In Response to Misty and Alex’s Response to My Original Post

http://bacton.blogspot.com/2010/05/benefits-of-believing-in-something.html
http://alismadia.blogspot.com/2010/05/response-to-bryans-post.html
http://themindlessadventures.blogspot.com/2010/05/greater-beings.html

As far as Alex’s response, I think that it is great, and I agree with most of the points that he makes. I agree that people generally make too big of a deal about believing in a certain God or a specific higher power. As long as someone is benefiting from believing in something greater, I do not think it really matters which God or higher power that the person believes in. This idea leads into his conclusion, which is my favorite part of his response. I think that Alex completely understood the purpose of my article, because he brings up the point that everyone should believe in something greater because it empowers him or her. Alex goes on to say that, whatever that person believes should make sense to them personally; I take this to mean the point I made earlier, that it does not matter what someone believes, as long as it works for them. In regards to Alex’s direct answer to my question, I thought it was great that he made the point that people often forget what it means to believe in something greater, and I noticed this theme in our class discussions on this topic.

It seems to me that the main issue in regards to this subject is that people get too distracted by religious principles that they do not understand my ideas about the benefits of believing in something greater. When I am talking about believing in God or something greater, I am not talking about following all of the strict principles that some religions have; people make the mistake by getting the belief in God confused with the many rules that religions teach. This goes back to my point that people need to find whatever beliefs work for them, and it is my opinion that having a belief in a higher power can be extremely beneficial. I do not think many people really ever give the belief in God a chance because they are too distracted from strict religious principles. People need to separate the belief in something greater from general religious doctrines.

I am glad Misty responded to Alex’s post because she provides an example of some general ideas about the belief in something greater that I disagree with. I do not know why other people believe in God or something greater, but I do know that I believe in God for completely different reasons from what Misty identifies; with that said, I respect Misty’s opinion, and I think she makes some great points. As I said in my first post, I believe that there are many benefits in believing in God or something greater because the belief empowers you; I think that my belief in God helps me get through the struggles in life. However, it absolutely does not distract from my process of daily living. Misty argues that people believe in something greater because they hope that it will protect them from unfortunate events. I am sure that some people do this, but this is not the point of believing in God; as I said earlier, believing in God or something greater empowers you and helps you get through the struggles of life. People should never believe in something greater in order actually reduce the number of unfortunate events.

I agree with Misty that people can do good without believing in God or something greater, but that argument does not change the point of my original blog post. I am not saying that you are a better person if you believe in God or something greater; I am saying that there are many benefits that are created from this type of belief. Sure, you will do just fine if you do not believe in God, but that is not my point; my point is that the belief in something greater can be extremely powerful in regards to making positive changes in people’s lives. I think it is perfectly fine if someone if does not want to believe in God or something greater, but there is absolutely no reason why someone should think that people believe in God because they do not want to take responsibility of their life. Believing in God or something greater is not about trying to create an excuse for life problems; it is meant to give people the faith that everything is going to be okay, even when things do not look good. The goal of my original post was to help people realize the many positives that can be made of believing in something greater; it was not to say that people have to believe in God or something greater to be a good person.

I think people with Misty’s point of view are right about the problematic nature of religion; I too feel that it is not right for people to follow a religion because they believe it will make them moral, or because it will help them go to heaven. Religions create problems because they often encourage people to follow strict moral guidelines and use fear to get people to follow them. Even though I understand that religions can be problematic, my original post is not about religion, it is about the simple idea of believing in God or something greater. I think that it is great that people with Misty’s point of view do not need God to make positive change, but I never claimed that this was what the belief in something greater should be used for. The point of my original blog post was to say that the belief in God or something greater can help give a person a greater strength than they already had. I was not trying to say that people should depend on their belief to make positive change in their life; their belief should just help them. In addition, it is important that people do not associate the belief in something greater with strict religious doctrines, because that type of association makes the belief in something greater seem problematic, even though it can be extremely beneficial.

Do you think the belief in something greater would work out better for people if they made their belief more personal (change their belief in their own personal way)?