Being Agnostic

Many people do not have the slightest clue of what an "Agnostic" is. I'm here to inform you. 

Agnostic at it's most simple definition is someone who does not have a solid belief on the debate of whether God exists or not. In a more detailed definition, it means I have no idea whether he exists or not but I'm quite sure that it is impossible to verify that. Other people just call it a lack of commitment towards believing or disbelieving. I'm okay with any of those definitions. 

Being Agnostic in a Christian household isn't easy. I was forced to pray before dinner out of courtesy, I was forced to attend Church, and I was forced to say things like "thank God". My family did not understand how I could simply not believe. They thought it was a phase (if I could eliminate phase from the dictionary, I'd be the happiest woman alive). I do not pray, I do not go to Church and I most definitely do not say "thank God".

I believe in humanity. I believe that we should do good, be kind, be generous, be helpful and loving towards others because that is who we are, not because of the guarantee that we'll make it to some dreamland if we're good. I do not want a reward for doing my humanly duties. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't hate Churches or other people from different religions. I think it's quite amazing the power of the human mind, and how malleable it is. I think it's great that we can organize groups and spend time together on a certain day of a week and quite honestly, the feeling one gets while sitting at a lively Church is really overwhelming. What people do in Church is great work, really. I just don't like that it's all done for a reward at the end. Why do we need to be rewarded for being kind? For helping others? For living?

Now, let's please talk about this picture. Good grief, it's been haunting me all day. One of my friends posted it on Facebook and it's been bouncing around my head. 

In Spanish it says: "With Christ life is much more beautiful".

Let's take a moment and really reflect on this photo. I personally believe that people use religion and prayer to get out of the real grunt work of working for others and getting to the action. Example: instead of helping out a friend who needs someone to stay overnight in his hospital room, we pray that he gets better. If he gets better, we thank God because he obviously placed his hand on our friend and cured him. If he dies, we thank God because he's in a better place.

If someone gets run over by a car and manages to stay alive, we thank God and we say "what a miracle." If that same person gets run over and dies, we thank God because he's in a better place now and we pray to God that he gives his family strength to overcome the grief and see the bright side: that this person is now in heaven with God by his side. When does this stop?

The world is truly messed up. We, as the whole human kind, are capable of so many things. Good things, and bad things. Amazing things, and truly terrible things. The world is a healthy mix of both. Just because we see the good things in life, does not mean we are happy. Just because we see the crappy things in life, does not mean we are unhappy. We cannot fully stare at the good things and ignore the bad. That would be living a lie, and we cannot live a lie if we want to make a difference which should ultimately be every one's goal. We cannot let ourselves linger too long on the bad things, because we miss out on the good but we should be able to recognize the bad and do our best to change it. Life, at least as an Agnostic, is about a healthy mix of both. I do not believe I should fill every question with "God works in mysterious ways" but I also don't go around saying he doesn't exist because it is quite unbelievable that all of this came to be on it's own. I do not live my life according to some book, or some elaborate religion. I live my life according to my own principles, morals and values.