From a wheelchair-bound perspective, thank God I'm an atheist

[rug]

God didn't make the cut when I assessed my life at age 12.

September 16, 2012
Holly Warland

WHY do people turn to religion, if not to help them with their troubles? Most people believe the logical thing to do when presented with a tumultuous life-changing event is to turn to God. I feel like I bucked the trend in a major way.

When I was 12, I was diagnosed with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. The prognosis for this involves the gradual weakening of all muscles below the neck, rendering the sufferer unable to do everyday activities such as walking, lifting things and driving.

At 21, I'm in a wheelchair with limited use and strength of my arms and legs, but only time can tell how much worse it will get. When I was young, I noticed I was very clumsy and not as strong as other kids, but simply thought I just wasn't destined to be a sports star. The symptoms involved falling over a lot, running strangely, and having slower reflexes. It will come as no surprise that I was teased and bullied a lot.

I was raised in a Christian household. I was taught to believe in God, I attended youth group at church, and I genuinely believed in prayer. As you can imagine, when I was diagnosed I was shocked and upset, to say the least. The only way I knew how to cope was to pray. I remember lying in bed and asking God why He made me like this. Had I done something wrong? Was He punishing me?

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/from-a-wheelchairbound-perspective-thank-god-im-an-atheist-20120915-25zbn.html

Wow.

[sweettater]

1. Interesting to say the least

[pinto]

2. Good read. I hope she continues to find the freedom and peace she mentions in the brief article.

And I admire her stamina on a purely human and physical level, outside of the religious conflicts she's dealt with.

Thanks for passing this on.

[SarahM32]

3. It depends on how you perceive yourself, and how you perceive God.

That is an interesting perspective, being offered by a wheelchair bound person.

It's interesting to me because the original author of the message I've been promoting here at DU is a wheelchair bound paraplegic himself, and has been since 1977, when he was 36 years old.

But if you read his story (at http://messenger2.cjcmp.org/modernsonofman.html) you will see he had the benefit of knowing what God is, having witnessed or experienced it at age 30. He therefore did not blame God or think that God had caused his disease.

In fact, even though he much later read the prophecies in the book of Isaiah, predicting that the son of man would be "stricken and afflicted" for the "iniquity of his willfulness and covetousness," he understood that it was not God who "did" anything to him. He understood it was partly karma, and partly unforeseen consequences of his own actions.

At age 71 he perceives God not as an entity, and certainly as not some unseen Almighty Superman in the sky, but as the Cosmic Consciousness pervading all. That's why the last verse in his song, Just Wait and See, states:

"Well this love I feel, it will never die.
And I am no heel, if the truth makes you cry.
On an even keel, the wind will make us fly.
This is the real deal, not not pie in the sky."
.