Wow. That's a really potent and revealing look into your life experiences that many of us can appreciate. I do know of several who have battled with addiction and have found the strength of conviction to overcome their addictions. Though, it doesn't *require* a god to do so, it can be helpful to unload some of the burdens off your own shoulders.

I did want to mention that if someone is going through addiction and would rather not deal with a religion or a god, there are secular groups out there to help as well such as through https://www.seculartherapy.org/
But it is important for people to find the strength to overcome these kinds of difficulties in life, whether with a god/religion or without. One should not be ashamed of needing help.

Of course, my own experiences are very different. I haven't battled addiction myself, but I've seen several people close to me battle with it. Alcohol, primarily. And of course pain killers.

I would caution a little bit though. Yes, it can be possible to deal with varying levels of pain without pills. There are certain psychological methodologies such as meditation that can help temper pain as well. But, sometimes pain management can still be the best option. And there are certainly some pain management systems that use medications that are less addictive. But ultimately, pain is of the mind. But that's not to say that it's easy to deal with it, either.

I had a friend who has since passed away who was addicted to pain medication due to an accident that happened. And it was hard to see. He went into rehab a few different times.

Same with an uncle who was a heavy alcoholic for a long time. Almost killed him as a result. And I've never seen someone hallucinate so hard while detoxing from that. It was both funny and scary at the same time. He was indeed one who found strength in the Christian faith to overcome that addiction.

I know another person who actually strayed away from alcohol going into the Hare Krishna faith (a fairly sizeable group exist over here). And also became a vegan as a result.

I try my best to take things in moderation because I've seen the detriment addiction can have in people. I do drink occasionally. People really get in trouble with that when they use it as a coping mechanism. When you start finding you *can't* enjoy yourself without drinking first. You want to keep that feeling so you keep drinking.
I've tried hard to make sure I use it as a means to help enhance the enjoyment I have without letting it become a replacement for that. So, I only drink every so often. Though, I've been really drunk a few times (I've learned my limits!), I understand now how far I can go without losing my inhibitions. Also, drinking water is a super-important thing. Number one reason for hang-overs in my opinion.

Marijuana is an interesting topic as well. While I think it's better than alcohol, it's not a completely innocent drug, either. It can help in pain, but I would agree that it can affect your motivation as well as other things. I've never smoked. My biological dad used to grow the stuff, by my mom didn't want us smoking when we were young. Not that I was particularly interested. My mom smoked cigarettes for a number of years, which very much turned me off of smoking at all. She's since been able to kick the habit with the help of nicotine patches and gum.

Ultimately, everything revolves around moderation. Too much of anything is bad for you. Addiction sucks. And with the things that have a chemical/physical (and even things that just have a more psychological) addiction to it, it can be very difficult to get away from. Sometimes you can do it on your own. Sometimes you need help. But it's ultimately all of us as individuals that have to take the steps forward. No one can just force us to take those steps, or you will very likely just end up in the same place you were.

I'm not quite sure I agree with you on the analysis of the greek Pharmakeia (or it's various other forms). Part of the problem is like the word "drug" that we use today, the word and it's variations in the past was also used in several different ways depending on the context given. You do give some of the ways that the word had been used. Though you got the most common ones. It's in the Bible in three places, I believe. Galatians 5:19-21, Revelations 9:21 and 18:23.
I did want to point out that there are also parts in the Bible that talk about pharmacology in a good way. One's I've seen referenced are Matthew 9:12; Mark 2:7; Luke 5:31, for instance.

There are people with chemical imbalances that some people have that can't simply be solved by faith or personal determination, however. I've known a few bi-polar people who thought they could control their emotional swings when they really couldn't. There are a variety of ways medicines "can" help. But at the same time, people often see some of them as a first resort when that may not always be appropriate.

Though I don't share your faith (as I have my disagreements with most faith-based belief systems), I do sincerely appreciate you sharing your perspective and experiences with this.

Thank you for the compliments. Some interesting information, and I am sorry to hear about what your uncle struggled through.

I did note that you identify as an atheist in your profile. Prior to giving my life over to Jesus Christ, I probably would have agreed with you when you say for some, drugs may be necessary - and although I can't really claim to know what everyone is going through in life or what will ultimately work for them - to say that there are some people who because of 'chemical imbalances' that faith cannot solve their issues is, IMHO - looking at the situation from a purely atheistic perspective. Having the LORD and Lord Jesus Christ in your life and knowing you are made in His image means that you realize your body is not just a collection of organs, neurons, and atoms. It means you realize you were fashioned in His image. Even before you were born the LORD knew you (You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. - Psalm 139:13).

To those who don't believe in God or seek other methods, I can understand how it might be believed that one might need pharmaceuticals. I admit there are times where I struggle with considerable physical pains in my arms and I will take an over the counter tylenol or advil for example.

