okay so i have lost faith(not trying to start a fight)

okay so im not trying to start a fight here but on my recent years I have lost faith in god...to the point I don't believe anymore....I have had some bad luck in my life...I fell into depression and all this and I just stopped believing. I have so many questions about god and no answers...like why does he(if he is real) put good people threw hard times and let the bad off scot free....stuff like that...I used to pray and my prayers went unanswered....so I just stopped believing

I am not insulting your religion simply just looking for answers

I know what its like to lose faith, I've been working very hard on regaining my own. I don't know what to say. I don't think anyone will ever be able to give you the answers you need. Its my belief that God is in the individual and so in order to get answers, you have to look into yourself to better understand. As for how he can allow injustice to continue as it is, I don't think thats something we'll ever understand. I just look at how I am and know that I wouldn't want to turn out any other way. I have God to thank for putting me through all the bad things I've been through and I accept him as not purely benevolent but two entities of creation and destruction, for in my eyes destruction is creation and wicked things happen to the good to make them stronger. I guess what I'm really trying to say is, we could tell you that there is or isn't a deity, we could try to explain him to you but the answers are all in you and the only way you're ever going to find them (in my opinion) is by looking into yourself. I wish you luck.

yeah me too i've lost faith as well. i prayed so many times for my family and i to get along but it never worked out. prayer or no prayer, my life would still be the same. i prayed for better friends this and last year but it didn't work. seems like i'm under a curse or something. i am just so angry by the minute. i wish there was someone out there who could just hear my troubles. i hate life. if prayer doesn't work, why should i even try? i'm sick of not getting my prayers answered

wow! thank you! that really helped a lot! thank you that quote "destruction is creation" that is an amazing way to look at things! just like with death comes life....truly amazing

Great! This was the way I learned to cope with my beliefs so I hoped it could do the same for you. I'm really glad I was able to help.

I am glad im not the only one who gets angry at the fact of this...I get angry when I cant find the answers and it got to the point I stopped praying and then I lost faith and last I just stopped believing. I live next to a church and im thinking of asking the priest to clear things up for me. but it gets to so angry

It's hard to understand how God has things happened. You know there are so many times in my life that I have lost faith, even now I am battling with myself, my alcoholism and depression. I look at other people and say "wow they are so beautiful, god really blessed them" and then I look at myself and say, "wow, he really messed me up". I guess what I am trying to say is, you have to find the faith of God and that type of spirituality within yourself. When you are ready to believe, you will believe. It will hit you. Just like it left you, it may come back. Maybe one day you will pray again, but no one is forcing you. Faith is hard, for all of us, You are not alone in your struggles, I completely understand. You are not alone.

wish you much luck in your life

There is no "Super Parent" out there. No need to be Parented anyway, for someone like you. No "wishing well" prayers will be answered any way. Be your own Warrior and you prayers will be answered. There is no good or bad, for the universe mirrors all, so what is good or bad? when all is mirrored back upon eachother!

I too have questioned my faith in God. I still don't say I believe in GOD, but I do believe in a higher power. I don't know how to make trees or oceans, and don't know anyone else that has that ability, so for me, I can say with most certainty something/one has a higher intelligence than anyone I know on this earthly planet. That said. I have become very spiritual, finding love to be my guide. Love and compassion are my beliefs. I look down on no one for their religious/spirtual beliefs as long as they don't harm anyone. Your path will lead you where you should be. Just listen to your heart. It will tell you what is true and not true for you.

Sending a PM instead

Hello, firefighter369. I understand what you are saying. I hope you find a belief system that works for you.

God loves you firefighter369. Never forget that he works in very mysterious ways, and that your prayers may not be answered in the ways or order you might expect.

A year to us, is like a second to him. You've got to have faith in the Lord at all times, even in the worst of times. Chances are very likely that he is testing you.

There is nothing more upsetting than having your 13 year daughter tell you that God is Mean.... and that God would not hurt young children!!! God could not do this to anyone that loves him and his angles..... she lost four very young friends in past 3 years.... and I believe I gained 4 angles.... Hugs

It can be a great sense of loss, but ultimately it can be freeing. Best of luck too you in whatever path you choose.

you live next to a priest? I didn't know that.

I totally understand where you are coming from, i too lost faith a few years ago and have still not refound it. like you i have had more than my share of hard times whilst watching bad people sail through life unhindered. my prayers went unanswered even though they were for the good of others not myself. i have come to think that if god did exhist and do what the bible says he did then he is/was a very sick person (2 people Adam and Eve made a mistake so he punishes every man and woman from that day forward...sooo unfair!) or at best he made a very big mistake when creating people and in his control over them, because no sane person would give a few good people so much cxxp to deal with on a constant basis whilst the scum of society sail through life unhindered.
and whats the point of going to church every Sunday to say hi to god when the bible says he is watching over us all the time anyway!

the church is the most heinous organization to ever exist on the earth. look what it has done. the time i spent there was hell! my family and I have been divided because of them. the southern baptist denomination needs to be dismantled because they keep indoctrinating people with their hard-to-live-by beliefs and it's not working. I hate southern baptist. i'll never forgive it because of the things they did. what's more those guys love to pray for people when they don't get their way.
i wanted to get baptized initially but once i found out that the church was not helping me in any way, i decided to stop going. i don't want to ever return to that organization. i was isolated from the crowd and the crowd did not include me in there. yeah, that's right. they all went on their own. they did not want me in their hoard. i was left alone most of the time sitting there watching and trying to be a part of everything alongside worshiping God but now i don't think that my time there was worth it because there are so many sects that have just popped up in teh last couple of years and i just don't think that they have much authority. i will not return unless those people decide to apologize to me.

