Losing my trust in God.

[Gordy]

I am not a catholic, but I have been through a major loss of faith. It did eventually come back in a slightly different form. What I would say is that faith is a journey, not a destination, and it is going to have bumps on the road.

(Full disclosure: I trained as a minister and am head of a Christian organisation. My wife is a Roman Catholic. I am a Baptist.)

 

[wanderer03]

Any Catholics here? I want to know before I proceed with this.

I haven't lost faith in God, rather I've lost faith in organized religion. God plays a very important and personal role in my life. I cannot reconcile being forced to congregate in a group lead by an individual and be judged a sinner by someone who is just as human as I am. When I'm frustrated or angry, I just ask God to guide me in some way. If anything, it is self-soothing.

 

[Ste11aeres]

Personally, I think the thread title is fine. The opening post is a red flag. I know a number of members here who'd have no problem chiming in about losing faith in God. I believe it's when any of us zero in on a particular creed that it becomes an issue. Note that two mods are already paying attention.

tree did a nice job finding a similar thread that picked this up; reading and learning from that history may be a good approach that meets camerartus 's needs and stay in guidelines. I defer to moderator rulings, natch...

It's not so much about whether one talks about God, vs talking about a particular creed. Rather, members are allowed to post about what are their own beliefs, but are not supposed to argue against or denigrate the beliefs of others.
And, yes, there can be a fine line between the two. (When one starts giving the reasons underlying one's own beliefs, it can start to sound like an argument against contrary beliefs).

So, yes, there can be an element of subjective judgement in regards to what posts are allowable according to forum rules, and what posts are not.
The judgement of us moderators in such matters might correspond to the judgments of particular members, or might not. But unless someone starts posting really nasty stuff, no one is usually in trouble even if we moderators judge that something needs to be edited or deleted.

 

[apt-get]

I think another perspective to consider is, well, if you did lose your faith in God, would it really be that bad? I'm not inciting debate or anything, I'm just giving something to think about.

 

[tree]

One year when I was a child, I decided to
give up praying for Lent. I had no deep
conviction, but was aware that people gave
up something for Lent. Generally girls my
age gave up candy or ice cream.

I was interested to note that no particular
hardship arose from this Lenten sacrifice.
I had only the most tenuous concept of
what prayer was, at the time.

 

[camerartus]

I'm just posting because that's my current situation. Not looking for a debate.

 

[camerartus]

One year when I was a child, I decided to
give up praying for Lent. I had no deep
conviction, but was aware that people gave
up something for Lent. Generally girls my
age gave up candy or ice cream.

I was interested to note that no particular
hardship arose from this Lenten sacrifice.
I had only the most tenuous concept of
what prayer was, at the time.

My favorite aspie is named Tree.

 

[camerartus]

I appreciate everyone's thoughtful response.

 

[Beverly]

for various reasons, I have no faith in Judeo Christian religions of any sort. I follow a native American spiritual path. How you view your god or gods is up to you. I do think humans have a psychological need to have some for of faith or spirituality but, what works for each of us can be very different and, that's fine.

Don't let one doctrine tell you what or whom you should have faith in, explore, read, learn and, discover your faith for yourself, then it's personal and, it's real, even if you are the only one that believes that, it's okay, it's your spiritual path and, it's right for you. Basically, if it feels right, it is right for you.

 

[Aspergirl4hire]

I have lost my faith in God a couple of times, and then something happens and I get signed on again. It took me a while to realize that I'd lost my faith in churches. The churches I've gone to are really houses of neurotypical values and conventions. People are really aware of my difference there, even more than they are in work environments.

 

[Adora]

I'm agnostic but I think it's due to me questioning why certain bad things happen in life and due to that it made question the existence of a god,I never really felt like religion had all the answers for me and though I do at times think there is a possibility of a god I think that it's hard to believe when you see so much bad things happen to people who otherwise do not deserve it,yes I myself have had some rather traumatic experiences happen to me in which I almost became a atheist but I just cannot bring myself to think that there is absolutely nothing there,I will probably never know that answer.

 

[Maelstrom]

"camerartus, post: 246308, member: 13708"]I'm just posting because that's my current situation. Not looking for a debate.

camerartus , You should state your situation in detail so members can empathise with you, or ask with some detail what you should do to feel better etcetera....

Simply stating you don't like God without giving us a proper reason to discus it, could be considered a troll attack...which I'm sure you didn't mean to do.

There are many sympathetic people here who would be happy to lend moral support and advice if you tell them what is bothering you camerartus.

Best wishes Mael

 

[Ste11aeres]

I have lost my faith in God a couple of times, and then something happens and I get signed on again. It took me a while to realize that I'd lost my faith in churches. The churches I've gone to are really houses of neurotypical values and conventions. People are really aware of my difference there, even more than they are in work environments.

I think I've been lucky in some of the churches I've gone to.

