I don't know what to think anymore

[icehorse]

Tlaloc -

I'd suggest that you not spend much time worrying about a being who would punish you for using the mind he gave you.

 

[Thief]

It's time to come clean and air out some of my recent thoughts.

Over the past few months, I've been dealing with a lot of internal conflict concerning the question of what I believe. As I have mentioned a few times, I was an atheist for the past five or so years.

Around late last year, I started to become incredibly existential. I felt that my life had little purpose or meaning and I had become quite nihilistic in my overall outlook on things. Combined with little social life and a resurfacing of a childhood OCD, I was on my way to mental wreck-ville.

For wider context, I grew up in a fairly devout and practising Catholic family, so the faith was quite engrained into me during my developmental years. Nonetheless, during my late adolescence I began to question certain things; starting with Catholic morality, the justifications for faith in what can't be substantiated, to ultimately the very existence of God himself. The domino chain began to crumble. Which eventually lead me into materialism and I became yet another conceited online atheist.

However, perhaps motivated by my growing existentialism and disenchantment with the communities I was a part of, I did something unusual. I read the Gospels.

Of course, this did not make a believer out of me immediately. But it set the course for further exploration of my childhood religion. And I found a lot of things to admire, from breathtaking art to Old Roman chants, it was something to be a part of.

However, as the months of my new found faith have gone by, the old doubts have begun to re-emerge. The biggest one that I just can't seem to put aside is the arbitrary nature of my belief.

Am I interested in Catholicism because I legitimately believe it to represent the true religion? The Church of Christ himself? Or did I just succumb to the strain of indoctrination and guilt that had built up over the years? Have I actually explored other religions? What if the Muslims are correct? Then am I going to hell anyway for professing the wrong religion? How am I supposed to know what happened in Jerusalem two-thousand years ago? Or whether Muḥammad and his revelations are what they claim to be? Is avoiding eternal hellfire really contingent on being fortunate enough to happen on the right religion? How is that even remotely fair?

Not to mention the constant guilt of sin I have to live with. Get a girlfriend? Lol, you may as well sign me over to hell as doing so would make it virtually impossible to avoid mortal sin. (not that I'm free of that anyway) But neither are most Catholics for that matter. The moral hypocrisy of many of my co-religionists (even in my own family) is an open secret. My sister is off to hell for co-habitation, and my parents for my father's vasectomy after my sister's birth. But they all go to church on Sunday! Of course, my wider family is much the same. Hell, as is most of the western Catholic world. But I'm the one who seems bothered by this disconnect.

So here I am back again at a crossroad with no idea where to go. Do I just give up on it as not worth the headache? But then again, if I'm wrong going to have a very bad eternity.

Dude!.....you're not out on a limb.
It might feel that way...but no.

Your brief depiction here is altogether familiar and human.
don't sweat it.

Don't know what to think?...no problem.....don't.

When you 'feel' more up to the task, start with yourself and the more basic of questions.

Your last line indicates you expect an afterlife.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
You've never needed anything else or anything more.

(didn't read this entire thread...sorry if I broke a line of conversation)

 

[Harikrish]

It's time to come clean and air out some of my recent thoughts.

Over the past few months, I've been dealing with a lot of internal conflict concerning the question of what I believe. As I have mentioned a few times, I was an atheist for the past five or so years.

Around late last year, I started to become incredibly existential. I felt that my life had little purpose or meaning and I had become quite nihilistic in my overall outlook on things. Combined with little social life and a resurfacing of a childhood OCD, I was on my way to mental wreck-ville.

For wider context, I grew up in a fairly devout and practising Catholic family, so the faith was quite engrained into me during my developmental years. Nonetheless, during my late adolescence I began to question certain things; starting with Catholic morality, the justifications for faith in what can't be substantiated, to ultimately the very existence of God himself. The domino chain began to crumble. Which eventually lead me into materialism and I became yet another conceited online atheist.

However, perhaps motivated by my growing existentialism and disenchantment with the communities I was a part of, I did something unusual. I read the Gospels.

Of course, this did not make a believer out of me immediately. But it set the course for further exploration of my childhood religion. And I found a lot of things to admire, from breathtaking art to Old Roman chants, it was something to be a part of.

