i understand completely!
in grade three i didnt belive in god and all of my friends were so christian and id always get in fights with them about it.
i agree when you say " I do believe that it is up to each of us to do the best we can for ourselves and among ourselves create the best situation we can".
honeslty if your scared that your belifs will ruwin your friendships then dont talk about it. beeing friends is more important than belif systems.

I went through the same thing. I was raised to believe in God but always thought of it as a joke. Was I honestly supposed to believe that there was some supreme being deciding what I had for breakfast? Obviously no body except me, myself and I could ever have come up with the GODLY vegan french toast I devour each morning(not even the big man himself.)I didn't really think anyone inside of my "clique" spent Sundays using religion as an excuse to be lazy and eat-but it turned out I was wrong. Apparently I was the only one out of the group that payed attention when they taught us evolution. Perhaps it was my lackadaisical attitude towards religion pouring into my social life but I seemed to drift from my Christian friends.I'm not trying to say if someone believes in God it automatically makes them a horrible person, just that eventually you might find yourself drifting from people who don't share the same beliefs as you do-if you're not honest. A good friend is a good friend is a good friend is a good friend. It doesn't matter if they worship a god, many gods, no god/s or Pete Wentz. If you spill your guts and say you think God is as real as a school lunch, then the good ones will stick around and rather sucky ones will run to the hills. Even though I may only worship guitar gods and make obscure band references, I am surrounded by some Jesus-loving freaks and some plain,nonreligious freaks and I love them all. So I guess in the end, it all works itself out for the better(but not without a gentle nudge in the religious gonads.)

Yes, I completely understand you. I am currently identifying myself as Agnostic. My family is not very religious but after moving three years ago to an extremely christian community, I have experienced various incidents of discrimination for not being religious. I hated being pressured to decide whether or not I chose to believe in something that the majority believed in. I didn't feel like i should have to lie about myself to make someone alse happy, it wouldn't be fair. So, if asked I am honest about my religious beliefs or lack thereof. If you really do feel as though you are not ready to reveal this about yourself and that it may ruin things that are important to you, then don't.

Agnostic, huh? Did you know that that very word you're using to describe yourself means ignorant? Don't be alarmed, it just means you don't know or don't have knowledge about a particular topic, specifically (since the topic in this forum is called atheism discussions) about Yahweh and what it entails to have a relationship with Him.

But would you like to know? Blue pill or red pill. What's your decision, Alice? Will you go down the rabbit hole?

i used to consider myself a christian when i was younger then i began to realize that the idea of "GOD" (to me) seemed extremely unrealistic, like there's this big invisible man in the sky who can hear your thoughts and watches everyone in the world at the same time, like santa clause or sumthing, however my family all of the sudden has become extremely religious and force me to go to church every sunday and wednesday and its reallllly hard to get used to considering my dad used to be a self asorbed drunk and my mom treated me like crap and could only love me when she was on her meds..which by the way is part of the reason i drifted away from "GOD" bc i went to church with my grandmother and wondered why god would give me such horrible parents and whatnot...just wanted to let that out.

Well, Tessypoo, you'll be glad to know that there are plenty of discussions about religion going on here at Think in which the Christians don't act crazy. Just browse through the topics.

haha thanks its a relief

Just throwing this out there Tessypoo i think the reason why you have the type of parents that you have is to grow from expereiences from them and to make you a better and stronger person. living is all about the experience and finding who you are. i know your probly thinking what does this random girl know. i too have rather crazy parents, everytime i go to a friends house i think why cant my parents be normal like that. but than again you dont know what happends behind closed doors i guess and what their family truly is about. but anyways, i can relate to having parents that you wish you didnt live with or be realated to at all.
i dont belive in god what so ever, but god or whatever you want to call it puts you in situations for a reason, everything that happends to you happends to you for a reason. always look at the postivite outcomes of hard situations in life. when you can truly have a mindset like that wonderful things will happen to you. belive me its happened to me.

saroin,i do try to think that way sometimes but i never really related it to my parents before, thanks that really helps a lot :) i will def. look at it that way from now on

Dear Aducett...
let me give u a story to ponder at...

There was one man named Jason lived in the jungle for a while with his girlfriend, Tina... one day, Jason wanted to test Tina's faith without her knowing, and he asked Tina to organize anything to him, giving the reason that he wanted to hav fun... she made him stood at a point A miles away from point B, asking Jason to run till reaching point B in time allocated. As a matter of fact, the two points are separated with thick bushes and broad deep clefts and big rivers, and Tina was very adament that Jason wud impossibly make it...Plus Tina knew the only way for anybody like Jason to finish the test was by cheating - using the shortcut (and Jason already knew about the shortcut, and Tina didn't know that Jason knew)...At the end, Jason did succeed...Tina then asked Jason how he possibly made it, to know the real story, whether Jason had cheated her or not...Then, Jason said " Oh, u know, once i faced the bushes, they suddenly opened up a way for me to traverse through them... And when i came to those deep and broad clefts, suddenly the earth came close and brought the clefts in contact, allowing me to safely pass them... and about the big broad rivers, once i stood at the bank, suddenly a large trunk from a tree collapsed and connected the two banks, so i cud pass these obstacles as well...so,?? "
Well, Tina sadly said, " we r done here... you can go home... You are not my boyfriend anymore...you cheated!! you're not honest... you used the shortcut! B.Y.E! "
Jason smiled as Tina turned her back and left... Jason smiled because he now knew that her girlfriend was a good believer, and her faith was all he need... now he knew Tina was his perfect lover, and sooner Jason met Tina, told her the whole true story about the fact that he was merely testing her faith, and at the end of the day, they both got married... -the end-

p/s : from this story, it is clear that nothing would ever happen suddenly...it is impossible for the bushes to come apart on its own and the earth to come close and the trunk to collapse just because to help Jason...

