I've been thinking about why religion can be so effective, and it usually leads to the same conclusion: In the end, everybody dies, and they want to think something is there after they die. Half the time I try to be the best Christian I can be, but then instincts kick in and say 'wait a minute, this doesn't make sense!' There were plenty of times in my life I probably should have died but didn't, so I believe that there's some higher power, but Christianity in particular acts like it's a gentle, loving religion and if you read the bible it whiplashes from 'this is simply a lesson to be learned' to 'wait, no, that lesson is wrong, this is the right one.' One passage says to always obey your father and mother, yet another passage says to love God above all things. Sure, they aren't exclusive to each other, but if my parents say to disobey God, than what? 'Oh, it's an exception, God can make those.' It's either patting oneself on the back to feel better or sinning and spending your life repenting. And if you DO spend your life repenting, you don't know if you've repented enough until you die. It's why I want to be religious, somehow, but I keep stumbling. I just want to see my grandparents in Heaven, or the afterlife, but if I don't know what to believe, I don't know if I see the point in trying. When there can be definitive proof of an afterlife, I think that religion as we know it will change dramatically.