But this journal is geared towards helping those who are dealing primarily with drug abuse and addiction. It is to show them an example such as myself that despite the addictions I was enduring that faith and realizing that the LORD is real, and that if you humble yourself and obey the Lord Jesus Christ, He will give you strength through your faith to do amazing things - such as live your life without a reliance on strong, mind altering drugs - whether for pain, anxiety, or depression. There is a large segment of the population in America who have been led to believe that the answer to their anxiety is Xanaax or some kind of strong sedative. There have been others led to believe that the cure for their depression is an anti-depressant, or an opiate for their pain. You do not need any of these things to be in a good place if you submit to a higher power and have faith in Christ.

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. -Philippians 4:13
I am living proof that you can have a happy life through having faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It takes humility and trust, and seeing someone else as higher than yourself, but it is possible..

Quite welcome. I was trying to offer my own perspective in my response, but I was hoping to try not dismissing your viewpoints just because I may disagree on the religious beliefs. The desire to help other people can be immensely impactful regardless of religion or not. Sometimes, being there for someone is what they need most.

But yes, I do consider myself an atheist. And if you're curious, I would be willing to share my story and experience here or in private if you'd prefer. Though, to point out a few things: No, I'm not an atheist just because I want to sin. Nor am I angry against God. Sometimes I may hate the things people do in the name of whatever god they worship, but I simply don't believe that any god exists.

So, yes, I agree I come at this from a more physical perspective than the metaphysical soul + mind idea. Mostly because those are the things that can be 'shown' to be true. It could be that there is some supernatural element out there that science is ill-equipped to understand and test, but if something is indeed true, there should be some methodology to explore the idea and to demonstrate or show it to be true.
The mind is indeed a powerful thing though. There is no doubt about that. There are many ways we can trick the brain into a great many things. From using light stimulation to reset your circadian rhythm to help with sleep problems or jet lag or to the power of the placebo effect. This is one of the reasons I mentioned meditation for pain management. Ultimately, as far as I'm aware, all that pain is is signals from the neurons that link sensory signals over to your brain for it to interpret. And with training, we can shift how our brain interprets those signals. This kind of training has been used for a variety of conditions. Including Phantom Limb Syndrome for those who've had a limb amputated.

But I do understand that your testimony was mostly geared toward those struggling with substance abuse of one sort or another. Or addictions in a more general sense, for that matter. Faith itself can also be a very powerful thing. Regardless if it is real or not. Which is why I've seen people have similar experiences in several types of religions and religious practices. A few of which I mentioned in my initial reply. Having the support of a community is also incredibly helpful. This is one of the things that many religions excel at. A sense of community and having the support they bring can help quite a bit.

I completely agree with you that you can absolutely have a happy and meaningful life as a Christian. I won't claim otherwise. But Christianity isn't unique in that respect. The same aspects and experiences that you had that brought you to Christ have equally gotten others into Islam or Hinduism, or Hare Krishna, or whatever other faith out there. People find meaning and purpose within it. But it's not a pre-requisite to find purpose and meaning, either. One can also give their own lives a sense of meaning and purpose and draw strength from that.

My ultimate point is that while yes, faith can be a powerful tool, there seem to be some things that faith alone cannot easily fix. I agree that addictive medications have their problems. And though I am not overly familiar with common practices for pain management teams, trying to minimize the use of addictive pain medication often seems to be a goal so as to avoid that problem it can bring. This is also sometimes necessary because the body is generally good at counter-balancing the effects of particular drugs on the receptors they use over time. Which is why many drugs have diminishing returns when continuously used. Like alcohol, for instance. You end up having to have more of it to have the equivalent effect it had before.

No matter who it is dealing with an addiction, there is definitely support that can be given. It's usually very difficult to deal with these things alone because we're very biased when it comes to our own capabilities. It's kind of like a parent that always thinks their kids can do no wrong, even though to outside folks, they very clearly are. Or when someone is in love, but in an abusive relationship. There are many ways we may rationalize these behaviors. And it's difficult to take that first step in realizing that we tend to believe the things we want to believe. Understanding we have such a bias can then help us figure out better ways of dealing with it. Support from those you trust definitely helps, regardless of the faith or science.

Oof. I think I sorta sound like I was rambling on there. Sorry if it sounds that way. Stream of thought tends to do that. :)

I understand that you are trying to be respectful - I appreciate that!

But something that Christians are warned about is the many 'voices' in the wilderness that call to the sheep (Christians). We are warned that many will come and try to pull us away from having a relationship with our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. You may not realize it - but by trying to (even if gently) continue to suggest along the lines that 'Christianity is okay, but it may not be needed/necessary for some' - you are essentially acting as one of these voices in the wilderness that has the potential to lead fledgling sheep (young Christians) astray from their faith. Those of us who are on fire for the Lord will not be led astray in this manner - but those Christians who are more vulnerable as well as those who have yet to give their lives over to Christ but are considering it are in potential danger by a voice that may come off as "well-meaning" but suggesting that one doesn't need Jesus Christ in this life.

