Digital Bits Skeptic

By ScienceReasonRationality.blogspot.com
Article ID: 1216

 

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You’re probably a religious person, or you have some form of a belief system. After much personal research and experience, you are now also convinced by the arguments presented by the skeptics and the atheists. You have somewhat come to realize that the skeptics and the atheists do have valid and strong points for their case and they are not just some ignorant people creating excuses to “sin”.

For admitting this and coming this high in your level of thought and judgment, I consider you a normal and intelligent person with a lowest amount of ego and delusional problems. You’re the rare honest one. You wish to seek out the real truth, and you are willing to accept it no matter what the outcome might be, and you’d rather live a life of reality than someone else’s fantasy.

However, there’s one big question left in your mind, and you’re worried about it. The question keeps repeating itself, the way it did for me when I was a believer at one point in my life, but have since come to a point of realization.

The big question is, “What if you’re wrong?”

What if you’re wrong about your atheism and end up going to hell for it?

What if you’re wrong and end up being reborn again to suffer the consequences in some animal form based on what you did in your past life?

What if you’re wrong and end up being a ghost forever?

What if you’re wrong and end up becoming an alien in some galaxy far, far away?

These questions and more are very interesting and creative ideas for an afterlife. And from these questions, we can see that the main concern for a lot of people is fear. They fear the unknown. They fear what’s going to happen to them after they die. Fear of loss, fear of pain, fear of suffering, fear of weakness, fear of deformation, fear of abandonment, and whatever other fears one may have for an afterlife.

You can assure yourself that you can’t go wrong from the explanations and the methods shown in these three links:

Religion is a Path to Hell on Earth

Tradition Supports Religion and Unhealthy Trust in Authority

Faith versus the Scientific Method

After you’ve gone through all the three links above, you might be able to increase your level of confidence and start to realize that you’re on the right track. Then again, for some people this is simply not going to be enough. You might have another common problem: you find it difficult to let go of the concept of God, because you also have beliefs born from love and attachment to it, and not just from fear and threats. This is a very powerful emotion which is difficult (but not impossible) to overcome.

I remember how I would be in tears when I thought about how Jesus, as the story goes, suffered and died for the sins of the world, including that of mine. I felt so loved and special. The least I could do for his ultimate gift of sacrifice was to be really faithful and devote my entire life to him. I studied the Bible well enough to become a Church Minister. I also believed that I had a special direct-line connection with the Holy Spirit of God. He gave me answers and guidance to many of my questions and problems through the Bible, which supposedly is the “Word of God”. I could even hear voices in my head which was God speaking to me, well, at least that was what I used to believe.

And there’s more, I can perform healing on others, I can make people drop on the floor without even touching them, I can see the future, I can make people feel that there’s a light of God in me, I can chase away Satan, demons, and other evil spirits, and perform other stuffs as well, all in the name of Christ! Cool huh? But alas, all this was nothing more than a psychological experience by the power of suggestion. I was brainwashed just like you. I was programmed to believe in some guy by name of Jesus who supposedly is the Christ and the “Word of God” made into flesh.

The fact is, I was only talking to myself and thinking for the answers to myself. There was no God, and there was nothing supernatural. It was all just suggestive illusions. I had a delusion that I was a special child of God, chosen to be saved and honored. Talk about deluded fantasies! Can anyone beat that? Unfortunately, I’m sure there are. I, like you, was also an innocent victim of the God delusion. I’m thankful I didn’t kill or hurt anybody who went against my beliefs in that period of time.

You see, writers design religious books and scriptures to manipulate the mind and emotions of others based on their own deluded fantasies. They control you while giving more advantage to the gender of the designer. They use elements catering to the emotions of all kinds of people. If fear and intimidation doesn’t get you, some other emotional or psychological element in it will. They were designed by someone who is quite skilled in the art of brainwashing, someone who is very likely to be of the male gender. This individual understands how gullible and desperate most people are, and so takes advantage of them by injecting supernatural beliefs, so to speak, in unassuming and innocent minds.

BRAINWASHED: The application of coercive techniques to change the beliefs or behavior of one or more people, usually for political or religious purposes. ~ Wikipedia

Some people might still say, “God and Jesus are all that I’ve got. Please don’t take them away from me.” The fact is, no one can “take” this away from you. Only you can. Only you can free your mind from the slave chains of religion and belief systems if you really want to. I understand that when some brainwashed minds reach a certain age, they have trouble letting go of the years of stored memories of deluded “reality”. That’s why we are here to give you all the support and help that you may need to get through it.

There are also some who might say, “It’s better to be safe than sorry.” And so, they continue to practice their fantasies. Now it has transformed from self-delusion to self-denial. Sometimes these work hand in hand.

If you really want to play it safe, then you must believe in all religions and belief systems, because there’s no way you’re going to know for sure which one is the right one. By accepting all types of faith systems, you increase your chances of winning the jackpot. Unfortunately, some religions do not allow this. You either have to choose them completely or you don’t at all. So what are you going to do now? Just have faith in the one’s that you’ve chosen, believing that it is the right one?

I hope you understand by now that all this doesn’t make any sense. And if you still insist in making sense out of nonsense, then I ask you the very same question. What if YOU are wrong?

Here’s a video excerpt from the God Delusion Questions and Answers Session where Professor Richard Dawkins answers your concerned question as well, “What If You’re Wrong?”

“A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it is a superstition.” ~ Jose Bergamin

“I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” ~ Stephen F. Roberts

Other articles related to this topic:

• Tradition supports religion and unhealthy trust in authority
• Faith versus the scientific method
• Religious revelations are religious delusions
• Religious censorship and free speech
• If you can’t prove God doesn’t exist, why not believe?