I share your thoughts. Acne got me thinking. Thinking led to research. Research led to the realisation that organised religion was/is and always will be, a form of mass control. I won't get too personal, as I may offend, but I can now with pride that I don't follow any organised religion. Although my "beliefs" are almost identical to Deism.

Just curious to the responses, feel free to share your stories and I will read them all.

Here is my extremely long story in a few paragraphs.

I had severe acne and would pray and nothing would happen. After years of frustration I came to the realization that praying does not work regardless of how you bargain with God. I eventually for about 3 months did a lot of research on the bible, christianity and its politics(I.e. Republican Party who are hypocrites and do not follow the christ's teachings), and then followed it up with the study of real history of the biblical stories and how the universe really created it didn't take me long to accept this as fact.

I came to the conclusion that old testament god was a a**hole who killed people all the time in deutoronomy so giving people acne wouldn't bother him at all. But crossing those stories with actual history like Davids kingdom never existing or exodus never happened destroyed all legitimicy of the bible. if all of the creation myths and all the other myths in the bible are false then what makes the book so holy?

Also I would like to add that there were MANY "sons of god" in around 0-30AD claiming to heal the blind, rise the dead, feed the poor with his bread and win etc... The real nail in the coffin for me was that the Jesus stories are rip offs from the other "sons of gods" in his time but also the Pagan Gods like Horus.

I am now a Atheist and it has been one of the best decisions i have made in my life. If this was God's way to help enlighten me by giving me acne which lead to this chain result then may he recieve all my blessings.

Thanks for reading and please share!

You don't have to write atheist with a capital letter A. It is nothing. Something else I'm curious about: What did you expect?

hi,

Ill share my experience though it is very different from your won.

Firstly I agree with you about the old testament idea of God. Im not even sure he is the same God of the new testament, there were a lot of dieties in the ancient dieties in all cultures, and most of them were seriously into Wrath including Zeus, Bael, Quetzelcoatl, the Celtic gods etc. The God the Hebrews worshiped shared a lot of human traits like jealousy, spite and dolingout punishments.... I dont know.

What happened to me last year: Ive had mild acne most of my life since I was 12 or so, it bothered me but wasnt severe enough to really affect my life. For some reason my hormones went crazy last year, I kept trying different topicals, changed my diet almost to the point of starvving myself 9cause according to a lot of the nutrition people, ALL foods cause acne. lol.) By May of 2012 I felt really bad about myself, I had cystic acne around my jawline/chin, after trying everything I know of with no results I decided to try accutane. It was the biggest mistake, I only took 10 mg for exactly 1 month. Immediately I became very depressed,it was like all the pleasure in life was sucked out of me, I could only see the dark side.

I had little emotion and physically felt like a zombie. I mixed prescription pills with alcohol...by August I was in a desperate state, one day after spending a few hours obsessing in front of a mirror over how ugly and worthless I had become, I took a bunch of xanax and vikodin. I picked up a revolver and shot myself. It only grazed my ribs--I thing my underwire bra deflected it a bit--but that was the bottom of the barrel.After spending some time in the loony bin (IM sorry that was un-pc, eh mental hospital) I felt no better. For the next three months I remained suicidal and tried to od again. I had to have someone with me at all times, my family were shocked and afraid, I only felt a vague sort of sadness because I felt they would be better off without me. Even after stopping accutane my life was a nightmare, I spent every day near catatonic and every night in shaking panic attacks filled with dread. I was planning the best way to kill myself again, I remember one night in bed just literally screaming, calling out to God to help me because if he exists he should know I cannot take anymore. I spent a lot of time screaming, btw.

I dont know exactly when but I started to feel better slowly. I met a new doctor who changed me off the very wrong meds I was taking, put me on an antidepressant and yaz and within a month I was no longer suicidal. By Thanksgiving I was cuatiously optimistic that i just might want to live after all. Here I am 9 months later, Im alive and glad to be alive. The meds for depression have worked, I guess, but more than that the birth conrol pill follwed with herbals cleared my acne. I have clear skin now better than in the last 20 years. You can draw your own conclusions, but I believe that God allowed me to live rather than die because it wasnt my time. I believe he heard me at my worst and allowed me to find ways of treating my symptoms so I could live life rather than the miserable existance I was in. Twice before trying to kill myself, I saw images of some ugly evil gargoyle-like man in my head, laughing at me and urging me to do it. I also know that now I am at peace, and even if my acne returns I will be able to deal with it because, my family love me and thats all that maters.

