May I ask you a question? What has caused you to close your mind to the fact that God does exist? I don’t mean any disrespect, but could you please not use cuss words?

~Love & Prayers~

Sara

The change in mind for me happened when, after spending most of my teens + early twenties seriously contemplating the contradictions the belief teaches, those contradictions started to drive me mad. In my late twenties, realizing my beliefs in a loving god who’d let me go to hell, plus his unwillingness to actually show himself beyond of shadow of a doubt while basing my eternal future on it, and many other mind bending riddles, I’d had enough.

I knew that reasoning things out was the only way for me to feel sane again, which brought me to simply asking myself “What if it’s not true and there is no god?” Suddenly, things started to make sense and fall into place. My love of logically thinking things through paid off in spades the second god was removed from the equation. Jesus Dressup is an expression of me belittling the figurehead of all the false teachings that brought me to such a state of insanity. It is my declaration to the world that it no longer owns me.

Quite simply, I lost my belief because it didn’t make sense. It was really that simple. And in the last 13 years as an atheist my life has improved in leaps and bounds. I feel more in control than I ever did with the belief, and I’m consistently reminded of how thankful I am to no longer have my mind caged in religious belief. While around me I see people who spiral out of control trying to maintain a death grip on it.

Trust me, I completely understand where you’re coming from. I used to believe too, and I know just how shocking this may seem. All I can say is when you find yourself trapped in a world of confusion as a result of your beliefs not making sense in the real world, consider that it’s all make-believe, and by accepting truth over what feels good is actually healthier for the mind.

The importance of holding on tight to ones sanity isn’t prioritized enough in today’s culture. I fell victim to that, and my goal is to spread the word of sanity by replacing faith with logic.

Does that answer your question?

Bob

Well, first off, Thank you for not using bad language! This may be a dumb question, but I’m going to ask it anyway… Do you believe that there’s a devil?

God is a loving God! BUT He is also a just God. A lot of people just take the loving part and that’s it. They seem to forget about God being a just God! I’m not going to lie to you, I have had my share of doubts too, but it seemed like the more I questioned, the more God revealed things to me and helped me to understand things a little better than what I was.  Again, I don’t mean any disrespect, but have you ever thought that the reason things seemed to be going better, that just maybe, God was trying to give you a sign? Maybe He was trying to get you to realize that He is there and that He does love you, even though you questioned or doubted or whatever! Maybe I’m wrong, but I really don’t feel that I am.  I know that there are a lot of things are hard to understand, but I really don’t think that we are meant to understand EVERYTHING until we meet the Lord. Does that make any sense to you?

You’re entitled to your own beliefs as am I and anyone else for that matter. BUT, have you ever thought that maybe you’re wrong? I mean, it’s a possibility, right? I’m not going to try to “convert” you or anything, all I can do is share the love of God with you and pray for you. The rest is up to you!

May I ask you another question? Was there something bad that happened in your life that caused all this?  If it’s alright with you, I would like to be your friend…if you want to that is.  I don’t know how you feel about the reason why things happen, but I feel like everything happens for a reason…who knows, this could be a divine appointment 🙂

~Love & Prayers~

Sara

One of the truly wonderful burdens I was able to drop was the puzzle of thinking I had to decode life’s ups & downs as messages from God. Messages so ambiguous that no matter what’s happening in my life, whether I find a penny or grandpa dies, there’s a translation I’m responsible for working out.

I’m assuming if I’d told you times were awful, I’m broke and my cat just got run over, your assessment of what God’s telling me would be obvious. He disapproves of what I’m doing so I’d better stop or more’s on the way. However I’m bewildered by the notion that he’s making my life satisfying & prosperous to show me he still cares despite? Sara, if he were real, he’d know the extent of my complete disbelief and the uselessness of making life pleasant to show me the error of my ways.

I’m wondering how you’d translate god’s message to a starving child in India?

Sara, this is a perfect example of what I described before. There’s a million ways one could translate secret messages from another dimension. But once you drop the concept, answers are simple. Coincidences are coincidences, now lets get on with life.

