For anybody who has ever questioned their faith, I found my answer here

Millions of people from all religions have at some point questioned there faith; as have I. There is so much that we don't know, and our choice is to have faith or reject our religion. Even the slightest seed of doubt can create cracks in the very foundation of belief.

I questioned my faith, and I found this on youtube, and it made all the sense in the world. Some quotes from this are unbelievable, they reflect exactly how I feel, and helped me alot.

I hope it will do the same for you,

YouTube - Kayos - Faith (Produced by Wzdm)

Thank you

As someone who lost faith many years ago, I much to say on this topic. I cannot maintain belief against good conscience. The doubt stems from inconsistencies in such a system of thought, and to expose and acknowledge these inconsistencies I am no longer at war with myself. More and more people I find are starting to question the contrivances of man-made religions.

You cannot force yourself to believe something that truly you do not believe, that truly you doubt. It will only make for a troubled mind. At one time I felt ashamed of my doubt, and now I embrace it, and I am much better for it.

There's a fair gap from questioning your faith to abandoning it. I was raised catholic, but can see no basis for religion. I think that coming to terms with such thoughts as being alone in the universe, having no purpose, having no big guy to look out for you, a final end, ... is harder than keeping faith.

There's a fair gap from questioning your faith to abandoning it. I was raised catholic, but can see no basis for religion. I think that coming to terms with such thoughts as being alone in the universe, having no purpose, having no big guy to look out for you, a final end, ... is harder than keeping faith.

Nor does absence of a deity preclude purpose, it simply wouldn't be a divine purpose.
-- Elaborate....?

Your life doesn't have purpose based solely on whether god exists or not.

-- I heard you the first time... elaborate...

"...There might be a god but no afterlife, there might even be an afterlife but with no rhyme or reason to it."


Gives no indication as to where purpose might otherwise come from.

"Your life doesn't have purpose based solely on whether god exists or not."

Having no deity does not exclude the possibility that we are not alone. In fact I would find it much more strange if we were the only intelligent life to ever exist in the universe.

Nor does absence of a deity preclude purpose, it simply wouldn't be a divine purpose.

"There is no indication in this discussion so far where purpose would come from in the first place"
My first comment implied the purpose coming from a god (catholic). But that aside, I think purpose is a standard characteristic of gods as current religions describe them.

One can of course create one's own purpose, and will have to if one wants purpose but has no god - had I anticipated your en garde I would've specified purpose as being the reason for one's creation.

"But not of any and all conceivable gods. Take spinoza's god for example."

No, but as I'm off to bed I'm going to stick with the purposeful catholic god that I could no longer believe in. If everyone gets to design a god the definition would get watered down to the point where the word has no meaning. Wittgenstein's inappropriateness of words.

Exactly.