I appreciate your gentleness. I appreciate your civility. What I do not condone is that within both of your messages you mix a gentle civility while suggesting that faith is not necessarily the ultimate answer. I am not suggesting you are necessarily doing this maliciously - it may be done on your part because by not accepting Jesus Christ's sacrifice for your sins you just can't see and understand the spiritual truths that become known to Christians when they humble themselves and live for Christ and not themselves. Sin separates you from having a relationship with God. As someone who lived 'on the other side of the fence' for almost all my life before becoming born again Christian - I can say this with authority. For around thirty years of my life I lived as an unrepentant sinner and never knew what having a relationship with God was like. Only after reading the Holy Bible and becoming a servant and sheep of Jesus Christ could I begin to hear, see, and understand the LORD in all things. It's like having a wisdom or way of perceiving reality that will remain hidden from you unless you become born again.

From The Holy Bible:

John 3:1-21
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus[a] by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again[b] he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.[c] 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You[d] must be born again.’ 8 The wind[e] blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you[f] do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.[g] 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.[h]

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”


So I am not surprised that you as an atheist believe that faith cannot solve some issues. The light and the truth which is Christ Jesus will seem useless and ineffective to you as long as you submit to the sin of pride and refuse to believe in a power greater than yourself. I lived this way for the majority of my life and it was only through the power of the name and life of Christ Jesus that I was able to overcome addictions, conquer fear of death, and be at peace within this world.

You state that you are not an atheist because you want to sin - but IMHO this is false. You are either a slave to the LORD or a slave to sin:

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
John 8:34

And, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
Romans 6:18

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
1 John 3:6

If you truly feel you do not need a relationship with Jesus Christ - it is because your sins and iniquity and your desire for them is stronger than a desire to be shown mercy and forgiveness by repentance and accepting Jesus Christ as savior and Lord over your life.

If you want to live that way it is up to you. I may not believe it to be a wise thing to do but I will respect your decision. But please understand that I am trying to speak like a shepherd to my Lord's sheep. Going up to a Christian who is trying to mentor other young Christians or would-be/potential Christians with messages of 'Not everyoneneeds faith is at the least, a bit tone-deaf and at the worst, arguably a good case for Matthew 16:23 response.

Oh, I'm aware of what Christians may warn against. There is much of that in the Bible. Most religious texts have such things in them because it's usually deemed 'anything' that may cause you to stray from your faith is a bad thing. It's almost a necessity to have such in religious practices. And as a result, questioning one's faith in its various forms often becomes a taboo thing to do. One is expected to accept it is true on faith.
So, yes, pretty much anything I say that doesn't agree with the Bible would usually have it said that "I'm doing the devil's work" or that I'm "rebelling against God." or just trying to "turn people away from the truth". Everyone has their reasons for the beliefs they hold. I'm not going to tell you what to believe. That's not really my place to do so. I can only try to express what my particular point of view is.

The Bible has many good things within it, don't get me wrong. But people also tend to focus on the good parts and ignore the not so good parts, but in my opinion, faith is not a very good way to arrive at what is 'true'. Many people may believe in something that is true, but for the wrong reasons. Some people might think something is false for good reasons.
And that kind of gets into the gnostic/agnostic part of belief as well. Though, often, this has more to do with a person's conviction on how certain they are of a particular belief they hold. That's a big reason why I think the idea of epistemology is such a useful tool when exploring one's own belief as well as for others.

My intent with my initial reply was not to try and pull people away from your god. But I did want to mention that it is not the only way people can have help dealing with their addictions. Many people find help within faith and religion. I was pointing out that Christianity is not unique in that particular aspect. Many faiths rely on similar principles. And many people can find help with this outside of religion as well. So my goal was to point out there are many paths to help with addiction. But the spiritual path is it's own journey. They can certainly become entwined in something like this, of course.

Now, to offer up a little more personal history of myself; For most of my life, I wouldn't have called myself a 'hardcore' Christian or anything. The family was relatively relaxed when it came to religion. We'd occasionally go to church, but my parents were fine with me exploring other religions as well. To learn about them. I was introduced to a number of things. Again, we have a fairly sizeable Hare Krishna community over here, so I had a few friends who were a part of that. I also got to learn some of the stories and culture of the native American part of the family. But I also live in the 'south', so the vast majority of churches down here are Baptist. My grandparents were much more involved in the church and their church would have a summer bible camp, which I did all four years between middle school grades. This was perhaps when I "really" tried to be a Christian. I read most of the Bible, I took notes where I could and went to church more often. Some of the pastors I've listened to were great people and great speakers. But there were always certain things that I would think about or things that didn't make much sense when I read it or heard it. And so began my journey into the academia of it. Though, I recognize that I did far more to read the works of others who had spent way more time than I could possibly hope to on the subject, I've always tried to read sources both from Christian scholars as well as secular scholars to try and get a more complete viewpoint and understanding.
I think some of my conflict came from when I was getting into late middle school and into high school when I was getting into various sciences. I later went on into a Zoology major in college.
Many people can certainly believe in their faith and practice science. I'm not trying to claim you can't. But for me, I just couldn't rationalize the two as both being true at the same time. William Lane Craig is a well-known apologist that I've listened to for a number of years now. I've also more recently listened to Bart Ehrman. But my experience and deep-dive into religion has lead me to conclude there is likely no god at all. Suffice it to say, this was a slow journey that took over 10 years to reach through my middle school, high school, and some of my college years as well. I've continued to listen to scholarly conversations and debates on this. I've found The Unbelievable podcast/show with Justin Brierly is an amazing show to watch regardless if religious or not. He's a Christian that has Christians and non-Christians talk about or debate a particular point of view on a subject. Definitely one of the better 'neutral' shows I've listened to. Highly suggest! :)

