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When Have You Felt Ignored by God?

Forget that whole one-set-of-footprints-on-the-beach-that's-when-I-was-carrying-you bit. That's a cute story, and sure, parables are meant to instruct and get us thinking about the broad reach of God in our life, but let's get real: we've all felt God's complete and total abandonment. Yes, we're interested in what you learned by getting on without God, but we're even more interested in what was happening when you realized that--for whatever reason--God wasn't there for you.

When Have You Felt Ignored by God?

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/didmyself/6441399323/

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I think God is big enough to not be worried that I'm ignoring (insert pronoun).

I didn't realize it when I was yet instilled with the doctrines of God and religion I learned at religious school, but always. Always God hasn't been there for me. When asked in Hebrew school probably around third grade, when I feel God, I didn't come up with one true thing. Needless to say, now I don't believe in God... I believe in myself and making my happiness and life become what I want it to be. If the bad happens, sure it has happened and will continue to happen, I just need to bear on. This doesn't mean I am being ignored by God.

The God? yes

The Goddess...she's always been there.

Every time I pray. I feel like I am just talking with m y eyes closed. I ask him to watch over me and keep my dog and my Grandma and My friends up there safe, and I feel like nothing has changed since I have been asking him these things.

The first time I felt ignored by God was when I was in third grade, playing Super Street Fighter 2. Even then, I wasn't so sure I was being ignored. I came from a godless (yet superstitious) household. Yet, for whatever reason, the idea of God existing compelled me. And as cheesy as it may sound, in spite of my atheistic Buddhist upbringing, I kinda always felt like God was around. Anyway, back to the video game. The first time I prayed was while I was up against Sagat. It was simple childish prayer. "God, if you really do exist, please let me beat Sagat, then Bison after that." Right after the prayer, I fought against Sagat. Then lost. Then lost again. Again and again, I lost. I can't remember how many times I lost, but I hit a point where I threw down my controller and threw a tantrum, using a whole lot of cuss words. I even recall saying, "God, f- you! f- you! GAH!!" or something along those lines. oh yeah, replace f- with the real word, because I was a thug, playa (well half seriously, I was poor and heavily influenced by my much older cousin who was raised in the hood in Oakland).

Anyway, I told myself that God didn't really exist, because how could God let such a horrible thing happen to me, to allow me to lose to Sagat after asking Him specifically to beat that stupid video game character. I mean His existence to me was on the line! So at the ripe old age of eight, I decided to get more sophisticated with my answers as to why God was such a jerk (well mainly, to prove to the world that God isn't real). Not sure why it was the most natural path, but I got into philosophy. I started reading about the Greco-Roman greats, like Plato and Aristotle, then worked my way up toward modern and post-modern thinkers. Sadly enough, I didn't find anything compelling enough to prove to me, much less to move me to prove to the world that God isn't real. I learned about dark caves and light, perfect circles, the original thinker who was famously attributed as the man who came up with the "why? why? why?" thought process, and even about truth being a woman. Yet nothing was compelling enough. Nothing held up with perfect proof. Just great ideas clothed in nice logic and reason. In fact, after 9 or so years of searching, I was more compelled that He was real. So at the riper old age of 17, I raised up my hands to receive God, and felt an undeniable feeling that He was there. It was probably not just a feeling, but a everything-makes-sense-right-now kind of feeling/thought. I'm a 27 grownup now, with a wonderful wife roughly 18 weeks pregnant. And though I've accepted Jesus to "mess" with my life (yeah, throw eggs at me now, since I said Jesus, and everyone has a problem with Christians (well so do I)) ten years ago, I still constantly search and question, and I often pray feeling ignored by God. But on the flip side, I get epiphanies where the thoughts don't make sense without God. And beauty (natural, scientific, artistic, etc.) still moves me like candy moves a child.

Anyway, not saying it should be obvious that God exists. There's a reason why so many can conclude God does not exist while just as many others can conclude the contrary. And depending on your sources, you can think either (or both) groups give crappy excuses for either position.

But if you're perfectly honest with yourself, and of the possibility. Go ahead, and try praying. If you're lucky, it'll consequently lead to you throwing a tantrum, cussing up a storm, telling God to go to proverbial hell. And if you're even more lucky, you'll end up on a pretty awesome journey, touched.

