How can one develop faith?

[Anonymous No.13648082]

I’m an atheist who feels the lack of spiritual fulfillment and divine company.
I want to become religious, but it seems that the faithful normally have an innate feeling of divine presence, something I don’t think I feel.
Can I develop this connection? Is there any useful literature by atheists who abandoned their beliefs which outlines how they experienced something transcendental?

(I can’t take shrooms; I’m too autistic to buy them and mama would be mad if she found out)

[Anonymous No.13648098]

>>13648082
read this
it'sgood enough

[Anonymous No.13648136]

>>13648082
Read the new testament and believe in Christ.

[Anonymous No.13648143]

>>13648082
Kant
Kierkegaard
Also, why do you believe in a lack of higher being?

[Anonymous No.13648144]

>>13648082
by realising the inadequacy of your own judgement, and thy beliefs fickleness and predilection for eruptions of insanity

[Anonymous No.13648183]

>>13648136
there's a christianity general now
stay in your containment thread

[Anonymous No.13648249]

>>13648144
In other words, by renouncing your own judgement and thereby belief.

[« Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ » !mxvabIoSIE No.13648284]

>>13648082
Stop reading anything other than the bible. Don’t watch tv or surf the web. Listen to your chosen pastor *only*
Stop thinking. Busy yourself with work till it’s time to hear the preacher again.

Can you be this dumb, anon? Or is it too late for you? Has the Enlightenment reached too far into your “soul”?

[Anonymous No.13648313]

>>13648284
STFU hole

[Anonymous No.13648336]

[Anonymous No.13648576]

>>13648284
>posting retarded shit
>posting uggos
Never change, butterfly

[Anonymous No.13648586]

>>13648136
>Read the new testament and believe in Christ.
This. Take up, read!

[Anonymous No.13648597]

>>13648136
My man, how do you expect me to believe unconditionally in something if my problem is exactly my lack of faith?
I want to fix faithlessness itself

[Anonymous No.13648615]

>>13648082
Simple: you lie to yourself.

[Anonymous No.13648617]

>>13648284
>Don’t watch tv or surf the web.
Ah yes. The purest centers of reason: Rick and Morty with a side of reddit.

[Anonymous No.13648620]

>>13648284
Unironically based and truthpilled. Moronic christcucks have no place on /lit/.

[Anonymous No.13648621]

>>13648143
>kant
maybe if you want to be some kind of deist scum, I'd read almost any Catholic theologian over Kant if you wanted to develop real faith.

[Anonymous No.13648625]

>>13648082
You have to dumb yourself down into a state of meek acceptance.
Just give up and let other people think for you.

[Anonymous No.13648642]

>>13648143
>why do you believe in a lack of higher being?
Simply the fact that I can’t feel interaction or witness direct evidence of it.
Even if there is rational proof, I still feel I wouldn’t be able to simply believe.

But I don’t want to make a /r9lit/ thread.
I am truly honest about asking for directions in order to have faith.

[Anonymous No.13648661]

>>13648284
BASED

[Anonymous No.13648669]

>>13648082
I'm an atheist as well, and I understand that you lack spiritual fulfillment, but as an atheist, you shouldn't even believe in having a spirit. Fulfill yourself through becoming yourself is what I would recommend -- this fulfillment can be done by, as you mentioned, being one with nature, or what I would recommend, through studying epistemology and ontology, thus philosophy in general. Don't let nihilism lead you to religion, which is an easy solution; be one with nihilism, and ultimately, be one with yourself.

[Anonymous No.13648671]

For most people, I think conversion is a slow process of a change in temperament or disposition. Slowly you start looking at the world around you and its people, animals, nature, etc as created things.

[Anonymous No.13648708]

>>13648082
Assuming you're not just memeing, I particularly enjoyed Dostoevsky when exploring faith when younger (particularly Brother's Karamazov). He kinda abandons attempts to create a logical argument for faith and spirituality and instead focuses more on how spirituality is an inherent trait of the human. To paraphrase, "to know God is not to prove his existence but to instead see him in man." Chesterson is also excellent. I would also recommend CS Lewis' writings just for some cursory exploration. Disclaimer, I'm not particularly religious now so my recs obviously may not be the best, but they helped when I was more interested.

