Zone1 One significant reason why many do not believe in religion, it is just too damn hard

[BreezeWood]

The real fairy tale is believing that all life, all intelligence, everything that is seen and unseen is one big accident, the result of dumb luck.

I could never have enough faith to be an atheist.

there in lies your error ... the heavens oversee their domain, material and spiritual to be holy as best they may ... is of its own accord secular and religious - there be atheist in heaven.

- the error of the desert religions through evolution they know will disappear with the last of their bibles.

 

[Meriweather]

The real fairy tale is believing that all life, all intelligence, everything that is seen and unseen is one big accident, the result of dumb luck.

I could never have enough faith to be an atheist.

All my life I've lived with atheists and people of faith--and a search for common ground. Beginning with my grandfather, moving on to my uncle, my husband, and my inlaws has been the assurance they would not want me to be any different than I am--a person of faith, a person seeking after God. I've been asked to give advice/input from the faith perspective--and that has been accepted and valued. None of this has ever moved any of them to have faith in God.

So...what I have been seeking is common ground. Recently I heard a homily that spoke about common ground. It was speaking of personal relationships, but afterwards I began thinking this could also be the common ground for atheists and people of faith. Two points of the homily were that we all want to be happy in the truth. The second point is that while we all want some truths about ourselves to remain hidden/private, we are more comfortable with the whole, entire truth of others being revealed.

Atheists and people of faith both want the truth about God and creation to be revealed. Atheists, for their own individual reasons do not want the truth about God to be revealed. People of faith may ignore the immensity of what science offers them. I teach a lot of science, so I know much about science. But science does not guide me through daily living, while faith does. Many atheists have the position of "even if"...even if...God exists, they don't want him meddling in their daily lives.

We all want to be happy in the truth

Atheists do not have to address God as a fairy tale. If an atheist does not want God meddling in his/her daily life, let that be one's prayer.

Jesus' words to Thomas weigh on me: Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believe.

I wanted to seek and find to such an extent, I did see. Seeing is a great weight to bear, because I know I should be trying harder than I am. That is not God's expectation of me--it is the weight of the expectations--that by knowing--I place on myself.

 

[buttercup]

All my life I've lived with atheists and people of faith--and a search for common ground. Beginning with my grandfather, moving on to my uncle, my husband, and my inlaws has been the assurance they would not want me to be any different than I am--a person of faith, a person seeking after God. I've been asked to give advice/input from the faith perspective--and that has been accepted and valued. None of this has ever moved any of them to have faith in God.

So...what I have been seeking is common ground. Recently I heard a homily that spoke about common ground. It was speaking of personal relationships, but afterwards I began thinking this could also be the common ground for atheists and people of faith. Two points of the homily were that we all want to be happy in the truth. The second point is that while we all want some truths about ourselves to remain hidden/private, we are more comfortable with the whole, entire truth of others being revealed.

Atheists and people of faith both want the truth about God and creation to be revealed. Atheists, for their own individual reasons do not want the truth about God to be revealed. People of faith may ignore the immensity of what science offers them. I teach a lot of science, so I know much about science. But science does not guide me through daily living, while faith does. Many atheists have the position of "even if"...even if...God exists, they don't want him meddling in their daily lives.

We all want to be happy in the truth

Atheists do not have to address God as a fairy tale. If an atheist does not want God meddling in his/her daily life, let that be one's prayer.

Jesus' words to Thomas weigh on me: Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believe.

I wanted to seek and find to such an extent, I did see. Seeing is a great weight to bear, because I know I should be trying harder than I am. That is not God's expectation of me--it is the weight of the expectations--that by knowing--I place on myself.

This might be controversial to some...but I think that anyone (including atheists, agnostics, etc) who genuinely values truth and wants the truth will eventually find it and come to God...since God is the source of truth and truth itself. Like Jesus said, "Seek and you will find."

As for what you said, I think it's great that you try to find common ground. As much as I like to debate, I don't think that one can debate someone into faith. Apologetics is good for addressing misconceptions or breaking down certain barriers that nonbelievers have. But ultimately it takes more than that for someone to come to faith in God.