Did anyone become an atheist late in life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God does not respond to prayers on demand. This is one of the biggest mistakes that all Christians, irregardless of a denomination, make. We should pray to God for wisdom and discernment to understand His message and to become more faithful and more like Christ in our conduct.
God already knows what you need, even before you ask him. He is not looking for prayers on demand, He is looking for a humble heart and discernment of His message. He is looking for disciples. He is looking at your heart to see if you have turned away from your sins, if you have crucified your flesh and denied yourself earthly, fleeting pleasures. Only after you have done all of that can you call upon Him in your hour of need. That's how God works. And He does not respond to every prayer and when you want Him to, He responds in His own time, on His schedule, and according to His will.

I am struggling so much with religion right now. I’m not religious and this is exactly why I am not. Religious people pretend to know exactly what god is. It’s not faith if you act like it’s truth. You are just brainwashed. I can’t stand people telling me how to view god. You all have no idea!

Many religious people need a feeling of certainty to justify their beliefs - and passing them on to others increases the certainty. Also, some of the original rhetoric may come from people in authority (e.g., ministers theologians), so ordinary people repeating it feel that the information can be trusted to be accurate. Meanwhile, everyone is guessing. No one knows the mind of god, or even if there is a god.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God does not respond to prayers on demand. This is one of the biggest mistakes that all Christians, irregardless of a denomination, make. We should pray to God for wisdom and discernment to understand His message and to become more faithful and more like Christ in our conduct.
God already knows what you need, even before you ask him. He is not looking for prayers on demand, He is looking for a humble heart and discernment of His message. He is looking for disciples. He is looking at your heart to see if you have turned away from your sins, if you have crucified your flesh and denied yourself earthly, fleeting pleasures. Only after you have done all of that can you call upon Him in your hour of need. That's how God works. And He does not respond to every prayer and when you want Him to, He responds in His own time, on His schedule, and according to His will.

I am struggling so much with religion right now. I’m not religious and this is exactly why I am not. Religious people pretend to know exactly what god is. It’s not faith if you act like it’s truth. You are just brainwashed. I can’t stand people telling me how to view god. You all have no idea!

Aetheists keep suggesting that god is purely a matter of faith. Many of us have had god answer our prayers and felt Devine providence.

[Anonymous]

My grandmother! She was also Catholic, and spent the first 60-65 years or so of her life highly involved in the church. It was basically the expectation in her New York Irish immigrant community. She was raised in a highly devout household and then went on to raise six kids in the same manner.

She eventually got divorced (my grandfather was highly controlling and abusive) and now lives very happily and actively on her own. She realized, that, much like you said, religion because her crutch and something she only did to stay close to her family and because it was the norm. But she realized that it was something she truly believed in and that that family she thought she was clinging to wasn't actually that kind to her. She seems happy with her choices. She actually still volunteers at some Catholic churches (and other religious places - she volunteers a lot) and spends time reading about philosophy and religion. She minds it interesting. However, she is resolutely atheist.

Today, there are a mixture of still-practicing Catholics, cafeteria Catholics, agnostics, and atheists circling around my family. Everyone gets along.

[Anonymous]

It wasn't an a-ha moment for me. It took a few years, and a few different events.

Even now I don't know that I'm actually an atheist. I certainly don't believe in the God I was taught about as a child, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God does not respond to prayers on demand. This is one of the biggest mistakes that all Christians, irregardless of a denomination, make. We should pray to God for wisdom and discernment to understand His message and to become more faithful and more like Christ in our conduct.
God already knows what you need, even before you ask him. He is not looking for prayers on demand, He is looking for a humble heart and discernment of His message. He is looking for disciples. He is looking at your heart to see if you have turned away from your sins, if you have crucified your flesh and denied yourself earthly, fleeting pleasures. Only after you have done all of that can you call upon Him in your hour of need. That's how God works. And He does not respond to every prayer and when you want Him to, He responds in His own time, on His schedule, and according to His will.

I am struggling so much with religion right now. I’m not religious and this is exactly why I am not. Religious people pretend to know exactly what god is. It’s not faith if you act like it’s truth. You are just brainwashed. I can’t stand people telling me how to view god. You all have no idea!

Aetheists keep suggesting that god is purely a matter of faith. Many of us have had god answer our prayers and felt Devine providence.

Why even engage with atheists? There are things that they can never understand because they don't practice faith. I think they are best left to their own devices to affirm each other among themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God does not respond to prayers on demand. This is one of the biggest mistakes that all Christians, irregardless of a denomination, make. We should pray to God for wisdom and discernment to understand His message and to become more faithful and more like Christ in our conduct.
God already knows what you need, even before you ask him. He is not looking for prayers on demand, He is looking for a humble heart and discernment of His message. He is looking for disciples. He is looking at your heart to see if you have turned away from your sins, if you have crucified your flesh and denied yourself earthly, fleeting pleasures. Only after you have done all of that can you call upon Him in your hour of need. That's how God works. And He does not respond to every prayer and when you want Him to, He responds in His own time, on His schedule, and according to His will.

