u/wolfey200

I’m not sure if this is exactly the right community for this, and I know parts of what I’m about to say may sound contradictory, but I’m trying to be as sincere as possible.
My mind is genuinely split on whether God exists.
Sometimes when I think about the reasons people believe in God, I feel a pull in that direction. There’s a part of me that wants there to be something greater than us. But then I look at science, history, evolution, and what we know about the natural world, and I become extremely skeptical again.

So my question is: Can you genuinely pray or talk to a God when you don’t necessarily believe that God exists?

I don’t mean praying “just in case” so I can cover my bases. That isn’t what I’m trying to do. I’m genuinely uncertain. Part of me wants some kind of spiritual connection or peace, even if all I can honestly say is, “I don’t know if anyone is listening.”

I’ve always been the kind of person who feels like I need to fully believe in something before I can commit to it. Because I’m not fully convinced, I almost feel dishonest trying to participate halfway.

At the same time, I feel like I already try to live by many of the things God is supposedly asking of people — being decent to others, loving my family, helping people when I can, trying to forgive, admitting when I’m wrong, etc. I just do those things without necessarily believing in God.
I also don’t believe the Bible is literally true, and I don’t think I could ever become a Biblical literalist. If God does exist, the idea that makes the most sense to me would be that God created the universe through the natural processes we study through science — physics, evolution, biology, and so on — and then allowed the universe and life to develop naturally rather than constantly intervening.

I guess I’m somewhere between skepticism, agnosticism, and wanting spirituality without pretending I believe something that I don’t.

Has anyone else ever been in this position?
Did you ever pray while genuinely unsure whether anyone was listening? Did it feel dishonest, helpful, pointless, or did it eventually change the way you thought about God?

Please be kind. I’m not looking for a debate between atheists and Christians or for anyone to prove God to me. This is something I’ve been wrestling with for a while, and I’m genuinely interested in hearing from people who have dealt with the same uncertainty.

What are some ways that you guys teach other than owning your own Dojang or teaching at the school you attend? Is anyone teaching in their home, private lessons at other people’s homes or in a public area? Are you teaching for free or charging people? Are you awarding belts or no?

I don’t believe probationary firefighters should be answering the phone. Last thing I need as a shift officer is to have you stuttering on the phone because you don’t know what to say or how to direct someone on the other line. I alway hated having to answer phone calls being new because now you have to chase down the person they need to speak with or you’re just new too new and don’t know the correct answer.

For my department the shift officer handles all the phone calls, if I absolutely need to let someone answer the phone then I can let that person know but it’s only for a short moment while I handle something else. Once you have some time on the department and are comfortable with department operations and can handle the responsibility then by all means I have no issues with it but it’s not the responsibility of a new person.

I know some of you will say “If I can’t trust you to handle something like a phone call then how can I trust you to do something important on an emergency call?!” My answer to that is I need you to learn how to do your job and work equipment, answering a phone call has nothing to do with running a fire call or EMS call.

For the most part this sub seems really positive, not a lot of arguing or bashing. A lot of fitness subs I’ve been in have been super negative and unhelpful. This subreddit has been positive and encouraging.

What are your expectations for 1st and 2nd degree instructors as compared to 3rd and 4th degree. Not speaking on a head instructor/master of a Dojang but student instructors.

Just try to cut the monster’s heads off….duh!

Why has nobody thought of trying to cut their heads off? I feel like this would be an obvious thing to try, I guess after everything that happened with Fatima people would be hesitant to kill one of those things again.

Do you think Taekwondo should change the way most schools use their belt system? Instead of having anywhere from 8 - 20 different belts that you test for every few months, drop to maybe 4 belts that are awarded arbitrarily by the Master (similar to most BJJ schools) or have tests that are only every once or two years.

Eliminating the amount of belts allows for each belt to be special and not necessarily just another belt that gets you closer to Black Belt. Focus can shift to learning the curriculum and understanding the concepts over trying to learn the material so a student can pass their next tests.

This can also lead to gatekeeping and not allowing students to properly advance to the next level. Interest could decline because some people like to see that they are advancing and making progress and belts help with this.

I’m interested in seeing everyone’s thoughts, opinions and experiences on this. Cant wait to have a friendly conversation and/or debate.

When did the emphasis on competing in tournaments start? I feel like I see and hear people say that if you don’t compete then you’re not credible? I’ve competed in local tournaments but nothing on a national scale, maybe one day I will but the cost of traveling, hotel and the tournament itself can be expensive. I agree that it’s good to have some kind of competition experience and “battle test” your skills but I don’t believe it’s the end all be all to being a good martial artists. How many tournaments were there really in the 70s - 80s and how many instructors had huge competition experience?

I would like to see a good debate and discussion here and see everyone’s thoughts and opinions.

Since earning my black belt I take it with me everywhere I go almost like it’s a form of I.D.

I don’t do this to show it off or brag and most people in my life have no idea I even practice a martial art. I put in almost 5 years of dedication and went through a back surgery that I didn’t know I would return from. After my test it was hard to fight back tears. I returned from my surgery and got back into the grove of things and went on to get my black belt.

It’s something I feel I worked very hard for and truly earned. I’m just proud of it and love the art so much and I enjoy everything about it. I guess there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to let it go and it’s almost like I take it with me so that nobody can take it from me.

Again this is just something I do and besides admitting to it here nobody else knows that I do this. I have a respectable spot in my car where I keep it safe and when I return home it comes inside with me.