If the answer is yes, you are happy with it, you may not even be reading this. But in the event that you are happy being religious and you are reading this, then here is a thought, that changed my approach to religion during my teenage years, that I feel should be shared here.
People form their opinions and beliefs in an immense number of ways: experience, social events, opinions of others, influenced by friends, cultural pressure, coercion, you name it.
When it comes to our opinions about religion, a lot changes when compared to our beliefs about democracy, football, or chocolate.
Religion, is that one thing that comes to us by word of mouth all the time, before coming in any other form. It also comes to us, usually through someone we look up to: our parents.
It is very rare to find an adult without any religious beliefs that experiences and learns all or some religions and then decides one of them is the one.
At some point in my early teens, I decided that I should investigate why some people did not believe in God. I thought that if God had given me the ability to question things, then I should do it. I could even find out why not believing in Him was wrong. Maybe I could help people by bringing them into believing again once I knew the answer to their disbelief.
So, while I was happy with my religion, I decided that the worst thing that could happen, is that I would be the one being wrong. Being wrong would give me a have a chance to be right, and being right would be great. I love being right. I could not afford to be religious and wrong. I had to find out for myself.
Even though I hoped I was right to begin with, I knew at that point that trying to prove myself wrong would ultimately turn out a failure, and I would come out stronger and more religious on the other end of this journey.
And so it began. From that time forward, I started questioning everything. I told myself that would be the only way to actually think about religion: by knowing both sides of the story.
People form their opinions and beliefs in an immense number of ways: experience, social events, opinions of others, influenced by friends, cultural pressure, coercion, you name it.
When it comes to our opinions about religion, a lot changes when compared to our beliefs about democracy, football, or chocolate.
Religion, is that one thing that comes to us by word of mouth all the time, before coming in any other form. It also comes to us, usually through someone we look up to: our parents.
It is very rare to find an adult without any religious beliefs that experiences and learns all or some religions and then decides one of them is the one.
At some point in my early teens, I decided that I should investigate why some people did not believe in God. I thought that if God had given me the ability to question things, then I should do it. I could even find out why not believing in Him was wrong. Maybe I could help people by bringing them into believing again once I knew the answer to their disbelief.
So, while I was happy with my religion, I decided that the worst thing that could happen, is that I would be the one being wrong. Being wrong would give me a have a chance to be right, and being right would be great. I love being right. I could not afford to be religious and wrong. I had to find out for myself.
Even though I hoped I was right to begin with, I knew at that point that trying to prove myself wrong would ultimately turn out a failure, and I would come out stronger and more religious on the other end of this journey.
And so it began. From that time forward, I started questioning everything. I told myself that would be the only way to actually think about religion: by knowing both sides of the story.
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