[Anonymous No.13648715]

>>13648082
Lrn 2 meditate

[Anonymous No.13648769]

>>13648642
>need empirical evidence of God
Desu, I used to be exactly like this for a long time. I went through a horrible life and realized that not any person would be able to handle everything that I went through. I don't believe that I'm a special kind of person, but every single thing that I went through was specifically catered towards me. I could have easily killed myself and been perfectly justified over a dozen times in my life, but I never could. It was never a rational or logical choice for me to start having my faith, and Kierkegaard really explained in words what I had to go through in order to have my faith. There is no logic or reason for God to take my brother from me when I was 8 years old. I can rationalize the sins of my father that led to his birth, I can rationalize it as a punishment for the woman he had the child with while still married to my mother, but why did I need to suffer through that why did he need to die in my arms when I was trying to take care of him because my father and stepmother were too busy to be parents. There is no logic or reason for me to have my faith, I have to chalk it up to not understanding the 12th dimension for example. I don't know how I can sit in a wedding hall, see how everything play it out to that day, and truly understand that everyone had a lesson to learn by being there. I couldn't imagine being in control of so many people's lives and leading up to a point where I can sit there and create a life or a path that led to everyone seeing the same experience but taking away totally different lessons. That sounds like determinism, but the problem is that people often don't learn the lessons that are placed in front of them. I believe that this is the Free Will that God gave us. We keep getting lessons, we keep seeing signs and not knowing what they mean anything, and a huge part is the lack of humility, the ability to say I'm wrong and I don't know best. Too many people are unable to say I don't know best, I might have messed up my entire life up to this point, because it is such a heavy burden to bear. Good people can make bad choices their entire life, just as bad people can make good choices their whole life. There is no reason or logic for me to believe in God, but I have to for the sake of knowing that I don't know best. I have to trust that someone knows better than I do and has given me everything I needed, and that I turned away most of these things to do to my inability to say I need help.

I don't know if what I say makes sense or if it can help at all, but if I don't tell you that, I feel personally responsible if you could have changed your life for the better and didn't because of my omission. If I fall on deaf ears or if you never see this, then at least I tried to help you and I can't be responsible for your choices.

[Anonymous No.13648816]

>>13648284
Bad advice but I really want a naizuri from that girl (male).
>>13648082
Recognize that you're an agnostic whether you describe yourself as one or not, and do not become religious just like that since you will never have the feel of divine presence again during the rest of your lifetime, thus having a, I hate to say it, "soulless" religious life as you continue to inheritably waste your time forcing yourself to become religious and trying to take that feel back to you again.

The closest thing to having a religious life is essentially becoming a religious studies scholar or a irreligious "secular" theologian, since these two fields are the only things that could help you directly in your life as you get a degree from these fields instead of just converting and giving money to the local church, and, if you have a lot of empathy, you can always study about other's feel of divine presence and perhaps have the same feel as them as you try to understand them.

I also happen be in the same situation as you OP but I am just an agnostic secular theist who will never get that feel again given I was an edgy little shit when I was younger and should have been beaten with a belt or so many times for quoting Dawkins and trying to ruin other's theism and spiritual fullfillment.

[Anonymous No.13648961]

>>13648769
I didn't expect to see such an honest post itt

[Anonymous No.13649248]

>>13648769
Best and most heart-breaking post I've ever read on /lit/. Tears in my eyes. May God help you in your faith to find peace and joy brother.

[Anonymous No.13649269]

>>13648082
Faith isn't some mystical concept. I don't think it's something you're born with nor is it something you're taught. You can be exposed to religion and people of faith all your life and it wouldn't change your thinking, because those are external influences onto your life, and for someone such as yourself, probably mean very little. What you have to do is ask why you feel a lack of faith in your own life. Was it your upbringing? Or do you identify with being "analytical", "rational" or "scientific"? These are just labels that society attaches to concepts and behaviors, but those are learned practices, and have nothing to do with who are are innately.

It might be a little cliche, but a change in thinking often requires a leap of faith. You have to be willing to accept that there are things greater than yourself and what you can directly experience, and accept that you don't know everything nor can you know everything about everything, even if you lived forever.

Questions like, Why is there something instead of nothing? What is objective morality and where does it come from? How are humans intrinsically different from the animal kingdom?

Once you've taken the leap, you may start to view the world differently than you did before. You may start seeing connections with things you didn't take notice of before. You may even start to see God's hand in guiding your life so as to bring you closer to Him.

[Anonymous No.13649331]

>>13648082
Kierkegaard is your best bet, anon.

Start with Fear and Trembling and read him over and over. One day you'll get it.

[Anonymous No.13649378]

>>13648082
Not sure how to go about an effort like this but what brought me to faith was the realization that what is often called the "human condition" is actually the effects of original sin, or the fall.

I had been feeling this sense of homelessness since as long as I remembered, and then I read about the Fall and it just clicked. That's it. I've tried to fulfill myself in every earthly way but nothing has worked, the Fall is the only explanation that makes sense.

[Anonymous No.13649521]

>>13648082
face death.

[Anonymous No.13649685]

>>13648769
Thank you anon. This is a wonderful post

[Anonymous No.13649732]

>>13649269
Thanks for the post, anon. I recognize that i wasn’t raised as a religious person, but not as an atheist either. My family simply didn’t care about the formal proceedings of religion and one day I think I just realized I didn’t see much sense in the whole thing.

