5 Reasons Why I Don’t Believe In God
(Path to Atheism)
1. I Can Be Good Without God
I was once a devoted Catholic. From when I was a little kid playing Lego to when I was a young adult stressed out about the future, I was a proud believer.
I still remember how it was to study in a Catholic school. Every class starts and ends with a prayer. Every day at twelve noon everyone recites the Angelus. Every first Friday of the month there was a campus-wide mass. Apparently, praying was a casual habit for me back then.
In addition to the regular prayer and mass is the teaching of Religion. If my recollections are clear, it was during our Religion class that we were told that…
“If you believe in the Lord Jesus, you will be saved”,
“If you disobey the will of God, you will perish in Hell”,
“Remember that Christ died for our sins”, and more.
There were many lessons taught in my Religion class. In retrospect, I think that the purpose of my Religion class is to teach the values of the Catholic Church and to foster a good individual. I am in full support to that end, which is to be a good individual. However, I don’t like the idea that the motivational force behind it is the reward of salvation or the punishment of eternal suffering; mainly because it means that the only thing keeping a person decent is the promise of a divine reward. For me, being a good person is a choice anyone can make, regardless of belief.
“Being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead.”
— Kurt Vonnegut
2. The Bible Is Not Enough Evidence
The most influential book in history is undoubtedly the Bible. It has been the foundation of different religions and belief systems. While I agree that there are archaeological pieces of evidence that the places in the Bible really existed, I don’t agree that it means the Bible is a hundred percent accurate. There is no way to prove that the miracles in Bible are true. The gospels may just be the writers’ interpretation of what God wants to say but not necessarily what He means. I won’t bet my life on that. Also, some ideas in the Bible may not be applicable in the world that we live in today. Is there anything about Artificial Intelligence or Extraterrestrial Civilization in the Bible?
Though there are a lot of lessons in the Bible that teaches us how to be a good individual and a caring steward for others, lessons which I agree on, it still doesn’t prove that God exists.
“There are no facts, only interpretations.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche
3. I Have Unanswered Questions
The planet we call home, Earth, is just a speck in the entire Universe. If God exists, why do we think that we are his precious creation? For all we know, our existence might just be a random event in the Universe. Then why do we think we are the only one important to God? The answer is probably because of the things mentioned in the Bible. Since I don’t totally believe in the Bible, I don’t think we are important. We are just an insignificant dot in the vast sea of stars and clouds of dust.
One more question I have is this: Let’s say that yes, there is God, all knowing, omniscient, and superiorly powerful and He was able to bring forth the existence of the Universe, why do we associate human characteristics to such superior being?
What I noticed is that God’s characteristics are mostly derived from human traits. Humans have emotions; God has emotions. Humans have a strong sense of justice; so as God. Humans communicate; God communicates. Humans love; God loves. See, what I’m trying to say here is that if God really exists, I firmly believe that he is someone beyond our comprehension. We can never tell what God wants or don’t want. Just like ants can never understand we don’t want them to bite us.
“Our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark.”
— Carl Sagan
4. I Went Too Far In The Religious Spectrum
Like what I’ve mentioned earlier, I believe in God before. Back then, I pray to God most of the time. I confess my sins, tell my wishes and dreams, and give thanks for the blessings. Then suddenly I started questioning the existence of God. My line of thinking when I first had doubts was similar to what I explained in the previous section, that God doesn’t care about us and God is beyond our comprehension. As you can see, I didn’t reject the existence of God in that argument, but there’s a question in the definition of God. Later, I learned that my new belief was called Deism. Unlike Atheists who are non-believers, Deists believe that God exists but denies His interference in the laws of the Universe. To put it simply, Deists believe that there is God but He didn’t save you from that accident; He did not help you pass the exam; He didn’t put food on the table. God is just the Creator.
Think of this, Scientists say the ‘Big Bang’ started it all. In the beginning, there was a tiny but super dense particle that exploded and expanded which lead to what we now call Universe. But where did that particle came from? If it came from ‘X’, where did ‘X’ came from, ‘Y’? And ‘Y’ came from ‘Z’. Well, that’s going to be an endless cycle. That paradox is what convinced me, back then, that there is a God. But the role of God is simply the solution to the paradox I presented. He doesn’t necessarily have to be a superior being if a being at all. He may be an event, an equation, a law in the Universe, or anything else that will solve the paradox and the mysteries of the Universe. I need not pray to such God. So after months of threading the religious spectrum, I reached the doors of Atheism. When I entered, I knew there was no going back.
“So after months of threading the religious spectrum, I reached the doors of Atheism. When I entered, I knew there was no going back.”
5. It’s Simply A Choice
In the end, it all comes down to making a choice. There is no evidence that proves or disproves the existence of God. Probably it’ll take hundreds, if not thousands, of years to finally figure things out. So until that day of enlightenment, we are left to speculate and choose what we believe in. As for me, I choose not to believe in God.
Whatever choice anyone makes, it deserves to be respected. Imposing our beliefs on other people is a disrespectful thing to do. We shouldn’t force anyone to join us in what we believe. We shouldn’t judge and discriminate because of differences in beliefs neither. Let’s embrace our differences and focus on making the world a better place. Because even if you believe in God and I don’t, I think we can live peacefully together, and that’s what truly matters.
*Important Note
I just want to make it clear that I did not write this to convince anyone that God does not exist, for it is against my principles to impose my beliefs on other people. Many of the things I’ve mentioned in this article may be debatable and disagreeable, and I acknowledge that. Just to let you know, the main reason why I wrote this is to make sure that I truly understand what I believe in. Because when I am able to write down my thoughts, it makes me feel I fully comprehend them.
What do you believe in?
Share your thoughts in the comments section below. I’d love to hear what you think. Thanks!
Originally published at www.thoughtcloud.website.
