My Journey to Free Thought : Continued

If the God I worshipped in the bible is the one true God would he destroy non-christians in hell simply because they worshipped him wrongly?

With an honest aim of understanding the nature of God and his wonder displayed in nature, I had set out on a quest for 'truth'. As a very inquisitive person, a sound background in scientific methods further fueled my already curious and inquisitive nature beyond normal.

As a kid, I asked several questions;
"Since God created everything that exist, what if God never existed, and hence nothing whatsoever exists? I often tried to picture a dark and void space remaining that way for all of eternity!! Whenever I did, I got lost in my wild imaginations"
"How did God come to be? Who created him?"
"What if God never created life? How would the earth be then? I often repeated same imaginations again but this time with planets, asteroids and other heavenly bodies. Of course I got lost again, severally"
"What if I was never born? So I would never have experienced the beauty of life? Scary!"
"Why did Lucifer ruin the Paradise? For Christ sakes we all would have been there now. Why didn't God even kill Lucifer at once earlier to prevent it? He knew the future!"

I grew up into a devote Christian with different questions;
"With the so many religions on earth could we possibly be worshipping the same God in different ways?"
"If the God I worship in the bible is the one true God and creator of the universe, would he destroy non-christians in hell simply because they worshipped him wrongly?"
"Would God really condemn a devote Christian to hell after years of righteous living simply because he erred one time and dies without repentance? Would he now allow a person who has done heinous things into paradise simply because he finally accepts the salvation story in the end?".

I had many more questions that bothered my mind but I'd stop there (perhaps to be mentioned in comments and in subsequent posts).

These questions didn't matter so much as I still upheld the Bible as truth and lived by its doctrines. On a second thought they must have sown the seed of doubt in my mind; a seed that came to germinate later on.
A lot of things happened during my undergraduate study that shook my belief but for the sake of brevity, I'd mention a few..
I held the opinion that "compared to clerics, scientists better understood the awesomeness and magnificence of God". Come to think of it this way, with every scientific discovery, scientists reveal God's wonder in nature while clerics keep 'recycling' doctrines written in our ancient Holy Bible. The beautiful works of God in nature were unreconcilable with the barbarisms attributed to him in the bible. When some Bible claims corroborate with scientific findings we're good, but when 'outrageous' claims are found in the Bible, we are convinced that they're metaphorical with deeper meaning.

Gradually, it became obvious that science had more credence compared to religion. My religiosity reduced drastically as well as my total trust in the bible as ultimate truth. Not sure anymore, I wondered if there's a creator (God) or not. I mean, 'the Bible must have so poorly described God' I thought.

Aside from bible, I sought knowledge of God from various books on religion, spirituality and nature. I read the Qur'an and it bored me. I came across "Earth's Chronicles, The 12th Planet, and other controversial books by Zecharia Sitchin. They were indeed controversial, and I asked myself 'how did he know all those things?' The works of Thomas Paine is worthy of mention. I agreed with him largely, especially his 'Age of Reason'. I discussed my thoughts with another 'thinker' (I choose not to mention his name) and he introduced me to the 'Sumerian Texts', the 'Epic of Gilgamesh' among other amazing books. Wow! What have I been doing. They shared similarities with the Bible so I couldn't help but wonder and ask more questions. 'Did I believe in a big lie all these while?'

...Gradually, I had stopped going to my church as frequently as before. They had nothing new to teach me. I also began to form my opinions using empathy, rational enquiry, logic and reason rather than religious dogma. I dropped all my superstitions in favour of evidence about the natural world and things in it.

holding a belief when there's no evidence isn't necessary

I sought to understand the cause of things rather than stare at them in awe and ascribe them to unseen forces. I accepted reality, made informed decisions about my life and took responsibility for outcome of these decisions.
I suddenly developed this 'strange' love for all of humanity irrespective of religion, culture and race, as much, I try to make it enjoyable for everyone around me. Afterall, what's the point in hoping for a blissful afterlife while living a miserable life. I never felt so happy with so much satisfaction. Unfortunately, I tend to disagree severally with religious people on some issues, especially family. It's quite disheartening that they perceive me as 'bad' & 'lost'.

Though the atheists make such sarcastic arguments, their points are valid most of the time, while many Christians know so little about religion. We'll, If He is there, he'd understand my reasons for doubting the Bible account of him. He should be a just judge.

Luxx

Thanks for reading. Please drop a comment and share your thoughts.

Previously posted by me in nairaland.com as 'akdegreat'

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