Even still, I don't hold animosity to most Christians. I've even helped several times over the past 10 years to help perform and work on concerts at a few different churches for Christmas or Easter. Partly because they were great people I generally already knew at least in part. And I love music! But at the same time, I suppose it is a bit awkward when most of them think I was a Christian at the time. I try not to lie to people, but I'm also not exactly going to just say I'm an atheist, either. I just didn't deem it necessary as I was there to help in the expression of the musical performance and help make sure people had fun and enjoyed the show.

Going back to your particular response, yes, I'm aware of the idea that only after reading the Bible and submitting yourself to Christ can you truly understand and get to know God. I've tried that before. It didn't work. I reached out to God and got nothing but silence. Now, I've also heard the notion that I can't "hear" God because my heart was closed to him. But when I first reached out, I absolutely wasn't. I was eager and I wanted to be a part of it. But no matter how much I prayed or asked God to reveal himself to me, it never happened. I understand other people's experiences are not my own. But I think it's important for me to mention this because it's part of why I am where I am today. If God is indeed real (or any god for that matter), they should be perfectly capable of reaching out to me and provide me a convincing evidence that they do truly exist. Now, whether or not I think the god is worthy of being worshipped, that's a different question to consider.

I've definitely read over the gospels a fair bit as well. I've certainly heard those passages of John several times over the years. :)
While it is a fascinating statement, it's another one of those passages that basically makes the "no true Scotsman" fallacy. That unless you do (or think) these things (which usually is the same beliefs or ideas as the person making this statement), then you aren't "really" a Christian. I understand what is said in the Bible there, but to someone like myself, who does not believe, that would essentially amount to a "fake it 'till you make it" kind of mentality. Which I totally know people who've done that. Usually because of wishful thinking. They really want to believe a thing to be true, so they just keep at it until they really believe it's true!
My point being, I try to keep an open mind. I am willing to be convinced that a god is real. Certainly a omnipotent, omniscient god would easily be able to provide me convincing evidence, whatever form that may be. That doesn't affect my free will in the slightest. If he is indeed "all loving" as well, then they should feel compelled to do so, even.

Though, I will comment that John 3:16 has never really made much sense to me. There was no sacrifice. A sacrifice means that you give up something that's significant to you. Otherwise it's not much of a sacrifice. In the killing of Christ, there was nothing lost, so there was no meaningful sacrifice. Not to mention, such a sacrifice from a being that should be capable of offering forgiveness without one, this would hardly seem (to me) to be a good way of showing one's "love".

You are correct that my particular perspective causes me to believe that faith is not the only way to offer an answer to help in one's addictions (or other life problems for that matter). And it has nothing to do with pride. Yes, we all have some pride, but I'm well-aware there are many things I don't know. But I really do try to go about my life trying to believe in as many true things and as few false things as I can. I recognize that I (like everyone else) has a certain bias. That's one of the primary reasons I try very hard to look at viewpoints from differing (or opposing) views. Because it helps me to gain a more complete understanding of the subject, rather than just taking a side and sticking to it.

Clearly, there are a great many passages that I cannot agree with because my own experiences have demonstrated to me that they cannot be correct. You bring up some of them at the end. The Bible literally gives impossible standards on what is considered a sin and makes very little distinction between the severities of them. For instance, it's said in the Bible that lusting after someone in your mind is just as bad as lusting after them in reality. This is clearly not actually the case, despite what the words in the Bible state. One clearly causes far more harm than the other. The whole premise of sin in the Bible is from a completely archaic way of thinking as well. The "sins of the father" concept is a legacy of the past that has been shown to make no real actual sense. The sins of someone who came before you should have absolutely no effect on you. So this idea that you're "born in sin" is a ridiculous concept that (in my experience) most Christians do believe to be true. At least to some extent. But because it was written in a holy text, it's still taken to (necessarily) be true.

Also, it's not about me "feeling I do not need a relationship with Jesus Christ". I'm simply not convinced God even exists. I have seen little reason to believe that the divinity of Jesus is true and I'm not willing to simply "take it on faith" that it's true. I will always try to make sure I'm open-minded to be convinced that it's true. But so far, that hasn't happened. Furthermore, the more I continue to investigate, the more problems within various religions I've seen.

Clearly, you don't believe in other religions, such as Islam, Hinduism, Scientology, Buddhism, etc. Correct? People use the exact same kinds of logic and reasons to believe their religion as you use to believe in your own. Besides pointing to the Bible, how might you reasonably convince anyone that what's written in it is actually true? Simply saying the Bible is true because it says its true is circular reasoning and is not a valid way to actually finding truth. It's this search for truth that has gotten me where I am today. I'm not simply content to "believe". I want to know how can the claims it makes be demonstrated to be true over every other religion out there? Why should I be convinced by Christianity as compared to any other religion? Food for thought.

