Seriously, I want to be a christian. I want to be able to genuinely believe that if im ethically good, that upon death I can be transferred to a perception of reality different from the physical we live in now, called "heaven". Im agnostic, I believe in the possibility of a conscience after death, but I want to be able to believe in a conscience after death. It seriously frustrates me, all I want is a sign, to show me theres conscience after death, all I need is a fucking sign, and I can believe it. Seriously, If I had the ability to fully believe in Christianity, my life would be alot better, and I would be alot happier.
I'm an atheist and I strongly don't believe in a god, but I often feel the same way you do. I wish that I could forget about all my worries and rely on a god/s to guide me and have faith that this life wasn't all there is to it, but I just don't want to trick myself into being happy and believing a lie.
I believe in god and I pretty much never think of asking god to help guide me. I've asked the stars, the planets, and even an old serpent to guide me though.
It doesn't have to be christianity, I just picked that because it sound likes a good afterlife to believe in. I would be fine with any form of afterlife, it really doesn't matter if its the christian "heaven". Just that theres a transition to another perception of existence after death from the physical one we perceive now. Right now I believe in possibilities, I believe in the possibility of that transition after death, but I don't believe in it. Im just saying that if I had the ability to genuinely believe in it, then I would be alot happier, my life would just be all around alot better.
so you want to convince yourself of something you don't believe in? seems a little funny, maybe it's just the way i put it though
Perhaps you could try believing only that Something is there....and look for signs...if youre open to it, That can work in your life.... Just keep your mind open and dont try to make it fit within any particular dogma. and yes, you are right about that *imo..lol
I've actually stopped making eternity the paramount issue in being a follower of Jesus (I like that better than Christian). I'm much more interested in the person of Jesus than I am the theology we've created out of very few references. Furthermore, I have begun to let go of the anthropomorphized version of god. I believe that god is in everything, including inside of us, and our purpose in this life is to simply try and uncover as much of the piece of god inside of each of us possible. I think this is done through humanity, compassion, dignity, amongst others. I think that in the next life we will peel away more layers between us and the god piece, but perhaps through other mechanisms.
nobody knows, so 'believing' it would just be lying to yourself, this is a question that has haunted people since forever, attaching yourself to some religion will just close your mind and make you ignorant nobody knows what anything is or why anything exists at all, only way i've dealt with these thoughts and feelings is philosophy, science, and self improvement etc you wouldn't be happier, i've accepted i don't know and nobody knows what happens after death and what consciousness is, etc, and if anything i'm much happier then when i was christian, i'm much more open minded, my thoughts are clearer because i have no barriers (eg some religion your attached to)