Creation of Faith (or lack-there-of)

Religion was something that was never really reinforced in my childhood. Sure, my parents and siblings would utter such comments as "remember to say your prayers" or "god doesn't like that." Well, now at eighteen, I don't regard religion much at all. To each his own is my philosophy when it comes down to matters of belief and faith. Despite my lack of belief in divine beings and almighty gods, I did dabble in bible school in my younger years.

At eleven years old I participated in bible school for the first time. It took place in an old white wooden church minutes from my grandmother's home. I remember there were students from Florida there to teach us about the "greatness, kindness, and fairness" of god and his son. During one section of the day they took the time to discuss and read passages from the bible. The first passage read was that of god creating light, darkness, the earth, the heavens, the land and seas, and the sea dwellers and the bird, and finally, man. God wanted them and POOF! They were created, they were good, and they were here to stay (well, not so much for man...but we'll get to that later).

Another passage read was the deception of Eve by the serpent and the consequences she and her male counterpart endured due to their crime of eating from the tree of knowledge. This story intrigued me a bit mainly, well, because there was a talking snake. We learned of their banishment from the garden of eden. I remember that the teachers took joy in reminding us that this was the original sin, that disobeying god's wishes would be sure to land us an after-life of misery.

At last, we reached the destruction of man by the great floods and of Noah's wooden ark (at last!). Our teachers told stories of Noah taking two of each animal and bringing them into his ark to avoid the rains that would last for forty days and forty nights and destroy the abominable thing called man. But as Noah and his wife and a pair of all the animals remained, they could repopulate the earth (which, I assume, happened because if not, then according to any believer, we surely wouldn't be here right now).

It's pretty clear that years later I still do not believe in any such higher beings as I have not found any significant evidence or have been given reason to put my faith in trust in such. I still continue to feel as if others (and myself, when I was younger) used the thought of a savior as a security blanket to hide beneath when we were scared or under a great deal of pressure. I find that it is not by choice that I do not believe in divine power, but simply by the fact that I have been shown no proof that such exists.


In the wise words of Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) of the film Angels and Demons: "Faith is a gift I have yet to receive."