I need to be a nonbeliever to set myself free. Could someone help me?

[Luciferi Baphomet]

This is a most hated religion to me that I wish to not be open to at all as a possibility. That way, I won't have to worry about going to hell over every little thing I do wrong in this God's eyes.

I also hate Christianity too. It is not about worrying about God. Just do not care about what he thinks. Do what you want to do.​

Someone who judges your way of life you like to enjoy as sinful is a sure way to turn someone off and reject you. That is no way to make friends. That will only make enemies. But a God who supports your way of life and is completely cool with you having parties, sex, etc. would be the most awesome God of all.

I do find it funny that in the bible it says if you judge someone you will be judged which I do believe that backfires on God. http://biblehub.com/matthew/7-2.htm
God is the biggest hypocrite ever. He doesn't want people to enjoy what they do. So people worry and fear if they "Sin" they will go to "hell". Sin was made up to control people and to control peoples minds. Never let sin control your life. Live the life you want to live. If you want to have sex with many people then go right ahead.
To be honest, even Lucifer wants us to live the life to want to live.
Live life to the fullest and enjoy it while you are still alive.
​

 

[Luciferi Baphomet]

You don't have to be a theist to be a Satanist.

I guess that is possible.

 

[Skwim]

It is true that I hate the Christian God, but my emotions do not dictate my stance in a debate. I look at arguments from a purely rational point of view since I wish to know what is really true. Emotions would only serve to give me a very inaccurate and irrational point of view. Therefore, I don't go by emotions in determining which religious/secular view must be true.



Yes, that is correct. I wish to either be fully convinced of heaven and my personal God or to be fully convinced of scientific materialism.



Thank you. But even then it all still comes down to a debate since there would also be many people who would come up with debating arguments against that book. So it is not a simple matter of reading some book and becoming convinced. That would be a simplistic and closed minded approach where you are just simply looking at the small picture. It is looking beyond the book and instead looking at the entire debating community.

It is looking at the overall big picture. So when I go and read up on all the possible debates I can, I find myself completely undecided since there is still no definite answer. Any answer someone presents whether it be through a book or an article, it does not end there. Even these books and articles will have debates. Therefore, it all comes down to debates. So I am not sure how I can be convinced when any answer presented to me will always have arguments against it in return.

It appears you're saying that it comes down to a matter of whose argument you here last. If this the case then I don't see how you will ever decide or be comfortable with what you decide, if you actually do. Questioning and doubting is fine, but there comes a time when you have to add up all the +s and -s, make your informed decision, and then get on with your life. If you can't, then you have my condolences.


.

 

[Kirran]

Yes, that is correct. I wish to either be fully convinced of heaven and my personal God or to be fully convinced of scientific materialism.

So you don't want to be a nonbeliever? Look, you aren't gonna ultimately find your answers on this through talking to people on a debate forum and watching Youtube videos. You may find stuff satisfying your intellect for some time, but that isn't real deep conviction. Take time for your own contemplation, be calm about it, and don't invest everything in having to believe in one or the other, or anything at all. Not knowing in the way you describe is quite a freedom, that many of us do not have the privilege of experiencing.

 

[Luciferi Baphomet]

Questioning and doubting is fine, but there comes a time when you have to add up all the +s and -s, make your informed decision, and then get on with your life.

And what do you mean by that?

 

[Unveiled Artist]

A god would be the deity who created the universe. I don't need Christianity to believe in a god. I just wish to believe in that personal God I've mentioned. But it isn't necessary. All I would want to believe in is an eternal blissful heaven I can go to after I die and have that said life any way I want it to be. If that goal can't be obtained, then I would want to believe that once you die, that is it.

Take Christianity out of the picture. What is stopping you from believing in an eternal blissful heaven? In one post you said beliefs can't be chosen. So, are you having a hard time because you believe heaven doesn't exist even though you really want it to?

Have you considered other worldviews outside of Christianity that doesn't rely on the literal interpretation of heaven?

 

[The Transcended Omniverse]

It appears you're saying that it comes down to a matter of whose argument you here last. If this the case then I don't see how you will ever decide or be comfortable with what you decide, if you actually do. Questioning and doubting is fine, but there comes a time when you have to add up all the +s and -s, make your informed decision, and then get on with your life. If you can't, then you have my condolences.


