Are some people incapable of being religious?

[sross]

I was raised Catholic my whole childhood. I’m 27 male. I’m also autistic and have aspergers. And I just don’t feel any connection to God or any religion at all. I’ve studied and became obsessed and tried for decades to understand religion. Not just Catholocism but all religions like many sects of Protastant, Orthodox, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism. I tried learn about the history, all its teachings, read from apologetics and prayed really hard but I just feel nothing. None of them really makes sense to me because I just want to follow the right and true religion and I just can’t get myself to believe unless it’s historically and logically correct. I’m very knowledgable in all major religions but it’s overwhelming to find the correct one.

I’m an agnostic-atheist not by choice but because I can’t feel anything from it. Why can’t I just read the Bible or any holy book and just believe in it. Or go to a religious center and just feel this touch of God that I hear people feel. There are people that lost their way or abandon God and then have this epiphany and are born again. Or they truly feel that what they believe is true and are contempt with it and I just envy that because I try really hard to want to feel like that and I can’t feel nothing. I just feel like I’m hardwired not to accept religion. Like I want to believe something greater than myself but theres a part of me that doesn’t want to accept it because it doesn’t make sense. Or I try to reach out and I feel empty.

 

[OsculeturMeOsculo]

You shouldn’t base these things on feeling because feelings are easily manipulated and are not really under our control.

 

[Theban]

It seems to me that what you really want is to be able to feel more deeply, and following the correct religion is only secondary to you. How you feel as a religious person is only dependent on how emotional you are, and has nothing to do with the religion you’re following. Otherwise only catholics would feel connected with God, while everyone else would be just like you.

The reason people get so emotional because of religion is the (perceived or real) magnitude and importance of what they’re doing. Think of praying, what is really going on is that you, a mere human, is able to talk to an infinite and almighty God! An emotional person who gets awestruck by even simple things will surely be very greatly struck by this, and even someone who isn’t very emotional would rightly be awed in the face of this great thing.

Now you claim to not feel anything, and that’s okay. I don’t think your autism has anything to do with that. Most christians, or at least most catholics, experience the magic wearing off eventually, and have to deal with that. I don’t remember exactly, but I believe Mother Teresa didn’t feel close to God at all for most of, if not all her life.

You claim to not know which religion is the true one, while still being knowledgeable in all the major ones. And you’re looking for the truth because you believe that if you follow the true religion then you might feel something. I have to disappoint you.

Catholicism is the true religion, something that will become apparent as you study the alternatives more, but there is no guarantee that you will feel anything as a catholic. In fact I can almost certainly guarantee that as a devout catholic your life will get progressively tougher and more painful because the world will resist you.

I suppose if it is very important to you you could try praying for the ability to feel, but know that even then it may not last. But keep studying, and when you become convinced that the Catholic Church is the true Church, give it try even if you don’t feel anything.

I wish you the best.

 

[redbetta]

There is a convert on this forum from atheism who is also on the autism spectrum. Maybe she can stop by and talk about how she did it.

 

[Reuben_J]

Like I want to believe something greater than myself but theres a part of me that doesn’t want to accept it because it doesn’t make sense.

I have seen many ‘strong’ people who thought that they could not believe in God, but when the Holy Spirit touched them, they changed and became believers.

I quote a sentence in your OP, which I think is the cause of your problem.

Jesus said for us to be like little children - simple and have faith in the father instead of questioning him.

Jesus also said - seek, and we will find. Ask, and the Holy Spirit will be given to us.

Brother, you need to humble yourself, be like little children and ask for the Holy Spirit. The process need a lot of humbling on your part because lots of things will not make sense to you. You should give yourself up, do not resist but surrender yourself.

The attitude should be, I do not believe but I want to, I do not understand but I want to understand, I do not have faith but Father please help me with a little faith because I want to believe.

Seek.
Ask.
Surrender.
Repent.
Believe.

God bless you.

 

[Vico]

… I just can’t get myself to believe unless it’s historically and logically correct. …

God gives actual grace first which is supernatural help, to bring about conversion. Faith is a theological virtue that is given with sanctifying grace.

