To BEARABLE: I could not have said it better myself. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
That is what I have realized all along.
It is kinda like in the movie "The King and I" Jodie Foster.
The myth of the times had something to do with a great white elephant that all the children believed and were frequently told would somehow save them from attack.
Turns out, there was no great white elephant, and the myth was soon dispelled when the kids went to the island and found no such thing.
Why people continue to tell folklore stories of Santa Claus, Halloween, Easter Bunnies and other foolishness to their children, I will never understand. I never told such empty hopes to my three children, instead I instilled in them a desire to seek truth and to not be swayed or tricked by the tradtions of the fathers.
When we look at religion, the Sun God Worshipers, the Greek Mythology, and others, it is amazing to me that people today, fail to see how we have all been evolving over time, and the beliefs alone are ALWAYS REPLACED with new knowledge, or in some cases, more original, different bull s-h-i-t.
I am not a God hater, nor do I desire to disprove the bible or any religion for that matter. But what I can not understand is why people so wildly hold onto these beliefs that they were taught as a kid, when common sense alone make obvious the nonsense of the engrained belief.
I remember going through school and really obvious questions being asked, i.e. why when you eat, you have to go to the bathroom shortly afterwards?
I ignorantly, but common-sensically, said, "Uh, if more comes in, then some has gotta come out!"
The answer was correct, and it seemed so ridiculous that the question would even be asked or need to be on a test. It was simply too obvious.
The same "feels" true with the whole bible thing. Like I said, "I could not have said it better myself." BEARABLE summed it up very nicely, and as for die-hard believers, I do believe there is some existentence that we know not of, after we die, but that's just it. We know not of it, and we won't know until we're dead.
Clearly, and this is the most obvious of common sense, whatever is to come of any of us, after we die, will be. In the mean time, live "your" life (the operative word here being "your") as you desire and in the way you get the most out of it, and leave others the same opportunity.
Get out of the habit of worrying about what you SHOULD DO and start getting into the habit of doing it. In time you will come to know what "works" for you.
Remember, there is a reason why there is so much INDIVIDUALITY and VARIATION on the earth. There are different races, different trees, different varieties of food, etc. etc. This variation and difference is good. In the same way, let the variety of people, sin and different approaches to living just be.
It is not your or my job to worry about changing all flowers into the same budding rose. There is wisdom in variety, and that variety will endure forever. So don't fight it. Embrace it. And really, in the end, nobody really knows anything, except that we are here, and we are having a human experience. So why not make the most of it, instead of wasting time arguing, fighting, killing and hating. Can't imagine anything more empty than to be hating and hurting another human being just because he or she plays a different song. Now, how stupid is that?