Disclaimer: Sorry if I am at all repetitive of my earlier post, I didn’t take the time to reread it before writing this one.

First off, I was amused to see that I actually got comments on this post that weren’t essentially telling me I’m going to hell. If anyone who read it and wanted to comment that, but felt to Christian, please, don’t hold back. I’m really just a comment whore.

But moving to the actual topic of such post.

First thing, I was asked to explain miracles. Well, it was a miracle that I was born and that I was born without complications, but if anyone has ever examined the process of “building” a baby, one would realize that it’s probably the biggest miracle of all that more babies aren’t born with complications. The amount of things that could go wrong are enormous. It seems just as likely that we would be born completely deformed and messed up as not. If anyone wants to argue with me the presence of a God, you just have to bring the view how many babies every year are born perfectly healthy. Unfortunately, it’s not these babies that people rave are miracles. It’s the babies that are born with problems, that just fell into the pool of children where something just went wrong, that when they survive and make it to adulthood, that people consider a “miracle.” I would have to say that this particular miracle is arguable by the fact that it is just as likely that something goes wrong, as that it doesn’t. We only recognize it as a miracle because we put more emphasis on one or the other.

Thus, my issue with miracles. Is it a miracle that someone regains sight? Well, what are the chances that they did vs. that they didn’t. If they hadn’t regained sight, would we have considered that a miracle? In any case, it was just the other possibility and for all we know, just as likely. Doctors can give you all the statistics they want. We consider surviving cancer a miracle because its a really good thing, but it’s just as likely that you die from it. No one considers that a miracle, but it’s just as likely.

In any case, it’s like flipping a coin. You can get either heads or tails. If you get heads, is that a miracle? Or getting tails is a miracle? No, it’s just something that happens. Things happen in life, they are just as likely as the event that they don’t happen. Miracles are just fabricated from our point of view.

Now, that’s my argument, solely for the sake of argument.

People like my mother give religion as a pillow, a comfort. She once shared with me that she would have a big problem believing that this is it, so that’s why she believe in God. Because she just can’t keep seeing all the horrible things in the world thinking that this is all there is.

Now, it’s for people like that, that I think religion is perfect for. It’s for those you want something good to believe in, to keep them sane, and safe in their heads, despite if it’s real or not. To me, that’s true faith.

But people will criticize saying that believing in something solely because you don’t want to believe in the alternative isn’t true faith. Well, what makes your faith better? Believing it because you are told to?

A chosen faith is better than a forced faith.

I on the other hand am perfectly alright with the notion that this is it. While this may depress some people, it just makes me want to live life to the absolute fullest. Never miss an adventure or an opportunity, because it just as likely that the world ends that day, that it doesn’t.

It does or it doesn’t. It’s all 50/50 to me.

To me, Religion should be nothing more than a comfort to keep you feeling better, while giving you very basic moral to live by. The 10 commandments? Scratch off the one about believing in other Gods and keeping the Sabbath, and you have a perfect base set of guidelines for life that really aren’t going to change with the ages. 8 solid commandants.

The Commandants about driving are a bunch of bullshit. The Catholic church just got hella bored and scribbled some shit down. I really don’t like the Catholic church. Nothing against catholics, just the church.

But what irks me most is when people take religion to such extremes that they let it play such a large role in other parts of their life. My cousin was with this girl for years, they are still really close, but because she is Mormon, he refuses to marry her. He doesn’t want to convert.

Bull fucking shit. What the hell does religion matter if you love the person. The Mormons have crazy rules (and beliefs) but you know what, that should not be a reason not to marry her. Do her feet smell? Does she hit you? Does she scream in her sleep? Those are better reason to me than “She’s Mormon.”

My dad told me that religion should never get in the way of who I want to be with. This is the same man that demands I marry a white man, but then again, I blame that on his work office. He’s been there waaaay too long.

But to sum it up, once again, Religion is something that should guide your life and help you to be a better person. I don’t care if it’s true or not, that doesn’t matter to me. I don’t care who is right, and who is wrong. If people can be good people, but not let religion decide who the like and don’t like, then they can have their miracles. If people could stop waging war based on the fact that they are right and everyone else is wrong, then I think religion itself could play an even bigger role in the world.

Besides, there are only two sure things in life. Death, and math.

And of course, I’m always looking for a fun way to start a debate, so are you surprised I’d mention a little of my religious views? You shouldn’t be.

