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Digging through my files I found this essay that I kept.
I will not reveal the author.
Throughout the course of life, our belief system changes as a result of our experiences. Therefore, for each person, their belief system will be unique from anyone else. One belief that I have rejected is that God controls one's destiny. What this means is that our future is not predetermined and is only formed as a result of our actions and the choices that one makes. I cannot accept that something has occurred or will occur simply because God has willed it to. By accepting that argument, we allow ourselves to escape responsibility for our actions. If I were to kill someone, I could state that it was in God's will that that person should die. Any past conflict or holocaust could be attributed only to God, rather than to those who perpetrated the event. I also cannot accept the future as being predetermined. Then, our lives would mean nothing. We could not change our future in any way. Why should we desire to change ourselves, to seek our dreams, if we are assured of our future? Why would life be interesting if we could foretell every crisis, every celebration? One may argue that if God has decided our future, that everyone's life is now purposeful. Are our lives not already meaningful? Must we impose our will upon the universe in the form of an Almighty God? I believe that we must treat our lives as meaningful only to ourselves, and that we are merely cosmic dust motes within the universe as a whole.
The second belief, which I believe that I will never discard, is that there is a capacity for good things within every human being. This comes as a result of my experiences. I have seen many people do kind things for each other without any secondary motive. Even those which have hurt me or my friends, I have seen do volunteer work, among other altruistic tendencies. However, how can we define 'good' in other terms? I will define good as being beneficial to other people. Even Adolf Hitler had done good things within his life. To the Germans after the Depression and World War One, Hitler was a savior of the country. He aided Germany's recovery and brought a period of great prosperity to a German peoples who had known only strive and conflict. Perhaps we can conclude that the desire to aid others, to cooperate for the general good, is a natural tendency of the human race. This may have emerged from pre-historic times when humans needed to work together in order to survive. This is true, even now. No matter how independent one is from other people, one still relies upon others. It may be for emotional, material or labour needs, but it still constitutes a dependency. It is sad then, that people in today's market are required to compete so strenuously in order to get a job. Perhaps success would be more common if it required cooperative effort.
I will not reveal the author.
Throughout the course of life, our belief system changes as a result of our experiences. Therefore, for each person, their belief system will be unique from anyone else. One belief that I have rejected is that God controls one's destiny. What this means is that our future is not predetermined and is only formed as a result of our actions and the choices that one makes. I cannot accept that something has occurred or will occur simply because God has willed it to. By accepting that argument, we allow ourselves to escape responsibility for our actions. If I were to kill someone, I could state that it was in God's will that that person should die. Any past conflict or holocaust could be attributed only to God, rather than to those who perpetrated the event. I also cannot accept the future as being predetermined. Then, our lives would mean nothing. We could not change our future in any way. Why should we desire to change ourselves, to seek our dreams, if we are assured of our future? Why would life be interesting if we could foretell every crisis, every celebration? One may argue that if God has decided our future, that everyone's life is now purposeful. Are our lives not already meaningful? Must we impose our will upon the universe in the form of an Almighty God? I believe that we must treat our lives as meaningful only to ourselves, and that we are merely cosmic dust motes within the universe as a whole.
The second belief, which I believe that I will never discard, is that there is a capacity for good things within every human being. This comes as a result of my experiences. I have seen many people do kind things for each other without any secondary motive. Even those which have hurt me or my friends, I have seen do volunteer work, among other altruistic tendencies. However, how can we define 'good' in other terms? I will define good as being beneficial to other people. Even Adolf Hitler had done good things within his life. To the Germans after the Depression and World War One, Hitler was a savior of the country. He aided Germany's recovery and brought a period of great prosperity to a German peoples who had known only strive and conflict. Perhaps we can conclude that the desire to aid others, to cooperate for the general good, is a natural tendency of the human race. This may have emerged from pre-historic times when humans needed to work together in order to survive. This is true, even now. No matter how independent one is from other people, one still relies upon others. It may be for emotional, material or labour needs, but it still constitutes a dependency. It is sad then, that people in today's market are required to compete so strenuously in order to get a job. Perhaps success would be more common if it required cooperative effort.
), but it's cute.
If there is one thing I appreciate in religion, it's the fact that it often helps those in emotional need (although my cynical self knows full well it is not purely altruistic 
)
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