Faith issues at 3am

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FrancisPio

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For some reason, usually at 3am, I suffer a terrible lack of faith where I question if God exists and if everything is just some sort of cold, heartless, mess made by evolution and the big bang theory.
Just wondered how others of faith deal with these 3am crises. Yes, I am a Catholic, but it’s still terrible thoughts to have sometime. Love to know how others cope with this. Thanks!
 
I used to wake up at 4 am having anxiety every morning for years. I think it’s partly biological and may have to do with blood sugar levels and the like. So the first thing to keep in mind is that this may well be caused by a physical factor and is not all psychological or spiritual in nature. Think about ways you might help prevent late night anxiety - for instance, no caffeine after a certain hour, consume a protein snack late in the evening (like milk or a protein bar), adjust your sleep schedule.

To the extent it is psychological or spiritual, I would recommend more prayer, and not just at 3 am. The Divine Mercy prayer is good. “Jesus, I trust in you.” If you are oriented towards Scripture, you can try reading some, especially the Gospels. If you are comfortable with Mother Mary, you can pray rosaries also, or “We fly to your patronage, o Holy Mother of God…” short prayer. If there are particular saints you find reassuring, such as Padre Pio who said “Pray, hope and Don’t Worry”, then ask for their intercession.

When you pray, you get grace. Grace helps remove anxiety and doubt.
Going to weekday Mass and Adoration when your schedule permits are also good ways to get grace.

Put some sacramental objects like a crucifix or your favorite rosary or Bible close to your bed so when you wake up, you see it right away and can grab it if you need to hold God’s hand. I always have a Rosary or two within easy reach (my parents did the same).

I stepped up my prayer this year. I still wake up in the night (I’m up right now) because I’m a night owl naturally and also work across many time zones. But the amount of anxiety I suffer has greatly diminished.

God bless.
 
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I recommend that you don’t hide from your own reason - face it head on. Read a book like “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist” or watch a debate on YouTube by William Lane Craig or Frank Turek.

My mind is very logical/rationally focused and I have always found these arguments very compelling.
 
Recently my mother read we should pray for people at 3 pm ,an hour of great mercy and 3 am when people are often awake and worrying.
 
Really. I often have doubts obviously but not necessarily at 3am.
 
3am…yeah that sounds familiar. Given the timing, I would be inclined to think this is a product of anxiety rather than a genuine intellectual doubt.

As @Tis_Bearself mentioned, your first step is likely to be looking for why you’re waking up at 3am.
 
I’m not taking your inquiry lightly, but I’m a shift worker, and any sadness or problem I have is muchly amplified at 3am.
It has something to do with 3am being your lowest metabolic rate of the circadian rhythm.
It has something to do with the essential darkness and loneliness of 3am when most of the world is asleep.
Did you ever hear of the phenomenon of “midnight confessions”? People who work together overnight become very confidential with each other and people open up and reveal secrets at that time…
Anyway, recognize your early morning existential crises for what they are – a largely biological phenomenon.
Say a prayer, don’t make any major life decisions and try to get back to sleep

Peace
 
FrancisPio said:
For some reason, usually at 3am, I suffer a terrible lack of faith where I question if God exists and if everything is just some sort of cold, heartless, mess made by evolution and the big bang theory.
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Ok; but this is going to cause you more sleepless nights

Maybe spend a few sleepless nights thinking how the universe could come into existence without God.

Something had to have no beginning, or something did not come from anything. Both options defy science and logic.

Try spending a few sleepless nights pondering on an infinite regress of causes before the Big Bang. You end up dodging the truthful need for something to have no beginning or something coming from nothing.

When you have spent countless sleepless nights trying to understand no beginning, try and think how all the complexity could happen without a God.
 
Hi @FrancisPio I think you should stop reading books or materiel on evolution and the big bang if your still continuing to do so.just call on the Name of JESUS and MARY,these thoughts will flee.
2 to 3 Am Most saints would pray,may be because of our Lord died at that hour,and also most evil things happen at that hour, at night evil spirits may disturbs us through wired dreams anxieties, thoughts etc

Rosary is the best payer your can say, you can lift your hands and prayer as in 1 Timothy 2:8 8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;that’s why we should pray early morning Psalm 101:8 Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all the evildoers.from the city of the Lord.

As @Tis_Bearself has mentioned pretty good points which your may consider
 
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NyQuil at 9PM, George W. Bush recommends 10 hours of sleep per night, Temperpedic mattress topper (not an entire mattress, just the topper), and build your confession strategies up as a new approach leaving the rest alone for a little bit then return where you left off (bookmarking where you are now before attempt)

If you confess at multiple churches until complete, it will take about 3-4 weeks to recover
 
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Eric_Hyom said:
Maybe spend a few sleepless nights thinking how the universe could come into existence without God.
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Well, if you really don’t want to sleep at night, ask yourself why isn’t it the case that this universe is just God running a session of The Sims.

