A Difference in Perspective (Religious vs Non-Religious)

[eric246]

Let me start out by saying I've always been interested in why some people will fight so hard for there not to be a God, and others to fight hard to prove there is one. I have always been somewhat in-between, being raised in a Christian grade-school, falling away from faith in high school, and growing towards it as I have gotten into my late college years. I've grown up on the internet, which seems to be primarily atheistic or agnostic, and a majority of my friends are agnostic as well. These last couple years I really started to analyze both sides, look at each of their arguments, and view all the evidence, all while trying to stay open minded. There are some observations that have stood out to me after being around believers and non-believers, the biggest one being how we each view the world, our perspective.

When growing up, I was raised with an almost ideal Christian background; Loving parents, strong family influence, bible classes, and my perspective on the world was that this was how everyone's life was, mainly because I didn't know anything else. I remember hearing about one of my friend/classmate's parents getting divorced in 6th grade, and how I couldn't even imagine my life with my parents split up. I thought about how much my friend's perspective on life, and love, must have changed at that point. You grow up looking up to your parents, supposedly resembling how a loving relationship should be, and how that is now broken; Trust, commitment, love, all thrown out the window, and you are just a kid that has been thrown into this fire. Not surprisingly, today, that friend is not living a very happy life, and is not religious.

Another of my friend's parents were also divorced when he was at a young age, mainly because his mom cheated on his dad, and was then left to swap between his alcoholic mother's house and strict father/step mother's house. He was raised Catholic, but is currently agnostic and considers me close-minded for believing in Christianity. My last friend's parents were not divorced, but came from a very alcoholic family where his dad often yelled and would occasionally be abusive. He dropped out of high school and went into depression, started getting involved with drugs/alcohol, and is now agnostic after being raised Catholic.

There are plenty of other examples I've found of similar stories, where bad childhood's, drug problems, divorces, alcoholism, and many other factors, corrupt someone's perspective on the world. The majority of the people I meet like this live with somewhat of a hate towards any God that may exist even if they don't acknowledge it. I personally can't speak for how they feel, since I did grow up in an ideal environment, but just from observing and listening to many people that had non-ideal childhoods, they tend to have a negative outlook on the world, life, and God.

The other perspective I've seen from non-believers is the intelligence one, where anyone who believes in God must be stupid, poor, or close-minded since it's all "a fairy-tale." This, mixed with the previous example, is pretty much the current world we live in. Partying, drinking, drugs, sex, and attempting to numb your buried emotional pain are what make you "cool" in our society. When you live this type of life, your perspective is shifted to an 'earth view' where you act more to your animal tendencies. You hear the typical arguments such as "If God exists, why is there pain and suffering? Why do we die? Why didn't God answer my prayer for a new car?" Everything is looked at with, what I like to call, "Earth Goggles". Earth Goggles obviously referring to only seeing this world as our only destination, and the only thing that matters.

These people I talked about generally overlook what Christianity really is. When I started going to my current church, more towards my agnostic phase where I hadn't gone to church in years, it was the first time I saw people that were really devoted to God. There was a guy that sold everything he had, quit his job as a lawyer, and moved his family to China to become a missionary because it was his calling. At first I thought he was crazy, but then, after thinking about it for a while, it made more sense to me; Even though he had pretty much anything he wanted materialistic-wise, his perspective had shifted to a spiritual one, and the emptiness inside him was now filled.

I started imagining what the world would be like if everyone lived like Christ, caring about others before yourself, disregarding earthly desires, and not falling into temptations. It would be the closest thing we would get to a Utopia, which is really what Heaven would be like, and after realizing this is when my perspective changed to become more spiritual than earthly. In a way, our current life isn't reality, it's just a test, a dream even, and it's very easy to get comfortable in this test-world, settle in, and brush away opinions that challenge that. It's very easy to drink away your problems, lust after women, and be selfish; That's why so many Christians fall into trap of having the earthly perspective. It's much harder to become a Christian than it is to become a non-believer.

I would always get asked by my friends and others, "You say that we brush away opinions, but you brush away our opinions". I thought, maybe I was, but that didn't make much sense to me. Why would I want to live my life being judged by a higher power, having to stay away from sins that would be considered fun, and live a pure life? It's because of your perspective. Your eyes have already been opened. I like to compare it to our diet. The majority of people love eating junk food and it makes them fat and sick, but it tastes good for a short period of time, however, if they were raised this way, or had a bad experience eating healthy foods earlier in life, they will look at them negatively without even knowing why later in life. It's also very easy to keep eating junk food because it tastes good. On the other hand, if you grow up eating a healthy diet, you will be less sick and filled with energy. People all around you are eating junk food though, and it's very tempting to give up your healthy diet for the sole purpose of taste. They wonder, "Why eat healthy food when it doesn't taste good? That isn't very logical", but they aren't looking deeper than the surface of the dilemma. They have also been so sick, tired, and fat for so long, that it becomes their reality.

