I Am a Proud Atheist

I am not an atheist because I am mad at God.
To be mad, I'd have to believe first.
Just because I am an atheist doesn't mean I'm immoral.
I just don't have your morals, or feel the need to push mine on anyone else.
I'm not an atheist because I am too lazy to go to church.
That's just one of the perks.
I will not stop being an atheist because you show me pictures of babies, flowers, and rainbows,
any more than you will stop being a believer if I show you a picture of a rabid dog, a bunch of thistles, or a massive flood that's killed thousands.
You do not need to feel sorry for me because I am an atheist.
I do not feel sorry for you for fearing God.
My life is not empty because I don't have faith.
My life is full because I have knowledge.
I do not have to prove that there is no God.
The burden of proof should lie on the one claiming something she can't see exists.

I should not believe in God, just in case...
There is a lot to lose if one puts faith in false hope.
I will not waste time waiting for heaven.
I will live my life to the fullest here and now, and try to make the world a better place.
When I say I respect your beliefs, and your right to practice them, I really mean it,
unlike some believers who will always think of people like me as doomed.
If you ask me why I do not believe in God,
I will ask you why you only believe in one god, and not all the others that could exist.
When you say there are no atheists in foxholes,
I say there are, and they're wishing that people could stop using faith as a reason to hate each other.
When you say "Only God can judge.",
I find it convienient that you and God always agree with each other.
When you use isolated Bible verses to prove your points,
I wonder why when I take isolated verses out of the Bible to prove mine, they're meaningless because they're "out of context"
When you ignore past atrocities in the name of the Bible as being the result of misinterpretation,
then I have to wonder how do you know it's not being misinterpreted now?
If you think I'll enjoy all your faith filled journal messages,
then please enjoy my message.

Happy Birthday to Me

In two more days I will be 39 years old. Thirty-nine years old! This is it, I'm reaching the pinnacle of the hill! This is my last year to fool myself into thinking I'm still young.

I really am quite young, relatively. I am much younger than many of my children's friend's parents. Guess that's something.

I don't feel like I'm pushing 40, but when I look in the mirror I am becoming less and less shocked by a line around my eye, or a gray hair poking out of my head. My husband says I don't have these, but I do.

I have devised a plan to cheat middle age, though. I have decided to live to 100, so for me middle age is still 10 years away!