who lost everything said when interviewed, that is because often people in real hardship are greater believers as they are closer to suffering and find relief in belief in God.

It is true that people who are more well-off and independent and at ease are often more divorced from the spiritual as they feel more in control of their lives and feel more independent, and this independence can lead to them thinking that they do not need to believe in spiritual forces.

But it is often not a conscious decision that has required introspection or thought and has little to do with intelligence. It is often more a lack of perceived need.

*Sorry, that should have said, "75% state 'No Religion'."

The "don't" should have been removed before posting.

If you saw the people in Oklahoma who had their houses destroyed you would have been struck by the stoicism with which they dealt with that calamity and you would also have been struck by how much faith they had in God, and as one woman who lost everything said when interviewed, that is because often people in real hardship are greater believers as they are closer to suffering and find relief in belief in God.

See, I think that can be a danger in itself. It reminds me of this joke, which is maybe slightly flippant, but I think it makes an important point:

It was flooding in California. As the flood waters were rising, a man was on the stoop of his house and another man in a row boat came by. The man in the row boat told the man on the stoop to get in and he'd save him. The man on the stoop said, no, he had faith in God and would wait for God to save him.

The flood waters kept rising and the man had to go to the second floor of his house. A man in a motor boat came by and told the man in the house to get in because he had come to rescue him. The man in the house said no thank you. He had perfect faith in God and would wait for God to save him. The flood waters kept rising.

Pretty soon they were up to the man's roof and he got out on the roof. A helicopter then came by, lowered a rope and the pilot shouted down in the man in the house to climb up the rope because the helicopter had come to rescue him. The man in the house wouldn't get in. He told the pilot that he had faith in God and would wait for God to rescue him.

The flood waters kept rising and the man in the house drowned. When he got to heaven, he asked God where he went wrong. He told God that he had perfect faith in God, but God had let him drown.

"What more do you want from me?" asked God. "I sent you two boats and a helicopter."

Yes, WMittens but that is the sort of joke that anti-religious people would use to portray religious people as stupid, when no one in reality would refuse help to be saved.

Religious people are not stupid, they just believe there is a dimension beyond the physical of which they form a part and they believe they have a purpose and their existence is not by chance and not meaningless and that is why they believe that prayers for help can be answered in hours of need.

Everything is energy, there are good vibes and bad vibes. Thoughts are energy and prayers are thoughts and are energy waves too, and they spread through the ether and can change reality.

Chaos theory tells us that the flapping of a butterfly's wings can cause a tornado thousand of miles away.

I think that a prayer can change the world and if tens of thousands pray the same prayer and have the same thought and generate the same energy waves, then the chance of change becomes even greater.

I don't know, I've spent my whole life trying really, really hard to 'find God'. And certainly when I was young, I was full-on evangelical about it, even though I didn't actually believe (kept that a deep, dark secret though).

More than half my life praying, attending congregation, preaching, and being as loving toward others as possible and I never felt anything like what others say they feel.

I'm forced down the path of thinking that either there is no one to answer, or if there is, they are deliberately ignoring me.

The funny thing is, even as a borderline atheist now (well, technically atheist since I don't believe... but still trying!), there isn't anything about my life I'd change. I still believe in morals and treating people and animals with compassion and respect. So I just plod on...

Solari, I will answer your post first. I think the answer to you, as it was to LittleSporks earlier in the thread, about the 100 post mark?] is that the answer is to wait. Leave it up to God now, for the timing.
Hard to do, I know.

As an atheist I don't feel my life is pointless or meaningless. It means what I have made it mean. It means family and friends and trying to leave this planet having not used my atoms for harm and having used them for benefit where I can.