I believe in God as in the Christian version, I dont believe he gives us illnesses and catastrophes, I believe those are from the deevil. Why God seems to answer some and not others I cant say but I know he heard me and I feel he healed me from near death.

Can't we just accept that when we die, thats it? So we best make the most of our lives now?

petty similar to what happened to me the only differences is that im not an atheist im an agnostic theist .. for now and my idea of god is something a little more uhh realistic. For one it it isn't human in anyway or made in any kind of physical body. perhaps the universe it self is god, i like this idea somewhat. My last idea is that what ever created or universe would be considered our "god", but that's purely speculation. for all we know the entire universe could have been a completely random thing. which i think is extremely likely, seeing as how random our universe is, besides the basic laws. But even then you could always ask well what made the conditions for a big bang possible and that? and that? and that? eventually you'll get to a starting point where either too things could happen... either some kind of entity created the structure for the existence of universes or it was a completely random event. both would be incredible we will unfortunately never know. we would require vast amounts of information about our surroundings to make an educated guess at ether theory. perhaps computer ai will have it's own idea when they become intelligent enough in a few decades.

I don't believe in god and I don't mean to offend anyone but in my opinion I think people like the idea of there being a god to escape the reality of life - there isn't an all powerful being looking over you all the time but if you think there is its only going to comfort you right?

Life is tough and I think people try to lessen it with beliefs like this.

I don't believe in god and I don't mean to offend anyone but in my opinion I think people like the idea of there being a god to escape the reality of life - there isn't an all powerful being looking over you all the time but if you think there is its only going to comfort you right?

Life is tough and I think people try to lessen it with beliefs like this.

It's a sign of emotional immaturity. They can't derive strength from within themselves to handle life so they try to get it from some imaginary deity.

I feel like a lot of religious people become mentally ill as well unfortunately after a while.. which is very sad. My mother certainly did.

I still believe in god but... I guess I question him sometimes.

On some occasions I go ---> Are you even listening to me god? But since I always complain about my acne to my parents it seems like everyone stopped listening.

I used to believe in God but now I realize that praying to God never gave me happiness. Religion gave me fear.Never found the cure to my acne. We are all animals and we only live once.

You don't have to write atheist with a capital letter A. It is nothing. Something else I'm curious about: What did you expect?

I expect God/Jesus to help me out when modern medicine has repeatidly failed. Just like many others on here who were dissapointed by God's lack of health. They say God helps those who help them selfs, i helped my self through creams and antibiotics and prayed. No one ever listened to my calls.

I used to research alot and at the end of the day I would end up with the same result aliens. I really don't care anymore, I used to read books of government officials who would speak about how they had made treaties with them and how they have been manipulating our government since the 1950's. Allegedly they told the government they had created us through genetic manipulation in a laboratory. They later explained that they were no longer able to reproduce so they used us for glandular secretions,enzymes,hormonal secretions,blood plasma ect. When asked about god they told the gov. That if man did not turn from evil the prophecies in the book of revelations would occur.they have a hologram recorded of Jesus being crucified that the aliens showed them but all that seems alittle far fetched. All I know is that these fuckin secret societies like the masons,illuminati ,bilderburg group,trilateral commission,Jason,brotherhood of the snake,skull n bones, order of the quest,knights Templar,Jesuits,qabbalah,roshaniya are all hiding info from us ants at the bottom of the ant pile. What I find intriguing is that they have secret scriptures and documents that they hide from the public and they worship lucifer. What if lucifer really is our god and savior. And we are being deceived what If it's a double mind fuck and they want us to worship him, so much shit we don't understand so we dismiss it and draw our own conclusions on shit that has no conclusions. Either way there is no time to think back to work everybody you got to stay busy so you won't question anything that is given from the higher authority.