However, as the months of my new found faith have gone by, the old doubts have begun to re-emerge. The biggest one that I just can't seem to put aside is the arbitrary nature of my belief.

Am I interested in Catholicism because I legitimately believe it to represent the true religion? The Church of Christ himself? Or did I just succumb to the strain of indoctrination and guilt that had built up over the years? Have I actually explored other religions? What if the Muslims are correct? Then am I going to hell anyway for professing the wrong religion? How am I supposed to know what happened in Jerusalem two-thousand years ago? Or whether Muḥammad and his revelations are what they claim to be? Is avoiding eternal hellfire really contingent on being fortunate enough to happen on the right religion? How is that even remotely fair?

Not to mention the constant guilt of sin I have to live with. Get a girlfriend? Lol, you may as well sign me over to hell as doing so would make it virtually impossible to avoid mortal sin. (not that I'm free of that anyway) But neither are most Catholics for that matter. The moral hypocrisy of many of my co-religionists (even in my own family) is an open secret. My sister is off to hell for co-habitation, and my parents for my father's vasectomy after my sister's birth. But they all go to church on Sunday! Of course, my wider family is much the same. Hell, as is most of the western Catholic world. But I'm the one who seems bothered by this disconnect.

So here I am back again at a crossroad with no idea where to go. Do I just give up on it as not worth the headache? But then again, if I'm wrong going to have a very bad eternity.

I think you are going through a period of low self esteem. Everyone around you appears to be functioning or having fun in areas that you feel empty. Try setting small goals that are achievable instead of looking for some extreme makeover. With every small success you will find things are never as bad as they seem.

Turning to religion is a solution if you are overwhelmed by addictions, problems that require enormous energy to overcome and you feel too drained to try. Religion helps your share your burden with others as you open your eyes to their burdens. You will find comfort in sharing your humanity.

As a Vedantist I would suggest you try meditating. Focus on simple breathing exercises and connect with your existence. It is your existence that provides meaning and with life you exist. Meditation will help you find that unity in consciousness so you can transcend your immediate hollow existence.

 

[Shad]

So here I am back again at a crossroad with no idea where to go. Do I just give up on it as not worth the headache? But then again, if I'm wrong going to have a very bad eternity.

There are thousands of Gods and religions which could be right. If you want to hedge your bets become a deist. If you think God(s) is reasonable live a good life regardless of faith. If God(s) is not reasonable God is not worth the effort.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Caligula]

The afterlife (if there is one) is an unknown until we're dead.

This leads me to a question I always ask religious persons but I receive unsatisfactory answers: " How do you know you're not already dead?"

Premise 1: there is an aferlife
Premise 2: naturalism is short-handed; you have to look above that

 

[Erebus]

" How do you know you're not already dead?"

Ultimately I don't. I may have reincarnated, I could be in some form of groundhog day cycle and a number of other scenarios.

As it stands though I choose to accept that there is a physical world around me and that the people I speak to aren't philosophical zombies. The reason I do this is because I don't find solipsism to be useful. I'm also happy to accept that I qualify for the biological definition of life at this moment in time. Again I feel that this definition is a useful one.

Therefore while I'll accept the possibility that I may have had some form of past life, I see no compelling reason to consider myself currently dead.

 

[Caligula]

As it stands though I choose to accept that there is a physical world around me and that the people I speak to aren't philosophical zombies. The reason I do this is because I don't find solipsism to be useful.

The question I posed can easily receive an answer from a non-beliver. For that, you MUST discard premise no. 2. You just did that in the quote.
I personally find both the question and answer to be irrelevant (or, like you said, not useful) I may be a philosophical zombie and live in an abstract "universe" but that is irrelevant. It doesn't change my behaviour, morals or the way I perceive nature. To put it simple: any imaginable answer to such a question would collide with none of my beliefs.

...This is not the case with religious persons that have a personal relationship with deities and have a clear, but usualy unkown, reason for their existance.

 

[Erebus]

The question I posed can easily receive an answer from a non-beliver. For that, you MUST discard premise no. 2. You just did that in the quote.
I personally find both the question and answer to be irrelevant (or, like you said, not useful) I may be a philosophical zombie and live in an abstract "universe" but that is irrelevant. It doesn't change my behaviour, morals or the way I perceive nature. To put it simple: any imaginable answer to such a question would collide with none of my beliefs.

