The Starting Line

 

We all know the stories of parents refusing medical treatment or vaccines for their children in favor of prayer.  We all know the all too common result of such delusional decisions.  I’m sure we can all list numerous instances in history where a religious belief directly resulted in vast loss of human life.  Those examples are easy ones when referring to the dangers of religious belief. 

Here’s a statement that you may or may not have thought about as being dangerous:

 “I’m going to leave it in god’s hands”

I’m referring to that statement as it pertains to the day to day struggles each and every one of us face.  That may not sound as dangerous as the examples I gave at the beginning but hold that thought.

Suppose a family is going through some financial trouble.  Money is so tight that it’s a complete struggle just to put food on the table and that balance in the bank is smaller each and every month.  What do you suppose would happen if one of the adults said “I’m going to leave it in god’s hands” and simply did nothing else to better their situation?

Take a couple having relationship troubles.  They have arguments and fights constantly.  Zero communication with one another.  What do you think would happen if one or both of them just said “I’m going to leave it in god’s hands” and did nothing else to better their relationship? Do you think it would last?

A student didn’t study for a test at school and on the day of the exam stared at the test and said confidently “I’m going to leave it in god’s hands” and began marking answers.  Do you think he or she would pass?

There’s a seemingly endless amount of examples of what if scenarios but I chose the above because these are examples I’ve witnessed first hand.  The family pretty much went broke, the couple split up, and the student failed the test. 

But Zombie, although these are bad things what makes these things fall into the category of dangerous?

Here’s the dangerous part.  What if the opposite had happened?  What if the family suddenly came into some money without working for it?  The couple stayed together?  The student passed the test? Although unlikely, these things could have happened.  The dangerous part is that now the person with the already strong religious beliefs is now convinced this way of thinking is an acceptable substitute for the hard work required in the above scenarios.  And what can this way of thinking lead to?  See the first paragraph of this post.  The examples in the first paragraph aren’t where the danger started.  That’s the horrible result of a religious belief that had much simpler beginnings. Possibly with something as small as passing a test on faith alone……

-Zombie