I am struggling so much with religion right now. I’m not religious and this is exactly why I am not. Religious people pretend to know exactly what god is. It’s not faith if you act like it’s truth. You are just brainwashed. I can’t stand people telling me how to view god. You all have no idea!

Aetheists keep suggesting that god is purely a matter of faith. Many of us have had god answer our prayers and felt Devine providence.

Why even engage with atheists? There are things that they can never understand because they don't practice faith. I think they are best left to their own devices to affirm each other among themselves.

Because I want them to be on the right path. Life doesn't have to be painful, it can be fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God does not respond to prayers on demand. This is one of the biggest mistakes that all Christians, irregardless of a denomination, make. We should pray to God for wisdom and discernment to understand His message and to become more faithful and more like Christ in our conduct.
God already knows what you need, even before you ask him. He is not looking for prayers on demand, He is looking for a humble heart and discernment of His message. He is looking for disciples. He is looking at your heart to see if you have turned away from your sins, if you have crucified your flesh and denied yourself earthly, fleeting pleasures. Only after you have done all of that can you call upon Him in your hour of need. That's how God works. And He does not respond to every prayer and when you want Him to, He responds in His own time, on His schedule, and according to His will.

I am struggling so much with religion right now. I’m not religious and this is exactly why I am not. Religious people pretend to know exactly what god is. It’s not faith if you act like it’s truth. You are just brainwashed. I can’t stand people telling me how to view god. You all have no idea!

Aetheists keep suggesting that god is purely a matter of faith. Many of us have had god answer our prayers and felt Devine providence.

Why even engage with atheists? There are things that they can never understand because they don't practice faith. I think they are best left to their own devices to affirm each other among themselves.

Because I want them to be on the right path. Life doesn't have to be painful, it can be fun.

Why? You can't change their minds by reasoning with them. All you can do is to pray that the Holy Spirit descends upon their own spirit so they can see the truth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God does not respond to prayers on demand. This is one of the biggest mistakes that all Christians, irregardless of a denomination, make. We should pray to God for wisdom and discernment to understand His message and to become more faithful and more like Christ in our conduct.
God already knows what you need, even before you ask him. He is not looking for prayers on demand, He is looking for a humble heart and discernment of His message. He is looking for disciples. He is looking at your heart to see if you have turned away from your sins, if you have crucified your flesh and denied yourself earthly, fleeting pleasures. Only after you have done all of that can you call upon Him in your hour of need. That's how God works. And He does not respond to every prayer and when you want Him to, He responds in His own time, on His schedule, and according to His will.

I am struggling so much with religion right now. I’m not religious and this is exactly why I am not. Religious people pretend to know exactly what god is. It’s not faith if you act like it’s truth. You are just brainwashed. I can’t stand people telling me how to view god. You all have no idea!

Aetheists keep suggesting that god is purely a matter of faith. Many of us have had god answer our prayers and felt Devine providence.

Why even engage with atheists? There are things that they can never understand because they don't practice faith. I think they are best left to their own devices to affirm each other among themselves.

Because I want them to be on the right path. Life doesn't have to be painful, it can be fun.

Why? You can't change their minds by reasoning with them. All you can do is to pray that the Holy Spirit descends upon their own spirit so they can see the truth.

I’m the 2nd pp quoted. The one “struggling so much with religion”. I am not an atheist. I believe there is more to this world than we see or know. I believe there is something greater than us that connects everyone on a level we can’t perceive. Kind of like the connection might be love, and god is love. I do not participate in any organized religion, and while i see value in having faith in a religion, I see more terrible, terrible things stemming from it. My personal beliefs are not faith. It is how I choose to believe what I don’t understand. I’m open to your ideas, but I have difficulty accepting such a rigid system of beliefs and believing any mortal man or woman knows what the flying f is actually going on in this world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God does not respond to prayers on demand. This is one of the biggest mistakes that all Christians, irregardless of a denomination, make. We should pray to God for wisdom and discernment to understand His message and to become more faithful and more like Christ in our conduct.
God already knows what you need, even before you ask him. He is not looking for prayers on demand, He is looking for a humble heart and discernment of His message. He is looking for disciples. He is looking at your heart to see if you have turned away from your sins, if you have crucified your flesh and denied yourself earthly, fleeting pleasures. Only after you have done all of that can you call upon Him in your hour of need. That's how God works. And He does not respond to every prayer and when you want Him to, He responds in His own time, on His schedule, and according to His will.

I am struggling so much with religion right now. I’m not religious and this is exactly why I am not. Religious people pretend to know exactly what god is. It’s not faith if you act like it’s truth. You are just brainwashed. I can’t stand people telling me how to view god. You all have no idea!

Aetheists keep suggesting that god is purely a matter of faith. Many of us have had god answer our prayers and felt Devine providence.

Why even engage with atheists? There are things that they can never understand because they don't practice faith. I think they are best left to their own devices to affirm each other among themselves.

Because I want them to be on the right path. Life doesn't have to be painful, it can be fun.

Why? You can't change their minds by reasoning with them. All you can do is to pray that the Holy Spirit descends upon their own spirit so they can see the truth.

Is this a real post or a parody?