...This is not the case with religious persons that have a personal relationship with deities and have a clear, but usualy unkown, reason for their existance.

Well it looks like we both agree on the question and the answer being irrelevant/useless for pretty similar reasons.

I think you may have gotten confused about one thing though; I am both religious and a theist.

 

[Caligula]

Well it looks like we both agree on the question and the answer being irrelevant/useless for pretty similar reasons.

I think you may have gotten confused about one thing though; I am both religious and a theist.

You're right: this is a bit confusing .
As I said, I can safely assume that I am already dead or that I'm abstract - a complex super-computer software (doesn't matter). Can you assume the same and be both religious and a theist? Not a deist at least (it wouldn't change things but sounds a bit more resonable)? The theist/religious/deist proposition seems to me to be just one/two/three answers from an infinite possibilities.
The question is rendered useless for me not only because an answer doesn't alter my perceptions about what I decided to perceive as real, but also because right now there is an infinite number of answers, each with (almost) the same degree/percentage of possibility (~0).
Of course it is a bit confusing to hear someone say anything is possible (infinite possibilities), but only god is possible. Don't want to sound rude but it's a nonsense in my book.

Just out of curiosity: do you find the question "why am I/are we here?" irrelevant also? If not, can you explain why these should not be considered double standards?

Thank you!

 

[Erebus]

You're right: this is a bit confusing .
As I said, I can safely assume that I am already dead or that I'm abstract - a complex super-computer software (doesn't matter). Can you assume the same and be both religious and a theist? Not a deist at least (it wouldn't change things but sounds a bit more resonable)? The theist/religious/deist proposition seems to me to be just one/two/three answers from an infinite possibilities.
The question is rendered useless for me not only because an answer doesn't alter my perceptions about what I decided to perceive as real, but also because right now there is an infinite number of answers, each with (almost) the same degree/percentage of possibility (~0).
Of course it is a bit confusing to hear someone say anything is possible (infinite possibilities), but only god is possible. Don't want to sound rude but it's a nonsense in my book.

Just out of curiosity: do you find the question "why am I/are we here?" irrelevant also? If not, can you explain why these should not be considered double standards?

Thank you!

Some of these questions could be interesting for another thread actually. I'll give a brief response here, but I don't want to derail this thread too much

Firstly I'm a Polytheist which eliminates some of the more common issues a single omnimax deity creates. Secondly I'm an agnostic Theist, that is to say while I believe in deities I hold that their existence (or lack thereof) can't truly be known. This then leads on to my more pragmatic side, if the existence of deities can't be known then whether or not we believe in them comes down to personal preference and predisposition. I see value in the concept of deities which leads me to feel that (at least for myself) it's better to believe in them while maintaining a healthy element of doubt than to discard them entirely.

As to the question, "why am I/are we here?" I think it's worthy of consideration, but I feel that it's misguided to approach it from an objective perspective. Going back to pragmatism I would change "why am I here?" to "what do I want to do with my life?" since to me it's better to try and determine the meaning of life on a subjective, person by person basis. Hope that makes sense?

 

[Nada]

It's time to come clean and air out some of my recent thoughts.

Over the past few months, I've been dealing with a lot of internal conflict concerning the question of what I believe. As I have mentioned a few times, I was an atheist for the past five or so years.

Around late last year, I started to become incredibly existential. I felt that my life had little purpose or meaning and I had become quite nihilistic in my overall outlook on things. Combined with little social life and a resurfacing of a childhood OCD, I was on my way to mental wreck-ville.

For wider context, I grew up in a fairly devout and practising Catholic family, so the faith was quite engrained into me during my developmental years. Nonetheless, during my late adolescence I began to question certain things; starting with Catholic morality, the justifications for faith in what can't be substantiated, to ultimately the very existence of God himself. The domino chain began to crumble. Which eventually lead me into materialism and I became yet another conceited online atheist.

However, perhaps motivated by my growing existentialism and disenchantment with the communities I was a part of, I did something unusual. I read the Gospels.

Of course, this did not make a believer out of me immediately. But it set the course for further exploration of my childhood religion. And I found a lot of things to admire, from breathtaking art to Old Roman chants, it was something to be a part of.

However, as the months of my new found faith have gone by, the old doubts have begun to re-emerge. The biggest one that I just can't seem to put aside is the arbitrary nature of my belief.

