Beliefs

I commented on a friend's 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 post recently, and it had something to do with religions. Then someone else replied to my comment. We went on to have a few more exchanges of replies to each other. He is not on my friend's list. In fact, he is a total stranger to me.

The gist of the "discussion" revolved around him trying to convince me the "truth" of Bible, and he furnished "evidence", saying that the original texts are from authentic manuscripts dating from thousands of years ago. In return, I did not accept that as "evidence", because to me, a history book is just that — a book written by someone who claims so-and-so, based on what they heard from someone else. Just that in this case, it's a history book from eons ago.

A couple of days after the comments and counter-comments between us, I was surprised to get a private message from him through 𝑀𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟. I mean "𝑀𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟" as in the app, not "𝑀𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟" as in Jesus as the "𝑀𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑜𝑑". Apparently he had not given up on wanting to save this poor lost soul. He was not being rude or imposing, like most religious people are, so I did not mind to indulge in the private "discussion" with him.

The truth is that I am a Catholic. I'm given the religion by my parents, and I was even baptized and went through the so-called "confirmation" process when I was still in primary school. However, the biggest tragedy was that I am born with a brain, and I used that brain to 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 things out for a bit. Consequently, I have been a non-believer throughout my adult life. My wife, on the other hand, is a devout Christian and makes it a point to go to church every Sunday.

From a very young age, there's something about religions that I just can't accept. I mean 𝒂𝒍𝒍 religions, not just Christianity. Most religions are based on their respective "holy books". In them are supposedly God's messages to humankind. There are also numerous stories, some in parables, some in plain ordinary languages. I had on numerous occasions in the past, read some portions of the "holy book" in an attempt to get to know God.

Well, who is God? What have I discovered about him? He is said to be the supreme being who created everything — he created the universe, the planets, and all lifeforms including us humans. He is said to be "the loving father". But although he is "loving", he is liable to lose his temper and go on a killing rampage. He could suddenly flood the entire world and drown everyone in it, including infants and unborn children, except for one family and pairs of all the animals in the world. Time and time again over the eons, he killed many others through earthquakes, tsunamis, meteor strikes, hurricanes, and pandemics to name just a few.

Some contents of the "holy books" are reflections of human nature, and not that of a divine and loving being. For example, slavery was allowed. I sometimes try to imagine how would I react if someone orders me to kill my own child to prove my loyalty to him. Well, I would probably say, "𝑭*𝒄𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖!". I can't even begin to think of killing my own child for whatever reason. If it really comes to that, I might even be willing to sacrifice my own life to save my child.

However, having said all those, I keep an open mind. I've always said that I respect the beliefs of others. They all have the rights to believe in whatever they want to believe, as long as they don't try to impose their beliefs on me. Respect should be mutual; it is a two-way street. I don't judge them because of their beliefs; and I would expect them not to judge me because of my belief.