A Religious Moment or just Memory Lane Time?

Happy birthday.

Oh my...I'm almost afraid to give my honest opinion, as I'm an atheist, unbelieving, apostate, heretic blasphemer!

I am happy that you are happy, to be quite honest, sometimes I do miss church. I miss the sense of community, and even some of the songs. I talk about that in the beginning of my blog titled "why I don't believe in a god".

Thanks for being so frank and sincere though.

This is such a personal thing, so I'd just say keep your heart and mind open, and don't feel obliged to believe anything.

I get the feeling you still think that 'someone up there' is watching you, and monitoring your actions. Well, if it is God, don't worry, God is not like some bossy and interfering parent who's going to be disappointed in you. It always amazes me how Christians aren't content unless they give God human feelings and emotions. Oh, and remember God isn't a man, either. Nor, necessarily, does church = God, although the strong belief that went into producing some prayer and religious music seems to have the power to help us feel the presence of the creator.

I'd say, if holding some kind of religious belief gives you peace and fulfilment, and it's something worthwhile to you, then you shouldn't give up on it. Or let me say, you can give up on it, but it won't give up on you. It's there for you to take or leave, as you choose. There's no harm in saying 'I believe in a creator but I'm still looking for the way to worship that feels right to me'.

I cannot say that I am influenced by or miss the atmosphere that is in a church, since I don't go to church. I never have, simply because in my neighbourhood is no church that stands for all the things I believe in- most churches have become what people want it to be... not how they're supposed to be.
There is no use in going to church if you don't really believe and put into practice what you hear there.

So Easter doesn't make me feel sentimental, thinking back of previous years, but I do realise that every year that passes I start to see what it really means to me. Easter makes me feel thankful, really.

That probably isn't really an answer to what you asked, but yeah- I've always been pretty unclear.
All I can say is- A church might be nice, and I don't mind singing songs either, but going to there should be to learn things, and not for the atmosphere. And I can tell you that a Bible is much more than just a bunch of stories. I hope you'll have the courage to rediscover what's behind it's pages...

It very well could have been God trying to work through you, Link. There are many things that have happened to me (signs/wonders/etc) which I don't often talk about for fear of sounding crazy.
But I do know that nobody can ever take those experiences away from me or try to tell me that they did not happen. Frankly- they'd be frightfully wrong.
In any case, I would begin reading that book you looked upon with wonder.
Who knows? Maybe something more will come to you.
If you ever feel the urge to discuss anything God related, feel free to talk to me. I probably can't give you the answers you crave, but I can at least listen.

The human mind is extremely susceptible to wishful thinking and pattern generation. It's always fascinating for me to hear what people come up with, even when keeping the above in mind. Actually, doing that only makes it more fascinating, in some sense.

But regarding the feeling you describe, it sounds like what I get when I hear an 80's one-hit-wonder song or see clips from my favourite childhood TV shows. It sounds like nostalgic cravings, but I don't mean that in a belittling way...nostalgia can be great and awesome and very rewarding. The memories are the last traces left of a time that will never, ever be again, and that makes them precious. But I'm the kind of person who doesn't dwell on it for long -- as much as I'd like to, those times cannot be recreated and dwelling in them wastes the present. Time that could be spent creating new magical moments to look back on in an even more distant future.

You can tell who does and doesn't buy into God around here

God doesn't play by my rules so I can't say what your feelings are. But if you are interested in finding out, I suggest starting in the book of John, and Romans. Both are good books to get an idea of what the big picture of the Bible is. Remember that, while understanding the bible isn't that hard it does take a little knowledge about what the book is and where it comes from. Keep that in mind if things get confusing.

Good luck, I hope your journey leads to a better understanding. I'm also around and eager to talk. I'm not an expert, but I've been reading that book for a long time.

~JG