Am I interested in Catholicism because I legitimately believe it to represent the true religion? The Church of Christ himself? Or did I just succumb to the strain of indoctrination and guilt that had built up over the years? Have I actually explored other religions? What if the Muslims are correct? Then am I going to hell anyway for professing the wrong religion? How am I supposed to know what happened in Jerusalem two-thousand years ago? Or whether Muḥammad and his revelations are what they claim to be? Is avoiding eternal hellfire really contingent on being fortunate enough to happen on the right religion? How is that even remotely fair?

Not to mention the constant guilt of sin I have to live with. Get a girlfriend? Lol, you may as well sign me over to hell as doing so would make it virtually impossible to avoid mortal sin. (not that I'm free of that anyway) But neither are most Catholics for that matter. The moral hypocrisy of many of my co-religionists (even in my own family) is an open secret. My sister is off to hell for co-habitation, and my parents for my father's vasectomy after my sister's birth. But they all go to church on Sunday! Of course, my wider family is much the same. Hell, as is most of the western Catholic world. But I'm the one who seems bothered by this disconnect.

So here I am back again at a crossroad with no idea where to go. Do I just give up on it as not worth the headache? But then again, if I'm wrong going to have a very bad eternity.

Hey whats up Tialoc.I can see from your post that you are searching.Thats a great thing That means your heart has been touched.This does not happen for everyone.If you pray and earnestly seek God,He will answer.Let me comfort you real quick by telling you that Hell is not what you and others think it is.I can see that you are concerned with this so I will explain some things about what hell really is.

To most Hell is a place of fire and torment where sinners spend eternity.This is a false doctrine.God does not torture people for all eternity in a place of fire.If we read the holy scriptures we can see just how God feels about this practice.

Jeremiah 7:31 They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire--something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.


Jeremiah 19:5 They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal--something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.

So from these two scriptures we can clearly see that God does not think that way or command such things.God is love and does not want to torture us forever.

When Adam and Eve were condemned to death they did not go to a place of fire and torment.God said they would return to the ground from where they came.

Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

What most people think hell is actually the grave.In Hebrew it is called Sheol.In Greek it is referred to as Hades.This is the underworld where the dead sleep.It all means the grave.Throughout history man has changed and mistranslated the holy scriptures.Thats why there is so much confusion.Sometimes it's done purposely to fit the beliefs of certain religions.

When we die,we return to the ground.The wage for sin is death.We will be resurrected.If we have committed an unforgivable sin,then we will not be resurrected.The only unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the holy spirit.Just like the Pharisees that said it was the power of the devil that Jesus was using to perform his miracles.This punishment is what is referred to as eternal damnation,which really means eternal separation from your God and creator.No eternal life.total damnation.Those who do as God commands will have the gift of eternal life.Those who do not will suffer eternal damnation,no eternal life.

Now when we read in the book of Revelation about the eternal lake of fire,many assume that this is a literal place of fire called hell.Not true.It represents eternal destruction.What happens when something is consumed by fire? It is totally destroyed right? Thats what the eternal lake of fire is.A symbolic place.Total destruction.

In places like Matthew 5:22 Jesus speaks of this ,but the translation reads like this in most bibles.
Matthew 5:22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, 'Raca,' is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

From studying we already know that Jesus does not mean a literal place of fire called hell.Jesus is speaking of eternal destruction.

The OT was written in Hebrew and Aramaic.The NT was written in all Koine Greek.So if we go to the Emphatic Diaglott,which is a Greek translation of the NT, and read what it really says,it is rendered like this.

Matthew 5:22 But I say to you,that everyone being angry with his brother, shall be amenable to the judges:and who ever shall say to his brother Fool! will be subject to the High council;but whoever shall say,Apostate wretch! will be obnoxious to the burning of GEHENNA.


You can see it at this link

https://archive.org/stream/emphaticdiaglott00wils#page/n29/mode/2up

Gehenna is what Jesus really said.This is a symbolic place of total destruction.

In biblical times there was a place called the Valley of Hinnom.This is the place spoken of in the scripture I showed you in Jeremiah 7:31.Some used this place to sacrifice people.Jews used this place to burn unclean things and carcasses.There was a continual fire there to burn the unclean things and the bones of carcasses.So the judgment of the wicked ones is called parabolically Gehinnom.Jesus referred to total destruction with fire as Gehenna.This is all symbolic and not a literal place of fire and torment.

