When I was an infant, I was hospitalized with a failure to thrive. I was taken away from my abusive mother at two and fostered until I was adopted by a loving, conservative Christian family at the age of 8. I’ve had three near death experiences… the last of which was an out of body experience. I was always told how grateful I should be and how my purpose in life was probably to bring people to God through my testimony. After 25 years as a devout Christian, I decided to take a deeper look at my beliefs an weigh them against my bible and logic. I came to the conclusion that while religion can play a vital role in shaping people into decent human beings and providing a sense of comfort to those in their times of need, it was no longer necessary in my life. Here I am, a loving, ethical, free thinking, family oriented, woman who is living happily without a belief in any deity.
“God” is the personification of every person’s innate need to believe that there is a reason and purpose for their existence. The belief that there is a reason and purpose for us all is central to reasoned self-awareness, and without some belief that each of our lives are meaningful, anarchy is the result. “Religion,” on the other hand, is a behavioral structure created by man to facilitate an orderly means by which to demonstrate the belief that life has meaning and purpose. It is my opinion that the concept of “God” is a genetic survival tool, like the fear of fire, falling, and loud noises. People may argue that spirituality is not supported by scientific evidence, but I would argue that one cannot prove the existence of love, ego, compassion, or many other emotions, but all are essential to our survival as a species. The point of my post is that when a person is confronted with the actual end of their own life, they are compelled to believe that their life was more than a mere biological happenstance of no significance. It’s the old “no atheists in a foxhole” kind of thing.
Through thorough research, scientists have already started mapping the biological basis of compassion, suggesting its deep evolutionary purpose. The science behind attraction love, and ego also have plenty of scientific research behind it. How one is raised and how they are taught to process has a great impact on the choices they make. While emotions may seem to be a mystery today, I have no doubt that science will one day be able to conclusively explain everything.
We happen to be on the same page, that the concept of God was created by mankind to explain the “why” of our existence. However, I do believe that our species absolutely would not only survive, but thrive, without religion. With education and exposure to critical thinking human beings may one day stop relying on the perpetual evolutionary baggage that is religion. Of course, it would be millions of years before society would evolve to that extent, and I’ll be long gone.
Although I’m not a supporter of any organized religion, and there is no scientific backing behind it at all, I’ll keep my finger’s crossed for reincarnation; I have an incredible husband that I want to find and make the choice to fall in love with all over again.
Stigmom:
It’s not all science, and if you take away the magic of being a human being, it’s like shooting Santa Claus in the head in front of a room full of second graders.
It is the unanswered “why?” that drives us forward and makes us what we are, and I can imagine no greater tragedy than to reach the point where we really do know the answers to everything.
In my opinion, religion is to belief in God like soccer is to aerobic exercise. It is just a set of rules for an organized method by which to achieve a healthy goal. There are many different ways to get there, and if someone would rather get their exercise by jogging alone than play a team sport, that is their prerogative.
When I was an infant, I was hospitalized with a failure to thrive. I was taken away from my abusive mother at two and fostered until I was adopted by a loving, conservative Christian family at the age of 8. I’ve had three near death experiences… the last of which was an out of body experience. I was always told how grateful I should be and how my purpose in life was probably to bring people to God through my testimony. After 25 years as a devout Christian, I decided to take a deeper look at my beliefs an weigh them against my bible and logic. I came to the conclusion that while religion can play a vital role in shaping people into decent human beings and providing a sense of comfort to those in their times of need, it was no longer necessary in my life. Here I am, a loving, ethical, free thinking, family oriented, woman who is living happily without a belief in any deity.
“God” is the personification of every person’s innate need to believe that there is a reason and purpose for their existence. The belief that there is a reason and purpose for us all is central to reasoned self-awareness, and without some belief that each of our lives are meaningful, anarchy is the result. “Religion,” on the other hand, is a behavioral structure created by man to facilitate an orderly means by which to demonstrate the belief that life has meaning and purpose. It is my opinion that the concept of “God” is a genetic survival tool, like the fear of fire, falling, and loud noises. People may argue that spirituality is not supported by scientific evidence, but I would argue that one cannot prove the existence of love, ego, compassion, or many other emotions, but all are essential to our survival as a species. The point of my post is that when a person is confronted with the actual end of their own life, they are compelled to believe that their life was more than a mere biological happenstance of no significance. It’s the old “no atheists in a foxhole” kind of thing.
Through thorough research, scientists have already started mapping the biological basis of compassion, suggesting its deep evolutionary purpose. The science behind attraction love, and ego also have plenty of scientific research behind it. How one is raised and how they are taught to process has a great impact on the choices they make. While emotions may seem to be a mystery today, I have no doubt that science will one day be able to conclusively explain everything.
We happen to be on the same page, that the concept of God was created by mankind to explain the “why” of our existence. However, I do believe that our species absolutely would not only survive, but thrive, without religion. With education and exposure to critical thinking human beings may one day stop relying on the perpetual evolutionary baggage that is religion. Of course, it would be millions of years before society would evolve to that extent, and I’ll be long gone.
Although I’m not a supporter of any organized religion, and there is no scientific backing behind it at all, I’ll keep my finger’s crossed for reincarnation; I have an incredible husband that I want to find and make the choice to fall in love with all over again.
Stigmom:
It’s not all science, and if you take away the magic of being a human being, it’s like shooting Santa Claus in the head in front of a room full of second graders.
It is the unanswered “why?” that drives us forward and makes us what we are, and I can imagine no greater tragedy than to reach the point where we really do know the answers to everything.
In my opinion, religion is to belief in God like soccer is to aerobic exercise. It is just a set of rules for an organized method by which to achieve a healthy goal. There are many different ways to get there, and if someone would rather get their exercise by jogging alone than play a team sport, that is their prerogative.