Tempted by unbelief?

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StudentMI

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I was just wondering if any other Catholics here are tempted to be something other than Catholic at times? I’m tempted at times by atheistic arguments and analysis. I read part of the book Atheism: The Case Against God by George H. Smith recently and there were some arguments in there I had a hard time coming up with answers to.

In general I find the arguments for the existence of God stronger but at times I become a bit unsure of whether they’re as strong as I find them to be.

Does anyone else struggle with this?
 
Yes. I admitted this in the confessional and my confessor recommended “Theology and Sanity” by Frank Sheed. I thought I would pass on the recommendation, since you like books.

It’s difficult to tell that God is present and active in my life. If it were me alone, I’d give up entirely. But I’m never alone. I’m surrounded by people of strong faith, and I see God’s works in our lives. And the rational scientist in me wants to deny that God worked wonders for us, but once again, I come back to John 6:68.
 
Sure, everybody doubts sometimes.
I like Handbook Of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft
 
Academic arguments for God don’t do much for me. So I’m glad I wasn’t raised an atheist because I just might have ended up as one.

Arguments against God really don’t effect whether or not I believe in God because I have too much personal experience with God. For me, there have been two kinds of experience with God. Kinds when I didn’t know it was God, and kinds when I did.

And yes, everybody doubts sometimes.
 
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I always find returning to first principles to be helpful in combating unbelief and doubt.
 
No, because I don’t read stuff like that. It’s all the same tired argument. Atheistic arguments DON’T WORK. It’s also why I stopped debating atheists (yeah, I used to debate), because they were the same, tired arguments. New atheism is just a nastier version of the old atheism. For the non-believers here, no disrespect, but get better arguments.
 
I doubt anyone this side of heaven has ever had the virtue of faith down 100% perfectly. Same with hope and love. And it’s best to just be honest with ourselves about that. All truth is good even if not always comfortable and “All truth is God’s truth” as Augustine put it. And we all start out atheists for all practical purposes.

Our justice, defined primarily by faith, hope, and most importantly, love, can be and is actually intended to be subject to growth. So we can have more or less relatively speaking. And the more we “exercise” these virtues, the more they grow, and so the more we experience their reality first hand. Grace leading to more grace as we cooperate with it, as we “invest” it as per the Parable of the Talents. But meanwhile we will still also doubt t times, to one degree or another, and sometimes lose hope, and often fail to love as we should. And through this struggle we can be tested and refined. And the possibility of falling backwards is an ever-present possibility as well. In my experience the struggle is a good one, grueling at times, and not over until God says so in any case. Here’s an indirectly related, but relevant to your question, teaching from the catechism:

1732 As long as freedom has not bound itself definitively to its ultimate good which is God, there is the possibility of choosing between good and evil , and thus of growing in perfection or of failing and sinning. This freedom characterizes properly human acts. It is the basis of praise or blame, merit or reproach.
 
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I don’t have those sorts of doubts. One reason why I don’t is that on balance, I admire a great many more Catholic saints and brave holy people of other religions, than I do atheists and agnostics. I’m not saying they’re bad people, I just don’t find them convincing or reliable models for making my life like theirs. So whatever “arguments” they shove out there are pretty easily dismissed.

I am occasionally tempted to practice some form of earth religion in addition to being a Catholic, because it feels like part of my heritage, but that’s not the same thing as falling prey to “unbelief”. It’s not like I think Catholicism is bunk, rather it’s that sometimes I think the two things could co-exist; God made the earth, after all.
 
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When I did find atheism sometimes persuasive (it’s been a while), it was more a fear that I didn’t understand something rather than a temptation.

But I do feel the temptation to a kind of vague agnostic, minimal theism. Then the intellectual reasons are a consequence of a weakened will to keep the faith, which is really what unbelief is: I don’t want Christianity to be true, I’d rather be free to make some stuff up, like an existentialist. I’m not sure if most atheists today are guilty of actual unbelief.

If you’re struggling with philosophical arguments for atheism please post them in the forums, there are some really well informed posters here. I haven’t read that book by George H. Smith; there are a lot of books on my list to read, but I’ll look it up. For anyone who struggles with doubt about theism, that has to be dealt with or the faith will always be on shaky ground, that’s why the church made it a dogma that we can know God exists with certainty from natural reason.
 
