How to live if no faith...

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2003
How to live if no faith...
78
Fri, 07-28-2006 - 7:33am
I have been a firm Catholic ever since little. That was my own choice, somehow I found a way to it since no one in my family went to church. It was nice in one way, so fulfilling being a part of that society and believing God loves me endlessly, he's always there to help and so on.
The other side of story was so much illogical belief like going to hell for one mortal sin and so on and so on...
Little by little, exploring and questioning, I came to a point where I stopped believing. Not just in Catholic church but in God himself. Better to say, seeing all the stuff in the world and problems that we all face, how there so much pain and hurt and no religion gave me answer why it all happens, I stopped believing God as in something magnificent, big, and endlessly loving.
Now I live empty, faithlessly, like a shell without nothing in it. This life ain't so pretty any more. Sure, everything goes well for me, but I feel deep inside that nothing fulfills me.
People, what experiences do you have?
How to regain my faith?
I miss believing that this whole life really has a purpose. I miss someone to have to follow. And above all I miss God.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
Mon, 07-31-2006 - 3:47pm

Cynthia,


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 07-31-2006 - 6:16pm
We are not supposed to remember our last lives when we come here. sometimes something bleeds thru, like a deja vu or a knowing etc. why don't you read Brian weiss's book, many lives, many masters. Then tell us what you think of it?
This planet is not an easy place to live on. Some learn from their mistakes, I have changes A LOT. Lots more to go, some don't, they will relive the experiences in another life till they get it. Love, Leila
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2002
Tue, 08-01-2006 - 12:41am

I've been really busy recently so I limitted the number of boards I visited in the past.

Congrats on being CL of the month girl :-)

That shoe analogy is somthing I came with a long time back when I was wondering what is faith and what is it's use...when I came to the conclusion it was something that helps us go through life's up and down I said "Hey very much like a pair of shoes" And till date I haven't found a better way to explain faith and the differences between each of them.

This July my sis came to India with my mom for the wedding and 2 days before D-day my sis went into high critic mode of religion saying ALL the follower were ignornant...Needless to say I didn't like her statment much and we got into debate mode about the difference between a religion and faith, and at one point she said the only truth was the scientific truth and that once we die we die there is no reason to be scared of it and try to invent an afterlife to confort ourself...I respect her point of view...I don't respect her disrespect of believes other than hers. And that do not give her the right to label those who need confort of an afterlife as ignorant. I concluded my explanation : So you like wearing boots..just because you do don't mean everybody has to...I'm a flip flop girl works fine for me!









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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2002
Tue, 08-01-2006 - 1:18am

I don't think many persons remember their past lives...I myself don't, but we all have those "deja Vu" moment, of have some strong dislike and likes early in childhood we can't really explain, or affinities with a certain culture or language which we pick up faster than other thing.

The reincarnation "theory" is linked to the karma one. We all have a lesson to learn in life, and this lesson might take several life times to understand. Our rebirth into another life do not mean we are being punished...as far as I know the only religion who clrealy states a punishment notion is christianity where you sin and go to hell behave good and go the heaven. The actions good or bad determine the nature of your next life...we all leanr stuff in our current life and need to learn new thing sin another one, but how can a millionnaire heir learn about the hardship of life? being reborn in a loewr condition could be a way, I think our sould envolves from life to life and what we carry from one life to another are not concrete memories and images, but feelings, emotions and instincts which will help us go on and step on the new path ahead of us to learn some more about life.

Nowhere in the concept of karma it is said we are reborn into somthing as apunishment, we are reborn in something we deserved to be reborn as questionnable as it may seem to be. in Hinduism the ability to live the life given to you in the right way is call "Dharma" it means that you've been born into this condition love it or laothe it and that you must mke the best out of it to be reborn in something else and be free of the lessons you are meant to learn in order to stop the reincarnation cycle and reach "nirvana" (which is the equivalent of heaven in christianity) there is no concept of hell, different persons need different way to learn and more or less time to learn it...nothing bad or wrong with this.

Now free we are to believe or not in this, I can perfectly understand some persons feel very unconfortable about the concept of reincarnation. death is a disturbing thought and we all need to find our way to be conforted with the idea of dying.









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My Adventures

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2003
Tue, 08-01-2006 - 1:20am
Leila, I have read so many books that each new one confuses me more and more. So my basic thought here is how to live if no faith, how to find it if nothing else except real proof, real sign works.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2002
Tue, 08-01-2006 - 1:37am

Hi Barbara,

I rember you as dustbunny on the allergies and asthma board indeed :-) Glad to be back :-)









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My Adventures

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2003
Tue, 08-01-2006 - 2:54am

I've read about it and it definitely sounds more appealing than the concept of hell and heaven.
However, when in time of doubt, when no faith, all I can say about this life is that it is hell here and I'm left here to suffer, no idea of nirvana, dharma or any other concept can help me look on the bright side.

Yeah I know, the biggest problem of mine is questioning everything, asking too much and dwelling over theories... but I can't help myself.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 08-01-2006 - 4:19am

Sunny, you just mentioned that your biggest problem
was questioning too much.

I remember years ago, there was a month in which I
decided to be skeptical, to question everything and
boy was I ever miserable and feeling ugly.
God stopped blessing me because I turned my faith
off, so to speak, he just let me have what I wanted
for myself that month: the confusion, the doubt,
the fear, etc. Free will we want, free will we get.

Then I "woke up" and said to God: I want what I had
with you before I decided experiment with fear and
doubt LOL!
So I prayed for God to reveal his heart and his ways
to me again, I prayed for him to remind me of all the
blessings he gave to me and my family and that I wanted
to experience his love and blessings for the rest of
my life. He has not quit yet, and nor will he ever.

It does not mean that bad things won't happen. But he
will be there for us, just as he was before, every step
of the way even if we don't see or feel him.
I just "know" he is there. No one else has been rewarding
me for my faith lol! And I don't want anything/anyone
else to...they would have a hard act to follow : )
And he will be there for everyone that asks as I did,
and that includes you if you one day desire.

I cannot imagine my life without Faith in God; from the
day of my birth it's been a nice ride (and my dad died
when I was 2 months, but we continued to have a great
life!)

Oh, I am so excited about the rest of my life, whether
I live for another 50 years or 50 days with the next
in Heaven, and I am excited about your's too, when you
find your way again. Keep us posted....

Hugs,
Cindy

p.s. feel free to email us via our profiles
p.s.s. Even though I don't know your name or much about
you, I know that God loves you and knows you so well;
when I pray for you I don't need to tell him your name
because he knew you even before you were born. He'll
always know what people I am talking to him about.


~*~ fear tolerated is faith contaminated.... ~*~



~*~ Aloha to all .... ~*~

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2003
Tue, 08-01-2006 - 5:00am

Cindy,
It's a wonderful story, how you decided to question and then decided to go back to him :)

To me, on the other hand, I never "decided" to question. OK, all my life I've had doubts of some sort but mostly was happy in Catholic church. The real questioning came when I went through agony few years ago and suddenly became lost in anxiety, depression, panick... I asked Him to help out, and he just continued to be silent. I decided to find alternative ways of help, that's when I completely lost myself. In the atempt of helping myself to heal, to get over the agony, I completely lost everything in me.

I, just like you, can't live without him. And yet I'm forced to.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 08-01-2006 - 10:34am

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