I stopped believing in a god before acne. Now that I have had ance for 4 years, this hasn't changed only the fact that if there is a god, he can kiss my ass because I would gladly punch him in the face if I see him. That is about it really.

I am a believer in God as i have had other challenges in my life besides acne that God has seen me through (including one suicide attempt). With that said, i do question him alot, especially during difficult times likes these. I have come to realize though that God is like a parent, he guides us and dotes on us but doesn't necessarily give us what we want but rather what we need. He may not deliver us from the bad times but i know he helps get us through them. He's one of the reason i haven't given up fighting this disease as well as depression

I am a believer in God as i have had other challenges in my life besides acne that God has seen me through (including one suicide attempt). With that said, i do question him alot, especially during difficult times likes these. I have come to realize though that God is like a parent, he guides us and dotes on us but doesn't necessarily give us what we need. He may not deliver us from the bad times but i know he helps get us through them. He's one of the reason i haven't given up fighting this disease as well as depression

Just curious, what are your thoughts on God not helping some and giving them perfectly normal lifes and giving others perfectly normal lifes? I to have thought about suicide after half a decade of going through this curse but i simply can not see why their is absolutely no response from God while many other kids are out their disobeying his "10 Commandments" by adultering, disrespecting parents, killing, stealing, worshiping other Gods etc...... and yet they seem to be living normal healthy lives.

I really dislike the "They will get it in hell" answer to this question also. Not as much as I dislike the "It's in his divine plan" excuse though.

Answer me this, if you have had acne non stop for 10 years would you still believe in God? What about 25 years?

Big church takes millions of money in and pay no taxes

Now you talk about a bullshit story here comes money.

But god is not about science prove or facts.

God is faith

Plus bible says the he is not in control right now the devil is he will come later to get rid of the sinners etc.

Beware also the devil takes in any form to mislead you into not believing in God

My 25 cents on this topic.

I stopped believing in a god before acne. Now that I have had ance for 4 years, this hasn't changed only the fact that if there is a god, he can kiss my ass because I would gladly punch him in the face if I see him. That is about it really.

LOL, yeah pretty much how i feel about that fake ass douche bag.

Plus bible says the he is not in control right now the devil is he will come later to get rid of the sinners etc.

Beware also the devil takes in any form to mislead you into not believing in God

Why would a omniscient God create a devil knowing he would turn into pure evil yet still created him?

Why would a omnipotent God allow the devil to go on with his shenanigans?

So you're saying the devil gave me acne to test my faith and lead me away from god an there was absolutely nothing God could do about it?

I didn't stop beileving God because i had severe acne during the best years of my life but it made me start questiong his actions and compare him to science.

String Theory > Big Bang > Abiogensis > Evolution.

Thats why i don't believe in god and many others don't.

P

Plus bible says the he is not in control right now the devil is he will come later to get rid of the sinners etc.

Beware also the devil takes in any form to mislead you into not believing in God

Why would a omniscient God create a devil knowing he would turn into pure evil yet still created him?

Why would a omnipotent God allow the devil to go on with his shenanigans?

So you're saying the devil gave me acne to test my faith and lead me away from god an there was absolutely nothing God could do about it?

I didn't stop beileving God because i had severe acne during the best years of my life but it made me start questiong his actions and compare him to science.

String Theory > Big Bang > Abiogensis > Evolution.

Thats why i don't believe in god and many others don't.

Religion God is all personal opinion.

We all just gonna have to wait and see if there is really a guy up there watching everything.

Hi This may be a long post but I do hope you will spare some time to read all of it. It will mean a lot to me.

Acne has affected me A LOT.

I used to be so depressed and when I was younger I even had suicidal thoughts.

I would just quickly lose hope and fall into despair because I tried everything to fix it.

Nothing would work!

But somehow it led me to bow down in prostration and acknowledge who is the one who has absolute control over me.

And I thank God for giving me acne. It has made me more humble and more patient.

In my opinion, my acne has made my relationship with God better. Much better.

This life is full of tests. Not one person will go about without having been tested with difficulty and easiness.