 

[Caligula]

Some of these questions could be interesting for another thread actually. I'll give a brief response here, but I don't want to derail this thread too much

Firstly I'm a Polytheist which eliminates some of the more common issues a single omnimax deity creates. Secondly I'm an agnostic Theist, that is to say while I believe in deities I hold that their existence (or lack thereof) can't truly be known. This then leads on to my more pragmatic side, if the existence of deities can't be known then whether or not we believe in them comes down to personal preference and predisposition. I see value in the concept of deities which leads me to feel that (at least for myself) it's better to believe in them while maintaining a healthy element of doubt than to discard them entirely.

As to the question, "why am I/are we here?" I think it's worthy of consideration, but I feel that it's misguided to approach it from an objective perspective. Going back to pragmatism I would change "why am I here?" to "what do I want to do with my life?" since to me it's better to try and determine the meaning of life on a subjective, person by person basis. Hope that makes sense?

Very interesting read. There is a particular sentence there that I would have liked to know more about but I'm leaving it for another time. Also, it may sound impolite if I act like at an interogatory .

The last part of your post makes perfect sense for me, as we share the same view.

 

[Sonofason]

It's time to come clean and air out some of my recent thoughts.

Over the past few months, I've been dealing with a lot of internal conflict concerning the question of what I believe. As I have mentioned a few times, I was an atheist for the past five or so years.

Around late last year, I started to become incredibly existential. I felt that my life had little purpose or meaning and I had become quite nihilistic in my overall outlook on things. Combined with little social life and a resurfacing of a childhood OCD, I was on my way to mental wreck-ville.

For wider context, I grew up in a fairly devout and practising Catholic family, so the faith was quite engrained into me during my developmental years. Nonetheless, during my late adolescence I began to question certain things; starting with Catholic morality, the justifications for faith in what can't be substantiated, to ultimately the very existence of God himself. The domino chain began to crumble. Which eventually lead me into materialism and I became yet another conceited online atheist.

However, perhaps motivated by my growing existentialism and disenchantment with the communities I was a part of, I did something unusual. I read the Gospels.

Of course, this did not make a believer out of me immediately. But it set the course for further exploration of my childhood religion. And I found a lot of things to admire, from breathtaking art to Old Roman chants, it was something to be a part of.

However, as the months of my new found faith have gone by, the old doubts have begun to re-emerge. The biggest one that I just can't seem to put aside is the arbitrary nature of my belief.

Am I interested in Catholicism because I legitimately believe it to represent the true religion? The Church of Christ himself? Or did I just succumb to the strain of indoctrination and guilt that had built up over the years? Have I actually explored other religions? What if the Muslims are correct? Then am I going to hell anyway for professing the wrong religion? How am I supposed to know what happened in Jerusalem two-thousand years ago? Or whether Muḥammad and his revelations are what they claim to be? Is avoiding eternal hellfire really contingent on being fortunate enough to happen on the right religion? How is that even remotely fair?

Not to mention the constant guilt of sin I have to live with. Get a girlfriend? Lol, you may as well sign me over to hell as doing so would make it virtually impossible to avoid mortal sin. (not that I'm free of that anyway) But neither are most Catholics for that matter. The moral hypocrisy of many of my co-religionists (even in my own family) is an open secret. My sister is off to hell for co-habitation, and my parents for my father's vasectomy after my sister's birth. But they all go to church on Sunday! Of course, my wider family is much the same. Hell, as is most of the western Catholic world. But I'm the one who seems bothered by this disconnect.

So here I am back again at a crossroad with no idea where to go. Do I just give up on it as not worth the headache? But then again, if I'm wrong going to have a very bad eternity.

When I was about 16 years of age, I had a piano teacher who was a Christian. We often took time from my lessons to discuss the God of the Bible. He was, in my opinion a good man. I trusted Him. He told me that if I honestly sought for God, I would find Him, and he told me to read the scriptures and learn all that I could about God. So I did.

And like you I felt a connection to the Bible. As I read it, it felt true to me, and I began to believe in what I was reading. Eventually, I found myself on my knees in tears and in God's presence.

