this one needed to be said.

so now i'm in the bloggin mood. and unfortunatly, i somehow got thinkin about religion and such. i was born catholic, raised christian and i still go to church. except now i realized that faith is something i never really had. ok, this is straight from my head to the keyboard, so if you're a really religious person and you like being one, just skip this blog. I'm not saying that i know the meaning of life or have all the answers or anything like that, but this is why religion just doesn't do anything for me... I've always thought: religion has been around since the begining of civilization. You know what i mean, right? i'm talking about the egyptians and aztecs and so on. Well those were all very impressive civilizations, but the're not around anymore. so obviously, their religions have also died out. throughout history, all these religions and beliefs have been dismissed as false. they were no more than ways to explain the misunderstood. (ie the stars, moon, galax, afterlife, and natural occurrences and stuff) well if people have been following religions for thousands and thousands of years; doesn't present day society sound like it's following this trend? it seems that in hindsite, everything we do for this generation will just fall into the record books as a new spot on a timeline. I guess what i'm trying to say is that the jewish, christian, muslim, and other religions are nothing new. they all have their intresting predictions that have come true, as well as their controversial moments. In school i was taught that religion was origionally a way to keep order in society. For example, 10 commandments- don't murder, cheat, steal, lie , etc.
As i think about all of this, i feel like religion is in some ways necessary, but also dangerous. Churches are good because they donate to the poor and help out the community, but i'd rather not spend any time trying to explain my thoughts to religous people ( like my parents). Religion also gives people a reason to live, and live an honest life. - But think about how may wars have been fought because of religion. think about sept 11. If nobody had religion, would the world really be more peaceful or would it just be chaos? i think religion is good for the world- -i'm just not sure i believe in anything.
For people who think like me, i don't think we really need religion. As long as you can hear what your heart is saying, your morals will help you do the right thing. - yeah, all of this is comming form a 17 year old, reckless teenage. I know that i will probably look back at this and say- what was i thinking-.
Another reason why i don't buy into the christianity thing... the whole heaven and hell deal. well i dissagree. first of all, if somebody really tries to help others and dedicate their life to bringing peace...well according to the bible: they ain't gettin in to heaven unless they were baptized, and went to church, and did a whole list of stuff. Maybe i don't know what i'm talking about, but i still don't believe in the heaven thing anyways. I think that 'heaven' sounds a lot like a fairy tale your mom would tell you to help you sleep at night. I think the truth is - when you die, guess what, you're dead. There's no comforting after-life where you can meet your loved ones. yeah, maybe the truth hurts more than we all know. *make the best of your life while you can, and try to do something that will benifit people around you and the whole human race as well. That's all the religion i need. if i'm wrong, i hope god will at least smile at the good i did before he sends me to hell. if you need a religion to tell you what's right and wrong, that's fine, and you're not hurting anyone ( maybe you're right). i just don't think that out of the thousands of religions there have been, i'll be able to pick the right one. i don't think there is a right one. maybe the're all 'the right ones'? maybe i should shut up and and stick to bloggin about my teen drama...
-steve