.

What happens here is that one side will come up with their arguments. But when the other side comes up with their arguments, it's as though it is just as a valid argument in return which renders me unable to see which side of the debate is more likely to be true.

If it were a debate between a highly intelligent person and a very stupid person, then I would obviously be able to see that the intelligent debater is very likely to be true. But since we have both intelligent secular debaters and intelligent religious/Christian debaters such as William Lane Craig, then that makes it utterly impossible for me to even see which side of the debate is more likely to be true. There seems to be no way for me to decide which side of the debate is true.

So you don't want to be a nonbeliever? Look, you aren't gonna ultimately find your answers on this through talking to people on a debate forum and watching Youtube videos. You may find stuff satisfying your intellect for some time, but that isn't real deep conviction. Take time for your own contemplation, be calm about it, and don't invest everything in having to believe in one or the other, or anything at all. Not knowing in the way you describe is quite a freedom, that many of us do not have the privilege of experiencing.

It's obviously not a freedom for me since I have ocd and worry that the possibility of me going to the Christian hell might be true. I wish to be a nonbeliever in terms of Christianity and those other condemning religions. But I wish to believe in a heaven or to be fully convinced of scientific materialism.

Take Christianity out of the picture. What is stopping you from believing in an eternal blissful heaven? In one post you said beliefs can't be chosen. So, are you having a hard time because you believe heaven doesn't exist even though you really want it to?

Have you considered other worldviews outside of Christianity that doesn't rely on the literal interpretation of heaven?

What is stopping me from believing in heaven is that I have looked at all sides of the debate from a purely rational mindset. This mindset has led me to being undecided. I see no definite answer. Only many different possibilities. Yes, I have considered other worldviews. But like I said, I am unable to escape the possibility of Christianity being true. That was my goal--to completely close off the possibility of Christianity and other condemning religions.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Yes, that is correct. I wish to either be fully convinced of heaven and my personal God or to be fully convinced of scientific materialism.

What is your ideal of heaven beyond it being blissful? Are there concrete attributes to heaven, an idea, part of the mind, and emotional state of being, a physical place?

How do you define your personal god beyond what you want him/her/it to be? Is god a part of you or is he/she/it separate? If separate, then this god would have attributes that you may not be comfortable with.

Outside of religion doesn't mean scientific materialism. It just means you find your morals and ways of living are not based on religious beliefs. But given you want to believe in a personal god and a heaven, I'd sit down and write how you define these things. You don't have to subscribe to a religion to believe in god and believe in eternal bliss. It just takes a lot of strength to tell others "this is what I believe and I don't need religion to believe it" or so have you.

As for convincing you, if your mind is set on believing in god and heaven and that is your goal, why would you want someone to convince you of something you want so much? How would you define spirituality or religion without reflecting god, heaven, judgement, etc off of Christianity?

 

[Kirran]

It's obviously not a freedom for me since I have ocd and worry that the possibility of me going to the Christian hell might be true. I wish to be a nonbeliever in terms of Christianity and those other condemning religions. But I wish to believe in a heaven or to be fully convinced of scientific materialism.

Couple of things you might like to try:

Look into Zen.

Look into Advaita Vedanta.

 

[Luciferi Baphomet]

Look into Zen.

Zen?

 

[The Transcended Omniverse]

What is your ideal of heaven beyond it being blissful? Are there concrete attributes to heaven, an idea, part of the mind, and emotional state of being, a physical place?

How do you define your personal god beyond what you want him/her/it to be? Is god a part of you or is he/she/it separate? If separate, then this god would have attributes that you may not be comfortable with.

Outside of religion doesn't mean scientific materialism. It just means you find your morals and ways of living are not based on religious beliefs. But given you want to believe in a personal god and a heaven, I'd sit down and write how you define these things. You don't have to subscribe to a religion to believe in god and believe in eternal bliss. It just takes a lot of strength to tell others "this is what I believe and I don't need religion to believe it" or so have you.

As for convincing you, if your mind is set on believing in god and heaven and that is your goal, why would you want someone to convince you of something you want so much? How would you define spirituality or religion without reflecting god, heaven, judgement, etc off of Christianity?

