Why Are We Afraid In What We Believe?

I just got back from my weekly Youth Group meeting (where once again, Youth Band rocked the house), and I got to thinking, why are people so afraid to proclaim their religion? Shouldn't we be proud of what we believe? If we are proud, why do we constantly try to hide or diminish it?


I think that honestly, people are afraid of what other people think. You're probably thinking "well duh, THAT answer didn't require much thought", but bear with me here, I'll go into more detail on why I said this. People today, no matter where you live, or what religion you believe in, treasure other people's opinions of them more so then they care about what they believe. But in doing this, they are being hypocrites for the simple fact that if you don't believe in what you say you believe in, just because of what other people believe, then why DO you believe in the first place?


In order to believe something, you have to show that you believe. And again, I know what you're probably thinking "Well I don't want to be shoving my religion and beliefs down my friend's throats!", but that's not what I mean. What I mean is that you shouldn't hide it when people come looking for it. You should open up to them and say what you TRULY believe in.


As a Catholic, I TRULY, ABSOLUTELY believe that there IS a God, and that he loves us and wants us all to spend eternity with Him when we die. I believe that He sent His only son, Jesus Christ, to walk among us on Earth, and give us the skills we need to reach the eternal happiness of Heaven (not to mention he actually opened Heaven's gates in the first place). I believe in much more then that as well, but just because I believe it, doesn't mean YOU have to. The reason why I said what I believe the way I did was because I don't want to come across like I'm forcing anyone to believe anything, because it's not my place to do so.


So take some time, figure out what you believe. Maybe what you ACTUALLY believe isn't at all what you THOUGHT you believed. Maybe you don't really know what to believe, and if that's the case, don't feel discouraged, because I felt this same way for the longest time. Then I got to talking to other people about why they believed in the things they believed in, and I chose for myself what to believe.


If you take anything away from this blog entry, anything at all, remember this: you are the key to your own destiny. Only believe what YOU believe, and you will be infinitely happier and more willing to profess your beliefs, which hey, that's what believing is all about, right?


~Alex S.