Of course people need to be inspired, have you ever heard of motivation? You cannot possibly tell me you have been the best you could be since the moment you were born, no, you learned and you grew and you explored and discovered and decided what you wanted to be AFTER X number of experiences and lessons. This is just one of HIS experiences and lessons, and the fact you feel the need to belittle someone for that is TRULY depressing

After my druggie father spent the first 10 years of my life beating the hsit out of me and my mom, i have 0 tolerance for people that make other peoples lives hard. That includes most christian/Catholics. I dont think i belittled you in any way... If you are sensitive on the subject, Im sorry and id advise you not to talk about it on the internet. Not trying to better yourself and the people around you, is the same as giving up will to live. It doesnt really matter how you go about this... for you, believing in god is the way, i just hope that you take from that all the good, and stay away from the bad that comes with the crowd. Christian dark ages come to mind alot.

I don't want to draw any false conclusions here, but could your father's actions be, in part, the very thing that inspired you to act better? Imagine you had a father who didn't do those things. Could his goodness also inspire you to be good? I think that that's what the captain was referring to in any case, that we all learn from our own experiences because those are the only one's we have.

My intent was to say that following my beliefs has made me a better person than if I had decided not to follow them. I am still trying to be better, and for many reasons, but it would really take too long to explain them all.

That's nice, I didn't ask for a sob story, and nearly everyone has one (and that's fine, as I myself cannot stand a weakling, and I'm proud of you for stansing up for yourself). I have no love for christains of any branch, but at the same time it's really only in bible-belt like areas that you really get the "christian or die" attitude, elsewhere they can be rather nice and generous, if not dense. You didn't belittle me in any way, I totally understand (given religions history) why so many people find it disgusting. Indeed, I totally agree, just living is not victory nor is just death defeat; you have to be the best in whatever you do, or else it's simply a waste. Indeed, I try to take away as much good as I can in any situation, focusing on the negatives only digs you deeper into a hole in ANY situation

You are weak.

Thanks for your input schnizel, but I don't think you can judge anyone's character from three sentences they wrote on the internet. Everyone is weak, just in different areas. You don't know mine, and I don't know yours.

My waek spot is I'm not good at making Scrambalarian chocolate cake.