Perspective is a very powerful aspect of the brain, and it can shape how we view anything. Is the glass half full or half empty? If two people were forced to switch to an average internet speed, but one was switching from dial up, and the other from high speed, they would both be using the same internet, but the dial up user would be happy while the high speed user would be upset. So many things can shape our view of the world, and that's why I feel understanding perspective is such an important part of the religion debate, whichever side you are for.

[Danieltwotwenty]

Hey Eric,
Thanks for sharing your perspective, i totally see the secular and Christian world views the same way you do.
i came from a broken and abusive home, i was raised as a Christian but fell away through my teens and early adult hood.
I was angry at "God" ( how i perceived God to be at the time ) and numbed my world with alcohol and drugs, i eventually hit a point in my life where i started to ask questions about the why and eventually came back to the church and Christ, my life went from the "Earth Goggles" view to having the curtains pulled back.
I once was blind but now i see..... amazing grace.

God bless
Daniel

[Silvertusk]

Thank you for that very interesting and thoughtful post. Certainly gives us something to think about.

SIlvertusk.

[StMonicaGuideMe]

Thank you for this beautiful, beautiful post. I like your term "Earth Goggles"

I found myself sadly smiling while reading your message. So much of this sounds familiar, and it's comforting to know that others have experienced the same.

I'm also so glad you made a point to discuss how the world would be if "everyone acted like Christ". HELLO! Isn't that what CHRISTIANS are supposed to do?!?!?!?!? Why do sooooooooooo many people, who call themselves followers of Christ, not even try to act like it? It's so very, very sad!

The middle ground, as they say, is a dangerous one. It's easy to fall away from the spiritual and into the worldly, and it's harder to give up the wordly and get into the spiritual unless you have some major revelation. Jesus said that those who "truly seek the truth" will find it, even if it's in their last moments on earth. I pray that others, like yourself, who truly want to know the truth, will find it earlier rather than later.

Dominus vobiscum.

[kls]

I have a cousin who is more like a brother, he lost a son at 18 months, at the time it was the child that I was closest to in my life, not that I was that close to him, but I was very close to my cousin. It was the most wrenching pain I have ever been through in my life. I was an Agnostic at the time, and it was the point in which I could have been said to convert to Atheism. I absolutely hated God for allowing that child to die. The funny part was all the while, even though my words and deeds reflected the absolute disbelief in a God, I was still doing anything I could to spite him. I used to ask myself, why do you spite something that is not there, why do you hold anger against an Idea. Meanwhile in my mind God was more real than he had ever been, and I need to spite him for his injustice. That was when I realized I was but a child throwing a temper tantrum. The point being, some of the Atheist's need to destroy God, has nothing to do with whether or not God exist and has a lot to do with past issues. Just as a child justifies their tantrum, Atheist justify their non-belief due to framing themselves as the victim in their mind. Now that does not apply to all Atheist some truly believe their logical conclusions, but a good deal, especially the ones that just parrot other peoples taking points are angry at the very god they deny. I was, and I was a parrot, letting other men that where full of hubris think for me.

[Short1]

I definitely just went through a phase where I saw both sides of perspective.

I recently let atheism fall into an 'option' for me. Previously, I NEVER would have considered it, but it became a viable choice for me. I spent a couple weeks free from God and just looking at the world as though it was all. Part of me liked it because the idea of living forever scares me. I can't comprehend it. I sorta just want to die and disappear. It was nice to look at the world... JUST the world. As it was, and not worrying about how it should look through my religious perceptions. I liked putting more value in my relationships with people and just being in this mysterious place.
At the same time, I was incredibly stressed and tired and busy.

After a few talks with my girlfriend and an AMAZING guy from Intervarsity, my worldview got flipped again. In a snap, I had more free time, didn't feel stressed, and enjoyed all the things I was doing in the day.

I came out of it with an understanding of why people would want to be atheist. The want to be different. To consider something new and exciting and making new connections about how I feel inside and how I feel connected with the world around me. I don't get incredibly upset when I see atheists and their arguments.

So, all in all, a positive change.