The thing with leaps of faith is that i don’t feel genuine with it. If I just start praying and actively trying to believe, I will just feel like I’m pretending to be something I’m not.
About the fundamental questions, I simply can’t accept an answer truthfully. And I don’t think I know how to truly feel I could be right.

Is reading the Bible really something which can bring me closer to what I’m looking for? I fear that I’ll just feel nothing and only see stories

[Anonymous No.13649746]

>>13649331
I will try. My grounding in philosophy is pretty weak though, and my theology is even worse. Can I understand him as a layman?
I fell for the memes and only really know Plato and Ari
>>13649378
But how can I accept a religion about loving one another when I only see flaws in other people’s beings?

[Anonymous No.13649770]

>>13648082
>I’m an atheist who feels the lack of spiritual fulfillment and divine company.
thats what reality and life really is, you can try and occupy your mind with jewish nonsense but it wont change nature of reality and human existance.

[Anonymous No.13650257]

>>13649746
>But how can I accept a religion about loving one another when I only see flaws in other people’s beings?
Not him, but you are really only pointing out the things you would despise if you saw it in yourself. You have to realize that you are not the judge of other people like God is. Instead of seeing the flaws as a negative, see it as a positive because one can't become better if they are perfect, and that potential for and actualizing of transcendence is really a critical trait of being human. Even if everyone were perfect, I bet that you would still find flaws in them.
>peoples flaws means they can be better than they are now, so focus on that instead of where they are now
>this is really the basis of Christianity, helping other become better

[Anonymous No.13650351]

>>13648082
Faith isn’t supposed to be a fuzzy warm feeling but rather assent to truths based on the testimony of others, i.e. the martyrdoms of the twelve disciples. In fact there’s a tendency in the Church to believe that the “feeling” that God is real or whatever decreases the holier you become. Long story short don’t be a pussy, if you think Jesus was a liar and a schizo, be honest about it, but if not, just accept Christianity without talking about your “feelings”

[Anonymous No.13650644]

>>13648615
Spirituality is not a simpleminded thought, it's actually the inverse. Deciphering it is the hard part

[Anonymous No.13650656]

>>13649770
are you a troglodyte?

[Anonymous No.13650693]

>>13649732
This is exactly how I feel too. I hope you find fulfillment and peace in your search.

[Anonymous No.13650827]

Look at what Socrates says about God in his Apology. Then look at what Paul and John say about God in their epistles.

[Anonymous No.13650906]

>>13648082
Take holywrit/persons as unironically truthful. That's functional faith.

This is not to say you willfully act like you believe what the REPRESENTATIVEs say. There will always be a mix of sincere idiots and dickbags in cassocks among them. For the representatives, examine their motive, ego level, and all appearance of profit.

But take as infallable that Truth had been taught/writ/spoke by the founder of your preferred metaphysics.

The specific utterence by said founder and his sanctioned deputies is Inviolate Verity.

What the utterence actually *means* needs some revelation to explain; your faith is not to be placed in the explanation, but the fact that the utterence was absolutely Made.

[Anonymous No.13650968]

>>13648284
>faith that wisdom and emancipation can be gained by reason/ableness
>faith in human/ist constructs to save humanity
>faith that (You)r thoughts are most reliable

Butters, we are quite aware of your peeves by now. You keep repeating the list.

Your answer is presumptious because your authority is inferred and preferred. Not cool.

Also, it is unhelpful.

OP:
>How do i (x)
Butters:
>Dont (x) or u ghey

Sounds kind of like google when i ask it how to painlessly commit suicide: pages of links to prolife samaritan hotlines. Not helpful, not my stated objective, and the samaritans get to feel good about themselves at the expense of denying my free will.

[Anonymous No.13651383]

>>13649732
I feel that the Bible is the end result of faith, not the starting point. Once you have faith in God, you read the Bible to reinforce that faith and to answer questions you may have about God and what faith itself in Him means, like with the book of Job.

Try to meet Christians in real life and ask them questions about their faith. What it means to them, and what their definition of it is.

[Anonymous No.13651914]

You can rest assured, you are not an atheist. Most people claiming to be are not atheist, because they don't act like "non-believers". They still have deep rooted beliefs on the basis of faith. They still grew up in a society of Christian values. They simply don't understand the concept of God very well.

[Anonymous No.13651916]

>>13648082
u cant

[Anonymous No.13653019]

>>13648082
>>13648136
Start with the book of John and finish NT. I'd go with KJV if I were you too.

[Anonymous No.13653030]

>>13648082
If you actually believe the gospel and Jesus and get saved, the Holy Spirit will reside in you and teach you all things. You will actually understand the bible allegorically that way. Also, stay away from study/reference bibles, most of them are heavily contaminated.

[Anonymous No.13653037]

>>13648082

[Anonymous No.13653311]

>>13653037
What is this image trying to convey?