I hope I sufficiently explained both my background involving religion as well as helping to explain what my initial reply was intending to express.

And again, I sincerely appreciate your replies. I've had a lot of enjoyment in exploring this topic of conversation both with you and many others in the past. And again, I can only offer my own personal viewpoint. I recognize each person has their own, though most of us do have some things in common as well as many things that are different. :)

You wrote:

"Going back to your particular response, yes, I'm aware of the idea that only after reading the Bible and submitting yourself to Christ can you truly understand and get to know God. I've tried that before. It didn't work. I reached out to God and got nothing but silence. Now, I've also heard the notion that I can't "hear" God because my heart was closed to him. But when I first reached out, I absolutely wasn't. I was eager and I wanted to be a part of it. But no matter how much I prayed or asked God to reveal himself to me, it never happened."

See, this is the problem. You are treating the LORD in a way where you are telling Him 'I will only believe in you if you can prove to me you exist. Do something so I can believe through my senses rather than by faith - but we who have a relationship with the LORD believe by faith - that is, we believe without having to see or hear Him. How would it be a leap of faith to believe in the LORD if he was forced to perform on command every single time someone asked Him to prove Himself? Isn't that being a little prideful anyways? Expecting the LORD of all creation to prove Himself to you when you are fully capable of believing by faith, as so many other (Christians) choose to do? It is your pride that gets between you and having a relationship with Him - you choose to simply not believe in the LORD - and rather, that all of these beautiful things in this creation simply and suddenly started to exist for no apparent reason. How can something come to exist from nothing? No, the big bang does not explain this - it simply states what Christians state - in a way that writes the LORD out of the equation. Basically..first there was nothing..and then, something. But how, and why? Science can't answer that.

Also, the LORD didreveal Himself to humanity. It's when Jesus Christ came and took on a human body and paid for all the sins of mankind by dying on the cross. That was the LORD revealing himself to us - and He ensured that those of us who are here after Christ came would be able to learn of it and accept it through the gospel being preserved and available through human history. If that's not enough of a sign for you to believe - I don't know what to tell you. Again, it's pride and arrogance that leaves someone to state 'Yeah, ...still going to need some more proof" after the LORD comes down and personally dies for you so you can be saved. What more can we ask for than what He did for us already?

You may not realize it - but even atheists have faith. It's just that their faith is in choosing to believe in no God. It is much easier to choose to believe there is no God if you wish to live a sinful life. It means there is no moral reason for anything. Without God and His commandments - what is the reasoning for saying murder is bad? Or that stealing is bad? If there is no God and everything just came to be from nothing - you could essentially argue that there is no moral truth. This is why atheism is such a popular faith for some people. Because it lets them behave however they wish without having to justify it. You can choose to sleep with a member of the same sex, or even have attraction to or sex with animals - who is going to tell you doing such a thing is a sin in a universe with no God?

But deep down we know that certain things are wrong and evil. Murdering another. Stealing things that do not belong to us, etc - the LORD has written His law onto our hearts so we just /know/ that some things are wrong. In a reality where there is no God and there is no moral truths - everyone can be their own God. This is essentially a textbook definition of satanism. Satanists choose to basically believe or elevate themselves rather than glorify the LORD who created them. It basically is giving yourself the title of God . You decide what is right and wrong. You don't have to obey anyone's rules but your own.

You wrote:
" For instance, it's said in the Bible that lusting after someone in your mind is just as bad as lusting after them in reality. This is clearly not actually the case, despite what the words in the Bible state. One clearly causes far more harm than the other."

We will have to agree to disagree. Lusting after someone in your mind is the same as lusting after them in reality. I can back this up with scripture as well:

"14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. -James 1:14-15

What this means is that first you begin to lust after someone with a thought. You don't just suddenly lust after someone physically without thinking about it first. The desire has to come into your mind before you decide to act upon that desire. So there is the initial thought of lust - which may or may not give birth to the additional sin of acting on that desire. So what is the best way to not end up in a situation where you are 'acting on that sinful desire' ...? By not even having the initial thought of it! So, yes, lusting after someone in your mind /is/ a sin. You should not be lusting after anyone whether by thought or by action which comes after the thought.

By telling me that lusting in thought is not as harmful as lusting for them in reality shows me that you do not have a strong understanding of the gospel. This isn't your fault - I don't blame you for this - but it is only through a clear and precise understanding of the gospel can we as Christians protect ourselves from the sinful world we are living in.

