Thirith on 1/4/2010 at 13:16

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This will sound patronising, but I've always thought that you come across as one of the most together, mature people on this website. Your move away from the Church as always sounded like a decision based on brains as well as ethics. From what you've written in the past, I don't think you'd want to go back there. If you find a way of living with some sort of faith that allows you to be who you want to be, that may still look very different from going back to a church and a way of expressing and living faith that you know to have been damaging to people.

Also, as I've written above, I think that doubt is a necessary element of finding the right decision, whatever this right decision turns out to be. Faith that doesn't give space to doubt leads to repression and fundamentalism. Cocksure men do terrible things (stolen from Rushdie's Midnight's Children).

scumble on 1/4/2010 at 13:23

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RBJ may have expressed things in his usual charming way, but I'd agree it's a bit silly to go backwards just for a bit of a comfort blanket fett. It doesn't seem like you've forced your way off the "right" path - personally I think it seems that you've gained depth rather than lost something.

fett on 1/4/2010 at 13:29

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It's 7000, you tard. And I've never believed that.

Queue on 1/4/2010 at 13:54

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Throughout all the varying and various amounts of horseshit that's gone "wrong" in my life, the one thing the religious folk consistently remind me is that, "God is testing me (or even punishing me) because I lost my faith, and that it'd all be better if I just found God again."

Seriously.

Okay, if this is a test then I wish God would just realize that I'm a D student and leave me the fuck alone.

I can understand their position, though--the allure of finding God and how doing so will make all things better. Life suddenly becomes worry free! And manna will rain from heaven. It's a promise that regardless of the shitty life one's been dealt, there is something better waiting in the wings.

But, the problem becomes, in my mind, that this life no longer really matters to the overly pious. One gives themselves over so deeply to paying the premiums for afterlife insurance that they forget to make the most out of this life, and forget that being a part of humanity means doing things to make humanity better for human's sake--not for God's sake. Religion can easily become a path of self-indulgence and self-importance, though it shouldn't be.

Is there a God? Who knows. If there is, I just want to say, "Gee, thanks for the duce and nine I've been dealt--prick." But really, the question of is there a God, or which religion is the right one, or such, shouldn't matter. Life is just what it is. It's how you deal with it that defines you, not what religion you subscribe to. In the end, life, good or bad, just happen regardless of whether or not you have faith. No great spirit in the sky is shuffling the deck to decide your fate this day or the next. There will still be Tsunamis, world hunger, cancer, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, flowers, sunny days, cures for cancer, walks on the beach, hugs, winning lottery tickets, puppy dogs, oral sex, and Duke Nukem Forever (April Fools!) with or without religion.

Your life is your life. Enjoy it.

Kolya on 1/4/2010 at 14:16

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