Why should I believe in God anymore?

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Catholic026

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It’s time for me to leave the Church and God altogether. I have had enough of failures. All my
prayers have been falling on deaf ears. I hear from people that it’s God’s will - every single time. Is God’s only will is to not answer my prayers? If he doesn’t listen, why should I keep holding on to him? All of my atheist friends are certainly happier and doing great, and they never influenced me. Heck, I even prayed for them to comeback to God. I tried so hard all these years to not lose my faith, but I think it’s happening.
 
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Because God loves you and wants you with Him for all eternity. Because God suffered horrifically for your sins (and mine) so that we may be saved and because He loves YOU.
Catholic026 said:
All my
prayers have been falling on deaf ears.
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How do you know this? Just because you can’t see any results, doesn’t mean they haven’t been answered. wrt others returning to God and the Church - perhaps your prayers have been answered and the grace/inspiration to return was given them, but the person using their free will considered returning but rejected doing so. Your prayer was answered, but the person used their freewill to decide not to return. God loves us too much to over ride our free wills.
Catholic026 said:
Is God’s only will is to not answer my prayers?
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Again - how do you know with absolute certainty they haven’t? Perhaps they have been answered but will occur in the future? Perhaps the person will convert on their death bed, perhaps after your dead, perhaps in 5 years, 10, 20 or 30.
Catholic026 said:
If he doesn’t listen, why should I keep holding on to him?
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He does listen. It is us who don’t listen. Sometimes the answer is no, sometimes not yet, and sometimes yes and granted immediately.

God is outside of time. So whilst we expect an answer now or soon, what maybe soon or now for God may not be in our lifetime.

You should keep holding onto Him, because He is faithful. It is us who are the unfaithful in the relationship.
Catholic026 said:
All of my atheist friends are certainly happier and doing great,
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Appearances can be deceiving. They may be truly unhappy, but don’t show it. They may be lonely, but again don’t let on that is so. They may have a mediocre relationship/marriage or an unhappy one but to outsiders it looks rosy. They may have health issues but don’t talk about themselves. They may be grateful for what they have and realize there is always someone better off and someone worse off than they are.
Catholic026 said:
tried so hard all these years to not lose my faith, but I think it’s happening.
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That is your choice and up to you whether you give up. Don’t blame God - instead remember Matthew 14:31 "Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” "
 
God does love you, very much. He died on a cross for you, so you can everlasting life. God knows what’s best for us. Sometimes his answer is no, sometimes it is yes and sometimes it is not right now. Please don’t give up.
 
Catholic026 said:
tried so hard all these years to not lose my faith, but I think it’s happening.
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Consider this: if you were going to lose your faith in time because God did not grant you what you wished, he knew it all along. God is omniscient and wiser than any human. Instead of ultimatums, better to be humble.
 
Hey friend sorry about the struggles. Honestly for me some of the hardest times have been when I’ve grown… I couldn’t see it at the time though. Try not to compare yourself to others, it’s often not a fair comparison. We know that God hears our prayers, they don’t fall on deaf ears. I’m sorry the answers haven’t been what you were hoping, but please don’t lose hope. God really does love you, he hasn’t abandoned you. We all love you too! I’ll say a few prayers for you tonight.
 
Very sorry to hear this. A crisis of faith, to be sure.

How much time do you spend in the presence of Christ at adoration?
 
how long have you been praying for a particular thing
 
1st can you answer , why should anyone convince you to believe in God ?
 
I will answer your question if you can answer mine first.

Why should anyone have to convince you to believe in God.
 
If you’re having troubles in life, they’re not going to magically resolve by you becoming an atheist. All that will happen is that you’ll be adding grave sins to the pile of troubles you already have.

I will pray that the Holy Spirit touches your heart and keeps you from wandering away from God.
 
My son used to complain about his bad luck and my response to it was always the same: Are you being lifted out of a wheelchair so a pretty nurse can change your diaper and wipe your behind?
 
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As a weak human being, there is only until a certain point one can endure hardships and sorrows. I am beyond that point.
 