Just like in our lives... the sun doesn't suddenly rise and fall, the earth downstairs doesn't suddenly collide to cause earthquake, the planets do not float freely by their owns, our cells don't proliferate by themselves, and lots more... there must be something controlling over something... and for these, GOD controls over them and so many more...

personally the point that you make, makes it even harder for me to believe in god.
if things cant just happen out of nowhere like magic then there is even less of a chance that god is doing them. if they just happen casually then they could be just a result of nature or time or kharma whatever thats the way i see it at least

TessyPoo, wut did u mean when u said "if things cant just happen out of nowhere like magic then there is even less of a chance that god is doing them." ? why less of a chance?? it wud be even GREATEST of chance that somebody has made things to happen that way... :)

Elmoo..... uhh... that storys a bunch of ****...
do you know what is controlling the universe? im sorry but obvoiusly your poorly educated and are oblivious about our dear planet and universe.
the reason why the sun "rises. and falls" is that our planet is on an angle that just so happends to make a complete full rotation in 24 hours. when the planet rotates in such a way it looks as if the sun is actualy "rising" or "falling". no the planets do not float freely. there is 0 gravity in space, as well all know.. and the earth on a ceritain pull of energy from the sun. each planet has a diffrent pull of energy and all of the planets energys connect with eachother. when theres an earthquake that is created it is when the earths energy reacts with another planet or another pull of energy in the universe is creating it. our planet reacts with the universes diffrent pulls of energy. think of a puppet master with stings of energys controlling our planet, thats what its like. also when certain planets align with eachother it cuases our planets energy to shift, thus causing natural disasters. also dont get me wrong our natural disasters can also be created by man. this happends by when we emitt certain hazordus chemicals into the atmosphere.
elmoo, you can think and belive whatever you want dont get me wrong, im just telling you the scientific point of view.

my everdearest saroin420...
1 : Let us not judge people around us without knowing the truth. i know a good "bunch" of knowledge about earth etc, plus i'm in medical school now, in my 3rd year, perhaps that proves me a lil bit...btw, who doesn't know the Earth does rotate? :) it's Think, so, just put wut u Think n if possible, don't use harsh words... this Think is such an honorable community...

2: Ok, if u wanted to argue about evry single point of mine, wut about the cells proliferation i mentioned in my previous post? :)

3: I'll ask u now, but don't give SCIENCE as the answer, coz it juz shows how dependant we are on SCIENCE :

.: '...our planet is on an angle that just happends to make a complete full....'.. so, WHO 'happens' to put it that way so perfectly that we cud see sun rises n falls??

.: ' there is 0 gravity in space, as well all know...and the earth on a certain pull...'... yes we know up till that point, but, WHO, that we don't know, has put it perfectly at 0 gravity? WHO suddenly creates the pull, which definitely, human beings can't do?

.: ' ...earthquake that is created it is when the earths energy reacts with another planet or another pull of energy in the universe is creating it.'... u used lots of 'create' words in ur rebuttal, and, those are suddenly 'created'???.. don't get me wrong with this...

.: ' think of a puppet master with stings of energys controlling our planet, thats what its like.' who's the 'puppet' here, Elmo?? :)

.: ' planets align with eachother it cuases our planets energy to shift, thus causing natural disasters.' ... yes for sure, but WHO aligns them???

.: ' also dont get me wrong our natural disasters can also be created by man. this happends by when we emitt certain hazordus chemicals into the atmosphere.'... o great, i didn't even touch on disasters caused by human beings. it wud be out of topic if i happened to talk about it.plus if u wanted to argue about this, still, well, how can our atmosphere be in such a way that it cud retain the Green Gas causing Green House? who created this atmosphere as such?

.: yeah, i think and i believe the way i do, n i wud like to share it with people in hope that people will share something with me, too... i didn't get u wrong at all, i trust in science, yet WHO 'controls' this SCIENCE phenomena, principles and philosophy, a mere unknown puppet, again??

if you are one of those big bang athiest then all i have to say is where did each of the things that caused the big bang come from and the only answer is god.

Being Athiest means not believing in God, right? How can you campaign against something without having some belief in it?

Hannah251, you'll consistently see these types of one-ended stick arguments from those who are staunchly trying to escape divine judgment for their own bad behaviors.

Its just sad to see it. I honestly do not understand how anyone could deny God, or the fact that he is real.

Read over past forums to see what you will be dealing with. The denial is based on terror of God's righteous judgment. Make sure that you are always kind and well-researched in your debates. I recommend picking up the book, "True for You but Not for Me" by Paul Copan. You'll begin a journey on how to battle relativism. We understand the need for God and Jesus' death on the cross, but so many do not even understand the concept of God in any way, let alone why some guy that died on a cross 2,000 years ago should have any relevance to contemporary matters. Please, pick up this book. Your effectiveness as a Christian depends on it.

elmoo, why does there have to be a "god" or a "who" makes everything go round. everythings happening for a reason, EVERYTHING. the universe makes everything go 'round, thats what. the universe is consisted of energy and thought.
also what does medical school have to do with planets and what not.
belive it or not but we are very depended on sceince. without science wed be living under a rock basicaily. again, why does there have to be a "who". anyways, there are trillions upton trillioins of diemtions out there and universes. each of them were created by thought and eneergy. eneergy is created by certian molicules. when those molicules come together they create a speceific type of energy which may have infact created people when our earth was an empty desert like mars.