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My Religion MAG

By Anonymous

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?

© Anonymous

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JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 764 comments.

Twistedtree BRONZE said...
on Nov. 10 2011 at 12:15 am
Twistedtree BRONZE, Kadena, Other
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i belive you are thinking of the word nihilism. (ni-ul-iz-um) Though that is an amazing description, many people today think it means apethetic or depressed.
Heather C. said...
on Nov. 9 2011 at 8:57 pm
A verse in the Christian Bible, Matthew 7:21-23 answers your question: "Not everyone who says to me [God], 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
Heather C. said...
on Nov. 9 2011 at 7:44 pm
I'm sorry you feel that way. I know that people do horrible things "in the name of Jesus Christ," but do you really think my Jesus approves? We humans are only that - human. Only God himself is perfect. We all make mistakes. Many of which are unforgivable in the eyes of the world, but somehow, my God forgives those. If someone murders and maims in the name of Jesus Christ, I think that person has a pretty sick view of Him. Just because someone does something in the name of God, doesn't mean it's right. I mean, He died for us, why would He want to see His children killing each other? Would you, if you gave your life for your children?
NinjaHummingbird said...
on Nov. 6 2011 at 5:00 pm
NinjaHummingbird, Manalapan, New Jersey
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this is a well written article but i think you made some incorrect assumptions. I am not a christian just because i want weight off of my shoulders and i do not necessarily put my fate in the hands of another. I am a christian because i believe in God.

 

The_Earl_of_Zerces PLATINUM said...
on Nov. 6 2011 at 4:43 pm
The_Earl_of_Zerces PLATINUM, Waukesha, Wisconsin
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Ah yes, maybe for you. But the rules for Scrabble don't apply to those who play Monopoly. Your "Scrabble-Rule" of accepting Christ to get to Heaven holds absolutely no sway over us "Monopoly-Playing" agnostics, secularists, atheists, and empiricists. Are you essentially saying that some one who murders and maims in the name of Jesus Christ will get to Heaven, while a fine, respectable, hard-working, but atheist member of society will go to Hell? Because if that's true, then your Jesus Christ seems like a pretty big jerk.
Heather C. said...
on Nov. 6 2011 at 4:01 pm
What I learned at home, in church, and in school, is that there is one way to get to heaven, and that is through Jesus Christ. We can't earn heaven - it is a gift, if we wish to receive it.
LifesIllusion BRONZE said...
on Nov. 6 2011 at 10:31 am
LifesIllusion BRONZE, Cicero, Indiana
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Before I read this article I thought by just looking at the title you were going to talk about how your religion helped you get through something major but it was the comlete opposite. I don't agree with you, seeing I am a Chrsitian, but you have a really good point. Some people really only say they have a religion to sound a certian way or to have someone else to blame. I like how you take everything into your own hands. For that sole factor, I applaud you.
Aveila SILVER said...
on Nov. 6 2011 at 12:49 am
Aveila SILVER, Columbia, Maryland
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"The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike"

"Atheism is a non-prophet organization."

The_Earl_of_Zerces PLATINUM said...
on Nov. 5 2011 at 11:23 am
The_Earl_of_Zerces PLATINUM, Waukesha, Wisconsin
36 articles 0 photos 106 comments

