Imagine I am young and unhappy and looking for answers. I'm unemployed and cant find a girlfriend. I feel so depressed I have contemplated suicide. I am desperate. I want an answer asap, otherwise...??
First of all I hope I am not too late in getting back to you. I am a Christian and I'll be the first to tell you no-one, no human that is, is going to have the answers you seek. That is not to say that the answers are not there nor that you cannot find them. What you seek can only come from one source and that is the Creator Himself, God! As an Atheist I can fully understand how religion can seem as some pie in the sky delusion that people are running around with. I will also tell you that establishing a relationship with God or "finding God" will not solve your earthly/fleshly/physical problems. You will find some very miserable Christians as well who could honestly have said or say the exact same things you have so please don't think of a "Spiritual decision" as some avenue that will instantly cure everything wrong in life, it won't!
I do honestly though believe that ONCE you answer that main question of IF there is a God and just WHO is God and reconcile your Spiritual relationship with God then all your other problems will seem so insignificant that you will start to attack them and you will find your life will change in many positive ways, that is my own opinion though. First of all everything requires faith, a measure of faith and all parts of our life are embodied around faith. Faith that our home won't burn up or fall in upon us, faith that the bridge we drive over will support us and not fall in, minor faith issues but one we never think of. That said I want you to "CONSIDER" what I am suggesting for it is my way of attempting to lead you to a place where I believe God wants you to be and where I believe God WILL speak to you and change your life. Because you have stated you are atheist I will not shove a ton of scriptures, from the Bible, into your face or screen but later if you want I can provide scriptures for everything I suggest/tell to you.
To start though I am going to suggest to you to put away your skepticism for a while and just consider the POSSIBILITY of what I am suggesting. WE are humans and being human, while we have a vast superiority over animals and insects, our mental capacity and capability is very limited when it comes to some things. There exist some things that we just cannot comprehend. Take the concept of ETERNITY (past or future). Can you, I, or anyone really comprehend eternity? I suggest not because it's beyond our real comprehension so we ACCEPT it on faith! I'm suggesting to you that a lot that has to do with "God" is beyond human comprehension and understanding because God is to infinity above us in every way and because of this one fallacy that even many Christians fall into is that we attempt to "humanize God" and by that I mean we apply human traits or require God to comply to various human traits in order for us to believe or accept God.
I want to suggest, to you, that there are two realities and that is one which is physical, fleshly, it can be defined, seen, felt, analyzed, scrutinized and defined by science but apart from the Physical there is another reality, one that is far more vast, powerful, and unable to explain or comprehend and that is what we call the Spiritual and it is the Spiritual realm where God dwells and inhabits. Like two realities or realms mankind (being human) consist of at least two parts. One part is the flesh, the physical entity that was created by the sexual union of your parents but also being human means you are made/created in God's image in that you, I, we, have an internal spirit/soul that is not fleshly or physical. It is something you cannot see, cannot X-ray, can't hear. Our spirit/soul has no color, no shape, no gender but never the less exist within our physical body and I'm suggesting was put there, created, by God. I (personally) look at God not as some white haired man setting on a cloud but rather as an indescribable , indescribable, power/presence. I believe that every human has, within them, a void, an emptiness which comes from an inner desire to know the creator, to know God but because of our own pride or fear we often reject that inner desire to know God and also I believe God, as our creator wants to have our worship and appreciation and faith.
That said I believe that God is there waiting for us to reach out to Him or to be responsive for Him to approach us and to make Himself known to us. I wish there was a way to talk with you, in voice, in person as it makes it easier and faster but I only have what we have here so I'll use it as I can. I believe God's Holy Spirit will though reach out to you and that from within your own body will FEEL, will experience, will SENSE God's desire to communicate with you. That is God's Holy Spirit that does this and how God interacts with Mankind/Humans.