As for my ideal version of heaven, I would want it to be like a Japanese anime that is beautiful, joyful, has no misery, and has no suffering. I wish to experience the most intense and beautiful feelings of love, joy, and bliss for all eternity and live my life like that forever.

As for my personal God, it actually doesn't matter. I can be God or there can be a separate God. Actually, a God is not important at all. I am hoping to be convinced that such an eternal blissful afterlife exists for me, but I have to keep a rational mindset and determine what is actually real.

I would define spiritual as living forever in eternal love, joy, and bliss with no suffering, no misery, getting what I want, and living how I want. That would be the most profound meaningful and spiritual thing to me.

 

[Kirran]

Zen?

Zen Buddhism, rather.

Some stuff from outside the box a bit (Christianity-stuff vs materialism).

In many eastern philosophies, heaven is right here, you just need to realise it and embrace it. Of course, if you go into this is true in Abrahamic traditions too, but people forget about it - 'The Kingdom of God is within you' and all that.

 

[Deidre]

I went through a struggle with faith beliefs and all of that a few years ago, even into last year. I went from belief, to non belief, to indifference to Islam to Deism...and then returned to Christianity. You are not alone in your struggles, and know this too, that the struggle only is as bad as you let it be. It's okay to not believe if you don't, and it's okay to believe if you do. We are evolving human beings, and someday, you may come to terms with a faith that resonates with you, or you may not. For me, Christianity (my version, I'm not a fundamentalist nor really follow ''religion'' per se) resonates with me. You will find a lot of comfort here because many are on journeys just like you.

 

[Luciferi Baphomet]

Zen Buddhism, rather.

Some stuff from outside the box a bit (Christianity-stuff vs materialism).

In many eastern philosophies, heaven is right here, you just need to realise it and embrace it. Of course, if you go into this is true in Abrahamic traditions too, but people forget about it - 'The Kingdom of God is within you' and all that.

Ah ok then.

 

[Kemosloby]

Perhaps if you excelled at other parts of Christianity and stop worrying about what you can't do. As Paul said "when I sin it's not I who sin but sin which dwells in me"

1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without complaining.…

And above all don't curse God, Jesus or Christianity. Because somewhere in there is the unforgiveable sin.

 

[The Transcended Omniverse]

Perhaps if you excelled at other parts of Christianity and stop worrying about what you can't do. As Paul said "when I sin it's not I who sin but sin which dwells in me"

1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without complaining.…

And above all don't curse God, Jesus or Christianity. Because somewhere in there is the unforgiveable sin.

The serious problem here is that, if Christianity is real, then simply accepting Jesus into my life is not enough. I have to completely change my life and live the way God wants me to and not how I personally want to live which would be living to be happy and to enjoy my hobbies. Not going to happen. I have no desire whatsoever to live or to serve anyone. I am only here in this life to be happy and to have a wonderful time with my hobbies and such as I said before. That's it. That is the only life worth living to me.

 

[Kirran]

The serious problem here is that, if Christianity is real, then simply accepting Jesus into my life is not enough. I have to completely change my life and live the way God wants me to and not how I personally want to live which would be living to be happy and to enjoy my hobbies. Not going to happen. I have no desire whatsoever to live or to serve anyone. I am only here in this life to be happy and to have a wonderful time with my hobbies and such as I said before. That's it. That is the only life worth living to me.

Do you have an instinct to be kind to other people?

 

[Kemosloby]

The serious problem here is that, if Christianity is real, then simply accepting Jesus into my life is not enough. I have to completely change my life and live the way God wants me to and not how I personally want to live which would be living to be happy and to enjoy my hobbies. Not going to happen. I have no desire whatsoever to live or to serve anyone. I am only here in this life to be happy and to have a wonderful time with my hobbies and such as I said before. That's it. That is the only life worth living to me.

The good news is God doesn't need anything from you. "The burden of the Lord is light" take a little time to help other people and you'd be ahead of a lot of people.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

The good news is God doesn't need anything from you. "The burden of the Lord is light" take a little time to help other people and you'd be ahead of a lot of people.

He doesn't want to be a Christian and you're not allowed to try to convert people on here.

 

[Luciferi Baphomet]

He doesn't want to be a Christian and you're not allowed to try to convert people on here.

Agreed. Forcing religion on people is not right.