In my case not only did I question what I was being taught but I also more importantly questioned my “Relationship” with god. The reality was it didn’t exist. When I examined my Relationship with God the first thing I realised was that the communication was one way – I was doing all the talking. The fact that I had made mistakes in my interpretation of what God was trying to tell me was evidence of a communication problem somewhere. Was “God” perhaps making excuses not to talk to me? Excuses like – You sinned so your not good enough (you missed a meeting, you didn’t do enough field service or you shouldn’t have watched that sexy movie on TV). Perhaps he wanted me to kill a cow before he’d talk. Ultimately it wasn’t doctrine or even the hypocrisy that stumbled me (but they helped) but it was the inactivity or lack of interest on “Gods” part. An unwillingness to communicate in an understandable way. I had to examine myself closely to see where the “Godly wisdom” comes from and I found it was coming from within me not “God”. Call it the temporal lobe or the id whatever. Something else I noticed was how I felt about my self affected how I “imagined” God felt about me. I was inventing my own “God”. Then I compared my theory with what I saw in other people – It was a perfect fit. And the bible fits into this theory perfectly – It's so vague and ambiguous you can read into it exactly what you want.
I may add there was no lack of sincerity and or devotion on my part. For twenty years I struggled to please a phantom. Now I just refuse to accept why an “invisible do nothing mute” should control my every waking thought and action.
there've been some interesting studies linking religious convictions to a certain part of the brain, implying that belief in god/supernatural is sort of hard-wired into us.
"The brain is set up in such a way as to have spiritual experiences and religious experiences," said Andrew Newberg, a Philadelphia scientist who wrote the book "Why God Won't Go Away." "Unless there is a fundamental change in the brain, religion and spirituality will be here for a very long time," he said.
Could the flash of wisdom that came over Siddhartha Gautama - the Buddha - have been nothing more than his parietal lobe quieting down? Could the voices that Moses and Mohammed heard on remote mountaintops have been just a bunch of firing neurons - an illusion? Could Jesus' conversations with God have been a mental delusion? Mr. Newberg will not go that far, but other proponents of the new brain science do. Michael Persinger, a professor of neuroscience at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, has been conducting experiments that fit a set of magnets to a helmet-like device.Mr. Persinger runs what amounts to a weak electromagnetic signal around the skulls of volunteers. Four in five, he said, report a "mystical experience, the feeling that there is a sentient being or entity standing behind or near" them. Some weep, some feel God has touched them, others become frightened and talk of demons and evil spirits.
Those who believe the new science disproves the existence of God say they are holding a mirror to society about the destructive power of religion. They say that religious wars, fanaticism and intolerance spring from dogmatic beliefs.
