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My Religion MAG
I have a magnet on my mirror stating, “Life is not about finding yourself – life is about creating yourself.” This is the statement I live by.
Many people do not believe me when I say I am an atheist. They don’t understand that I simply do not believe in any sort of god or afterlife. I also do not believe in the devil, in angels, or in souls. I believe in myself and the strength I have gained through the help of my parents, teachers, and friends – and my own hard work.
I am not going to try to dissuade anyone from his or her own opinions either. I know that people enjoy having religion in their lives; some need their faith to help them through hard times. And some do not want the responsibility of their misfortunes weighing down on their shoulders.
I do. I abhor the idea of fate – that everything is already planned out and you have no control to change anything. If you believe in fate, when bad things happen, it is not your fault; it’s just fate. When my life is not going well, I know that it is no one’s fault but my own. When I do well in school, when I fall in love, it is not fate and we are not soul mates. I worked hard and paid attention and did the homework. My love and I simply love each other – that is all it is, and for me that is all it needs to be.
For some, life is overwhelming. How can anyone be successful and happy in such a difficult, horrible world? They need someone to help them, someone to guide them, and someone to have faith in to make sure things get better. Placing my success and happiness in another’s hands breaks my heart. I need to be successful because of my efforts. I must be responsible for my own happiness. That is what I need from my religion.
Who will ever know what the truth really is? All I know is in the same way that some have full faith and trust in God to give them hope, I need to believe I am on my own to be truly happy – for how can I create myself if I spend my entire life just looking?
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This article has 764 comments.
It's very simple. What is your religion?
If you are Jewish, you belive in Allah, correct. If you are Christian or Mormon, you believe in God. Pagan's belive in Zues, Madusa, etc. Think of all the religions, think of all the gods that are believed.
Now, thing about a god from a religion you are not. You do not believe in that god, correct? Why not? Because they don't exsist.
That's atheism.
Yes, atheism ftw!
I've been waiting for someone to write a decent article on being atheist. This is the first one. It's disappointing.
Good job!
Steve H. , I totally agree with you.
Never will I understand the beliefs of Christians, despite their desperate efforts to convince me.
Another thing I hate: when Christians say 'God Bless!' to atheists.
Do you have to act like we're some misguided puppy who needs to gently be steered in the right direction.
Anyways, check out my article, Society's Attitude Toward Atheism!
... and that wasn't supposed to be a reply just to V-ballChick, it was supposed to be a comment on the piece...
oops.
i feel exactly the same way
people don't understand because they have been brainwashed all their lives :/
People who are not born with the ability to understand things like that, like people with serious mental problems, God will not send them to Hell. BUT if you ARE able to understand the fact that you are a sinner and understand that you have broken God's laws and that He has taken the punishment, you will be held accountable for how you respond to that knowledge. It's the same with kids. Until children are able to understand the Gospel, they are not held accountable. It's a thing called "the age of accountability" and it's different for each person: some people are able to understand sin, Jesus' death, repentance and forgiveness at young ages such as three, others it may ten and some people, like those with mental problems, may never understand. But if you are able to understand and you have been told about Sin and Jesus, you will be held accountable and sent to Hell when you die if you don't repent.
But mental problems do not mean you are sinless, simply because you can't do "big" sins like lying or stealing; the Bible says "For ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23 It simply means you may not held be held accountalbe for those sins.
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Favorite Quote:
We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. <br /> We read and write poetry because we are members <br /> of the human race. And the human race is filled with <br /> passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, <br /> these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. <br /> But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we <br /> stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... <br /> of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains <br /> of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good <br /> amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that <br /> life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and <br /> you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* <br /> and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be? <br /> <br /> -Dead Poets Society<br /> 1989