I've spent the past years investigating my beliefs and faith, deconstructing , reconstructing, and testing them.

I used to believe Jesus was my savior, heaven waited for me, how could it be otherwise, the holy spirit's presence in my life could be literally felt.

What I now believe has been profoundly disturbing, not in it's self, but in the net destabilizing effect on my psyche. You might ask, what do I believe? I believe our ancestors created the "God concept" as a mirror image of the self, an imaginary being having the perfect attributes we seek to embrace. Virtues being hard to exercise in a chaotic and overwhelming world, God is the steadfast guardian who stands up to all challenges and prevails. In summary I believe wise men formulated religion as an ancient system of psychotherapy for the masses and as such Jesus is a fraud assuming he's not entirely made up. I believe the holy spirit as typically experienced is merely an catharsis, or release, induced by thoughts of admiration, sympathy, sorrow, love, and forgiveness.

This absence of God has left a large vacume in my life, as I now stand in an empty hall, my will is a vector pointing in any and no direction.

God Is Love, HE Is Energy, & Light. We connect to JESUS Christ via The Holy Spirit, Who Died for our sins, & one to another, in a beautiful transforming way that will be complete in Heaven.

(06-28-2011 03:12 AM)LostSoul Wrote:  I've spent the past years investigating my beliefs and faith, deconstructing , reconstructing, and testing them.

I used to believe Jesus was my savior, heaven waited for me, how could it be otherwise, the holy spirit's presence in my life could be literally felt.

What I now believe has been profoundly disturbing, not in it's self, but in the net destabilizing effect on my psyche. You might ask, what do I believe? I believe our ancestors created the "God concept" as a mirror image of the self, an imaginary being having the perfect attributes we seek to embrace. Virtues being hard to exercise in a chaotic and overwhelming world, God is the steadfast guardian who stands up to all challenges and prevails. In summary I believe wise men formulated religion as an ancient system of psychotherapy for the masses and as such Jesus is a fraud assuming he's not entirely made up. I believe the holy spirit as typically experienced is merely an catharsis, or release, induced by thoughts of admiration, sympathy, sorrow, love, and forgiveness.

This absence of God has left a large vacume in my life, as I now stand in an empty hall, my will is a vector pointing in any and no direction.

Because of the way you believe that's why you feel that void in your life. For God is the only one that can fill that void, but the God you believe is man made who can do nothing, unlike the real living God of the whole universe. May He open your eyes and soften your heart to the truth.

I don't mean this to be negative, but I think you need to ask yourself, when did you stop believing in God? Was it because you entered a non-christian school or that some circumstance happened in your life? I'm not protesting non-christian schools, because I've attended them and by the Grace of the Lord I have been able to retain my faith. However, if you start giving into your unbelief then your unbelief in God will grow and I think it is possible to even block out the existence of God. Psalm 41 testifies of the Lord's presence and how that everyone in the world, whether they're saved or not saved, have ever heard about Christ or not, knows that there must be something bigger than themselves. Honestly, evolution would have you to believe everything to happen by accident, when in fact if you look at the measurements in science, everything happens with such exactment that it is impossible to be convinced that the Lord didn't design such things without first ignoring your faith.

In every culture, even pegan cultures, there's at least some spiritual system in place and we once had a missionary who visited our church and he explained some rituals that were performed in the Native American Tribe that he was trying to reach. He said that they had an attonment ceremony where they gave flesh and blood sacrifices of themselves. Unfortunately, I cannot give enough detail to illustrate this well enough, but at the end of the illustration, he compared it to the story of Christ and it was evident that even in that pegan ritual, the people had evidence of the Lord! That's amazing considering the Lord can speak to people even through their sinful condition!

My guess is that something happened in your life, a time when you thought God wasn't there, and you fed it. You stopped praying for whatever reason, you stopped studying your bible, you stopped walking with God and now you don't believe in Him. If I'm wrong, then you can ignore what I'm saying--but I think we both know otherwise.

As it says in Psalms 14:1 the foolish man will say that there is no God. I think you know better and that you need to resolve whatever resentment you have with Him or else you'll continue to have a void. The Lord wants you back, because He's the friend that sticketh closer than a brother and that's why you're feeling so empty. The real question is do you want Him back?

I come in love and I realize that I have been blunt, but I think it was necessary. I hope that this answers your questions.

Lost Love

(06-28-2011 03:12 AM)LostSoul Wrote:  I've spent the past years investigating my beliefs and faith, deconstructing , reconstructing, and testing them.

I used to believe Jesus was my savior, heaven waited for me, how could it be otherwise, the holy spirit's presence in my life could be literally felt.

What I now believe has been profoundly disturbing, not in it's self, but in the net destabilizing effect on my psyche. You might ask, what do I believe? I believe our ancestors created the "God concept" as a mirror image of the self, an imaginary being having the perfect attributes we seek to embrace. Virtues being hard to exercise in a chaotic and overwhelming world, God is the steadfast guardian who stands up to all challenges and prevails. In summary I believe wise men formulated religion as an ancient system of psychotherapy for the masses and as such Jesus is a fraud assuming he's not entirely made up. I believe the holy spirit as typically experienced is merely an catharsis, or release, induced by thoughts of admiration, sympathy, sorrow, love, and forgiveness.

This absence of God has left a large vacume in my life, as I now stand in an empty hall, my will is a vector pointing in any and no direction.

How did you feel when God was in your life and How do you feel now that you have not let him in your life and you dont believe? What are the diffrences?

I am so sorry to hear that you feel this way. That somehow you have seemed to loose your faith to a degree that you simply don't believe in God's existence or in Our Savior. This is heart breaking. I think you need some self reflection and think of the things you have seen take place, the amazing things you have seen take place that no man can explain. How there have been studies done on patients who have been prayed for and another group who were not and the ones who were prayed for did so much better then the ones who did not, the prayers that were answered when you did believe, the things you saw take place that were seemingly impossible, the peace that overcame you for no apparent reason but God. I think that sometimes we get so hurt from life that the enemy, satan, convinces us that God does not exist because if He did why does He allow such hurt but then we have to remember the Cross and Our Lord's words. If the World hated HIM surely it will hate us and sometimes things will be so painful it will bring us to our knees but I know a God Who is the Only 1 Who can get us to stand again. I can give you many countless instances of The Reasons I know for myself and in my life that God and Jesus and The Holy Spirit is real, not based on the Bible or any thing someone else has said, but in my life I have seen HIM move. I have seen HIM take my premature baby Nephew, who was born 4 months early, seemingly dead, no heart beat, no lung activity, no life whatsoever and Doctors thought it was over but GOD Our GOD brought him back to life and he is now 2 and so healthy and happy. My Mother is a living testimony, my Nephew, my Grandmother, myself, my babies, we are all living testimonies. The time The Lord picked me up off of the ground when I was about to swallow pills and literally saved my life and told the enemy no, he can not have me. I can go on and on. Think, just think, you will remember what He has done for you. The simple fact that you are here writing to us shows that you still have some belief somewhere inside of you and I am praying for you, you might not want it but I am, we all are, and we are standing in the gap. You will come back to Our Lord, He is Home. God bless and love you abundantly and most of all take you back Home, you and all who no longer see HIM because of the enemy being blinding, I pray that you all come back Home in Jesus name. Lord, work such a Miracle in Your childrens lives that they have no choice but to know and believe it is YOU. No explanation but YOU. In Jesus Name. Amen