Catechism

142 By his Revelation, "the invisible God, from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them, in order to invite and receive them into his own company."1 The adequate response to this invitation is faith.

143 By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God.2 With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, “the obedience of faith”.3

1 DV 2; cf. Col 1:15; 1 Tim 1:17; Ex 33:11; Jn 15:14-15; Bar 3:38 (Vulg.).
2 Cf. DV 5.
3 Cf. Rom 1:5; 16:26.

 

[Mintaka]

First off, the fact that you are interested in religious matters in any way is a sign that you are capable of religious belief.

Second, it is very common (and not necessarily connected with autism or anything else) for people to be religious without having “religious feelings.” It is okay to know God intellectually, and in fact that is a very deep way to know and contemplate God. It used to be so common that there was a heresy claiming that one could only know God intellectually! So people who do not have religious feelings are not “missing out” on anything; they just know God in the way that God has designed them to know God.

One very good example is Dorothy L. Sayers, a contemporary of C.S. Lewis. She was an Anglican all her life, and beside her great Lord Peter Wimsey detective stories, she was known for writing a translation of Dante’s Inferno, many Christian plays and radio plays, and a book on Trinitarian theology compared to human creativity.

She was always annoyed by the idea that one had to produce specific feelings on demand, to prove that one had a sense of humor or was one of the girls. She had deep feelings, but she had them on their own time. And she never had any spiritual or religious feelings, because she had such a deep and penetrating joy in following God with her intellect, just as she loved following the musical phrases of Bach in an intellectual way.

(Instead of bopping with the rhythm or wasting time trying to feel specific things about it. Not that there’s anything wrong with perceiving music with your feelings; but it’s not the only way or the best way, and it’s not very relevant to certain kinds of music.)

To know God intellectually is to work on understanding Him as He is.

Since love is primarily a thing of the will, with emotions coming afterward if they come, knowing God intellectually requires willingness to know Him and to work on knowing Him. Clearly you have that willingness.

Personally, I think you should make a habit of going to church. Use that time to think about God. Listen to the readings and pay attention to how they work together. Ask God to teach you. Read the Bible. Basically, make a routine of acting as a believer. Willingness in behavior can help open you up to God.

Get some meaty intellectual food. Listen to Fr. Mitch Pacwa’s college-level class on the Old Testament Prophets (it’s in the audio archive section at EWTN, and you can download it for free). Read The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy L. Sayers (that’s her theology book), or Steven C. Smith’s The House of the Lord (on the relationship between Temple stuff and Christian stuff, which is found in all kinds of places in the Bible), or Scott Hahn’s covenant theology books, or Brant Pitre on Christ the Bridegroom or other subjects.

All of these sorts of books are full of a sense of wonder at the beauty and elegance of God’s plan for the world, as well as a lot of hard facts and digging.

 

[Mintaka]

PS. Helping your neighbor and doing other good works are also ways to learn to know God. If you are stuck intellectually, sometimes doing things out in the world is a good way to get around your mental block. Also, it can’t hurt to do something helpful for someone else. (It doesn’t have to be something big.)

---

The other possibility is that you aren’t having “religious experiences” because you are working too hard on being frustrated, and on thinking about how you’re not having a religious experience.

It’s like thinking about a green elephant. If you try not to think of a green elephant, you will have trouble thinking of anything else. If you go about your business and think about purple unicorns and orange minks, green elephants will have no interest.

Who cares how other people know God? That’s them, not you. God has an individual plan for you, and it is different than His plan for me or anyone else. Trying to find God by copying or envying other people is like a lefthander being forced to write with his right hand. Don’t twist yourself up by trying to be like everyone else. (Especially since a lot of “normal” people never bother to pursue God, or are like the shallow rocky ground in the parable of the seeds.)

My advice from my previous post stands. If you go to church and hang around with God, you are more likely to notice how God is working with you, being your friend, and showing you things about Himself. If you study God in the areas of your strengths, you will probably get good results.

