The Early Years
When I was a really young child, probably around 5-6 years old, I remember briefly going to bible study. I have some vague memories of being afraid because there were so many things they told us about that God did not want us to do. It is hard to remember any more details because I was so young. I mainly remember more of how I felt.
As a teenager I used to do chores for my neighbor. They were very heavy believers and they truly lived their lives to serve God per the bible. They were the most faithful people I have ever met and they inspired me to go to church with them. The church they were going to was one housed with some heavy religious folks. Their faith was strong and they even spoke in tongues. I tried really hard to get into it and believe like they believed but it just couldn’t happen.
They told me I needed to really open my heart and God would enter my heart. I got to the point where I was literally begging for God to show me something that would make me finally believe, but it never happened. They told me that I had to have faith. That was the part I struggled with. They wanted me to believe in something that had no physical evidence to support its existence.
Some people have no problem with this it seems. They are basically willing to bet that God exists instead of actually proving it. I think differently and I am not afraid to express my thoughts. I was always afraid to speak out about how I felt because of the fear that I would go to hell. When the fear of hell is taught to you at a young age it is hard to shake it later on because, what if it IS true?
Nowadays
Now at this point in my life and after a lot of struggle, debating, and learning; I finally feel content in saying that I don’t think the bible is the truth. As far as God goes, I do feel there may be some entity beyond our comprehension but it should be studied until we have overwhelming evidence of its existence.
I realize now that we don’t have all the answers. We are constantly searching for them and it is a slow paced process. I don’t worry that I won’t find the answer before I die. I noticed a lot of people have much insecurity and they are afraid to speak out on how they think. I think it is because most people are not educated and they only know what they know and they are happy with that.
I was surrounded by mostly religious people for my young years and in my teen years I learned of new people with different thoughts regarding religion.
- George Carlin(R.I.P My friend)
- Andrew Perry
- Jello Biafra
- Sam Harris
These people and others have showed me a new and more intelligent way of thinking. Their words seemed to make a lot more sense to me. Regardless, I would still listen to both sides and come to my own conclusion.
The Bottom Line
Religion is a tough subject to discuss with people who believe differently than you do. I think the biggest reason is because you are basically trying to tell them that all their life they have been told untrue things. They couldn’t possibly think that someone would do that to them. People get comfortable a belief that makes a little sense to them and never think to challenge it.
I am not like that. I have learned to question authority and challenge people to think for themselves instead of just going along with something that someone else told them. So this is where I stand when it comes to religion. I am not iron clad in my beliefs because I think that as new things are discovered it could change the way we think and what we know.
Feel free to comment on this article, but try to keep it from becoming an unintelligent religion bashing contest. Thanks for reading.
