So I’ve been hearing a lot about religion lately, and decided to take this blog to a more personal viewpoint of mine that I haven’t really gotten around to writing about. With Fox News’ “war on Christianity” and the release of movies like “God's Not Dead”, I come to a point where I would like to share my personal view.
Ever since I was a young kid, I had trouble believing in God; I was raised to be Catholic, but my parents never forced me to, or were strict or serious about my religious teachings. I went to Sunday school as a kid, and was taught the same story of God that millions of other people before me have been taught and believed; but I always had an issue with these stories, I was not only skeptical about the authenticity of these stories, but questioned the motives of the people involve in these stories.
I will put a disclaimer here for those who get easily offended that the rest of this piece will be directed towards my disagreement towards organized religion and God.
The concept of free will has always bothered me. We are told that God has given us free will, and loves us unconditionally, but we are also told that we are to worship god; if we were to disobey god, we will suffer and be sent to Hell. How do we have free will if our choices are limited to “worship God or to be condemned for eternity?” This shows that our God is a jealous god, who is insecure.
One of the most common questions that people ask is “why does God allow this to happen to me if God loves me?” In which, the religious zealous will respond with “Because God is testing your faith.” This response troubles me, it only reiterates that the supreme being and creator of the universe is once again insecure. How can we trust a God that does not trust us?
Looking at the story of Adam and Eve, God does not want to question or to explore. When God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the the “Tree of Knowledge”, God was hiding knowledge from us. Why would a loving God not want us to know about the world?
I think this is why Lucifer rebelled. Lucifer saw God as a dictator, and he couldn’t have been alone in his viewpoint because he was able to convince 1/3rd of the angels to rebel against God as well. It is not clear whether or not Lucifer was the serpent in the Garden of Eden that convinced Adam and Eve to eat from the apple, but I think he was. Lucifer did not want us to be lied too, Lucifer wanted us to think critically and to embrace our curiosity. After all, it’s in our nature to want to explore. With knowledge, God knew that we too would be able to rebel. Was Lucifer our freedom fighter?
There is a lot of pain and suffering in the world. Why does God allow this to happen if he loves us? We have to accept the reality of two possibilities; one being that God is aware of the pain and suffering in the world and chooses not to do anything about it; or that God does not have the power to stop it, and that God is weak.
Our pain and suffering in the world is not equal. There are many people who suffer much more than others. Why does God allow this to happen? Does God love some of us more than others? I have seen some of best people with the best intentions suffer through so much while those who have committed evil have experience so much pleasure. If this is a test of faith like so many people claim, why is that God needs to continually test those who are doers of good rather than those who are doers are bad?
We see that our God is a jealous God; for example, when people began to forget God and God’s rules, God flooded the Earth, and killed millions of people. What kind of God that loves us unconditionally does this? If our God has the ability to be as jealous and as envious as we are, we have to accept the fact that our God is as human and as flawed as the rest of us; God is apparently not perfect nor capable of loving unconditionally.
This idea brings me to my next point, why should I worship someone who is a flawed as I am, and has done nothing for me? The idea of forced worship instills a feeling of inferiority in which I refuse to accept. I am inferior to no one, just like I am superior to no one. And to reject worship is to disobey God. God does not want to be loved, but rather feared. A God that uses fear and intimidation does not love. God is prideful and envious which means that God has committed the sins that God advocates against.
God left us without exact answers, and has allowed us to divide ourselves. God has distracted us from truly living in peace. If people spent as much time and money helping humanity rather than worship, we would be in a much better place. I think for the most part, people are going to be good with or without religious influence.
So I propose this, we reject God, and we go on with our lives, we put our faith and time in helping each other than worshipping a deity that fails to protect mankind. Yes, if we reject God, God can once again flood the Earth and kill us all, but if God were to do that, we would know that God does not love us, but only loves to control us. A truly loving God would allow us to do what’s best for us even if that means separating ourselves from the person that created us.