Essentially, we hold documentation of millions of time frames. Yet, we doubt and question. Shouldn't we have absolutes after all these years? At what one point does it become true ignorance or withholdment of knowledge based on a grudge held towards religous contructs? Too often now, we form circumstantial opinions based on another's experience.

In this, day and age, I could, give "belief in God" a two star review, a lengthy detailed explanation that reflects my mid-life crisis and I can completely discredit belief in God entirely with full front bias and a lack of solid evidence and still, multitudes would follow. Imagine millions, missing out on truth and buying into a death sentence, all because of someone else's bad experience. Your personal experience does not (should not) generalize the idea of "religion", whether it's belief in God or the one rock that stands out amongst the others in your driveway.

You blind generation. What happened to digging for the truth, digging for an answer? Did that rock in your driveway that you deemed "special" get in the way of your digging? Did it obstruct your path to your roots or did you choose to stop digging because it happens to be convient to follow a trend, to follow the multitude.

Just because we've drifted so far away from the base of belief in God, does not mean it has diminished through passing time. In this world, so many are scarred with fear of being dis-owned by society. You mean the society that accepts riots as efforts to achieve peace? You mean the society that has accepted to remain prisoners to their homes because of a virus that proves to be a "likely probable hoax" that has been fueled by the media's involvement? You mean the society that has slowly transformed to accept pedophilia? You mean the society that has repeatedly tarnished "freedom of speech"? So you mean to tell me, that you value acceptance from the same society that has repeatedly backstabbed your personal freedoms for the sake of political agenda's, the same society that will attempt to destroy your personal life and career for a political stance or a stance in general. Really now? The same freaking society that talks about change for better, but only moves in the opposite direction while only feeding your ears with what you want to hear?

That society? Or have I just been living in a different world? Jesus said, that the world will hate you for him, but that we must remember that the world hated him first. He stood for love, forgiveness, and peace. He still does. This society moves in the opposite direction. Tell me now, what's the point in worrying about acceptance from society? If you stand for the truth, you will be hated, you will be spoken against and you will be dis-owned and seperate from society.

Don't beat your head with a Bible and then choose to persecute the belief. Read the depths of every aspect of the belief and make a decision for yourself. Seperate the religous contructs for "belief in God" from the actuality of "belief in God". That's where most get stuck, they get stuck in the ..hairy situation.. of the seperation from contructs of religion and the actual belief itself.

Furthermore, how can you be "atheism for life, but only pretty much"? Even your answers aren't concrete. Do you just stop being an atheist after a period of time? And if you already know that you'll make that transition, are you really ever even atheist to begin with?

Yes, I believe in God. Because, I believe in truth, I believe in evidence, I believe in love and kindess. I believe in forgiveness. I believe in reason.

Be careful with betraying your roots cause eventually the rest of you dies.

[This serves as a general response to anyone who falls within anything that I've discussed]

Have you ever seen the Rockies?

Have you ever seen the waves

of the Atlantic crash against cragged rocks?

Have you ever seen lightening strike,

lone zigzaggedy yellow streak across and grey sky,

then fiery contact, while the whole world shakes?

Have you ever watched a Robin rebreast feathering her nest,

or seen a tiny bunny waiting for its mother in long grass?

Have you ever canoed quietly through a marshy lake,

silently seen a female moose, eating green moss

and you glide past?

Have you ever wondered why everything is symmetrical, except perhaps the heart?

Have you ever believed in God?

How sad if not.

What does believing in a God grant us?

Grace?

Why are we not already gracious for the lives we have, regardless of whether they were given to us by some divine power or random universal forces of nature?

Hope?

Why do we not find hope in the daily actions of those around us, who push for positive change and succeed in the face of adversity?

Humility?

Why can we not acknowledge our existence as small in an endlessly massive universe, without needing to create an all-powerful being above us as well?

Strength?

Why can we not recognize the power we have in ourselves to face each day head on and make it better?

Reason?

Why can we not admit that bad things happen to good people because bad people don't care who they prey upon, and nature strikes without any prejudice to personality?

Fear?

Why must we fear the repercussions of a greater being, when we should truly fear the repercussions of the hell we make with our own hands on earth?

Reverence?

Why can we not show respect for our fellow humans based on a foundation of mutual trust and community?

While I can imagine the above thoughts might have been difficult to cultivate before modern times/science, I can only imagine gods as a set of training wheels for a species trying to start on its own. I wonder...we should have the tools and understanding to build the heaven we imagined after death in the living world around us, right? At this point, are the training wheels still supporting us or are they holding us back from standing on our own strength and skill?