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Not necessarily. After all, 2 and 2 make 4, but so do 1 and 3.
The_Earl_of_Zerces PLATINUM said...
on Nov. 5 2011 at 11:21 am
The_Earl_of_Zerces PLATINUM, Waukesha, Wisconsin
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I think it's more like Empiricism
Heather C. said...
on Oct. 29 2011 at 10:47 pm
*sigh* Only for some, unfortunately...
dolphin13 BRONZE said...
on Oct. 28 2011 at 5:01 pm
dolphin13 BRONZE, North St. Paul, Minnesota
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Amen! Agreeing with you 100%! Win-win situation! :)
MagusEceerb SILVER said...
on Oct. 21 2011 at 1:17 pm
MagusEceerb SILVER, Buttville, South Carolina
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I guess, but I've always heard people associate the word Agnostic with people who think God doesn't care about the universe.  What I believe is that we should just take what we can know and draw conclusions, mine is Christianity, so I consider myself a Nialistic or Skeptic Christian.  One who believes in God and Jesus Christ mainly because of the evidence I see for it.
ZeeBYoung BRONZE said...
on Oct. 20 2011 at 4:15 pm
ZeeBYoung BRONZE, Coatesville, Pennsylvania
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I think the word you're looking for is Agnostic.
blahblah44 said...
on Oct. 19 2011 at 6:49 pm
The unfortunate thing is that this entire ordeal is human reasoning. Who's to say that what we as people think is true? Being argumentative and presuming others have inferior beliefs is a definite issue of pride. Pride in Christians, athiests, or other religious groups is pride just the same, and is quite unattractive. No one appretiates it when another acts like so, and it usually is contradictory of their beliefs...... By the way, though athiests do not believe in practically anything, is it not apparent that their god is themself?                     Unfortunately, not everyone has the same level of understanding. I myself am a sixteen- year old Christian who makes mistakes and does things just as unjustifiable as sin commited by any other human being. This trivial pursuit about religion is extremely unecessary and immature... The reason why religion is a touchy subject is because people are trying to find a way to outlet their emotions about life and the reason for it. People were made to worship and therefore must worship something. Whether we serve ourzelves or others, whatever we put above God is our idol, our god. Not to say that everything one is passionate about is wrong, but if one is obsessive about that subject or hurts others through that action, it is a horrible, unecessary, and truly undeniable part of life...                  I believe we were made to love by our Creator and were formed with destinies that everyone is looking to complete and fulfill. The Lord wants us to hear Him calling and cares about us more than anything. Those who want to be like Him and want to fall in love with Jesus learn to live life with truth and not give up no matter what the cost; they live with meaning rather for themselves. Waking up and knowing you're in His hands and having a purpose is so much more real and deep than living for this world.
Heather C. said...
on Oct. 13 2011 at 4:02 pm
:) I'm glad your on the bandwagon! Another thing that I heard once that I use is when someone asks you, "What if you're wrong?" "If I'm wrong, then I have done nothing but live by a Book that only betters me and others. But if you're wrong, are you willing to risk the consequences?"
daughterofeve14 BRONZE said...
on Oct. 11 2011 at 6:43 pm
daughterofeve14 BRONZE, Adger, Alabama
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Hes not just our God hes your God too. He created you just as he did me.
daughterofeve14 BRONZE said...
on Oct. 11 2011 at 6:41 pm
daughterofeve14 BRONZE, Adger, Alabama
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I totally agree with you Heather C. I am Christian, and I am 100% sure that God created the Heavens, and Earth. But I mean if you die and find out theres no God atleast you believed just to be sure. With that we win either way.
MagusEceerb SILVER said...
on Oct. 6 2011 at 6:17 pm
MagusEceerb SILVER, Buttville, South Carolina
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If it's all the same to you, not having any spiritual ties to anything, I don't really think you should be a traditional "aetheist".  I think you should try the post 30 years war style "skepticism" or something I've heard of called "Nialism" (I'm not sure if I spelled that right).  I head "Nialism(or however you spell it)" is the belief that we can never know anything for sure so the best thing we can do is to draw conclusions from what we can try to figure out.
MagusEceerb SILVER said...
on Oct. 6 2011 at 6:06 pm
MagusEceerb SILVER, Buttville, South Carolina
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It all gets very specific after a while, for one thing what I believe in happens to be a very particular form of christianity, and judging from your concluding tone I don't really think you want to go into details.  But as for your statement about the "vast body of knowledge", keep in mind this "vast body of knowledge" about the Big Bang (I believe in Evolution actually I just believe it was a divine intention not random) is based off complex simulations based off data from, guess what? More complex simulations, because we don't have the capability to actually look back at the beginning of the universe (please don't bring up the light from explosion, there are tons of problems with relying on that).  My point is that even though we have switched to a very different way of basing our knowledge, doesn't change the fact that we simply are not capable of knowing anything for sure.  The tone of your last argument felt very tired and concluding so I don't really think you are going to want to respond to this, much less drag the conversation out further, but if you do just tell me because from what I can tell you're very smart and fun to talk to.