 

[Maelstrom]

"tree, post: 245169, I guess there could be some discussion relating autistic thinking style and losing/achieving/maintaining trust in God.

It is a possibility that some people would want to discuss from that point of view...???

Because me and wyverary ,like tree s post I'll make a small comment on her post. As a auspie I do struggle with the church social crowd thing a bit, sometimes I feel like a bug under a microscope and everyone is looking at me. Other times the energy required to handle everyone runs too low and I skip church a week just to recharge. Fitting in as a unmarried loner isn't always easy too, as people sometimes don't like other people who don't fit neatly in boxes.
I've had my struggles over the years which I've talked some about it elsewhere, after years of pondering the nature of God, I'm now at peace on the nature of God, and the reasons for his existence. My basic position is people seem to be more the problem, not God, and if you look carefully you will find their muddy little hand prints on anything related to God that doesn't seem right.
But that is hardly a new insight is it? as we all see the grubby little hand prints of greed and stupidity everywhere throughout the world.

I'm not commenting further on this thread until the author explains his position more clearly...I don't understand what being Catholic has to do with loss of faith...any one can lose their faith if things are going poorly for them in life.

 

[Ste11aeres]

I'd like to point out that the OP mentioned losing trust in God, rather than losing faith in Him/His existence.

It could be just an accidental difference in wording...or it could be a substantial difference in meaning.

 

[camerartus]

I am Catholic, that's why mentioned it. I had a profound religious experience during Lent that led me to feel required to (re)befriend someone who has since, for the second time in 10 years that I've known her, thrown our friendship away over, what almost seems like self-destructive behavior. I would not have tried so hard to be this person's friend if it were not for that experience. So, it has led me into a crisis of faith. In short, I feel like I was set up to fail.
I'm wondering if others have had similar experiences.

 

[Ste11aeres]

I am Catholic, that's why mentioned it. I had a profound religious experience during Lent that led me to feel required to (re)befriend someone who has since, for the second time in 10 years that I've known her, thrown our friendship away over, what almost seems like self-destructive behavior. I would not have tried so hard to be this person's friend if it were not for that experience. So, it has led me into a crisis of faith. In short, I feel like I was set up to fail.
I'm wondering if others have had similar experiences.

I'm going to think a bit before responding to this post. Maybe you were supposed to give her a chance; and it's not your fault that she squandered that chance. You sound like a very sensitive and caring friend.

 

[zurb]

A question and a comment:

Elsewhere you said you are NT. Is the other person NT or Aspie?

While you may have had a set back as this point, you don't know what the long term impact in the other person's life may be. Maybe it's still what they needed. And you are not answerable for their response, only yours. We don't know the full story, but it sounds like it wasn't you that failed. This is a common experience for ministers and Pastors, so you can imagine how they often feel.

 

[Maelstrom]

"camerartus, post: 246490, member: 13708"]I am Catholic, that's why mentioned it. I had a profound religious experience during Lent that led me to feel required to (re)befriend someone who has since, for the second time in 10 years that I've known her, thrown our friendship away over, what almost seems like self-destructive behavior. I would not have tried so hard to be this person's friend if it were not for that experience. So, it has led me into a crisis of faith. In short, I feel like I was set up to fail.
I'm wondering if others have had similar experiences.

camerartus , I'm sorry to hear that, my ex-girlfriend told me God brought us together and then cut me up like sushi, and dropped me like a hot rock when she didn't get what she wanted.
I don't know what to say on the dreams I have struggled on that my self, it seems sometimes like the closer God draws, the closer the dark prince comes in too. It makes it very hard to hear God when he does that, I have clearly had both kinds, I don't know why it was permitted, perhaps a test. God sometimes lets him torment us if he knows some greater good will come of it later or the Dark prince will over play his hand and drive you into Gods arms. That has happened more than once with me, generally with me when things start sliding downwards, I go okay I have been thinking on the world too much, and neglecting God and the Holy books again. Sigh!

Perhaps if you think and study and pray on it some your eyes will open and you will see what you missed, it has happened for me.
My best wishes to you, I wish I could be of more help, perhaps Stellaeres or someone else can help more.

 

[Aspergirl4hire]

I am Catholic, that's why mentioned it. I had a profound religious experience during Lent that led me to feel required to (re)befriend someone who has since, for the second time in 10 years that I've known her, thrown our friendship away over, what almost seems like self-destructive behavior. I would not have tried so hard to be this person's friend if it were not for that experience. So, it has led me into a crisis of faith. In short, I feel like I was set up to fail.
I'm wondering if others have had similar experiences.

Or you were used to test. That also happens.

I had a succession of spiritual encounters during an intense course in undergraduate ministry. It started to show up in my homework, class participation, and my design of worship services.

It did not make me any friends. The spiritual gift of prophecy is the gift of truthtelling, and moreover, of truthtesting. And it feels awful at times to live in this world while not-quite trusting the owner, by whatever name you call Him/Her/It/Them.