Every Sunday

I went to a christian high school (recruited for the football program) and there all I saw was people confident in their faith while I was still searching for who knows what. When I felt "ignored by god" it was because i just could not bring myself to believe in one. No matter what I did or who I surrounded myself with faith never came to me. I think its that idea, when a person cannot bring themself to believe is when they fell the most ignored. It also becomes the basis for exestentialism the idea that once the base idea of god is taken away what does our existence become?

I assume that we are talking about the Judeo/Christian God of Abraham, Jesus Christ thing. I can say that after 30 years of being a Bible Reading, God Loving individual I have all sorts of feelings. When i was a teenager I felt emotional and very intimate with God, When I was very young I felt distant but hopeful and protected by this God. When I was early 20's i felt constantly ignored and unheard and forgotten. In the ministry of the church, I felt sickened by God. and in my children I feel the beauty of God. I think that my feelings are meaningless and change with the wind. My decisions will stay on a course of a biblical world view, but I expect very little from God himself. I do what I can and I ask for help. I don't however look to see if that help was actually provided. Its all pretty crazy, but it stays constantly interesting :)

I'm not hardcore into the Christian scene, but I do believe in God & when my mom gets the sudden urge to reconnect with God, we go to a Baptist church. I feel like a lot of the times my prayers aren't always answered in a way I expect. But to be fair, I don't keep in touch with Him as often as I should. However, even when I'm frustrated I feel like He can hear me & is listening even after long periods of silence.

I felt ignored by God this last summer. I lost my job, my house and went into bankruptcy. My wife lost her job and then after seven years of trying to have kids she got pregnant. We were really happy, despite being very worried about how we would make it all work. Then on the day when we went to see the ultrasound pictures of our baby, we found out that the fetus had stopped growing at 5 weeks. It was extremely difficult watching my wife crying in the ultrasound room. We were devastated, to say the least. We took some time to heal and eventually my wife found another job. I decided that at 38 years old I needed to go back to school, because my industry had become completely obsolete. My wife got pregnant again. Then one day she called me on the way home from work and said she was bleeding. I got to see the miscarriage this time in the bottom of the toilet. We were both really down and upset. It had been a really difficult summer and we both questioned why all of this was happening. I felt completely lost and wasn't sure where to turn. Somehow we made it through. It wasn't until months later that I realized that it was because of God that I survived those difficulties. No one ever said God was going to fly down from heaven and give us a bowl full of cherries. Life is difficult. Nothing is handed to you in life. You can choose to go it alone or you can take the hand of God. I don't believe that God is never there for us. We may decided to go it alone, or life may get really hard, but God is there, it's up to us to decide if we want his help or not.

I think when one feels further or even ignored by "God" they feel detached from their conscience because of our ever-changing routine lives. It's a way to to our half of the work. it's 50/50

You learn more from your trials than your successes. This is how God teaches us.

He has ignored me countless of times but I still believe him. Blind faith which I've been taught ever since I was young.
The one time I actually wanted something from God was when I wanted him to kill my grade 7/8 teacher. Never happened.

Think about this:
The helicopter carrying Stevie Ray Vaughan and friends
*(just for lack of a better example, o.k.?)
Now, if God ignored that, who the $#@% am I to think I'd even register as a
bright enough blip on some cosmic radar to qualify as something to ignore?
Please...

When I was a Catholic, I constantly felt ignored by God. When I discovered Paganism, that stopped. I began seeing God all around me, rather than looking skyward and praying to an old man in a White Beard. Works for some, just not me.

I don't think it's that we're "ignored by God". I think we're just ignoring ourselves. We need to stop viewing this "god" and a separate entity because then we'd feel like he's always ignoring us

It's why I'm an atheist. Why would He just let things sprawl out uncontrollably like this? I'm a huge fan of spirituality, searching for meaning and carving out a purpose in life... but I just can't accept that an all knowing, ever present and forever loving God would let the world pan out in the horrific way it has.

But meh, maybe that's just me.

Aha....many times -.-"

Often- sometimes to often to mention. :)

what?

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SoulPancake

SoulPancake

When Have You Felt Ignored by God?

lambjams

I think God is big enough to not be worried that I'm ignoring (insert pronoun).

goldensparks

k8smith

The God? yes

The Goddess...she's always been there.

fishdank

Every time I pray. I feel like I am just talking with m y eyes closed. I ask him to watch over me and keep my dog and my Grandma and My friends up there safe, and I feel like nothing has changed since I have been asking him these things.

jumpaa