Recently rethinking religion | The Triangle

Recently rethinking religion

Is God a real being? I had an hour long conversation with a friend, attempting to explain why I personally don’t believe in any god. I cannot be convinced that there is a god, even by someone as close as my friend. Throughout our conversation, I realized that this issue needed further reflection. After quite a bit of thinking, I realized that not believing in God has directly contributed to my happiness, and made me who I am today.

My entire family is Roman Catholic and very religious. I attended a private Catholic elementary and middle school. Up until about age 13, I went to church every Sunday and prayed at least two times a day. My belief in God was mostly influenced by my environment. There were moments where I questioned my religion, but didn’t have enough knowledge about the world around me to confirm or disprove my doubts.

As time passed, I became more aware of philosophy and more importantly I became more aware of myself.

The prayers never worked. I never felt like God had helped me in any way. I always remembered to be as thankful and as “good” as I possibly could. I followed the Ten Commandments and went to church no matter what.

Until the whole “believing” thing got old and no longer fulfilled my need for hope. The promise of heaven did not resonate with my needs. Nothing had changed, and I wasn’t going to let it stay that way.

Being so preoccupied with praying and having the constant thought that “God has a plan,” blurred my vision of reality. A promise of eternal happiness is not something that I need. Let’s be real, there isn’t a way to prove that heaven exists, or that God is watching over us. Although some historical evidence supports the events written, The Bible cannot be fully accepted as facts.

I believe in the present, and that the future is dependent on how one utilizes their time now. You cannot just pray; you have to act. To me, it doesn’t matter what happens to me when I die, but rather what I can contribute to the world that I am in now. This is what is known to me, and I don’t want to spend time worrying what might happen in a world that I can’t even confirm exists.

One of the reasons people believe in God is to have a sense of hope. My hope lies elsewhere — in being mindful and positive.

“God is a concept by which we measure our pain,” John Lennon states in his song “God”. The more pain you have, the more need you have for explanation from a higher power. At this point, I’m happy and feel that my happiness is based on what I have contributed to this earth, not what was given to me by God.

If I one day find out God does exist, whether it’s on this Earth or after I die, I will acknowledge it. But for now, I’m okay with being a non-believer. From my perspective, believing changes nothing.