Why can't I believe in what I want?

You can believe what you want; we just want you to know the Truth, Jesus. "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6

I think everyone needs to find their own truth. It's sad when people feel trapped in a religion that they're not sure about and will be shunned if they leave. I grew up Christian but decided it wasn't for me at the age of 17. After 6 years of searching and studying different religions I found the Bahai faith and converted. You need to figure out what is right for you. You'll be much happier that way.I think people push their religion on you because of many different reasons. Superstition plays a large roll in religion. Many religious leader use fear to control their followers or believe you wont get into heaven if you don't believe a certain thing. It all depends. I happen to believe that all good people make it to heaven regardless of their belief system. It think God judges us more on our character than religion. So find your truth whether it's buddhist, hindu, bahai, islam, etc.

quote "But now if I say I do not believe in god, I believe in the idea of god, but feel no one has painted the correct picture yet I get bashed. Why?"

You're not alone. And you can believe whatever you want.

Just don't organize into a social/political force to try to make government and law which is biased to your way only. That's what kings of the past used to do and they were whack jobs!

Believe what you want. Its your life. No one should ever tell you differently. Just keep in mind responsibility for others is all we ask pretty much.

Christians for some reason or another have been brain washed into believing that it is wrong to think differently, but they ignore that everyone is different.

Religions should have no power to dictate your life.

Dude, you have the right to 'believe' in santa, or unicorns. The fact that your question sounds genuine to me means that you are searching for some answers.

I've had ALOT of questions, and have found ALOT of answers. If you're really in turmoil about this, ask God yourself. "If You're real, then reveal it to me...." Ask Him as genuinely as you've asked this question. Then wait...

Honestly Dude, you just might be surprised.

And if you've had a run-in with some self-righteous, rude christians, sorry Bro. It's not right. You do have the right to believe in what you want... take care.

Even for people who believe in God, if they say they actually talked to God, like had an actual conversation, people look at them a little weird.

Well, firstly, you DO believe what you want :-)

Secondly, imagine you have a belief that doing crack cocaine is healthy for you. If your parents knew this about you, wouldn't it be not not only probable but expected that they would do everything they could to change your belief, because they care about you?

To the Christian, for one to not acknowledge Jesus as savior is tantamount to "being lost". Depending on one's understanding of the Bible, that means anything between dying and never experiencing the joys of Heaven, to being tossed conscious into literal fire forever.

If a live power line dropped in the street in front of your house and your child who was ignorant of the effects of touching it started walking toward it, wouldn't you want to do everything in your power to stop him? Same idea with the Christian preaching and telling you to believe the Bible. They're trying to have you avoid a bad fate.

Without getting into the correctness (or incorrectness) of the Christian gospel message, do you see the motivation for a Christian to preach it to another?

God bless.

As an atheist, I think you can engage in whatever fantasy you want (supposing no one is harmed). However, the moment you come into a public forum and make a statement, you are up for criticism.

There is no perceived consequences for believing in fairy tales, however when it comes to not believing in God there are consequences, because not believing is not having an attitude of gratitude for what God has done for us. Think about what you will say to God if you reject Jesus' painful crucifixion, and God's wonderful creation which you enjoyed all of your life. In a nutshell we owe God our life, but all he requires is for us to glorify Him.

I am sorry that some Christians make you feel inferior for your beliefs. We Christians do get passionate about what the Bible teaches, because we do believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven. You do have a choice and I urge you to examine the options.