I have read the Holy Qu'ran. I have books on Hinduism that I have not yet gotten to, and Buddhism as I understand it does not give you a savior who can cleanse you and make you forgiven for your sins - nor do any of the other religions. It's not that "don't believe" in the other religions. It's just that I believe that Christianity - believing in the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for our sins is the /only/ way to know and be forgiven by the LORD. No other religion will save you from your sins. I choose to believe because after having lived almost my entire life as an atheist and then finding Christ one day through, what I believe is divine help after the passing of a parent - my life has become so much more incredibly better for me. I have beat addictions, depression, and have become a much better person because of it. This is why I choose to believe and have faith in Jesus Christ as my savior. Your repeated comments questioning the veracity of Christians and Christianity because it did not work for you is a bit off-putting. I mean, I'm sorry it didn't work for you. It worked for me, and many others who call themselves Christian. I do not ask the LORD to prove Himself to me. I just choose to believe. That is what faith is. We as His servants don't require that He must prove Himself to us. We already believe just by how we choose to see and observe things and by our faith.

If you want to choose to not believe in the LORD or Jesus Christ, that is your choice. But may I ask you to please respect those of us that do choose to believeand are trying to help others make sense of their lives through having strength and faith in Christ Jesus dying for our sins? The point of these journals I am writing is to help other Christians and potential Christian followers with wisdom that has been granted to us by our Lord Jesus Christ in our faith and struggles. They are not written to debate on whether or not Jesus Christ or the Holy Bible is real or true.

Thank you for expressing your viewpoints.

I was treating the Lord as I would anyone I would like to get to know better. In order to have a relationship with someone, you have to have some kind of communication. Now, I recognize that it doesn't have to be direct communication, though it 'could' be. God would certainly have the means to be able to do so. He's done so many times in the past to people, written clearly in the Bible. And there are many people both present and past that have claimed to have spoken to God, visited Heaven (or Hell), etc. Now, it's impossible to know if any of them are telling the truth or whether they could have just been interpreting a dream to be reality. Or maybe they were literally hallucinating. I can't possibly know.

Also, most other things that we hold a belief in "does" require us to have some kind of evidence for in order to believe (or at least a certain level of trust that the information is indeed factual if someone else is providing said evidence). If I told you that "the dang lawn gnomes stole my socks again" or "there's an invisible walkway that goes from this building to that one", clearly, you're not just going to take my word for such a claim. Those are not really things we understand to actually happen in reality, so to be convinced it's true, you'd want some decent evidence, yeah? Perhaps want a demonstration to show the truthfulness of the claim. We require that for most every other belief we have except for God. Why does God get an exception that we're required to believe him only on Faith? And what makes faith in your particular god any more correct than any other god? How can we tell which one is correct? Because if you're only going by faith, that's not a good way to determine which one is actually "true". The very fact that there are 200 denominations of Christianity in the US alone and over 45,000 different ones worldwide. No one can agree on what the words of the Bible truly mean and their importance in our lives. So faith alone seems to be a rather poor methodology to understand what's true.

Early on, my heart was very much open and willing to try and have a relationship with God, even if I didn't necessarily know what to expect. I kept trying for a few years to ask what I should do. But I just never quite got an answer. At least not one that I could understand to be any kind of answer. I recognize that God wouldn't *have* to answer my prayers and such. But why would He simply not answer when doing so would absolutely help in my quest at the time? Why would He intentionally lead me astray?
I've heard many times over that "Satan is the author of confusion", yet just based on what's supposed to be the "holy word" of the Bible, God would at least *seem* to be the only author of confusion most of the time. This is one of the realizations I came across in my studies on looking through the Bible myself. I know everyone has their own journey with this. I know a number of people who have read through the Bible entirely and come away with very different opinions that my own. But taking a more skeptical approach (for my own personal journey) definitely showed things in a different light than someone who's already very much in the faith. So, I really have to disagree with your assessment that it's my "pride" getting in the way of believing in Him. It truly isn't. I've spent many many hours trying to seek out the truth. If I had merely chosen not to believe in Him because I thought I was better than him or that I don't have to worry about getting into Heaven because I know I'm good enough? Then, I could agree with you that pride is at least a factor. But this couldn't be further from the case. The more I've explored this, the more I've realized I just didn't know the Bible. I didn't know other religions. I was just ignorant of just how much was out there in the world to learn. It took me a long time to really examine my own beliefs and ideologies and the questions that I'd thought of, but were afraid to actually explore. Asking questions and having doubts has nothing to do with pride.

I struggled with many questions over the past 25 years since I had begun that journey. Over the last 12-15 years of that, I've done quite a lot of looking at Biblical scholarship, reading and watching seminars and debates between various religious groups and atheists as well. I've tried to understand the history and which interpretations of words are better or more likely to be true than others, to see what in the Bible are real contradictions or just ones that appear to be. I've listened to many apologists try to explain these things to varying degrees of success.

Going back to some of the things you state specifically. You're correct that the Big Bang doesn't answer where the universe came from. While there are many hypotheses to what could have come before, none have yet shown to be the most likely to be true (as far as I'm aware at the moment). It's entirely possible we may never know. But that's also impossible to know. Science doesn't "write the Lord out of the equation" just because it wants to. It's because saying "God did this" is not a testable claim. Science works with falsifiable premises that can be tested in some way or fashion to try and determine the veracity of the hypothesis with objective data. Science can't really answer subjective statements because those are different depending on one's method of evaluation. I may think a particular flower is absolutely beautiful, while someone else may not really care about how the flower appears.

