Dilemma

[shyguy32]

I'm sure that a lot of you saw my other post. So I have a different dilemma now.

So basically I'm not so sure a God exist. For the most part I believe that religion and the existence of God was made up by man thousands of years ago to keep the masses under control.

Saying that I know studies show that people who believe in God are happier then those that don't (general statement, not always). That their belief in God gives them a sense of peace in their lives.

Where as my belief is that when people pray to God and "find the answers" they're looking for, that they're basically searching within themselves, their mind, their heart and finding the answers.

So with that being said, my social circle isn't very big and I'm thinking about checking out some churches just to meet people and help people and maybe become a little happier through the non existence or existence of God.

I'm not even sure.....what do you guys think? Probably the wrong forum for this.

 

[shyguy32]

Yeah...I'm not really sure what I'm going to do just yet. I've thought about taking about 6 months off from women and just focusing on getting healthy, working out and working on my attitude/personality...whatever you want to call it.

Plus I have to figure out what I really want, most of the women I date are more than 10 years younger than I am who want children. I really am looking to find that right person and i've been doing the "single" scene for 10 years and most of the time I love it. No one to answer to so I can do what I want, when I want. But it seems that theres something inside that fears I'm going to grow old by myself I guess. Isn't that what a lot of guys say that we have to figure out why we're here and what we want? When I first came to this site it was to learn how to act, attract and bang women. I don't know what is a lot or what is a little. But the ultimate goal isn't how many women you bang is it? Isn't the ultimate goal to be happy with who you are?

I've been on this site for almost 7 years I think and I've learned a lot of stuff and Im so much different than I was when I first started doing all this. But I do realize I have a long way to go to get anywhere near where a lot of you are. But I have to ask myself how many more women do I want to have sex with before I get where I want to be, when in reality I think that I'd be happy just finding the one woman that would make me happy. I'm afraid that I'm getting older and it's making more at risk to let my natural fears of being along settle for someone that isn't worthy to be with me.

 

[Warrior74]

I came to terms with my Atheism in my 30s. I grew up very religious. We used to attend church 3-4 days out of the week. I live in the deep south around very religious people. If I bring up my atheism, I'm looked at as worse than the devil. I've lost a few friends and a few dates over it without even saying the A word. I'll say I'm non religious, or I'm not a church goer and they push until I refuse to relent and then it's a problem.

Am I afraid of dying? Of course, it's human nature. What if I'm wrong? Hell what if they are wrong? What if Zeus was the one true god? We are all taking pascals wager on our chosen religion. We are all atheist to every other religion but our own, I just go one religion further.

Anyway your religious "choice" is more about where you were born and how you were indoctrinated as a child than any conscious choice on your part. You never really stood a chance on choosing it freely until now.

If you want to read more, one of the largest groups of atheist online is on reddit. www.reddit.com/r/atheism (which has gotten a bit lame with all the memes and facebook christian bashing since it got huge online). If you want detailed conversation and discussion you should check out these

http://www.reddit.com/r/trueatheism
http://www.reddit.com/r/AtheismComingOut/
http://www.reddit.com/r/agnostic
http://www.reddit.com/r/DebateAnAtheist
http://www.reddit.com/r/freethought
http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic
http://www.reddit.com/r/criticalthinking/

These days I have churches and religious clients, and I just keep my beliefs to myself. It's not worth the grief. I smile and nod my head and have a live and let live attitude. Your milage may vary. Good luck!

*edit* I think we never escape the upbringing of our youth. I still try to treat people well. I'm still nice and polite. I still try to follow the golden rule. But now I do these things because I want to. Not out of fear of hell or lusting after salvation. And I feel better about being a good person because it's something I choose to do for myself. I live by the words of Marcus Aurelius, one of the great Roman Emperors,

“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”