Your strengths of brain are gifts given by God, and He expects you to use them. Obviously it’s also good to strengthen the areas where you are weak, and that can also give you good results. But don’t try to make yourself into a copy of other people. That will twist you up inside.

Frustration when waiting on God to act is natural. But it’s also a sign that you really do believe in HIm. Nobody is frustrated at the non-appearance of a purple unicorn.

 

[Joe_5859]

First off, the fact that you are interested in religious matters in any way is a sign that you are capable of religious belief.

Amen to that. Human beings are religious by nature. The very fact that you are seeking to learn about religions and that you have this desire for truth about God and these things outside of yourself illustrates that.

As others have said, being religious and having religious feelings are not the same thing. Some people have more experiences of religious feelings than others. That doesn’t necessarily make them holier or “more religious.”

 

[GUYMAN]

As someone who is the “intellectual” type I can relate to what you’re saying. There is no trick or magic bullet. You just have to start believing, even if you’re not “feeling it”. The alternative is clear - believing in nothing, having no hope, etc. Good luck.

 

[Pup7]

None of them really makes sense to me because I just want to follow the right and true religion and I just can’t get myself to believe unless it’s historically and logically correct.

Have you read or watched “The Case for Christ”? The movie is on Netflix and I see the book for sale cheap in thrift stores all the time. It’s also available on Kindle/iBooks. The movie is in many ways as good as the book was if you’re not a big reader. It’s the true story of an atheist journalist with The Chicago Tribune who’s wife converted to Christianity, and in an effort to prove the “Jesus people” wrong and to “save” his wife from the Christians, the reporter set out to prove there was no historical basis for Jesus, the Resurrection, or any of it, and that meant Christianity is a sham.

What he learned surprised - and eventually converted - him. It’s not a Catholic story, but it’s full of compelling and easily confirmed evidence.

That might help you start searching for your own historical evidence.

I agree - the mere fact that you’re seeking says you’re capable of feeling and believing. I will pray for you on your journey.

 

[Athanasiy]

Humans are religious beings.
It is human nature to worship.
Even in the days of communism in the Soviet Union, children felt a special thrill to the monuments of Lenin, awe and kind of sacral fear towards the pioneer and komsomol symbols. It is human nature to worship and to believe, people are religious beings.
I know that in Soviet times big communist bosses secretly baptized children, for good luck. There are many examples of believers-unbelievers or atheistic-believers.

 

[sross]

I’m not compelled by apologetics because the way I look at it, every religion has apologetics. So when I was reading Christian apologetics, it led me to read Muslim apologetics too, and then Asian beliefs, and then more books on philosophy and then atheist works. And they all have a case for being right. This is why I get overwhelmed about which is right because I can choose any of them but I can’t know for sure. I love science and philosophy so while I respect religion I can’t get myself to believe.

 

[Theban]

So when I was reading Christian apologetics, it led me to read Muslim apologetics too, and then Asian beliefs, and then more books on philosophy and then atheist works

That sounds like a lot of reading. Are you sure you have a deep understanding of the different cases?

I don’t see how you could possibly claim that each religion has compelling evidence to support them, and implying that they are equal in this regard, if you’re as familiar with them as you claim.

The way I see it there are only three plausible religions: Atheism, Buddhism, and the Abrahamic religion. Atheism is possible, though I don’t think many people hold the necessary beliefs that are essential to believing in this. Buddhism is rather inconsistent and superstitious, and personally I don’t really understand the rationale behind it. That leaves the Abrahamic ones left.

The Jewish religion cannot be correct, because according to their own prophecies in Daniel the Messiah had to come before the destruction of the Second Temple. The Islamic religion could be correct, though when you delve into the weird parts of that religion it becomes easily dismissed by common sense.

The Christian religion remains, and I should add that Christianity is the only religion in the world that actually has objective evidence to reference in our apologetics. Sure, there was a boy born with Qur’an verses on his skin, and a number of children with knowledge of so called “previous lives”, but these fit in the Christian framework, though the opposite can’t be said for the Christian miracles.

This is just a very superficial summary of basic apologetics, and while there is a lot more to it than that, even this shallow overview seems to point quite clearly one way. Naturally there is room for some disagreement, but hardly to the degree you imply.

