Thursday, April 5, 2012

Going to Hell

http://www.postsecret.com/

"I can't believe in GOD. He'll know I only believe because I'm afraid of HELL"

Last semester I took a philosophy class where we analyzed the concept of God. Although it was a long, controversial topic, the general conclusion was that it was irrational to believe in a higher being but that it was beneficial. There is no concrete proof that God exists and if you factor in that he is supposed to be: Omnipresent, Omnipotent, and All-knowing... there is no way that a God could be all these three at the same time. For example, if God gave us free will to make our own choices, then how can he be all-knowing? It would be impossible and therefore it does not make sense to believe in him.

However, the other side of the argument was that "what do we have to lose?." If we do not believe in him, then we have the chance that we will go to Hell. But by believing in him all we may lose is time worshiping him and gain eternal Heaven in return. We are better off believing in a God. But does that justify us to become religious? I don't think so. I think that many people are raised into a religion, are scared of Hell, and therefore attend church every Sunday but never truly believe.

Like the postsecret states, our reasons for being religious sometimes aren't pure and contradict the concept of believing. Our fear of death is so strong that religion gives us hope, but that doesn't necessarily mean we actually believe.

I do not know where I stand on this issue. I was raised Catholic but I stopped following “organized religion” for the same reason that the postsecret writer did… I don’t want to waste my time with something that my heart and head didn't fully support just because I am scared of death. Thus, I consider myself to be spiritual and not religious.
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2 comments:

  1. Brooke L. AApril 6, 2012 at 8:23 AM

    I absolutely love this post. I am too raised Catholic. I think believing in a God can only be beneficial. Belief in something is hope in something. I think if we do not believe in God, no matter what God, then we have nothing to look forward to. Everyone wants to go to Heaven and no one wants to go to Hell, but everyone wants to do what they want and no one wants to follow His word. In my opinion, I'd rather be spiritual and truly believe in him and his practices then go to church pretending I practice his beliefs.

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  2. UnknownApril 6, 2012 at 9:40 AM

    I guess I kind of see where you are coming from but in all honesty, I am the absolute opposite when it comes to religion. I am a follower of the religion of Sikhism and have always believed in god since I was born. I've always believed that there was a supreme being who followed me in whatever I did and supported me when I fell down. There is no heaven or hell in Sikhism so that is a fact that I wanted to say because that proves that not everyone believes in god just because they are scared of hell. I don't know about other people, but I have always believed in a higher supreme being to be omnipresent, omnipotent, and all-knowing in my life.

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