The Best Way to Know God
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The best way to know God is to learn about him through religion. Though there is much room for skepticism, religion is one of the oldest practices for a reason. People need to believe that there is more to life than simply working towards death. It seems to me that it doesn’t hurt to believe, but it certainly hurts not to. To delve into this notion further, I will use my own religion as an example. In Catholicism, we believe that those who have an understanding of God and devote their life to living in his image will be rewarded with everlasting happiness in Heaven. Though it is sometimes hard to make the right decision, it seems fairly easy to me to live a good life. Those who reject religion and refuse to get to know God in their life, in my own opinion, are rejecting him because they want to do bad things and not feel guilty about it. I am not by any means saying that I am a saint (that’s where God’s forgiveness comes in), but I am comforted by the fact that I believe that there is a God and that I will one day find out what the “secret of life” is.
If God shares the world with us, we will no longer be left in wonder of his presence. If God is as almighty as the books say that he is, I think that the world would definitely be a better place because people would be extra careful of their actions, words, and thoughts. Since the mystery would be gone, everyone would have to believe that God exists. I believe that poverty would cease to exist because more people would be generous in the presence of God. On the other hand, if God is not as powerful as we make him out to be, there is a possibility of people completely rejecting him which may cause our world to cease to exist. People have built up an image of God that has left us with expectations of his glory, and would be angered and disappointed if their beliefs were shattered.
An afterlife is a concept that everyone views differently. To sit and dwell on it, I am often left perplexed. I’d like to believe in the idea of Buddhism’s afterlife — that we are born again and die in a continuous cycle. I’d also like to believe that there is a magical place called Heaven, where everyone is happy all of the time. To think about the idea of an infinite life is enough to drive anyone insane. What would one do? Who would you see? Where would you be? Supposedly, in heaven there is no time, no boredom, no work, no play, just a feeling of pure happiness. To believe in an afterlife, one obviously has a belief in some ultimate being who controls our afterlife. As I stated before, it does you no harm to believe in going to a better place when you die, but to not believe, leaves you with no hope and a fear of dying.
Since there are millions of questions left unknown about our afterlife, one cannot possibly be skeptical of another’s beliefs. If I believe in Heaven and Hell, who’s to say I am wrong? If another person believes that they will come back as a bird, I am certainly not going to judge them for their beliefs. For centuries and centuries, wars have been fought over religious opinions, and where has it gotten us? The concept of an afterlife is an excellent goal to work