The other day I had Jehovah witness people knock at the door, again. About a month ago, one of the ladies came through my neighborhood and tried to convert me. I told her I didn’t believe in God. She came back again with someone else, and this time she remembered my name.
She was quoting scripture, and asking me questions about happiness, reasons for cancer and no cure, and why some humans become so desperate. In my mind, those things are a part of life, with or without a god. Maybe when we get desperate, we look to something to save us, “Oh God, please help me!”
To me this seems like a weakness, and not a strength but I know that some people get great strength out of these prayers. I just never have. This nice lady went on to tell me that the bible tells us there are those that who will believe in God and rise up from the dead, and there are those that will choose not to listen, and they will perish eternally.
I told her I would be the latter, but in my mind I couldn’t help wondering why she would endorse a God that wants to frighten people into believing in Him? What’s the point of that? Either you believe willingly or you don’t.
It’s kind of like working for a company that you can’t stand, just so you can pay your mortgage. We pay homage to our bosses and their ideas because it benefits us to do that. If we choose not to, we are fired or let go, with our bosses maybe secretly hoping our lives become a living hell without them. That’s human nature-we all want to be needed? But God, does he need to feel needed in the same way?
I have questioned the existence of a God since I was about 12 years old and my position is still the fact that the bible was written by people, in my opinion, to control others for capitalistic reasons.
The Jehovah woman told me that the disciples were like secretaries, writing up what God had told them. That makes sense to me if you believe in a God. If you don’t, it seems more like organized crime -a bunch of people setting the standards, and then specifying how you “get in” and “stay protected”.
I know I am in the minority, but that has never stopped me before. When I was a kid my parents would say to me when I wanted to do something that a friend was doing, “So you are going to jump off a bridge just because so and so is doing it?” I guess that’s how I feel about religion and believing in God. Just because a lot of people believe in God doesn’t necessarily make it true.
Will the world change? Is Armageddon coming? What do you think? I believe it is. I believe the bible was written by men to warn people that the universe is a continuum and what we know today may not be the truth of tomorrow. I also believe the bible was written to help people overcome their fears of the unknown such as death, and disease.
But if you just take life with a grain of salt, and go with the flow, and don’t really care how the planet or human life came to be, or you don’t need an answer for “why” things are the way things are, and just accept them as they are, you can get over hurdles just as easy without God.
The Mayan predicted a change around 12/21/2012
When the galaxy intersects the planet, and the earth spins, as it has been known to do about every 5250 years, I do believe many people will perish and I think it will happen in the next few years as the Mayans and Egyptians predicted.
With the many universes, stars and planets that are out there that we can’t even see, there is a vast world way beyond my comprehension but to believe that one guy is controlling it…well that’s a little far-fetched for me.
Am I going to believe in God just because I’m afraid that I’m going to die? I don’t think so. I learned a long time ago, we come into this world and then we leave. God is not relevant for this fact.
Some may argue our time on earth is happier or more fulfilling when we live according to rules of religion, and if that is how it makes them feel, then by all means, enjoy. I don’t discriminate against you for that.
For me, I feel sadness when I think of religion and God because all I can see and feel is division and hatred of others that are different. Please don’t hate me just because I can’t see what you can see if you are a believer. I’ve tried a number of times but I just don’t get it, nor am I going to pretend I do.
Sources:
http://religions.pewforum.org/reports