Do I still believe in god

[Anonymous]

I feel this would be better places here then in intro

Hi. I haven’t read too much here but I get the idea behind this forum. I am a BIC member. Family was not active till I was in high school. I found my testimony then but in the finding of it I was contemplating if I believed god was real and was leaning in the direction he was not till I felt he answered my prayer. I served a mission and became very active and followed the commandments to a “T” and studied a lot of church history to better understand Joseph Smith etc.

The past year I have started to doubt God’s existance again based on that I do not find that god has ever answered my prayers nor have I seen him ever help me in hard times etc. I cam easily say the very few times I felt god answered my prayer that it could have been my own body convincing me I felt something or that the events would have happened that way no matter if I prayed or not.

I want to believe but it’s getting harder and harder

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[Anonymous]

I really am thankfull for all the comments. I was pretty brief on my post because I was rushed for time.

I am 27 now to give you an idea on time. I have sheared my doubts with my wife and my mom. I met my wife after my mission. she was raised catholic but was investigating the lds faith. I met her because a friend of mine told her she should ask me her questions because I am was returned missionary. Turned out she had heard of me from another one of her friends also whom I dated and also wanted to know why we broke up. So he gave her my number and she called me. We became best friends and I baptized her. later we dated and married.

My point is I was very sure of the church and followed it well. I just don’t feel I know God’s real though. I struggled with that when I was around 16 and now again. The reason has always been prayer

I pray and pray and feel I waste my time. I don’t see an answer definitely not like you read in the scriptures. My patriarchal blessing says when I have a tough choice to make, pray. I feel like why, its not like I will get an answer. Can he answer? I really don’t know.

I feel if god is real then he must not be able to hear and answer prayer. This makes sense to me because we know God has more creations then all the sand in the ocean aka with out number. With that many other planets with his sons and daughters on them how can he hear and answer all our prayers. God is not magical, he follows laws of science. So how is that possible? Also in the pearl of great price it explains where god lives. He is on a planet by a star/sun called Kolob but his planet is farther away from the sum than our is hence it’s description of how there years are longer than ours. So that being the case we know he is not hovering around just listening to the countless prayers being said by numerous people. he is on his planet far away so how would he even be able to hear our voice. He can’t be every where at once.

I have not made a study of it yet but I recall Jesus taught us how to pray but did he say why or that god answers prayer? I do not believe so.

I therefore feel that god does not hear or answer prayer. If he is real I think he taught us true principles and has left us to learn them and governs our selves.

Also I said this on another forum. In scripture it says come unto Christ and take his yoke upon us and he will make our burdens light. Well as a child around third grade I have some of the hardest burdens of my life. I was younger than 8 – an innocent child as we teach. I was new to this area and was instantly picked on. It got bad I was beat up ever day after I got off the bus by a group of about ten kids or so. I was an active kid and played out side for hours every day till this time. I was too afraid to go outside because if one of them was out there and saw me they would beat me up. Once when I tried to go to a friends house that happened. I was beat up and I tried to run a kid got on his nick and went after me with a rope. He lassoed me around the neck and the drug me to a tree. Tied me to it beat me up some more and left me. Luckily I got free of the ropes and ran home. My mom saw my condition when I came in and was shocked. I had rope burns and bruises. Because I stayed inside for fear of being beat up I gained weight. I have never been able to lose it all since then. Where was god to take on my burdens and make them light…..I was an innocent child. My sister was raped when she was 12. where was he then? My wife way held basically prisoner in an apartment by her first boy friend. they drugged her and raped her and manipulated her into doing sexual favor to them threatening.her life and her family. They left her so emotionally damaged and dropped her off at a mental hospital. She was so traumatized that she believed the lies they said about her when they left her where true till later things became clearer. Where was god there to lighten her burdens? A boss at my works was talking to some people in the office and I over heard his conversation. He too is confused about god. I work for a company in hospice care. He said he knew a family who where good people. They had a 12 year old daughter that developed a terminal illness that slowly and painfully killed her. he could not see how a loving god could let that happen to her and her family.

My other issue is this. Read the scriptures, they depict a god who is very active and clearly makes his presence known which brings many believers. I am yet to see his hand in my life and HIS presence has not been made known. From how many times I have have sought his counsel in prayer and deed and found my mind and heart left with dead air it is hard for me to keep believing.

That’s why now I feel if god is real he must not be able to interact with us as much as we are led to believe.

Also if you look at history there has always been some sort of god figure and some sort of existence after death. To me it makes me feel that this is some primitive idea that was made as an answer to these in educated people as to why things are. I feel it was passed down and we are left with our modernized, more sophisticated version of the same thing. Also it was used to give people hope about death. They didn’t want to think after they die they no longer exists. So ya that’s another idea of an answer to my questions.

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[Anonymous]

Dear deepdivered,

You have many topics in your post and I’m not sure if my reply will help or not, but I’ll comment on prayer. It is something that I struggle with from time to time, and occasionally as I listen to prayers I’ll make a mental note that this is silly. To me prayer is the very embodiment of faith. By definition you are talking to someone that you cannot see, hear, or sense in any way, and in the usual Mormon definition of prayer, you are expecting a very real response. I am someone who sincerely hopes and wants there to be a loving Heavenly Father, and I live in a way that shows that, but intellectually I don’t think he’s there.

I’ve experienced some things that I cannot explain yet (and don’t really want to), some of which involve prayer. My patriarchal blessing was a great comfort to me as a teenager. I have been comforted through prayer and I feel that some of my heart-felt prayers have been answered. My wife and I pray every night and I feel it brings us closer together – although it may just be the habit of holding hands that bring us close together. Prayers serves as a daily reminder of what I think is important because if I vocalize what I want and need I’m thinking about it and prioritizing it. In my life prayer has been a positive influence even though I cannot say it won’t ultimately turn out to be a waste of time and that my ‘answers’ weren’t coincidence or imagined.

A saying that I first heard on the old TV show M*A*S*H was “there are no atheists in foxholes.” I’m sure the saying has been around for eons. I have no basis to back this up, but I wonder if people who pray are more optimistic than those who don’t. I pray all the time even though answers to my prayers are rare.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I feel simular as you about god. In my heart and for my family I want to beleav in god but intellectually its hard for me.

And to every one sorry for all my spelling errors. I typed that on a smart phone and way typing fast and did not notice I made so Manny errors.

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[Anonymous]

This post and comments are identical to the intro thread, so I am locking this post. Please comment on the intro thread.

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