 

[Sophia]

The way I see it there are only three plausible religions: Atheism, Buddhism, and the Abrahamic religion.

If atheism is a “religion”, then baldness is a “hairstyle”.

 

[joeybaggz]

You know, I am a theist, I believe in the teachings of Christianity, but my foundational reasoning is that I cannot accept the tenets of Atheism. That all existence came from nothing. That you can add an infinite vacuum to an eternal void and come up with daisies, ducks, dolphins, and the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. There has to be a first cause. From there, I examined all religions with an eye toward the idea that something has to be true when it comes to religious belief. Christianity works for me.
If one seeks to find God in human rationality, he will fail. The existence of God can’t be proved logically. IN fact, the more I think about it, the less reason I find for religious belief. But the more I think about atheist, I realize I absolutely cannot accept that concept.
My $.02

 

[Sophia]

That all existence came from nothing. That you can add an infinite vacuum to an eternal void and come up with daisies, ducks, dolphins, and the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.

This is the naïve concept coming form the Newtonian metaphysics, which thought that there is an “absolute space” (a “huge” bubble of “nothingness”) and the world is within that space, drifting along according to an “absolute time”. It has long been superseded by the Einsteinian worldview that space-time-matter-energy are inseparable. There is no space and time “outside” the physical universe. The universe did not “come” from nothing, it simply exists. Causality cannot be “defined” outside the universe.

The big-bang theory does not try to say anything prior to the first few zillionths of seconds, because our physics is not capable to go back that far. And maybe it never will. To contemplate what happened “before” the big-bang, or what caused the singularity is about as incorrect as pondering what exists on the “reverse side” of the Mobius strip, or what exists to the “north” from the North Pole, or why does the color green taste like the middle-C on the harmonic scale. Just because the letters do not “revolt” when put together into a nonsensical sentence or question, it does not follow that all questions are “legitimate”.

It is fine to criticize atheism (lower case, please!), but at least try to criticize what atheism actually says, not just a misunderstood caricature of it.

 

[Sarcelle]

I wouldn’t base my faith on feelings. For me that is like doing construction on quicksand. Build up your knowledge base of the faith.

I suggest you educate yourself on the faith. There are a lot of Catholic apologists who do good work. Peter Kreeft is one.

Also a solid grounding on philosophy and theology with respect to Christianity. People often fall into the error of scientism which mistakenly believes that the scientific method is the only method of inquiry available to us humans. It is not and a basic grounding in Philosophy, Western Philosophy, is good for your faith. Thomas Aquinas is also good to read, St. Teresa of Avila is another. The Doctors of the Church are a good place to start.

Knowledge, understanding, wisdom and counsel are the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Pray for that.

 

[Sarcelle]

The words jump out at me “historically and logically correct “.

People often take logical to mean “scientifically correct”. Again there are several methods of inquiry that are not the scientific method.

Also logic can only take you so far. There are such things such as axioms or postulates and they cannot be proven but must be taken as a given. You can follow the rules of logic flawlessly but if your axioms are incorrect, you are incorrect.

Have you studied maths at a higher more abstract level? I suggest you do. For me it strengthened my faith.

 

[Francis]

am sorry to say you have lost your faith in Jesus by going to other religions. satan is the one who has started all such other religions

http://www.stjames-church.com/book6c10.html

Romans 10:17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.

Hebrews 11:1-3 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.may i suggest you read the whole chapter.

Isaiah 30For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.
But you refused 16 and said,
“No! We will flee upon horses”—
therefore you shall flee!
and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”—
therefore your pursuers shall be swift!
17 A thousand shall flee at the threat of one,
at the threat of five you shall flee,
until you are left
like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
like a signal on a hill.

God’s Promise to Zion
18 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.

19 Truly, O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. 20 Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22 Then you will defile your silver-covered idols and your gold-plated images. You will scatter them like filthy rags; you will say to them, “Away with you!”

Please don’t give up to know Jesus more,you never know,you may come back to the Catholic Church by making a good confession.god Bless