Am I the only one who wishes he was an atheist?

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My life now isn’t prohibitive. It is empowering. I do not desire to feel the emptyness I feel when I am far from God as my everyday life.
This is a good point. Those of us who have spent time (in my case years) at a distance from God know that it is ultimately not a happy place to be. There’s just an empty space that you can try to fill up with sex, drink/ drugs, work, vacations, shopping, some secular hobby like golf or reading etc but it doesn’t compensate for a relationship with God.
 
They may have to get to work for all you know. Best to not judge. If the priest feels a need to comment on people leaving early, he’ll do that.
 
Tis, I, too, would’ve killed myself. In fact, having been born and reared atheist, that was the choice before me when I came home from work to find my first husband dead of a heart attack:

Find out if God exists, then act accordingly. If the answer was “No,” suicide was the plan - not just because of the grief, but because at age 32, I had already been the victim of 3 violent crimes.

To this day, it is the fear of Hell and the hope of Heaven which keeps me from entertaining suicidal thoughts when they pop into my head unbidden.
 
I’m glad you found God and didn’t commit suicide.

I hope you progress to the point where it is the love of God rather than the fear of Hell that keeps you from entertaining suicidal thoughts. Love’s a lot nicer day to day than fear.
 
Hopefully one of our atheist regulars weighs in here, but I believe the response would be that meaning in life, i.e. the purpose for living, is something that one creates. This counters the theistic belief that you and I hold, that our purpose in life is something we pray about and find.

I don’t think atheists are any more prone to emptiness and suicidal thoughts than believers are. Unfortunately, clinical depression can affect anybody.
 
Thank you. Fortunately, I have many daily reasons to spontaneously thank God. I also greatly look forward to Heaven.

Lol, what I do wish for is more inner peace on earth - but God knows best, and His reasons are glorious!
 
I don’t think atheists are any more prone to emptiness and suicidal thoughts than believers are. Unfortunately, clinical depression can affect anybody.
Not to go off topic, but please understand that suicidal thoughts are not always products of clinical depression, or even situational depression. There are many other situations including logical thought, stress, other mental conditions that can lead one to the idea of suicide. Growing up, I would say most of the people I knew under 21 had kicked the idea around the block a couple times. The vast majority of them were not depressed and likely not suffering from any mental illness except the stresses of growing up.
 
I grew up in a family that didn’t know God and I had a parent that was alcoholic and had addiction problems. Such a darkness to grow up in.

In my 20’s I had a God light bulb come on and I knew he existed and I was his daughter. It was a life changing experience.

Every day when I get up, I invite Christ, the King of the universe, to take my hand, and we enter the day together. That’s what I wish for you today. For you to realize that your day to day stuff that’s yours to take care of can be united with Christ and can impact the world for good. That’s what we’re called to. The ordinary occupations of the day can be supernatural because of Christ.

Even if there was no heaven to hope for, I wouldn’t want to miss out a day holding on to God. Never want to be back in that dark place.
 
It would be so much easier to be an atheist wouldn’t it?
Kanye West might disagree with you. 🙂
No rules (or at least you could make the rules up yourself). You could do whatever you want as long as it was legal. For that matter you could break the law if you were so inclined.

Lie in on a Sunday morning, that would be nice.
Mass is so much nicer. 🙂
But I could obviously not be an atheist because once you know, you know. You can’t un-know.
You can choose to not believe. It’s an option. You have free will.
I know that we have it right. But it would just be so much easier to be blissfully ignorant.
I disagree from personal experience. 🙂
I can’t be the only one who feels like this from time to time. Or am I?
It’s normal. I chose to be an atheist for years, just because it seemed right, and I wound up coming back to Christian faith and then ultimately to Catholicism, and I came back hard. 🙂
 
Most of these replies (not all) aren’t getting what I’m saying.

Most of them seem to be saying. “I don’t wish I was an atheist because I believe in God”

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thobyught that the definition of an atheist was someone who didn’t believe in God.

If you believed in God you wouldn’t be an atheist.
 
The getting up early comment was just me being flippant.

FYI Since you ask, they do have an afternoon Mass but its in Polish.
 
It would be so much easier to be an atheist wouldn’t it?
So some such as yourself apparently think… .

Perhaps you’ve no actual Faith to lose?

It’s far better to go through life with - for starters - a maturing Faith and a Growing Hope…
 
I like knowing Him but i wish His words in relation to sex/chastity were different.
God fills the world with fine-looking women; gives men a near insatiable desire for sex and says if you look at women too lustfully you’ve committed adultery in your heart…smh.

Believers/atheists have to have some degree of discipline in order to be successful in life and ultimately, get something out of it.
 
No path in this life is easy.
If I may also add that I have a sister who is atheist. She is among the most gentle, compassionate, generous and Christ-like people I know. Her life has not been a cake walk. As you said, she may not share my core beliefs but her personal rules are just as rigorous and challenging.
 
Right thing according to Who?

As an atheist (and I really am curious) What are your thoughts on Friedrich Nietzsche take on morality? To me it makes sense if you factor in Darwinism from an atheist point of view.

Peace and God Bless
Nicene
 
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Anybody who checks into the ER or psychiatric care for what they call “suicide ideation” is treated for depression because, in the vast majority of, (if not all), cases, that is the cause. Mentally healthy people don’t off themselves; something has to be seriously wrong. The word “depression” has traditionally had such a stigma to it, (“What’s wrong with you? Snap out of it!”), that a lot of people don’t want to own up to it.
Most of these replies (not all) aren’t getting what I’m saying.

Most of them seem to be saying. “I don’t wish I was an atheist because I believe in God”

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thobyught that the definition of an atheist was someone who didn’t believe in God.
No. I get what you’re saying. I just don’t think that atheists necessarily “have it easier.” I know many who grapple with the concept of there being nothing after death. And I suspect that the humbler, critically thinking atheists - just like humbler, critically thinking religious people - face doubt from time to time over whether or not they’re correct.

Some other considerations:
No rules (or at least you could make the rules up yourself). You could do whatever you want as long as it was legal.
Actually, atheists, too, live by a moral code based on the norms of society. While I personally find some flaws in that argument, they DO follow a set of moral rules that involve treating others with kindness and fairness and behaving ethically in matters of business, science, etc. And those who uphold these precepts will cry foul when anybody violates them.
For that matter you could break the law if you were so inclined.
Catholics can, too. We have free will.

I’ll be honest. At various points in life, I’ve considered atheism. But that’s not because it’s the Easy Way Out.
 
Mock, I think that if one were an atheist who was correct (i.e., there actually were no God), AND he had a fairly easy life, that person might have a better, easier life than a believer does.

But most people experience tragedy at some point, and far too many people lead lives of on-going tragedy. Atheism gives those people nothing that helps them get out of bed.
 
I could respond some more to all your stuff about “depression”, but as far as I’m concerned, continuing to argue about it is off topic for the thread. Muting now.
 
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