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Expressive Paper #1
God is Like Chocolate
As a 7th grader living in rural Vermont, I had to find ways to amuse and entertain myself. There were a limited number of things that teenagers below the driving age could do without being dependent upon parents for transportation. Of the various things I found to amuse myself, I recall quite clearly my discovery of mythology. Completely bored and waiting in the library to be picked up by my folks, I opened a book that happened to be sitting on one of the reading tables. It was on mythology. Flipping through, I found the various stories fascinating, and the notion of having multiple Gods responsible for different duties a new and interesting idea.
Within the next few weeks, I quickly became a mini-expert on Greek, Roman, and Norse mythologies. I researched the various cultures that were associated with each type of mythology, and then incorporated some of those into our household. One such example is when, after learning about Norse mythology, I discovered that the Norwegian word ‘yo’ was a yes answer to a negative question. For the next two years, I would answer questions such as ‘You didn’t do the dishes, did you?’ with ‘yo’ much to my father’s chagrin. Not really remarkable, expect that my love for mythology brought about my questioning of religious beliefs; of past, of present, of others', and of my own.
I suppose it was inevitable. Most children question their parents when becoming adults. And for me, being the child of hippies was no different. If anything, I had even more beliefs to question while on my way to adulthood. If I hadn’t, I might be naked hugging trees today. But, my mother was nurturing. She always said I’d grow up to become a philosopher, that I had a natural curiosity in me, and that I wanted to resolve the world’s conflicts. I don’t know that I agree with all of what she said, but I am curious about things and normally try to resolve conflicts. And it was quite natural for me to wonder what happened in history to make people go from a polytheistic religion to a monotheistic religion. And wonder why was it that many Christians I know laugh when I ask them if there is more than one God. But, If there is no proof that He exists, why are people so certain that no others exist either? I’ve ask many of my friends if they really believe there is a God. Those who believe will say yes
These kind of questions where floating through my head one day as I was driving to work. I had been thinking about my own belief system, as the person I was involved with at the time was pushing them right to the edge. I didn’t solve any great mysteries in my car ride that day, but I did get a clearer understanding of religion. Well, at least my take on religion. To this day, I still have far more questions than answers, but at least I’m starting to understand some of the reasons how and why people believe in the first place.
For me, how and why people believe in God are two completely separate issues. That might sound obvious now, but it took me a while to figure that out. The how is a bit more complicated than it lets on. It’s not simple a matter of going to a church, synagogue, or mosque, but rather, a mindset.
Children, who are raised in a household that believes, are taught that God exists from an early age. They are generally too young to question their parents, and often just accept what their parents tell them. Because of their early exposure, the existence of God becomes a truth for them, not a stretch. It becomes much harder to persuade someone, who believed as a child; that God doesn’t exist later on. For adults, they’re told that they must have ‘faith’ in order to believe. To have faith, they must suspend their beliefs and their desire for proof and must just blindly believe. They must take the proverbial “leap of faith.” If they take this leap, then they are told that God will reveal himself to them, and that they should be patient, because sometimes it could take years.
But, it’s difficult to resolve the internal conflict between wanting proof of the existence of God and being told to put that desire for proof aside. To my knowledge, there is no other area in life where we are expected to believe in lieu of proof. Furthermore, there is a social pressure to religion. Those that ask for proof are made to feel like idiots for even questioning in the first place, while those that believe are accepted into the social realms of the church or place of worship.
The why people believe in God is actually pretty easy. Quite simply, people believe in God because they want to believe in God. People are not forced to believe – that would be impossible. But, if they do believe, then there is something about God that they want in their lives.
It struck me during my car ride that day, that maybe it was more than just wanting to believe. Maybe, for some people, they need to believe in God. That’s when it occurred to me. God is like chocolate. We are all addicts in one way or another. For some, it’s God, for others it’s chocolate. It’s that reassuring something that we reach for when we need something, whatever that something may be. Like how some people need coffee in the morning or how a smoker needs cigarettes even after the addiction has physically left their body. There must be a psychological reason why people believe in the existence of something for which there is no proof. The desire to think that they are not alone, that there is a greater purpose, and that someone is looking out for them. Maybe it just feels right to them.
I’m not sure exactly when I became an atheist. It’s not something I was consciously thinking about when it happened. I was never able to suspend belief in the truth which I’ve learned and take that leap of faith. I suppose I’d have to say it feels right to me. Much like how religion feels right to other people. And when they turn around and ask me, ‘You don’t really believe there’s no God, do you?’ I’ll say ‘yo.’
Posted by N Foster on 4/27/04; 9:49:43 PM
from the dept.
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