I struggle to see his real presence anymore. It’s extremely difficult for me to realise it.
 
I don’t want to be convinced. All I’m wondering is why has he forsaken me?
 
Many 2,000 years ago looked into His eyes, heard His voice - and did not believe. At least a few who saw Him leave the tomb alive had their doubts, as they allowed themselves to be bribed so as to deny His resurrection.

Just go. He is waiting for you - waiting to convict you of His presence.

In any case, someone wants you to doubt. Who would that be?
 
Well, you say your atheist friends are happier than you. OK, there are a couple of directions to go here.

1). Because they are atheists God does not put them to the test or to any standard. So, they can take any share of the world but not have the Holy Spirit. I prefer the Holy Spirit, all the wealth of the world is worth nothing without the Holy Spirit.
  1. They are not friends In the real sense in that they want you to know they are happier and are atheist. Clearly they want to create envy and take away your Faith. Again they have chosen the world over God, clearly they don’t serve God.
3). They really aren’t happy in the universal sense of contentment, dignity, maturity. Again someone doing a drug is happy while they are on that drug, it doesn’t mean they are happy in the universal sense.

In terms of your demands in prayer. Are your demands both reasonable and helpful to the spiritual life? OK, the devil tempted the Christ with wealth and riches so praying for anything material is not a valid prayer. Prayer is for strength in accepting your circumstances, seeing how God is with you, seeing the bigger picture, knowing you are equal in the eyes of God.

I’m not certain how old you are, but again read Thessalonians and Colossians, we are to pray unceasingly and be grateful even in our adversity. I know a hundred percent there is a God, but I also know there is Evil I would rather not name and I know many will fall. Don’t fall, stick with it.
 
Hi friend. I think you may benefit from reading Psalm 22. It may be entirely relevant to what you are feeling right now.

There are many times where I’ve felt that my prayers have gone unanswered in my life. There may be many reasons as to why I felt that way. One reason is that they were being answered but in a way that I had not expected. Sometimes we box God in and tell Him how we want problem X solved. But God’s plan is much greater than ours and we sometimes forget that. It can be hard but putting God’s plan above our own is essential for being happy. Look at Adam and Eve. They placed their own desires above God’s plan and they went from a state of peace and grace to a state of despair and disharmony.

Another reason is that I just wasn’t ready or in a right frame of mind. I believe that many of us think that our prayers “change God.” But this could not be farther from the truth. In reality, our prayers “change us.” God is immutable. He cannot change. But by praying, we are aligning ourselves closer to God. This is not to say that prayers don’t work. They absolutely do and praying is powerful. But perhaps we need to pray so to change us. And part of God’s plan could depend on whether we are ready for x. Remember, God does not give us anything more than we can handle. God does not force Himself on us. We need to equip ourselves so that we can best respond to God’s call in our own life.

I also want to add another thing. Be weary of appearances. Sometimes people may appear happier or better off than others. But this isn’t always the case. Sometimes people put on a smile to mask their pain. Everyone has struggles. Life isn’t always easy. Following God is certainly not easy. Look at St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta. If you look at her life, she went through a period of spiritual desolation where she went a long time feeling like God wasn’t talking to her either. But, she never lost hope and did what she believed was right. You aren’t going to be happier if you leave the Church. You’re still going to experience similar struggles and new ones. But if you stay close to God and if you try your best to remain faithful to the Church, I will bet that you’d be happier than if you didn’t. The sacraments are a great source of joy, I can at least attest to that.
 
I prayed for 10 years. 6 of those years were extreme hardship , including no power or heating in the coldest winter experienced for several decades, little food, and a very thin roof over my head, and the issue of ongoing violence. It brought me very close to God, to Mary and changed my life. I realised it was not up to me, but up to what God willed for me and wanted to teach me.

So many people have experiences like this. Allow yours to bring you closer to God and realise His will, not your own.

God does not forsake us, how can He when He created us. It is us that forsake God.
 
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