the church divides people, it tells you that you are to be different. how different are these guys anyway? one day they're been to disneyland and the next they've been to the worst place that you can possibly imagine. i hate the church for its selfishness and self-glory. i'm not surprised that many organizations are failing to meet the needs of many congregants. the church does not care about the congregants but the money they get in teh collection plate.
the church has done a lot of damage to people. i cannot believe that they are not taking these times seriously.
the church was not very welcoming to me on the last day i left. one guy was a super religious dude who just came back from church camp and told me a wonderful experience he's had and all that and that he would like me to partake in it. then a guy, who happens to be the son of a deacon, whispered in his ear and he told me that he wanted to get to know me better. at the time i was very down and had nobody to turn to. even the so called christian friends i had at school did not help. i am ever sad to this day. thinking about this just ruins my mood.

on the first day i attended sunday school, everybody was very welcoming. nobody said anything bad. until they discovered that i was sinning or whatnot, they began to get a little wary of me. and then they started to dissociate themselves from me. i hated them very much. i was really angry with them. then i moved here to this new city where i was miles away from them and one of the guys, the deacon's son, wanted me to be back. i didn't know that he had an ulterior motive. i thought that they really wanted me back. but turns out they only needed me because the church was not doing so well last year. a lot of people had not been showing up to any of the events that they offered. i had a lot of problems during that time, at school with nonchristian friends. i sounded like a total religious freak, preaching and stuff like that. now i regret making a fool of myself. i mean, these religious folks obviously don't believe in what they say because if they did, they would not be so hypocritical.

then i found out that i was addicted when i first became a follower. i knew it. the church. it's always the church's fault. the people in there struggled with lust and i knew it. they told me before i officially left teh church. no wonder i had been struggling it myself. boy, i would never want to enter such an unclean place.

I have also really struggled, and am still struggling with questions about my faith and God. I have come to learn that faith is not a "stick-your-head-in-the-sand-and-just-blindly-walk" type of thing. In fact, I believe it is just the opposite. I think it is about taking everything you go through and all the doubts and questions, and determining that there is more to life, something bigger than this life that ultimately we cannot reason out with our finite minds.

Without faith we can have no hope. Hope is putting one foot in front of the other when you think you have nothing left and when nothing makes sense. It takes crazy faith to have any hope at all. And to have faith there must be something greater than our selves.

For me, and I by all means do not want to put down anyone's beliefs at all, (I know first-hand that the church is full of hypocrites, and God's goodness is questionable at times), but for me, I have found the answer only in Christ. I don't want to turn anyone off by saying this, but it is true. I have tried to end my life, I have been in the deepest, darkness of all places, and I have learned that, without Christ there is no reason, no hope worth pressing on towards. With Christ, I can "let my guard down." I can stop hopelessly trying to get to a better place, to be someone better, but rather I have the freedom to relax. This does not mean that I do not have to work, hard, every single moment of every single day, but it means that I have a reason to press on because, when it comes down to eternity, Christ has done the work for me. And "all" I have to do is believe that He is who He says He is. That alone gives me hope to keep going, because I know that my eternity is secure, that he promises true bliss for all of eternity. As difficult and awful and black as this is right now, ultimately, in light of all eternity, this life is but a moment. Because I have gone through hell on this earth, I can truly say that for me, Christ saves. He does not ever promise an "easy" life, but He alone promises salvation that does not take work. I don't have to try to do it and fix me on my own. I have learned that that is impossible. I "just" need to believe that there is something better out there for me and that Christ has paved the way for my to get there.

Again, this is just where I am, and by no means at all to I mean to offend, or condemn what everyone is struggling with. I struggle just as much with questions about God's goodness. All I am saying that I have found the answer in Christ. And that alone keeps me trudging through the toughest of times.

Thanks for opening up, I really appreciate your vulnerability. I hope you find acceptance here. (I am afraid that I will be rejected for my beliefs).

Each of us has our own experiences. None of us has a monopoly on the truth. I do not have to agree to show respect for another's beliefs. I stick to what works for me.

I had a really strong faith for over three years and then in December it left me, after slowly dwindling for several months. I experienced it as an acute loss, the loss of the best part of me. I thought there was something wrong with me, that I had done something wrong for this to happen, that I was being punished or something. But what I have learned from this is that you never know what lies ahead, and even though it all seems separate - parting ways from a particular path or belief, going a different way - it's really all part of the same whole, the life journey. I don't know if you find comfort in that...I have learned to. Plus it takes the pressure off me to have certain beliefs or be a certain way that maybe I'm not meant to be, and also it takes the pressure off of what a relationship with (insert noun here) should look like. Faith is a deeply personal thing and even though sometimes it's hard and it hurts, I think that ultimately every turning point is a celebration, a stepping stone to the next place.

i feel like my faith wavers a lot.. like once in a while i will feel spiritual and then lot of times i feel nothing at all.. like god doesnt exist.