With the claim that Jesus Christ came and took human form to pay for human sin. How do you know any of that actually took place? I know you have faith that it did. But how can you be sure that the claim is actually true? What makes the Bible's claims more true than say what the Quran's claims about Jesus are true? You see why believing things purely on faith is not a great path towards knowing what's true? Anyone can believe in something based on faith, but what is "actually" true? That's a very important question to me.
A God doesn't have to perform on command just because someone wants Him to, but it's not an unreasonable request to ask for evidence of his existence in the face of there being very little evidence He does exist. And for God, this would be a trivial task, despite whatever He may or may not choose to do so. And this would have no bearing on free will, either. Knowing of someone or something's existence does not force you to worship said thing or being. That's a completely different thing.

I don't have a problem in believing that Jesus Christ may have existed in one way or another. But the claims about his divinity takes a lot more evidence to convince someone (who's skeptical) it's actually true. And again, the entire premise of the "sins of the father" that caused this to begin with makes no sense. And I'll also mention again that Jesus' "sacrifice" was not actually a sacrifice, as nothing was given up. Also, God could have chosen to just forgive the sins of man with no sacrifice. But either He chose to or was compelled to.

You also make the claim that if I don't find the claim that Jesus came down to free us of our sin and that I am somehow both prideful and arrogant? I'm not sure I follow how this is a valid conclusion from the premise? For many people (especially within science), we understand and acknowledge there is much that we don't know. But most religious folks seem to claim that they know everything through God. That God is the answer to everything. Most of the rest of us are fine with just saying "I don't know". So I'm really not sure where any of this has to do with pride or arrogance. I'm going to be honest with you, some of the most prideful and arrogant people I've known have been Christians. Because they believe that through God and the Bible, that they know everything they need to know. That there is no answer that the Bible doesn't reveal to them. This becomes problematic when some of the things in the Bible don't seem to match up to reality. Whether it's the description of the time period derived from Adam to now, to the impossibility of the world-wide flood of Noah, and to many other claims that make sense as a story, but not as a reflection of what happened in reality.

Sure, atheists do have faith. At least in a certain sense. We all have our beliefs, whether they're well-founded or not. We're all prone to believing things that are not true. Myself included. While there are many atheists that actively believe "there are no gods", I'd argue that most atheists just aren't convinced by the claim that a particular god exists.
Also, while I realize there are a few ways of thinking about this, I would argue that we don't "choose" our beliefs (in most cases). We usually believe in something because we've been convinced that the thing is true. Or we believe something is false because we've been convinced that thing is false. We don't "choose" which one we want to believe in arbitrarily.

Now, going on to moral subjects, that gets into quite a bit of interesting topics of discussion! Why "is" murder bad if you don't have the Bible? Well, there are several ways to think about it. First and foremost, allowing it is bad for societal stability. So having rules in place against it help stabilize a society. You could also make an agreement that murder is not good for human flourishing. Or that it goes against the desire to limit unnecessary suffering. Not having rules may have been fine for small tribes of people, but it doesn't work for larger towns and cities of people. Also, there are evolutionary explanations where the tendency not to want to murder people is an advantageous trait for a social species like our own. But of course, that's not entirely the case as we (like chimpanzees as an example) tend to still have that tribal group desire. We're really bad at admitting when we might be wrong about something. And this can provoke a number of reactions. But that's getting way further into that than I need to go in this conversation. Either way, there are several ways we can arrive to the conclusion that murder is bad. Not just because it's in the Bible. The concept of murder being a bad thing to do was a concept that existed long before the Bible.
This goes for any number of moral questions as well. That's also why I am one of those that will certainly claim that morality is subjective. That there is no absolute moral truth. Because it provably is this way by the fact we have many different opinions about what is right and wrong all over the world. We can have objective frameworks that may lead to a particular moral goal, but that moral goal is still always a subjective one. It only works if we can agree on the outcome we want.

Also, I did want to point out that Atheism isn't a faith. It's simply a rejection of the claim that there is a god. Or simply, the lack of belief in a god. That's not a statement of faith. It just means they're not convinced the claim of a god is true.

To point out another thing, being an atheist doesn't let us behave however we want. Again, most people aren't atheists just to 'sin'. You can sin while believing a god exists. Those are two different things. But we have to live with other people as well. We make certain social contracts in the form of laws and such that we conform to to try and live in a stable society. If I break the law, I have to answer for the crime. So no, as an atheist, I can't just "do whatever I want". Nor would I want to. I recognize that certain behaviors can be harmful and I wouldn't want it done to me, so I'm not going to do it to someone else, either.
But because it's not just a statement or claim about some absolute morality, now we have to be able to express "why" something is wrong and not just claim that it's wrong just because "God said so".

This is an incredibly common misconception about atheists though. That we just want to rebel against god or that we want to sin without consequence. But that's a completely separate argument from atheism. Wanting to or not wanting to sin has nothing to do with whether or not you believe a god exists.
Another common misconception is that we just want to be our own gods, essentially. That's also not at all true. Whether you're talking about atheists, satanists, or people in other belief systems, the rejection of a god does not mean we're trying to 'be' gods. We as a 'society' get to decide what is right or wrong. Not so much as individuals. That's what laws are.

