Blunt opinion: Religion

A controversy over religion.  I have recently had a number of conversations regarding the topic of RELIGION.  I know, many of you are already disgusted at the fact that I'm even bringing it up.  Well, this is called BLUNT OPINIONS so I might as well be blunt.  My personal view is that I have no clue whether God actually exists and I would be willing to wager on the fact that no one, not a single person, not the smartest scientist or the most religious rabbi/priest in the entire world can actually prove that God exists OR doesn't exist.  This is what faith is based on.  The commitment to believing in something even when there is no proof.  

Personally, I like proof.  It makes me feel better knowing that someone has actually figured out why a plane flies or why the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.  To take this a step further, the absence of proof doesn't mean that something doesn't exist.  History is full of events that didn't make sense at the time but were in fact true.  The first people to realize that the world wasn't flat didn't have proof but that didn't make their observation or claim any less right.  But the inverse is also true and possibly even more important to remember.  The fact that you believe in something (no matter how much you believe in it) does not make it true.  In the end, no one knows.    

Personally, I don't believe that there is a God.  I find it hard to believe that there is something out there that is thought to be all knowing, all powerful, even "all mighty" that continually allows so much misery and pain on a daily basis.  A quick look through the newspaper will reveal the struggles people deal with on a daily basis.  Floods, disease, war, famine, rape, murder, theft, and poverty exist on almost every continent.  Doesn't all of this suffering create even a small bit of doubt in the most ardent believers?  And here's the real question that I have wanted to come to.  What is so wrong with doubting?  Isn't doubting what has enabled us to advance this far as a civilization?  Isn't it doubt that convinced the Wright brothers to try to fly.  Wasn't it doubt that convinced Christopher Columbus to try to find a new path to the Indies?  All I'm arguing is that doubting the existence of something that can not be proven isn't wrong but should be encouraged.  We might find in the end that this doubt can lead to a better result.  People come together when they are trying to solve a problem.  It takes teamwork, compromise, trial and error.  The exact opposite is the case when two parties firmly believe they are right and won't consider opening their mind to compromise or the fact that  "God forbid" they might be wrong (couldn't help myself with that one).  Just look at the Democrats and Republicans.  

Let's just consider for a second that God does in fact exist.  Lets also assume that I will be judged in front of a set of pearly white gates.  All of my life sins will be presented and compared with a much smaller list of positive life experiences. Lets just say, and I'm stretching here that only "good" people will be let into heaven while the rest will be sent to rot in a hell much worse than the ones created by movie directors and authors.  I'm talking about true pain and misery for eternity (think Event Horizon - where your worst fears haunt you).  I would hope that I am judged NOT on the fact that i believed or had faith in God but whether I actually led a positive life without creating undue harm to others.  Did I kill anyone?  NOPE.  Did i steal hundreds of thousands from poor and innocent people (a la Bernie Madoff)?  NOPE.  Was I a good friend to those that needed a friend?  Yes.  Those are the things that should matter.  Those are the things that I would like to hope this "all powerful and mighty" God will judge me on and not whether I believed or prayed to him.  So, regardless of whether I actually believe or not, I will continue to go about my life living in a positive manner.  I don't see murder in my future and with that I can rest happy knowing that if in fact i'm wrong and there is a God, everything will be just OK.