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Thankfully , no I have never experienced doubt.

I did have a thought once (this was after a long period of time away from the church) during a Sunday Mass. Listening to the whole Parish replying all together as one voice. Wow they seemed brain washed.

But I realised right at that moment. It was not they who had changed but me. So that’s probably the closest I’ve come to thinking outside the Church.
 
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I have a hard time imagining myself being an actual atheist. I’m occasionally tempted by a form of agnosticism, in the sense of throwing my hands up and saying “this is all too hard to figure out, who knows?” But even then, not really. More often I’ve been tempted by Eastern Orthodoxy. I’m actually planning on seriously investigating Byzantine Catholicism.
 
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I dont think I’ve ever doubted the existence of God. I’m more like got tired of proving myself worthy of God, figured I never would be so stopped caring… but He always existed.

The one thing that did tell me He existed is there was no reason for Him not to exist… Nothing ever had a solid beginning. Big bang, what started that. apes, what started that, dinosaurs where did they come from… and if they had a beginning what or where did that come from… aliens where did they come from… see… no real solid reason for God not to exist. Well, not for me anyway.
Tis_Bearself said:
I am occasionally tempted to practice some form of earth religion in addition to being a Catholic, because it feels like part of my heritage, but that’s not the same thing as falling prey to “unbelief”.
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Interesting… like something outside of religion?
 
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StudentMI said:
I was just wondering if any other Catholics here are tempted to be something other than Catholic at times?
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Nope. Never. That thought is a totally foreign concept to me.

I can’t imagine spending my life thinking this is all there is. My belief in God gives my life all of its meaning and purpose.
 
StudentMI said:
I’m tempted at times by atheistic arguments and analysis. I read part of the book Atheism: The Case Against God by George H. Smith recently and there were some arguments in there I had a hard time coming up with answers to.
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There are a few things I do when faced with an argument for Atheism that I am not sure how to answer.
  1. Realize that there are Theistic Apologists who are 10 times smarter than you. For me, that helps take away the heavy burden of trying to defend the faith alone.
I know you are probably well versed in the philosophical arguments for the existence of God, but here is a very good interview with William Lane Craig by Matt Fradd. Craig mentions some other theistic philosophers that he finds convincing, so that may be a good resource.
  1. The argument you are hearing/reading is probably not a new argument, or it is an adaption of an older argument. Find the original argument and how others have responded to it. Afterward, you can weigh for yourself what smarter people have to say.
  2. This may just be me, but I read Chesterton when I have vague doubts about religion/Catholicism. Chesterton sees Christianity, and later, Catholicism, as logic itself. He is highly quotable and very witty.
Even if you have read a lot of Chesterton, I recommend reading Dale Ahlquist’s books The Apostle of Common Sense. The book functions as both an introduction to Chesterton’s works and also pulls out some of the best of Chesterton!

I hope you find something useful in this unsolicited advice! 😉
 
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I don’t really ever get tempted to atheism because to me it just seems to incredibly illogical and impossible that I can hardly believe I was ever an atheist. (I was raised without religion and converted as a young teen). However I do quite frequently get extremely strong temptations to non-Christian religions. It’s not an intellectual thing so much as an unbearably strong feeling. It’s not a legitimate doubt and I try not to worry about them because I know why I’m Catholic and I know it’s the truth. But it’s hard to stick to my guns sometimes, I think it must be diabolical in nature because it’s not rational, it’s not coming from me and I know why it’s wrong but I can barely stand it sometimes. Oh well, prayer to get through these temptations is the only thing that helps.
 
StudentMI said:
I’m tempted at times by atheistic arguments and analysis.
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I never am but there is no question some atheists posting on CAF do try to make the faithful fall away from the true faith. By their posts you will know them. Sometimes I think this age is the atheists’ hour and the power of darkness.
What I tell people who struggle is, God and the afterlife are realities. The alternative is a meaningless life ending in cosmic dust with nothingness to look forward to. Without faith, hope and love, what is life?
 
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