So who/what is Jesus Christ? First of all Christians are unique in that you will hear a term called the trinity or ONE God in three persons. God the Father, God the Holy Spirit and God the Son (Christ). This is true but it, at this point, is not important for a person's salvation. Many Atheist or people that don't believe in God would say why would God exist an not make Himself known,? Why not just come down appear in front of everyone and work miracles and prove Himself then everyone would believe. First of all that isn't faith and belief to respond to such. God WANTS our belief by FAITH, which is believing without having proof but only through faith when everything else may be telling us it's crazy to do so. Think about it though CHRIST (God in human flesh) was God, from the Spiritual realm, coming to earth, the physical realm, and saying look here I am, this is me. That, with Christ, is what happened but people still didn't accept him or believe. In reality though Christ did not come, in human flesh, to the physical world so people would believe, if that was the case then He would come times continuously and at many different times so people would believe but Christ came to earth, in human form, just to be a "perfect" blood sacrifice for all those who would accept that sacrifice for their sins and sinfulness (sin nature).
God, long ago, determined a judgment upon sin, all sin, and with that a penalty for sinning against him. Mankind/humans are born into sin and we sin account we are not perfect. God though is and was JUST and FAIR so knowing that there was a verdict upon sin and that man would sin so God predetermined an escape or way that mankind could escape the verdict/judgment upon sin and man's sin nature and that was that man should give/present a "blood sacrifice" to atone for their sins. CHRIST was God coming to earth, the physical, in flesh to be a PERFECT (as He/God was only the only PERFECT one) blood sacrifice for all of mankind. SALVATION and establishing a relationship with God is simply mankind, you, I, anyone realizing that we are not perfect, in and of ourselves, and that we need help, that we cannot achieve pleasing God on our own and thus mentally and heartfully, sincerely, accepting the blood sacrifice that Christ gave those almost two thousand years ago. It's not something you sign in ink or pay for or buy but simply that you accept (personally (between God & YOU)) mentally giving over yourself by faith unto God. That is what God has requested that we/mankind does with respect to Christ, just accept the gift of Salvation that He (God) has offered. God doesn't even say you have to stop sinning or doing what you are doing in order to receive His salvation but simply be remorseful/sorry for your sins and sin nature and willing, wanting, to accept the free gift of Salvation that God offers through and in Christ via His Blood Sacrifice. When you or when a person does this their Spiritual eyes will be Opened and they become aware of God personally as God's Holy Spirit becomes one with them, and God introduces Himself unto them. It changes lives, instantly changes lives, outlooks, the type of person a person is because they no longer live for themselves but live for God and to please God as God becomes ALIVE to them.
Yes it can be different from one person to the next but yet the same in that it is the most profound thing in a human's life to realize that there is so much more than they thought and that it was always right there before them. You mentioned many problems in your post, unemployed, wanting a girlfriend, being depressed etc .. these are physical things of the flesh yet within your body your mind you long for answers to questions you don't even know existed. You recognize a void yet cannot explain it. I'm telling you that I believe God's Spirit is calling out to you and you, in response inquired on here hoping that someone would tell you why you feel the way you do. I believe you feel that way because you want to know God, you want to have proof but more than that you want relief from some discomfort you are experiencing. I believe you need to take care of the Spiritual needs you have first. THEN you can start on the physical needs but from a new perspective. You then will have God's Holy Spirit to enrich your life. Consider the following scripture, the only one I will give. It speaks about the FRUITs (evidences or benefits) of the Holy Spirit and of the Flesh. Meaning what the Flesh gives you, trying to do it yourself verses relying upon God and what having God's Holy Spirit within your own life gives you.
Galatians 5:17-26 (NIV)
17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
19
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
This is simply why Christ came, what GOD gave unto us:
John 3:14-18 (NIV)
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. (Christ had to die on the Cross)
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
God didn't come to JUDGE the world, didn't come to judge you of sin but rather came only to be our sacrifice and His shed blood, on/from the Cross is what saves us and is what God requires of us .. to Believe in FAITH.
I hope this helps/helped.
