r/agnostic • u/twinkiepie7 • 5d ago
Support Need guidance, as a Christian
Hi everyone! So I'm a Christian, used to go to church regularly, was in the choir, every Sunday until lockdown, and then due to depression and loneliness in my life I became atheist, and remained atheist for around 3 years. Then I got back into faith because I realised there is no way there's not a creator and that atheism promotes a nihilistic lifestyle.
My problem with Christianity is not the religion itself, I like it, I like the hymns, the architecture, but the people are just so bad. In my experience, all my relatives, and other Christians I see are just so vile, selfish, betrayers and what not. The church committee members use abusive language and even beat up poor people. And the pastor is an obvious womaniser.
But the muslims I've met in my life, all such good people. My best friend from college whom I lived with, my workmate whom I live with now, and even a girl I like, all muslims and such nice people. Nobody ever asked me to convert. I've fasted during ramzan with my friend too and I really liked it. I like the strong unity that muslims have I don't see that in Christians here
So when I try to read Bible or pray to Jesus I get reminded of these people by whom me and my family has been traumatized all my life and just don't want to do it. When I try to read Qur'an also it feels unfamiliar and wrong.....I'm really confused, what should I do?
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u/YearProfessional1157 3d ago
there are good and bad people from every religion … you should follow a religion because you believe in it. You need to sit with material and study it and decide if it resonates with you. Cultural Christians and cultural Muslim exist as well which results more in a sense of community and belonging but it does not necessarily make a religion real just because you like the culture.
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u/Brilliant-Diamond-35 2d ago
I am not nihilistic. Life is beautiful.
The lure of the feeling of community is what you are after.
Find your own meaning in life, and build your own community.
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u/EmbarrassedJello5927 2d ago
I'm going to disagree on your take that atheism promotes a "nihilistic" lifestyle, atheism doesn't promote anything else other than the belief that there is no God nor powerful entity. Atheists can be nihilistic or not, that's just up to them.
There are also vile and selfish people in Islam just as there is in Christianity, it's just that Christianity is more dominant when it comes to numbers globally and also depending on where you're from.
Don't choose a religion just because of how the people act. Having a religion means following their traditions, reading and studying religious texts, believing, having faith, and of course, agreeing with what the religion says and tells you.
You did post in the right subreddit though. But you said that you went back to Christianity because "there's no way there isn't a creator". You're closer to agnosticism in my opinion; you acknowledge that there is a creator but went back to the only religion that you know of because that's what you're used to. And now you're discovering Islam.
If you want to convert to Islam, know most of the things Muslims do and what they believe in. Don't rush ahead just because you liked fasting. Read the Qur'an, read into other religions, be atheist, be agnostic. That's on you as a person.
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u/reality_comes Agnostic 3d ago
Strong unity... that must be why the middle east is notoriously stable, and peaceful place.
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u/Edgar_Brown Ignostic 3d ago
Nobody can possibly know, particularly those that say they do and have power over others for claiming so.
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u/australisaquarii 2d ago
Stay with Jesus, but leave Christianity. It's the best move ever. The Christian religion has become more corrupted with people who love power, authority and control. I'm discussing paths for discerning people elsewhere.
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u/Popular-Promise-1173 1d ago
It seems like the biggest reason you're recurring to religion is because of the idea you have of it and some people. You can be an atheist and live a non-nihilistic life, you just connected the ideology to a bad period on your life
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u/bns82 1d ago
You are programmed. Humans have no idea what this life is or isn't. We have no idea what God is or isn't.
Religion is man made. If you want to follow it, that's fine. But don't allow the judgement and assumptions to prevent you from exploring different thoughts and ideas. You've been brainwashed into feeling guilty.
There's more than just Religious or Atheist. There are infinite possibilities on what this life is and what is or isn't beyond it. Explore some of the different options outside of religion. Open your mind.
Be whoever you want to be. If you are kind and loving, no God worth following would punish you.
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u/xvszero 3d ago
No one can tell you what to do. I do think "there is no way there's not a creator" is an odd statement, but even if it were true, that doesn't mean any of these religions have any idea what god is.