A few years ago,with the rise of the New Atheists and great smart-sounding people like Christopher Hitchens, my adolescent mind was super convinced there was no god. I would be so cringey and it would be basically all I would talk about, to the point where I ended up alienating friends and family, sometimes badly severing ties with people over this very sensitive issue which I thought others just weren't smart enough to understand critically. It turned off a lot of potential girlfriends and lost me quite a lot of job opportunities. The hopeless, depressing way I took life made everything go to shit, as I didn't see a reason for doing anything. Life was just atoms in motion. It's not until recently that I've started reading up on islam and finding a lot of profound and beautiful stuff in there.
I'm now open-minded enough to accept people's beliefs in god and to see the good things religion can bring. But in spite all my efforts, it's so hard for me to believe again. What books should I read to regain my faith in God??
Hudson Jones
Out of curiosity what quality works of atheism have you read?
Are you concerned about swinging your pendulum to the equally faulty opposite?
Lucas Gonzalez
my diary, desu
Grayson Turner
The Gospel according to St. John Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton
Elijah Williams
I'm not sure how much books would help, OP. Or what you are looking for specifically.
but...
Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, Pavel Florensky, G K Chesterton, Edith Stein, Pascal, TS Eliot, Charles Williams, Kierkegaard and Simone Weil are some ideas. Even Tolkien. The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. Reading the lives of saints and missionaries would help.
also, there's a few videos between a guy named David Berlinski and Hitchens on youtube. (although Berlinski is an agnostic, he thinks militant atheism is stupid and he does really, really well against Hitchens. You realize very clearly while listening that Hitchens is much more an orator and antidote-collector than a philosopher.)
Hunter Parker
Any book will do.
Andrew Edwards
You know, I was composing this well thought out (or at least provocative and witty) reply, until I skimmed your post again and spotted "Islam." Good b8, assuming you're not serious. If you are, I can still provide my witty reply.
Michael Stewart
What they don't teach is, there is always an intellectual in-crowd, where people follow because it resonates with them. It's not necessarily wrong, it can be healthy, but when you see it as your identity like you did, then it can have a huge negative impact on your life because you took it too seriously. Think critically, read books and as your bandwagon chums that i used to watch would say " a truly intelligent person, understands how little they know" or something along those lines. Don't start or perpetuate arguments based on stupid shit, be like water (bruce lee) if someone says something that starts to trigger you, just agree with them and be like " yeah probably" or bla bla, don't take a hard stance, especially when you are prone to sperging out like aforementioned.
Levi Collins
I already posted sincerely, inbeforebaited
Isaac Carter
You want to become religious because of social alienation. How weak are you? Can't you use reason and think for yourself instead of just accepting something comfortable as true. I don't like militant athiests, and I don't like orthodox theists, but I hate people like you.
Luis King
/x/ please go
Alexander Cruz
>asking for paranormal to leave
Joseph Carter
>i need to be spoonfed arguments for and against things
Hudson Clark
There are no good arguments for belief. One girl I asked, who is philosophically rigorous, literally gave me the line, "you can't disprove God, and I believe in him because it provides my life meaning and moral direction."
So that's the rub. You can't disprove the existence of God. There are no arguments for his existence. Faith transcends argument, transcends logic. If you have a sweeping emotional response to some significant thing, attribute it to God. No one will stop you.
Alexander Adams
the recognitions. made me believe.
Jayden Flores
>I can't figure out my own meaning and I can't hack alienation >I want to believe in god
Congrats OP for figuring out that you're a pleb. Religion sounds like it would suit you.
Ryan Green
>I found out that there is no God like the ones in the Bible. So I became an insufferable idiot. This is what we call teenagers, get over yourself. >Now that I am no longer a teenager and realise that I was an insufferable idiot, I want to go back to how things were before. Then just do that you insufferable idiot, no one will stop you. If you want to become part of your old community again, they will probably welcome you back if you apologise and try to make amends. >I can't do it without becoming an insufferable idiot who praises God instead of refuting him. To show my old friends that I am not an atheist, so that they will welcome me back without having to make amends. You have learned nothing from your experience.
Colton Ward
The Mind of God by Davies
It's going to meet you where you are now and take you somewhere else.
Evan Lewis
see this Veeky Forums ? this is what all your christposting has led to Why don't we like new atheists? because of their ignorance, weak arguments and pretension. What does it say about us that we swing the other way completely in opposition - literally asking to be persuaded and also how we might best persuade ourselves? that we're as ignorant and anti-intellectual as they are, and that we're cowards. What's really at the bottom of this, if not cowardice, if not the desire to be given an easy solution to problems we wish we didn't have to deal with? cowardice and feebleness.
Hunter Ross
congratulations, you got some people to reply to your b8
Robert Gonzalez
>Why don't we like new atheists? because you're a bunch of special fucking snowflakes who don't like your beliefs being questioned
Joshua Young
New atheists are incapable of questioning our beliefs, as they can't understand them.
Isaiah Cruz
you can read? try reading that again. What do I say about 'new atheists'? >ignorance, weak arguments and pretension
It's possible to not be that sort of thinker, and at the same time also not be a fucking christian. I dunno, I quite like not being either of the species of coward at hand.
Christopher Barnes
the concept of anxiety by kierkegaard i and thou by buber
Austin Wilson
If you want some actual philosophical proofs for the existence of God (as well as a better understanding of what we even mean when we talk about God) then you should read some Thomas Aquinas, arguably the greatest theologian in history.
Of course it's really really hard to read Aquinas if you haven't studied him before, because he uses language that you won't only not know, but you'll actually think means something other than it does (one random example of something that trips people up, "motion" for Aquinas doesn't just mean movement through space, but any actualization of a potentiality. And "potentiality" and "actuality" ALSO have specific meanings, etc etc). Therefore I'd suggest reading some Edward Feser, who is a contemporary philosophy who is excellent at explaining Aquinas to people unfamiliar with medieval philosophy.
Try "Aquinas" by Edward Feser. If you want something that specifically addresses New Atheism then try "The Last Superstition."
Dominic Taylor
>Christians are cowards Have you carried your cross? In the west you may be right. Although it is hard to say, we have been specifically nurtured by public schools to harbor great burdens in relation to our faith and its publicity. In the Middle-East, Africa, South America, Asia - do you find more courageous people?
Christian Barnes
...
Lincoln Peterson
>Thomas Aquinas, arguably the greatest theologian in history.
Hes not even the best scholastic theologian.
>If you want something that specifically addresses New Atheism then try "The Last Superstition."
I second this, but beware this is Feser at his most cringiest and the first 1/3rd of the book is effectively a mirror image of new athiesm
Adam Bell
>my super special thoughts are so deep and meaningful nobody can understand them >i'm literally the most unique person to have ever existed
oh grow up you daft little turd
Jason Stewart
>Thomas Aquinas, arguably the greatest theologian in history and the one whose arguments are the easiest to dismiss
Jaxson Smith
>my super special thoughts are so deep and meaningful nobody can understand them >i'm literally the most unique person to have ever existed Nobody said or in any way implied or alluded to these things, you ignorant moron. Your reading comprehension and reasoning skills are terrible, not that anything else can be expected of a "new atheist".
Zachary Jackson
>hurr durr you're dumb and stupid and DUUUMMB!!!! You're the reason new atheists exist in the first place, cretin.
Oliver Butler
Easy to say. Care to give an example?
Dylan Thomas
Chances are high there's no god and we are just a narcissistic cosmic mistake. Does it really matter? Read Baudrillard and Stirner.
Michael Harris
When you say stupid things, you get called out for saying stupid things. That's the way it typically works.