Do you ever feel envious of those with Faith?

[Eris]

Brandon
Please re-read your previous posts and see how you have just contradicted yourself.
Please re-read the part of my previous post where I asked you to explain your point with examples and not simply to repeat yourself.
Please re-read this entire dialogue and consider the meaning of what has actually been said rather than continuing to make false assumptions and accusations.

I was strangled with my own umbilical cord. That I survived does not mean that god saved me any-more than it means that they tried to kill me.

Thankyou for exposing your arrogant and incorrect assumptions about my personal spiritual views without enquiry.
I am an Agnostic.
I do not believe the contradictory accounts of the nature of a divine being expressed by man.
I do however acknowledge that I do not know everything as well as the possibility that there may be one or multiple deities.

[ClaudiaLove]

It depends , i am clearly not envious of those who are controlled by their beliefs , the ones that suffer in the name of religion , as i 've been there and i know it is a sad life . But i wish i could believe in something , believe that everything has a purpose , that Something or Someone do exist and each of us would be special . I don't like it now , when i feel that i am just another form of life , that i am not so special as individual , that i don't have a 'spirit' but just a mind  . I tend to feel lonely and unworthy.

[Arch]

Another mod has suggested that I lock this topic. If everyone will chill out and try to be a bit more civil--even when you feel that you are being antagonized--we can leave the topic open.

For the record, please refrain from using rude adjectives to refer to other people. Please refrain from telling people (even if indirectly) not to post in any boards they like. Please post with care about other beliefs even if you are in the atheism board.

I am leaving this topic unlocked for the moment.

[MadeleineG]

In the sense that I've always been curious about mescaline, I suppose the answer is a tentative yes.

[Jenny07]

My grandmother always said there are two things never to discuss.

Religion and Politics

I heed her words.
Perhaps a few more of us should take this advise as it always seems to get heated.

By the way my grandmother was a very wise woman and I do miss her.

J

[Felix]

I don't think I'm cynical, but I've tried to be religious and I think I'm just not capable of it. I am envious of the ready-made wholesome communities that houses of worship provide, and of the human connection between even strangers of the same faith. I do occasionally try to act like a christian just so I can fit in, but it never consists of more than keeping my mouth shut and letting people assume.

So yes. I am envious of the social benefits of adhering to a popular religion, and whether a person believes in the profound storylines or not, I would never begrudge anyone the experience of living that way.

[Late bloomer]

No, because I have been shown too much.  Faith, like everything else, has been misused and abused.  I cannot change that.  Mankind does very bad things under guise of noble causes. 
Faith?  The definition is believing without seeing.  So, I suppose I have some, for I believe there is purpose in what I have seen.
I have been shown the future in dreams.
My Creator has pulled me out of a whirlpool, caught my foot with a crevice as I fell over a 400 ft cliff, sent me back to my body when an intestinal blockage slew me, prevented the car from backing over me when I was 3, awoken me from a coma in the hospital with zero brain damage (doctors stunned) and generally been there for me when all others rejected and abused me.
How could I ever turn my back on my greatest friend I have ever known? 
Now, I am tasked with walking in shoes I never imagined. 
In the meantime, my life and my body is part male/part female, complete with all the rejection and cruelty the world dishes out on us.
How can something that brings such joy be greeted with unbridled scorn? 
Gender and Faith, they appear to me as two sides of the same coin.
I love you all, no matter what your gender and beliefs are or are not.

[Eris]

Here's what I originally wanted to post before I got sidetracked

I sometimes feel envious of people with real conviction. I mean people who believe in an ideal and stand up for that ideal, like human rights lawyers trying to protect people from prejudice and discrimination. I admire their passion.

I feel a sense of respect towards people with beliefs that they question and re-examine in the light of new information. I think that it takes a lot of strength to constantly question everything that you think you know rather than burying your head in the sand.

I am not envious of people who use faith as a shield against life's troubles, those who stop questioning things and thinking for themselves believing that a higher power will solve their problems for them.
People who cower behind their "certainty" and lash out at anyone who threatens that certainty. Those people who "know" that they are right, too terrified to even countenance the thought that they may have based their life around a falsehood. Them I pity.

[Tossu-sama]

To answer the title question, nope.

I could ask a counter question, "why would I be?"

[LilyMelody]

Rarely, but it happens.

[AnneK]

No.  I prefer to deal with reality, not delusion.

[itsApril]

Nope.

[Deborah]

No. 

Faith is simply pretending to believe something you know isn't true.

What is the value in that?


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[Kylo]

In a sense yes, but it doesn't really matter.

I might be lapsed, but it doesn't mean there aren't things I also have faith in; rather than having faith in god I've always had faith in things like love and how it can fix people. Not always, but in general it's better to love than hate, and so on. There's plenty of things to have faith in that actually have tangible benefits.

[PollyQMcLovely]

Never. For me that's like being envious of someone suffering from brain damage because they get more pudding in the hospital.

[AnneK]

No.  Faith amounts to nothing more than wishful thinking based on fairy tales.  I prefer to deal with reality.

[kitchentablepotpourri]

My faith comes from personal experience, strength, and fortitude. It is my experience that good easy times are mixed with challenges that come and go, and that a strong will to succeed combined with the experience to overcome obstacles allows me to have a a realistic faith during tough times that things will get better; and my fortitude is unyielding as I never give up hope within myself.

[DawnOday]

Envy is a deadly sin as described in the 10 commandments. So if you do envy you are not Christian with closely held religious beliefs. Just like when you don't love your neighbor. Bear false witness.

[Allison S]

Yeah a bit because it's a way to cope with things for some people. It doesn't really help in my case. I did have a miracle happen recently but I don't know if that has to do with my faith? I feel like the universe spoke to me through this miracle and told me "everything will be okay". I know that sounds crazy, maybe it is

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[Victoria L.]

I can understand a little bit, Christians (and other believers of religions with similar beliefs) get to believe that there is an afterlife with the loved ones that have passed away, and also that there is a deity that might be able to help them when life suddenly turns south.

BUT! I do not see any reason to believe any of that is true, and that's a problem in of itself. I've lost a family member who did not take care of himself. When he started to not feel well, he decided to "leave it to God". By the time he went on chemo, it was too late to help him.

I also have a teacher who really turned my life around, got me back into college and everything. She is a believer in a branch of Calvinism. While she is an amazing, selfless individual, from the way she talks, she believes she has no agency in her actions. When I'd thank her, she'd say "No, it's all God!". I went to her one of her church services one day, and it just made me feel so sad. The whole sermon was all "We are nothing, without God". The preacher completely talked down self-esteem movements, because... You are not supposed to have self-esteem, you are only supposed to trust in God.

Religious beliefs - unless very light - can be very toxic, even when they don't seem so. I don't envy that.