The bad thing that happened that caused my disbelief was exactly what I described before. I was going mental, and it was making life miserable. I was raised up by religion and its direction was leading me down a path of confusion, ignorance & sadness. Decoding god was taking up more brain power than I had, yet it was my responsibility to decode it. When I dropped the madness it was like placing both my hands on a wobbling steering wheel. Accepting that none of these things are messages from god really makes organizing ones life far more manageable. You should try it!

I have no problem whatsoever being pen pals with you as long as you don’t mind me constantly attempting to talk you into dropping your religious beliefs and your belief in god. Not only do I think they’re untrue, but also poisonous. Poisonous to not only you but those around you too.

Short of that, I hope to hear from you again!

Bob

Bob,

I’m sure that you will think that I’m crazy (if you don’t already) but what if I told you that I have seen the face of a couple demons?

The reason that I said what I did about God blessing you (despite how you believe or are living) is maybe He’s trying to prove that He does love you! I’m not saying for sure that it is Him, but I am saying that He could be…anything’s possible right?! The thing is, He does know the extent of your disbelief and He STILL loves you!! If He didn’t, He wouldn’t have sent His only son to die for you or anybody.

About what you said about you wondering how I would translate God’s message to a starving child in India… Easy, I would feed whoever I could! And show them the love of God!! Because that is what one of the things His message is… Is to love one another and to spread not only His word but to show others His love!!

When you believed, did you also believe in the devil and demons? Because, when you felt like you were going mental, I strongly believe that that is what was behind it!! I know, I’ve been there. There have been times when I questioned, wondered if all of this was real, I wondered why God would let bad things happen to me all the time… BUT then I would grow in the Lord and in His word and things were being revealed to me. God has us go through things to strengthen our faith in Him! The mind is the battlefield, satan and his demons try to put things into our minds to get us to think that we’re crazy, and to just give up and walk away from God… Satan has tried to play mind games on me for years!! Yes, sometimes it worked, BUT not anymore. Because I know the God I serve, and I know that He is greater than ANY evil thing in this world!!

All I can really tell you is all the things that God has done in my life… He has delivered me from MANY of bad situations, addictions, pain, and more.  I know what God can do, I have seen it and I have felt it! I kinda feel like you know it too! If I’m wrong, I apologize… But I know that God is real and He does love you, and He does believe in you, even though you don’t believe in Him!!!

Thank you for being my pen pal… But, I just want to let you know that whatever you say to try to get me to walk away from God, it won’t work. People have tried to get me to walk away from God before and I’m glad and proud to say that I’m still living for Him and doing whatever I can for Him!!

~Love & Prayers~

Sara

Now I already know your gut reaction is to exclaim, “IT IS TRUE AND I DO BELIEVE!” But just hypothetically please give me an honest answer to this question. It would mean a great, great deal to me.

The reason I ask is because I need to know where you’re coming from. It’s important for me to know why you believe what you do. From what it sounds like, there’s no amount of evidence, reason, or logic that could ever sway you from believing. It sounds like you could never be swayed because you are completely emotionally tied to it, and unable to consider life without it. It’s no longer about whether or not it’s fact, but instead simply about your personal need. It’s completely okay with me if that’s the case, but it’s important for me to know where you’re coming from before I change my whole life’s direction based on your assurances. You see, I don’t feel that need.

In answer to your questions, Yes, I believed in demons and Satan when I considered myself a Christian. However, I also believed in the Tooth Fairy, the Loch Ness Monster, my parents never did anything wrong, and a magician’s tricks are actual magic! Then, at some point I started to ask myself why I believed the things I do. And the greater the claim (like wishing on a star, or Santa’s flying reindeer), the greater amount of evidence required to maintain that belief. My feeling was (and still is) that part of becoming a responsible adult is demanding sensible reasons for what I believe to be true or false. In short, my disbelief in the Bible is based on my quest to become a responsible, thinking adult.

Anyhow, your answer to that initial question is what interests me most.

I look forward to your response.

Thank you!

Bob

Bob,

Sorry it has been so long since I’ve replied. A lot of things going on.