Or you could just not worry about it.
 
First thing, evolution is not contrary to Church teaching and the big bang theory was proposed by Fr Georges Lemaître a Catholic priest. No reason at all to see these as bad things!

When I wake at 3 AM (OFTEN) it is time for me to pray. I pray that Christ Jesus will reveal himself to those who are seeking him (there are some amazing books out about how Muslims are converting because Christ came to them in a dream), I pray for family and friends and spend time thanking God and just listening for His voice.
 
Pray for faith. It is a gift. Ask God to strengthen your faith.

Let’s pray together: May the Holy Spirit inspire and strengthen FrancisPio’s faith, and also bring peace and restful sleep.
 
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FrancisPio said:
For some reason, usually at 3am, I suffer a terrible lack of faith where I question if God exists and if everything is just some sort of cold, heartless, mess made by evolution and the big bang theory.

Just wondered how others of faith deal with these 3am crises. Yes, I am a Catholic, but it’s still terrible thoughts to have sometime. Love to know how others cope with this. Thanks!
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When I saw you reference that time it made me think of the following article. I recommend reading it:

Why is 3 a.m. known as “the devil’s hour”?

 
Ray Bradbury said that everything seems possible during the witching hour (3AM).

I am up almost every night between 2-3:30 or so. Usually for anywhere from a half hour to not falling back asleep (which is rare). I’m not usually plagued by bad thoughts unless I’m under a lot of stress though. My usual routine is to go down stairs and take a couple swigs of brandy and go lie in bed until I fall asleep. For the past couple weeks I’ve been saying a decade of the rosary.
 
Also, 3-4 am is usually min blood glucose and the first rising cortisol peak (stress hormone). This depends to some extent on your diet/sleep schedule, however. But, don’t over think things too much when you’re in a state where it could be suboptimal/counterproductive. You may want to look into your sleep habits generally and diet as well, to see if you could eat lower GI foods later in the day… And otherwise just focus on prayer to restore your sleep cycle during that time, saving the inquiries for later.
 
I see that you’re having a doubt because your reasoning and science is conflicting with each other. I used to think the same way, well from what I’ve found God (faith) will never be possible to contradict nature and logic (science). Because why on earth would God make anything that has no free will but contradicts Him?
If you still have a strong doubt, I suggest you ask God/Jesus to reveal His existence to you. Of course I do not mean that by doing so you should live a sinful life, no that is just wrong. I mean, ask for help, ask Him to show the truth, to lead you into Him not far away.
Also if questions like “can science disprove the existence of God?”, let me tell you that it can’t prove nor disprove His existence. Since God existed outside of this realm that can be reasoned with science, it is impossible for a method determined to analyze this world to be used to analyze Him.
That’s all ,hope it helps!
Feel free to PM me if you have a serious philosophical question, it’s always a pleasure for me to think about something deep and meaningful.
 
Science is simply the explanation of repetitive events which we can measured and make educated guesses about which can be verified independently by others.

Faith is the deeper exploration of ourselves, the meaning of life, universe, and what else is out there etc.

Basically theoretical physics of today. However faith is the understanding that everything we identify is simply helping us understand how God works.

However faith also has verifiable parts like miracles, religious experiences, and demonic activity which is studied and discussed by different groups who reach similar results and patterns. Like the many Catholic and Orthodox writings over the centuries. These events also happen outside Christian circles you just have to search around as many tend not to broadcast themselves.

The absolute Atheist stance is one of faith and whose first origin I discovered so far was during the Jewish exodus and basically born out of disillusioned Monotheists.

Science would technically lean on the side of agnostic since you have to deal with unknown variables and many assumptions being made on either side if one discounts the various events, data, and centuries of reason and debate I listed above.

Personally I have found as a person who comes from a Atheist/Agnostic mindset before my conversion that self debate can be rhetorical.

You have to seek God out. I find him in both my scientific studies, but also my study of human nature and history. However most of all is my interaction with other people.

You can learn a lot about God from another human being’s actions and you can also learn a lot about absence of God from others.

We have a unique gift of Free Will and higher level reasoning and a world in which to exercise it. However if you dig around you find God is in plain sight.

The Big Bang is simply a method of Universe Creation. Evolution is the slow process of adding building blocks to eventually create a creature the could reason and choose to love it’s Creator. There is so much we do not know about just our Universe at the mico and macroscopic levels it is astonishing. The fact that we can over generations piece together and reason how things work only makes me more impressed in our design.

I sometimes feel it is like one of those amazing domino puzzles which you cannot understand till the first domino is pushed and the thing has run its course.

Personally to think that God would wait patiently 13 billions years to walk with his Creation only make me more in awe of Him.

Peace
 
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