God has created us and place us on this earth to test us. To see if we're genuine or not.

To see if we're grateful or not.

And those who pass the test will have a HUGE reward. Either in this life or both in this life and the hereafter.

I recently heard a lecture on Prophet Ayoub ( pronounced eye-youb, known as Job in the English language )

And the moral values from that is so great and relatable to what we acne sufferers are suffering.

He was first blessed with so much wealth, health, offsprings and he was really good-looking.

He was so grateful to God in all condition he was in.

And then God tested him to see if he's genuinely grateful or not.

He was tested with the loss of everything he had.

His wealth was gone, his offsprings died one after another, he had internal disease and

he had skin disease which even made those who were close to him to go away.

But he was still thankful to God. He didn't question it.

One day, his wife asked him "How long is this going to last?"

That statement made him so upset.

He asked "How long did God bless me with goodness?"

His wife replied, "80 years"

He asked again, "How many years is God testing me for?"

His wife replied, "The last 7 years"

He then said, "So how do you want me to lose hope in the mercy of God, when I haven't even reached par with what goodness I had in the difficulty I'm facing"

After that, when his wife was not there, he called out to God.

"Oh Lord, evil has touched me and yet You are the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful"

So, he was asking God to cure him.

God responded to him " Strike the ground with your foot"

So when he struck the ground, a spring gushed, cold water started gushing.

God said, "This is cold water for you to wash yourself and for you to drink"

So as he washed, his blisters started disappearing, as he drink, his internal organs came into order again to a degree his skin was renewed totally and his internal organs were made even better than before.

And after that, in a short space of time, he was granted offsprings, double than what he had before.

His wealth was also restored, better than before.

So when God has tested you, when you are patient, the reward of that patient is so great that there is no ways to describe it.

So yeah. Ayoub was a messenger of God, he was tested, he was patient, he was thankful to God in all condition he was in.

For that, God rewarded him with so much goodness.

I really love to listen to all of the prophet's stories because they're not fairy tales and they're just full of lessons to learn from.

Now, I think my acne is nothing compared to what Prophet Ayoub had been through.

Plus, if I'm patient, I will receive a huge reward from God.

This made me love God even more and all of his prophets including Prophet Jesus(peace be upon him)

**A bit of addition here, your days won't always be rosy. There will be some time where it's all good for you and sometimes there's just some stuff that won't go your way. But that is life you know. Life isn't perfect. If life is perfect, then what is the paradise in the hereafter created for?

Let's just never lose hope, okay?

I am a believer in God as i have had other challenges in my life besides acne that God has seen me through (including one suicide attempt). With that said, i do question him alot, especially during difficult times likes these. I have come to realize though that God is like a parent, he guides us and dotes on us but doesn't necessarily give us what we need. He may not deliver us from the bad times but i know he helps get us through them. He's one of the reason i haven't given up fighting this disease as well as depression

Just curious, what are your thoughts on God not helping some and giving them perfectly normal lifes and giving others perfectly normal lifes? I to have thought about suicide after half a decade of going through this curse but i simply can not see why their is absolutely no response from God while many other kids are out their disobeying his "10 Commandments" by adultering, disrespecting parents, killing, stealing, worshiping other Gods etc...... and yet they seem to be living normal healthy lives.

I really dislike the "They will get it in hell" answer to this question also. Not as much as I dislike the "It's in his divine plan" excuse though.

Answer me this, if you have had acne non stop for 10 years would you still believe in God? What about 25 years?

I can't give you a definitive answer as i don't know why certain people glide through life while others struggle. Why was Nelson Mandela imprisoned for so long? Why did MLK get assassinated? Why do kids die? The world is an unfair place and sometimes bad things happen to very good people. It think God wants to strengthen us through these experiences and i'm sure many of us are more COMPASSIONATE and LOVING people due to our acne. We are the first to welcome a new friend and we tend to be the least judgemental. I am not going to say that it is his divine plan but i will say that he knows the ending to our story, one that we don't. And the fact that we have found our way to this support board, made some good connections and are leaning on each other is attestment that even though we feel abandoned, he has provided us the means to grovel through.

