To all those who have been affected by this terrible tragedy in Orlando, my heart breaks with you.
It's hard to understand that someone in the name of a higher power and interpretation of a book commissioned by a higher power can take punishment into their own hands.
We are a bunch of hypocrites. The human race is a group of hypocrites who seek God the moment things get bad; the moment we have a problem in hopes he takes care of it. Once things are great, we forget about him. We kill others in the name of God. This is not a new chapter in history; we have been killing each other in the name of religion since the beginning of times.The Crusades; Isabella and Ferdinand established The Inquisition. The Holocaust; the 30 Years' War; the French Wars of Religion; the Armenian Genocide; 9/11 have all been mass killings in the name of religion.
I often wonder if there is really a God. I wonder if there is, indeed, a higher power because someone or something with the ability to control pain and suffering; happiness and joy wouldn't allow mass killings in "his" name. I often wonder if God is still with us and hasn't abandoned us. We hurt each other, we kill each other, we are horrible people, so why would God still be with us?
What gives someone the right to hate on homosexuals? Doesn't the Bible say we should love one another? And if homosexuality is indeed wrong, let God deal with it. God hasn't asked us to be the judges of true followers. We are supposed to love everyone and be good to everyone. We don't have any right to punish other because of what the Bible says. If someone is a bad person, they will respond for their sins at the gates of heaven. What gives us the right to tell a woman she can have an abortion or not? Does the Bible or any religious text explicitly state that women cannot have abortions? What gives someone the right to kill people because they have forgotten about God?
I have met Muslims that only pray 5 times a day during Ramadan. Yet, they claimed to do it because they want to not because they have to. Is it a coincidence that they only "want" to do it during the time Ramadan takes place? I have met Christians who think they are better than everyone else because they are more correct; because they don't say bad words or they don't drink. I have met Jews who claimed to be Jews but only practice it during the holidays. I have met Catholics who show up to mass drunk or hungover. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't all this go against religion? My point is, we don't need to belong to religious groups to be good people. We don't need to read the Bible, Quran, Torah, Shruti, or Sutras to do good. My other problem is with the people who hold the highest authority in any particular religion. I'm not an religious expert, but I know that any higher authority in any religion doesn't have a closer, more special connection with God. The Pope, Imam, Chief Rabbi, Swami, and any other religious authority are not closer to God than you and I.
Someone told me a few days ago that they believed hell was not under our feet, but instead hell is this. Hell is here. Hell is what we are living through right now. I could not disagree with that statement...
The best thing do you can do right now is hold your loved ones a little tighter today and remind them that you love them.