Now, first thing, I was raised very religiously. I went to church every Sunday, a very lovely Lutheran Church, and my mom taught our Sunday School class. Thus, I was always the test rat at home for lesson plans. My parents had me in summer church classes, church plays, church choirs, you name it. I know the apostle’s creed still, memorized forwards and backwards. This is actually because for each verse we memorized we got candy. Mmmm candy! I know all the stories in the bible, I know the teaching, etc. etc. etc. So don’t anyone try and tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about when it comes to basic Christianity.

As for other religions, I know their political and social histories, not as much their theology, but enough of it overlaps to have a good general understanding.

So I’ll start with this. Is there a supreme being watching over all of us? Sure, why not? I don’t see why there can’t be, we just can’t actually prove it. Who is it? Well, that’s why we gave him the ambiguous name of “God.”

I really don’t have a problem with people using their faith to make them feel good about living, and using it as a reason to do good things. I mean, that would be like having a problem with people doing good things. What bothers me the most is when people 1) Try to tell me that their God is the best god ever, 2) Tell me that unless I do certain things for their church, and worship the way they want me to, I’ll go to hell, 3) believe Evolution is false, and 4) the bible is the word of God.

We’ll go in order.

1) How can your God be the best god ever? No, honestly, how? Did he beat up all the other gods? Is he the big bad god on the block? Newsflash, most religions in the world we can remember back to the time they were created, and half of them worship the same God. Why then does your god want you to kill his other followers *cough*Islam*cough* oh and *cough*Catholics!*cough* Yeah, that’s right, you went after the Jews. That totally counts. Dude, wasn’t Jesus a Jew? Someone had a misstep in logic during some point in history, that’s for sure.

2) So If I don’t do things your way, it’s the wrong way? This kind of piggy-backs off my last point. If the three main monotheistic religions worship the same god, why then do they not get along? Because their practices are different? Honestly, if someone doesn’t pray 5 times a day, or doesn’t go to church every Sunday, or learn how to read Hebrew, does it make them any less of a believer in God? It seems that the religions really only differ in practices. If I’m gonna worship the same god you do, I’ll do it my way, and if I piss him off because I did it my way, then well that’s between me and God, not anyone else.

3) Evolution, yes, is in fact a theory. But as a friend of mine once said, “So is gravity. Go jump off a building and test that one.” Truth is, people believe that they were never “monkeys.” We are part of the same family, the evidence is there, it’s widely accepted, and it has scientific evidence. I don’t care how you interpreted your bible, which I’ll get into next, Science has spoken. And the big bang theory, whose to say God wasn’t behind the big bang? hmm?

4) The Bible. My biggest problem is in fact with the Bible itself. So many people put so much emphasis on the Bible being “the word of God” and it being full of true stories, and how we should make it pretty much our Dictionary of Faith. I believe it is well known that the Bible was compiled and the stories chosen by, I think, Atheists hundreds of years after all of it happened. Thus, they had no idea what actually happened, and we don’t know what stories were even left out! Also, the stories were all written by men. Why are women not seen as better? Because men wrote the Bible. Why do Catholics believe we have original sin? Because me wrote the Bible. Had women written the Bible, the world would be a different, and female dominated, place.

I get most frustrated with how people take the Bible word for word. The Bible is full of STORIES, exaggerated stories with morals. The fact that catholicism broke into at least 3 different groups based partially on the interpretation of one sacrament irks me. Is the win and the bread the blood and flesh of Christ? Well gosh it doesn’t taste like it, but the Bible says it is, so it has to be! Or, not its just a representation. Or no! There is a transformation that occurs! Does it matter? You’re all doing the exact same thing. You’re drinking wine, and eating bread. As long as the principle is behind the action, it doesn’t matter what it is or isn’t right?

I think people get too hung up on trying to live by the word of God. People claiming to die for god. People like the VT shooter talking about dying like Christ. I thought Christ always taught to turn the other cheek. I thought killing was a sin. It seems like people sometimes use the excuse of religion as a reason to sin. Take all the religious wars. I’m pretty sure God didn’t ask for people to go out and seize vast lands in the name of God. Pretty sure God just wants people to get along, be happy, be good people, right? I dunno, but that’s why my mommy taught me.

To me, Religion shouldn’t be so much about the supreme being, and more about the person. Religion should be more of a set of guild lines. Instead of interpreting everything as the word of God, trying to find miracles, and waging holy missions, why instead don’t people try and please God by doing the only things he really asked of us? Believe, and follow the ten commandments. If people did that, the world would be better off anyway.