When you see and understand God's love and perfection, and you examine your life in view of His love and perfection, one of two things will occur. You will either reject Him due to the uncomfortable emotions you begin to experience, or those emotions will provoke repentance and a strong desire for God's forgiveness.

At this point, as well at every point along the way and thereafter, it's time to pray. If God sees that you are sincere, He will make His presence known to you, and you will experience His love.

While I don't experience God's presence at all times, I experience His presence often. With great certainty, I can say that God exists, and I know He loves me. If you are truly seeking God then I suggest talking to Him, not just a little, but all the time, whenever possible. God desires a relationship with us, and the only way we can have that is by acknowledging His presence and talking to Him. Sometimes it's confessing our sins, sometimes it's recognizing and thanking Him for things He has done, and sometimes it's just praising His name.

Don't just read the Bible. Read other literary works of Christians, such as "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis, or "Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life" by William Law. There are many to choose from. Who better to learn about God than those who abide in Him. Avoid listening to those who do not believe in God, because they know absolutely nothing at all about God. They can only drag you down along with themselves. Think for yourself, and reason. God is reasonable.

 

[BSM1]

It's time to come clean and air out some of my recent thoughts.

Over the past few months, I've been dealing with a lot of internal conflict concerning the question of what I believe. As I have mentioned a few times, I was an atheist for the past five or so years.

Around late last year, I started to become incredibly existential. I felt that my life had little purpose or meaning and I had become quite nihilistic in my overall outlook on things. Combined with little social life and a resurfacing of a childhood OCD, I was on my way to mental wreck-ville.

For wider context, I grew up in a fairly devout and practising Catholic family, so the faith was quite engrained into me during my developmental years. Nonetheless, during my late adolescence I began to question certain things; starting with Catholic morality, the justifications for faith in what can't be substantiated, to ultimately the very existence of God himself. The domino chain began to crumble. Which eventually lead me into materialism and I became yet another conceited online atheist.

However, perhaps motivated by my growing existentialism and disenchantment with the communities I was a part of, I did something unusual. I read the Gospels.

Of course, this did not make a believer out of me immediately. But it set the course for further exploration of my childhood religion. And I found a lot of things to admire, from breathtaking art to Old Roman chants, it was something to be a part of.

However, as the months of my new found faith have gone by, the old doubts have begun to re-emerge. The biggest one that I just can't seem to put aside is the arbitrary nature of my belief.

Am I interested in Catholicism because I legitimately believe it to represent the true religion? The Church of Christ himself? Or did I just succumb to the strain of indoctrination and guilt that had built up over the years? Have I actually explored other religions? What if the Muslims are correct? Then am I going to hell anyway for professing the wrong religion? How am I supposed to know what happened in Jerusalem two-thousand years ago? Or whether Muḥammad and his revelations are what they claim to be? Is avoiding eternal hellfire really contingent on being fortunate enough to happen on the right religion? How is that even remotely fair?

Not to mention the constant guilt of sin I have to live with. Get a girlfriend? Lol, you may as well sign me over to hell as doing so would make it virtually impossible to avoid mortal sin. (not that I'm free of that anyway) But neither are most Catholics for that matter. The moral hypocrisy of many of my co-religionists (even in my own family) is an open secret. My sister is off to hell for co-habitation, and my parents for my father's vasectomy after my sister's birth. But they all go to church on Sunday! Of course, my wider family is much the same. Hell, as is most of the western Catholic world. But I'm the one who seems bothered by this disconnect.

So here I am back again at a crossroad with no idea where to go. Do I just give up on it as not worth the headache? But then again, if I'm wrong going to have a very bad eternity.

We all have to find our own truth, and that truth is screamed at you by your inner voice. Do not be afraid to listen to it. Although the trappings of religions my seem beautiful and enticing the are just the manifestations of the truth of others. These conceits may or may not fit your truth. If so, embrace them. If not respectfully acknowledge them and move on.

 

[Tiapan]

Mors sceptra ligonibus aequat.
Death makes equal sceptres and mattocks.
(In other words, kings, with their scepters, and farmers, with their mattocks, are equal in death.)

There is no Heaven or Hell after death they are in fact the here and now of our existence.

Make the best of it, row with oars you have and try to leave the world a better place than when you arrived.

Cheers