Just my humble opinion guy.

BTW, if you ever need to talk feel free to PM me.

I've never been religious myself. Religious people just need to point to the story of Job, or if you bring up stuff like babies getting murdered they just say "God gave us freewill". They pretty much have all their bases covered. Whatever. Just weird that from all the heinous stuff happening around the world (Boston bombing for example) you "God fearing" people should be ashamed for being so selfish as to pray your acne away. If you beleive in a god I'm sure he has bigger stuff to worry about than your complexions.

I've never been religious myself. Religious people just need to point to the story of Job, or if you bring up stuff like babies getting murdered they just say "God gave us freewill". They pretty much have all their bases covered. Whatever. Just weird that from all the heinous stuff happening around the world (Boston bombing for example) you "God fearing" people should be ashamed for being so selfish as to pray your acne away. If you beleive in a god I'm sure he has bigger stuff to worry about than your complexions.

Amen.

I don't see how people can read the book of Job and see it as motivational. 1. God has a bet with devil, 2. God Allows devil to destroy Jobs life and kill his children + slaves. 3. Job still has faith??????? 4. God then yells at Job and tells him not to question "his will"

Diety's gambling on peoples lifes is classic mythology.

And Yes i agree, Religious people who say things like "Don't be selfish by praying acne away" but if your acne does go away it's because God did it????

I honestly believe without religion we would be hundreds if not a thousand years more advanced and dare i say it have a cure for acne (without accutane side effects).

Just look at all the enlightment brought to us by science then to only get shunned away by religion. You saw it with Gallelio, Darwin, and Da Vinci and you still see it today with the "Born Again" christians trying to teach creationism in school. Muslims killing people in the name of Allah is another great example.

I've been a believer in God for a long time, and acne hasn't really affected things either way. I suffered from some pretty terrible health problems growing up and bad skin problems as well. I'd miss school for weeks due to outbreaks of hives and stuff like that. So I was never blessed with good health to begin with and was used to suffering.

My religion has evolved over time to become some weird mix of christianity, buddhism, taoism, wicca, rastafarianism and some other stuff. I do spells from time to time and practice other rituals. I also pray. I believe in nature and balance and that both light and darkness must exist in the realm we reside in. I've never been one to look at bad things in the world and whine about "How can God exist if there are bad things?" Good things couldn't exist without bad things--it's the yin and yang of the universe. A lot of people don't get that and like to blame God for everything. They don't get that they are responsible for their own lives. God can only help you attract something different. He doesn't change things so you don't have to do any work.

I love my spirituality and my relationship with God. I think it's very unique and cool, and something like acne would never be able to touch that.

Is there something more important and essential than what you claim to believe or know about why or how we are here? Ask yourself that question, I mean really ask yourself that question with your whole body, mind, spirit, soul whatever, and keep that "answer" that "realization" that "knowledge" in the most sacred place within your heart. Share it with someone, if you feel the need to, but remember there are many many ways to talk about and verbalize the same exact thing. Athiest, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Taoist, Agnostic etc doesn't matter. Whatever you label yourself as, realize it's just that: a label. It's important but it's meant to point towards a realization beyond words, right? A state of just being with awareness of all your labels, but NOT so strongly identified with them. yes?

This is my view. I like to think that I live this way. Am I perfect? Fuck no! lol But that's just perfect might sound cheesy, but it's the approach which has brought me much of my happiness and success inlife so far. It's the approach that makes me feel most balanced and alive. It's the approach that makes me feel an innate desire (responsibility really) to help others in anyway that I can.

Having suffered from acne for as long as I did, I feel it has helped me learn real patience, wisdom, courage, respect, creativity, intelligence, the ability to be completely alone by myself yet not lonely whatsoever, etc. If God or heaven or our true nature is infinite, then that means there are not only an infinite number of manifestations of it, there are also an infinite number of interpretations or beliefs or concepts of it. Yes? Better than claiming to know THE answer is accepting that there are many ways to describe or verbalize or talk about the same exact thing.

a truly realistic view is a truly optimistic one