In regards to your question  “If God, Jesus, Satan & demons were make-believe and it was all just in your head, and the Bible was complete fiction, and this was all proved beyond the shadow of a doubt would you still believe?” I’m going to be perfectly honest with you… I have questioned over the last 14 years of my life as to whether or not if God really does exist. But whenever that thought pops into my head God proves His existence to me, yet again. You’re right about there not being any amount of logic or evidence that could change the way I believe. God has done way too much for me. He has healed me, He has delivered me from MANY bad situations, He has delivered me from cigarettes, He has delivered me from anxiety, He has been there for me when nobody else was. He has been my best friend. I can go to Him anytime I want when something is bothering me and He is always there to listen to me and to pick me back up. I can’t imagine my life without God in it, and quite frankly, I don’t want to. It ALL comes down to faith. Yes, it’s hard to have faith whenever you can’t see something. But I know that Jesus told Thomas that blessed are those who believe and have not seen.

I don’t like to broadcast this, but I do want to share something with you… For the past couple weeks or so, I have been really depressed, hateful, moody, and oppressed. I knew what was wrong with me, I also knew where it came from. I tried to rebuke that demonic spirit, I even said the words. But I didn’t mean it. Well, Wednesday night at church, my pastor’s wife came over to me during the altar call and started praying for me, and she seen that that thing was in me. Time passed and she kept praying for me and it finally came out of me. The point I’m trying to make is that satan places mental strongholds on people, just like the spirit of depression and oppression. It’s up to us to recognize it and call it out and want it out of us. I don’t mean anything bad by this but have you ever gave it any thought that that is what happened to you?

~Jesus loves you~

Sara

Whenever I am feeling helpless, sick, sad, confused or troubled, demon possession isn’t on the list. As an atheist, I start with the basics: Has something happened that I have a real reason to be troubled over, like someone I care about is struggling? Bills to pay? Have I wronged someone and feel guilt? I try to focus directly on whatever it may be and try to solve the issue, or work through it, depending.

Now, there are times I find myself troubled and the reason isn’t as obvious as all that.That’s when I ask myself other questions. Have I eaten well today? Am I hungry now? Have I gotten out of the house and socialized with people or friends? Have I been staring at my computer screen too long? Have I been drinking enough water? Do I need to go to the bathroom? And you know what, Sara? I’ve discovered most of my issues are easily solved with simple, logical answers like those.

My mother, on the other hand, is right where you’re at. She believes demons are on the attack, God is there to help her as much as he’s willing, and his random, ambiguous signs are peppered about for her to try and translate. Thinking of the world my mom lives in where everything is a possible message from God that she’s supposed to decipher correctly or face the consequences makes me very sad for her.

This last 4th of July for instance, she was overwhelmed at the prospect of having a lot of people over. At the height of her panic she opened the bible and read a passage about fasting and how doing it assists prayers in getting answered. As a result she didn’t eat for those days around the 4th. Obviously none of this solved anything, or made her happy. Instead she had a mental breakdown swearing she was doing battle against demons. She really scared us all a lot.

Afterwards, after everyone had left, my mom and I had a long discussion about what had happened. I told her a lot of what I’ve told you here in this letter.

One of the main things I couldn’t understand in her thinking (and yours) is this – We are flawed, right? Our brains are imperfect. We’re able to believe things that aren’t true, and even lie to ourselves when truth we don’t like is staring us in the face. But the one mistake her brain isn’t making and CANNOT be questioned (like you’ve stated above) is the belief in God. No matter what, it’s not up for debate because your brain is flawless in this one instant.

Sara, I am always questioning what I believe. I also change my mind over long held beliefs, and even if the truth is scary I still consider that I may be wrong, and the scary thing might be the truth. Truth is quite often the scarier of the possible answers. And what I do is, I try to solve the problems using my reasoning abilities, and any sort of evidence I have at hand. Keeping a grip on my sanity is important to me, and in my opinion the faith based belief in God throws sanity to the wind. That’s where all of these issues stem, for both you and my mom, because faith opposes sanity.

I know I’m not going to change your mind, but at the very least you can understand my reasons. I see this again and again: Sanity not being prioritized like it should be, and the affect this has on not only yourself, but the people around you as well. Staying sane is my way of promoting my happiness and feeling of control, and that’s what I work to promote.

Normal Bob