I'm also very aware of the passage about God writing his laws on our heart. While an interesting metaphor, as I mentioned previously, that's demonstrably incorrect by the fact that we have many different moral standards across the world. I've also heard the argument then that it's because we've hardened our hearts that we don't recognize these laws written onto them. I've also heard this rationale used to describe that real deep down, even Atheists know that God is real, we just refuse to believe in Him. That we just want to go against him. But this is absolutely not true. This is one of many of the propagandizing tactics I see all the time from religious institutions (not just Christians). This is why we (as a society) don't treat all crimes equally. For instance, stealing some food is not punished nearly as much as stealing $1000, for instance. We have a sliding scale of degrees to determine the severity of the sentence based on the severity of the crime. Which is (in my opinion) far better than the infinite punishment of Hell. Honestly, absolutely no finite crime is ever worth eternal punishment. I'm sure you've probably heard it pointed out that God's punishment system has nothing to do about what is just.

I suppose we will indeed have to agree to disagree on the lusting in the mind versus lusting in reality. I understand you can back that up with scripture. I can back up my stance with actual evidence. There is actual, measurable harm to people if you act out your lustful thoughts on someone. There is no measurable harm to anyone if it's only within your mind. Does this mean that having overly lustful thoughts is a good thing? Of course not. (this can go back to addiction behaviors as well) But one has objectively done more harm than the other.
The passage in James is one I've heard before as well (though most quotes people tend to use come from the gospels, anyway).
Of course you don't just lust after someone physically without it also being mentally true.
But to think that you can "choose" not to have lustful thoughts is absolutely ridiculous. That's just a biological fact that almost every person is going to have lustful thoughts. Which goes back to how the Bible intentionally creates an impossible system of morality to follow, thereby *always* "falling short of the glory of God" and always having to atone for the sin of something that comes about necessarily just out of a basic biological function. While not every person has the same level of this drive, it's something that most people have. There are some people who are always thinking about it, and there's some people who rarely think of it.
This is the same how you might imagine what it would be like to hurt someone or even kill someone that really gets on your nerves. But thinking about it is not the same as actually doing that act. This is why in reality, thoughts aren't illegal. Specific actions are (actions can include speech, of course).

And I understand the gospels fine. But because I don't hold them to be a reflection of "God's word" like you may, I don't see the words of the gospels as being authoritative just because they say a thing. It's important to have a reason *why* such a thing is true and/or important to follow. I understand that the Bible says the things that it does. That doesn't mean that those things corroborate with reality. Just as the size of Noah's ark would have been impossible to have existed and hold all the animals it would have had to hold for as long as they did, the same is true here. While the Bible may describe lusting in ones mind/heart as being the same as physically doing so as being one and the same, reality doesn't generally agree with that. Honestly, I think this ideology in particular became prevalent to try and get away from things like polygamy and such. And I agree that it can cause problems. Being married and lusting after someone else even in just your own mind can lead to a lot of turmoil and difficulty in the marriage.
But that doesn't mean that one isn't (almost always) objectively worse than the other in practice.

I do give you credit for reading other holy texts like the Quran and books on other religions. Definitely more than what most Christians I know have done. Very few tend to explore outside their bubble of comfort within the religion. You're correct that most forms of Buddhism doesn't have any sort of savior type. And there's many different forms that it comes in, including a secularized use of it. There's a podcast I listen to that talks about secular Buddhism, actually. And how he applies it to his everyday life.

I'm honestly glad that your life has become better with your faith. I've known many people who have come to religion in a moment of crisis. But I also have my issue with that. Many times, I see people preyed upon by religion when they're emotionally vulnerable. Now, many Christians (or people of other religions) may simply be trying to support them from a good place in their heart, but I also see many people come into a religion because they're comforted by it. It makes them feel safe. I'm an atheist because I want to understand what's actually "true", not just what comforts me or makes me feel safer. But I recognize we are emotional as well as logical beings. Both are important sides of us.

If you can find the strength you need in faith, then I support that. It has helped a great many people. But as was my original point with dealing with addiction and similar issues, religion is simply not the only answer. People can find the strength within themselves as well, to overcome the personal struggles that they deal with. Then can find the help in other people. Whatever it may be.
Also, I do apologize if my comments were off-putting. While I do readily question the veracity of Christians and Christianity, I see that as an important thing. If you cannot reflect upon questions of your own faith and/or belief, then how likely is it really to be true? Questions are important. If a religion ever feels concerned or threatened by asking questions, then that is definitely a red flag. I'm not saying this is true for you. I'm just saying what I've said as an expression of my own personal journey. I only speak for myself and my own thoughts. No one else's. I also understand your intent may be for other Christians. But this particular journal was clearly intended for anyone dealing with addiction. Not just Christians dealing with addiction. Which is why I decided to chime in.

Likewise, thank you as well for continuing to express your thoughts and opinions as well!