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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.
All that He asks is that you let Him into your heart. It may be a tearful reunion, I know that it was for me, but he will accept you no matter what.
I am not Athiest, Wiccan, Jew, Protestant, Hindu, Buhddist or Mormon or Muslim.
I am Catholic.
And I see you saying that all you need is to know you are on your own. I am not a foolish one who wants to "bring you to the lord". I don't want to try to make you "saved". I would die if I was alone. I will tell you that right now. Die. And well, that's what all of us will do eventually. I believe that. I however, am not alone. You aren't either. Just so you know, according to my religion. You're writing was good. I hope you enjoyed writing it. May the disgust and broken not look at you with such a foul eye.
(p.s. I don't exactly believe in predestination, or fate. I believe that our actions result in effects, and there are paths, and you can take them. Nothing is left to fate. However, I believe that God somehow knows exactly what we're going to decide.)
People invented religion. People wrote bizarre stories about how the world started because they were afraid of the unknown. They wanted to feel like they knew how everything happened. But we don't. Anyone could've written the Bible. And I don't feel I should run my life based on what some anonymous person wrote in an insane book.
Thanks for writing. :)
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Dewey: [to the Bible teacher Helen] Like Pastor Roy said, how God is so much bigger and wiser than us, and trying to see what He's thinking would be like an ant trying to see what I'm thinking.
Helen: Yes, exactly. But we can trust in His wisdom, and have faith that He is watching over us.
Dewey: Like me with the anthill in my backyard. I spent days watching the ants, trying to figure out which ones were good, and which ones were bad, but they all just looked like ants, so I started smiting all of them.
Helen: Well that's not -
Dewey: I was smiting them with the garden hose, and with lighter fluid, and with the lawnmower, and to be perfectly honest, I think I went a little crazy with the shovel. Those ants could have been praying to me all day, I wouldn't have heard them.
[ponders]
Dewey: There was nothing they could do about it.
Helen: But, I don't think -
Dewey: Really, it's the same with us. There's nothing we can do about anything either, so why worry about it? Hey, this is making me feel better.
Helen: Well, that's good, but -
Dewey: I guess all we can do is live our lives with as much kindness and decency as possible, and try not to dwell on God standing over us with a giant shovel. Bye!
God will love you and will never stop no matter what you do! But there will be a day when he comes and takes his childern to heaven, what are you going to do on judgement day? God bless and may he come into your life. just remember hes always there and that i will be praying for you!
Sincerely,
Olivia