[GT40FIED]

Dude...of course I wouldn't expect a god to force your to believe in him/her/it. That's part of my point. If this god so loved you and wanted you to catch his/her/it's favor, would it not show the right way? Of course there are choices...and faith is one of them. But faith is meaningless without some evidence to back it up. What will happen to those of us who refuse to blindly follow a book written hundreds of years after it's main character's death by dozens of different people? Imagine if Whinnie The Pooh had actually lived hundreds of years ago and A.A. Milne just now decided to write about him (or her...I'm still undecided about Whinnie's sex..especially with Christopher Robbins in the picture)? Would you expect every girl and boy to believe? Forcing a choice of religion is like forcing a choice in politics...it can't be done. But if a god so loved us that he couldn't bare to have us anywhere but by it's side, why wouldn't it make sure we got there instead of filling our heads with thoughts of another eternity of torture and damnation? In catholicism there's a ritual called the last rites...my father himself received it before his death. But what if someone is not capable of repenting their sins as my father was in a semi-comatose state? He was a former priest so I'm sure he got wherever he was going intact...but what for the rest of us? If a god made us and expects us to believe, why all of the extra bullshit that comes with organized religion? If it's a test, fuck the test. I would not worship a prankster god whose favor rested on who could detect his tricks and who couldn't. Faith is achieved only for those who seek it. I for one seek proof rather than blind devotion and no god has undeniebly shown me that so far. In the event that occurs, I will attend church every day of my life. Until then, I'm not giving an inch.