I would like to share a bit of my story:
I grew up in a good christian home where the whole Jesus spiel was spoon-fed as if it were bran cereal. Going to a private christian school didn't help my critical think one bit. After finishing Highschool, I went off to a fairly conservative evangelical christian college, where I studied theology. All this time I was as convinced as could be (and for good reason since it been repeated to since my childhood) that the only way to do good was in the "name of Jesus", deeds which seemed to good were in fact totally to contrary. If a deed was not done in the name of Jesus, it automatically had to be for selfish own-interest-seeking reasons.
After I graduated with a degree in theology, I already had a job lined up with a religious (though not conservative all) non-profit that works with international development and disaster relief. I went oversees, Colombia to be exact, though the NGO doesn't do any religious work- strictly material aid, I went for the sole purpose of leading souls to christ and along with the material aid that I would be providing. I was 100% convinced that I was doing all this in the name of christ and that only HE allowed me to wake up every morning and do his work. I literally swore my life to my then lord and savior.
After one year of working in the floodplains of Colombia, I fairly suddenly lost all my faith in any and all deities. This was certaintly the worst thing that could ever happen to someone who was doing everything for the sake of an invisible deity, or so I thought. Everything I had held dear shattered to a million pieces, certainly I could not go on doing the work I was doing! Wrong! I found out very quickly that I now had a much better and and more logical reason for doing what I was doing. I could now truely help humanity for humanities sake, I found that I didn't need more motivation than that.
Three and a half years after I started, I still work for the same NGO. My work is not religious in any sense, and I truly enjoy it. Many of my co-workers are fairly religious, and I have noticed that one can do good as a religious person, but it is so much easier and more meaningful, to do good simply for goodness' sake.
Thank you for the work you do with the website and newsletter
- Leonel Elias
