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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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JOIN THE DISCUSSION
This article has 764 comments.
Very well written article, though I would like to point something out: Being Christian does not mean I believe in fate. Quite the contrary for me actually.
As far as my beliefs go, it is how I choose to live my life that decides where I'll go when I die. I believe there is a God, but I was taught, just as this author was, to be responsible for my own happiness. But that doesn't change the fact that because of Him, I'm capable of achieving happiness. He gave me this body, and he gave me parents who helped mold me into who I am today. But I am mostly responsible for who I will be.
firstly i really like the way you wrote this I never really understood atheism clearly before and this put it in to perspective.
i'm a christian so obviously we have a few contrasting ideas but on the matter of fate yes maybe i do believe that some things are just suppose to happen but we can change fate and everyone has control over there own life. I do take most things upon myself, my faith isn't a need its a choice.
just a quick question and this isn't in any way trying to dissuade you from your ways i'm just curious
how can you honestly believe that there isn't something bigger than you? i mean look around you look at the detail and complexity of every living thing how could that have come into existence all by its self
Sorry guys! I didn't mean to cause the heated discussion or make anyone angry. If you were wondering why I believe in God despite the fact that I 'can't see him' 'can't touch him' 'can't smell, hear, or taste him' the only answer I have for you is that faith comes to play a large role here. I have faith that God is there, and because of that faith, I learn to feel, see, touch, smell (What does God smell like? That's an interesting question...), taste, and hear him.
I don't believe in athiests. My belief is that people who share those beliefs are just blinding themselves to reality. But that of course is my belief and I don't expect you to adopt, understand or even accept it.
Oh, and about the 'God is not one person that you can converse with in your math class.' -I talk with God in my math class all the time believe it or not, I thought it was funny how you brought that up.
Maybe not believing in Chinese people isn't such a far-fetched idea. I mean we all have different beliefs. ChloeLynn has mad is clear that she does not believe in God and I have shared my opposite views.
Also I don't consider athiests a 'type of people'. I think we're all people and we just share different beliefs. I, personally, don't believe in a certain group of belief systems. And by that I mean 'I don't believe they are as they project themselves to be'.
I hope this clears up my comment. And by the way, Bobby_Kelvin_Jam..... I love your picture. Is that the dancing banana from 'Jumping in the House?'
The "Good Person" Test
1.) Have you ever told a lie? What does that make you?
2.) Have you ever stolen anything? What does that make you?
3.) Have you ever looked on a woman (or man) with lust? What does that make you?
I know that ALL people would answer yes to ALL three of those questions. So now you and I are lying, thieving, adulterers at heart. That's what we've done wrong. But if we recognize our sins God will forgive us because His Son died to save us from an eternity apart from Him in sin and in Hell.
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Blinding ourselves to reality! come on man! there is atheism which has
1 never had a holy war
2never had a mass inquisation
3 had a wonderful habit of not torturing people
and we are supported by science
you guys have a book, that wasn't so much as signed by jesus, and oddly enough though jesus existed there seem to be lackings of any reminders of his miracles.