If we constantly choose to believe in a force outside of ourselves, and the promise of a better afterlife, then what drives us to believe in our own power and our responsibility to make this life better for us all?

And we can quote scriptures from books written aons ago, but why do we ascribe them to divine influence? For I can assure you, no god has ever written a book; only men who claim to speak for them have. Which means whatever words you follow are less wisdom imparted from a divine power and more truths learned by our collective experiences over time, as a species that has - and continues to - make the same mistakes over and over again until we (hopefully) improve.

Note: I'm not purposely attempting to convince anybody of my beliefs or hurt anybody through this post.

I've tried to explain my beliefs to my friends, but they just stared at me blankly like I was insane. So, I'm going to try again.

I believe in God. Science says that all living things emerged from one cell, and I believe God created that one cell. I believe that they (I refer to God with they/them pronouns) are somewhere up there, listening to our prayers and helping us at times.

I, however, don't believe in any religion. To me, any religion is simply how one chooses to perceive God. That idea soon spreads to multiple people until somebody comes up with a label for it. It gives me a clear explanation of why mythology stories often have multiple versions.

And I believe that somewhere in this process of perceiving God and spreading these ideas with others, each religion is no longer what God has whispered in the person's ear or said in the person's dreams. The people who claim to follow these religions, I believe somewhere in that process, their personal views and ideas get blended into the religion.

I don't think there is a word for my beliefs, and if there is, please don't tell me. I relish the fact that I don't have to be labeled by society all the time.

Note: I was not purposely attempting to convince anybody of my beliefs or hurt anybody through this post.

You see all of the pieces of the puzzle;

The science.

The physics.

The molecules.

But, do you see The Artist who created the puzzle?

The One who painted each piece?

The One who cut each shape?

The One who put it all together?

God, The Creator, crafted this Earth for us.

Jesus, The Savior, died on the cross for us.

The Holy Spirit comforts, making His home in us.

God bless you. <3

Perhaps God is like the Ginkgo tree. Maybe Her golden leaves are the last of many, the only proof left of the long history of emerald fans and maidens' hair. Stories-- myths-- of Her former family fill the air wherever men gather. Some say She's gone--extinct, that is. Others, well, they still remember the whistle of the warm summer breeze, the swaying of Her curved limbs, Her feathery hands reaching for the skies as if to wisk the clouds away from the sun.

Perhaps the journey is yet to be finished, Her roots undiscoverd, and maybe, just maybe, the tree we call God is waiting, hidden in some wooden garden in the east and guarded by serious men called monks-- waiting to be rediscovered.

What happens once we discover the tree? Do we plant Her in every courner of the earth? Or, do we leave Her be, untouched by soiled non-monk hands and the unclean air from across the seas?

Perhaps the Ginkgo doesn't need to be freed. Perhaps She's happy in the monks' company, alone and yellowing in Her life's late Fall.

All you want to do is trace your finger over

the ribbed outline of Mother Mary, trapped in cathedral glass.

But she is exalted on the wall, the kind of beauty that you can never really reach.

Shapes tessellate the window, like sunlight at the bottom of a rockpool,

but in beautiful cellophane colours, and warmly translucent.

Regardless of one’s religion, who could argue against the extraordinary beauty of cathedrals.

Of course people marry here. The glass is stronger than brittle.

The white light allowed through is first humbled into its constituent colours,

painting the floor iridescent. A holy high roof occasionally blessed by birds.

I was baptised in a cathedral and will likely marry in one; have my funeral in one.

I don’t think I believe in God;

I’m not sure of any Providence.

But for me, Mother Mary is not a spirit,

but the beauty in flowers,

and the beauty in you appreciating them.

Jesus is not a god, but that reminder in your head,

when you’re caught in a downpour,

to smile at the decision to leave your umbrella at home,

because you haven’t had a true shower like this in years,

and you have never felt more liberated.

I think that’s what the disciples were talking about.

The Buddhists, Taoists, Judaists, Muslims,

I think that’s what they meant

when they spoke of enlightenment and faith,

but it all got muddled somewhere along the way.

I don’t think this comes to a surprise to anyone here on Prose. I’ve said it before and I’ll proudly say it again. I don’t believe in god. I don’t believe in any deity. I don't believe in any afterlife. I don't believe in devils or demons. I don't believe any religion is correct.

I would explain my reasoning but I feel like beating a dead horse. If you want my reasons click on any of the hashtags below. To basically sum it up: I don't believe in god nor do I believe that any god exists. And even if a god did exist, going off what the Christian Right described, frankly I don't feel comfortable believing or praying to a self-righteous, hypocritical, homophobic, genocidal deity who ignores starving and cancer-sickened children.

#atheist #atheism #religion