The true hypocrites though, are the people that do good things solely for the sake of getting into heaven. It seems a bit selfish to me to do a good thing in the belief that you are in the end benefiting yourself. Doesn’t it make you more of a religious person to do a good thing, not to please God, but for the sake of doing a good thing?

I’m really not a believer. I don’t get hung up on the whole is there, or is there not a God. Either way, doesn’t really bother me. I feel like, once I die, that’s it. And without solid evidence, you can’t really change my mind. Instead, I’m not going to deny other people their right to believe. Some people need that faith to keep going this shity reality we have. I totally understand that. But I’m also not going to ignore how I was raised. I was raised with the principles of religion, and they are good ones. They are great rules and guidelines to live life by.

I think, that if people shifted the emphasis away from the appeasing the supreme being, and more following the guides to live a good life, not only would things drastically improve within relations, but also, isn’t that directly appeasing God?

Religious people believe God gave us life. Dying to appease him is like giving back a gift you got from your friend for your birthday. It’s as if you didn’t want it. Isn’t that more insulting than pleasing?

Ah Love. Love is like roses; they look beautiful for a few days, and then die. And look like shit. Yet, everyone adores roses and wants roses!

I was talking to a dear friend of mine, who shares a good deal of the relationship problems I have had/have. Amazing how generally all problems are similar. Someone else, communication, distance, time management, etc. They are always the same. (oh and there is always the case where, I’m sorry but she/he just doesn’t like you.)

Well, I’m sure everyone can agree. Love sucks. We’ve all heard it, we’ve all said it. It’s true. Love sucks. All love is heartache and heartbreak. Stress and emotional breakdowns. All for those moments that seem like the greatest rewards. So are we dealing with all the shit to get these rewards? This is like extreme behaviorist psychology, or maybe love is just a drug. We will pay all the money we have and forget everything else, just to get that high, and when we don’t have it, we go through the most painful and miserable withdrawals.

Amazing the comparisons, yes?

Well here it is. I’m throwing it in, yes that’s right the “M” word. Marriage. Marriage is basically cementing your love, stating its true, and promising to put up with all the bullshit. It’s basically making a life long commitment to that drug of your choice and keeping the same bunch of roses for years and years.

Bleak, I know.

Yet still there is hope, because that small bit of time when people are happy, those blissful highs, those are amazing. They are the most wonderful things anyone can ask for. I know I love them, and I miss them every minute of every day. Lets be honest, I know I’m not the only one that would agree, I would die for those moments. They mean that much to me. Because they last, they last in your head and in your heart. They last forever. And even when you’re miserable, memories seem to get you through. Those memories pick you back up, give you a kick in the ass, and say “You know you want more!”

So I guess I can sum it up by saying that when it comes to love and eventually marriage, it’s all about finding the perfect thing:

Someone you feel it’s worth putting up with all the heartbreak and misery for, just go get that high. 

I was terribly bored today in my tutoring class, So I chose to make a list of my favorite quotes instead of like, help the poor algebra-inept children. You’d be surprised how the wisdom of ages translates through the generations. The only thing I found is that these quotes seem to describe the way everyone wants to live, yet no one takes the time or the effort to live this way. Everyone tells us to enjoy our lives and live in the moment, but then at the same time those same people are telling us to plan for the future, and never forget our pasts. Obliviously life really is about balance, because you can’t be in either of the three too much or too little.

and there is no such thing as karma.

“I’ve got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than of boredom.”   Thomas Carlyle

“We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose hope.”   Martin Luther King Jr.

“If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it.”  Lucy Larcom

“It’s not how busy you are, but why you are busy. The bee is praised; the mosquito is swatted.”  Marie O’Conner

“It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.”  Moliere

“The shifts of fortune test the reliability of friends.”  Marcus Tullius Cicero

“I feel the capacity to care is the thing which gives life its deepest significance.”  Pablo Casals

“I try to avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward.”  Charlotte Bronte

“Little by little, one walks far.”  Peruvian Proverb

“Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.”  Joseph Campbell

“Security is not the meaning of life. Great opportunities are worth the risk.”  Shirley Hufstedler

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

“The one thing that does not abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”  Harper Lee

“He who kisses the joy as it flied, Lives in Eternity’s sunshine.”  William Blake

“Love the moment, and the energy of that moment will spread beyond all boundaries.”  Corita Kent

“Thou that hast given so much to me, Give one thing more, a grateful heart.”  George Herbert