How Religion And Faith Have Saved My Life Whether There’s a God Or Not

I often hear atheists and other people talk about how organized religion has been nothing but bad and caused countless deaths, which maybe they’re right about, but I never really hear people talk about the reasons individual faith in religion can help someone so I figured I’d share my story and express the ways in which it has helped me and even saved my life at times.

I have struggled with Bipolar Disorder for around 30 years now, it’s a brutal illness that can leave someone feeling like life is just too much and not worth the effort anymore…I have dealt with suicidal thoughts more times than I’d like to think about but there’s always been this one thought in the back of my head when I do…What if God is real? What if killing yourself really is a mortal sin? The thought that even if there’s just a 1 percent chance that I could spend eternity in damnation if I did it has kept me from doing so many times…as hard as life can be at times I think man “I could end up spending eternity even worse off than this?” and it has pulled me back from the edge over and over.

These days it’s more the thought of my son and how it would affect him that pulls me back but in all honesty I probably wouldn’t have lasted long enough to even have a son without my faith…my faith isn’t typical really, I don’t really read the Bible, I never go to church but I do believe there is this higher power and for my own sake I call it God…I think about how even if 99 percent of the Bible is wrong what if that one part about suicide being a mortal sin is right…and that has always been enough to push those thoughts out of my head.

I don’t think most people really think about it but our basic morals as human beings are all based in religious beliefs…sure a lot of us are just good people because we want to be good people but our species learned how to be good people through religious beliefs and practices…it doesn’t make everything religion preaches right but it has been the pillar on which our society was built…even if there is no higher power or “God” believing in these principles can not only make one a better person but can literally save lives and I for one think that’s worth letting myself believe in something bigger…is it really so bad to just let yourself have a little faith?