Sunday, February 22, 2009

The need for God

Bout time i got to writing on my blog again, b/c i didnt hav the time before.

I read in my psych book a bit ago, and it mentioned the primary indicators of happiness. Lookin at my psych book right now, it said that some of the factors that do NOT predict happiness are

-money
-age
-parenthood,
-intelligence, and
-physical attractiveness.

VERY interesting. I didn't really think these would predict happiness, but i'm sure they do help. Especially after blowing my macro econ exam, i feel kinda stupid, and a bit insecure, but more on that next time.

The Moderately good predictors of happiness are
-health
-Social activity
-religion
-culture

I agree with ALL of those, although i think health less so than the others. More on culture later.

The Strong Predictors of happiness are
-Love and Marriage
-Work (wth...?)
- Personality

It seems that social activity from the moderate predictors of happiness might tie in with the "Love and Marriage", b/c that one helps lead to that. More on personality later.

Anywayz, i went to church today, and I was thinking about the need for God and religion, otherwise a moderate predictor of happiness. I always thought about it before, but church refreshed these thoughts, and i decided to write these thoughts finally in my blog.

Many people think of God as an actual being or entity- or at least most of the very religious people still do. Others think that there is no God, and therefore no need for Him. Some ppl who disown god think that they are done away with Him in their lives for good, but that's a misconception. God and faith (and love for each other) are synonymous in a way. True happiness comes from having faith and love for one another, and since God is in all of us, those athiests who claim to be "happy" are having faith and love to those close to them - in other words, they are having faith and love to God. So, God IS in their lives, whether they like it or not. Unless they're not the faithful or loving kind...but that jst means those athiests aren't rly happy.

God, for those who believe he is some sort of being (in which most of the times i do), trust that he has a plan for all, and that there's a reason for everything. In this sense He is a guiding Light. This plan of God leads to a "let it be" mentality towards those who believe, helping to ease the sins they've committed and accept the tragedies in life. Most athiests say that this act of letting all the pressures fall on God's plan, or God's shoulders, is an excuse, or reason, for Christians/Catholics to blame all their faults on. But, that's totally looking at it in a negative light. God's plan and its "let it be" attitude it induces is just another way to relieve pressures and stress (just like this blog), to make life easier, making extra room to focus on the good things in life. The "let it be" attitude puts the pressures on God, and lets us move on with our lives. Now, as a said before, God is in everyone. We ARE God. We are each other's guiding light - we have the power to relieve pressures of other ppl, to relieve their sins. Whatever which way you look at it - the guiding light as an ENtity/BEing OR the guiding light of God in each of us - that's also another concept that athiests overlook: when they take consolation in others, or lean on another person's shoulder, they're following God's guiding light (which leads to a "let it be" attitude). It's a bit confusing how im saying it, but here is the point form of what im thinking:

Since God is in everyone:
- If we have faith and love for one another, we're also having faith in God.
- If we take consolation in each other, we are taking consolation in God. Once our pressures and sins are relieved onto one another (God), we are led to a "let it be" towards life, making us happier.
- For athiests, who have faith and love and take consolation in each other, are still happy, even though they took teh name "God" out of their lives.

With last point in the summary, God - as name, symbol, or actual being - is not necessary. It just makes things easier if we believe God as an actual being, something that we can have FAITH and LOVE and CONSOLATION in. But since we're all human, we need THIS entity. We need something we can hold onto. I'm not sure if the athiests are truly happy. There are many implications im leaving out here - like how God is a TEST to prove you are truly faithful. Since God is not concrete, having to test our faith in Him first will determine our faith in other people in real life. SO, I'm not sure if the athiests are truly happy if they do not have a non-concrete being to place they're faith on, otherwise it's not real faith, meaning they're not truly happy. Like i said before, we NEED God, we need FAIth, which actually then enables us to love and console in others.

There, God is needed.

Also, with God comes a RELIGION, which is also needed. The main point (highlight) of the bible was to witness Jesus's fall and resurrection. We need this in order to see that we can RELATE to God. Plus, with that comes more consolation, in that we see our sins/sorrow isn't as bad as Christ's sufferings. In short, religion is jst extra to a solid base which is God.

I'll continue culture and personality some other time, and some self analysis of myself too.