How Terminal Cancer Made Me Find Faith

[Anonymous]

When we are born, we are raised according to our parents ' beliefs and, over time, we are influenced by the world around us.

When we are children and raised with religion, we do not understand quite well the power of faith and prayer. Our concept of miracle is confused with magic -something fantastic- and when we grow up to meet concrete problems, we expect solutions heard at church.

We get frustrated because our "water does not become wine" and we feel betrayed by discovering the truth about the Bible's stories - about the world.

But nobody actually knows anything. I'm sorry for the clichés.

I had to lose my youth to discover that there is no such thing as youth. That wisdom has no connection with occupation; wealth does not mean to have money and that miracles happen every day but we are too blind to see.
And if miracles don't exist, my mind chooses to believe otherwise.
What a beautiful thing is the strength of the mind.

As a Catholic girl, I was raised to believe. Simple as that. However, as most people eventually realize, believing is something that only happens when you've almost stopped believing once. You may have to come close to losing everything to be able to glimpse the faith.

And this text is about faith. How to explain or describe what happened if not by faith?

Miracles dwell in the Invisible.

I write to never forget. Words are eternal and I'm afraid that one day my memories may fade away as if they were small grains of sand in an hourglass. It's how I imagine time-not like a ticking clock but as something that can run through our fingers, being as precious as it is.

[DiegoO]

Life can be cruel. What's more cruel is expecting it to get better without been greatful of what we have now, therefore not doing anything to improve it.

Thanks for sharing that My take. God is a genious, he knows the best for us and you saw the best thing to hold on to, your faith in His love. Never let that go, you may at some point but remember, that's what keep us afloat.

[DiegoO]

Thanks for the MHO.

[myTake Owner]

Thanks for your kind words..

[DiegoO]

You are welcome.

[JimRSmith]

Delighted to hear you've beaten it! ☺

[JimRSmith]

Thanks for MHO

[Paris13]

Beautifully Done, hun, And Hope you are Okay now.
God's Guidance, Along with Faith, Paves the Way. xxoo

[Kandy-Kane]

Don't make me cry!!! 😘😘😘😘😘😘😘

[myTake Owner]

Stop making me eat LOL

[Kandy-Kane]

LMFAO 😂 😂

[ladsin]

I don’t know what you’re saying. Your title doesn’t match what you later wrote.

My understanding of your position is that as a child you were diagnosed with terminal cancer, and through that ordeal you came to have faith in an afterlife. You’ve since survived and are telling us that you will continue to believe in miracles and your religion despite knowing there’s not sufficient evidence to do so.

If that’s not what you were saying please feel free to correct me.

That said, if you think that your belief in an afterlife comforted you and brought you solace then I suppose I’m happy for you. I don’t think that makes your belief true, or beneficial, but so long as you don’t want to legislate your religion, or disparage other people as a result I am more than happy for you to believe what you do.

[Malik00]

In other if she finds solace believing in ignorant fairy tales, then that's her problem as long as she leaves more intelligent people alone.

[ladsin]

@Malik00 not exactly. If she finds solace in a fairy tale then she is welcome to it, but she is not welcome to further try to legislate fairy tale on me.
It has nothing to do with intelligence. I didn't become more intelligent when I deconverted from my religious beliefs and there are lots of intelligent people who believe in what I consider to be a fairy tale. That doesn't detract from their intelligence. I think they are not applying their intellect to a particular question, but the fact that she has already stated that she will believe despite a lack of evidence or even perhaps evidence to the contrary then I can only say that is her prerogative. I don't think even she would think that is a rational reason to believe something.

[Malik00]

Sorry but we got free speech laws in this country boyo, you're more then welcome to ignore her however. But don't tell her to shut up. Besides all this so called "Evidence" to the contrary I've been finding is either false, Twisted, or doesn't hold up against critical questions.

[ladsin]

@Malik00 I don’t know what you’re thinking about, but you’re clearly arguing against someone else. I never once told her to shut up, nor did I argue that she shouldn’t have freedom of speech, nor that she shouldn’t believe what she says that she wants to believe. I said that she has no right to legislate her religious beliefs on me. In much the same way that I do not think any religion has a right to legislate it’s laws on other people. They don’t have the right to force me to pray 5 times a day towards Mecca, they don’t have a right to force me to give my money to a church, they don’t have a right to force me to pay homage to their god. That was what I was stating.

As for the evidence bit. “And if miracles don't exist, my mind chooses to believe otherwise.“ This is what I was referencing, she accepts that there may be no good evidence that miracles occur, but she “chooses” to persist in a belief despite that.

[Malik00]

In what part of her mytake was she attempting to shove her beliefs down anyone's throat?

[ladsin]

@Malik00 she wasn’t, which is why I didn’t say she was. “I don’t think that makes your belief true, or beneficial, but so long as you don’t want to legislate your religion, or disparage other people as a result I am more than happy for you to believe what you do.”

[somewheresomeway]

do you really think that she is trying to "legislate religion" with this post? Do you really think this is proganda?

I agree her title didn't match her description. She sharing her faith and I know that pisses a lot of GAGers off, but this women likely went through something you or I have never encountered yet.

[somewheresomeway]

@Malik00 so what are you going to say when you go through and ordeal like hers? Going to call everybody liars when they try to give you words of comfort?

[ladsin]

@somewheresomeway
Malik was on her side. So I don't know what you're trying to ask of him.

I don't know why y'alls reading comprehension ability is so poor. I said that she is welcome to her beliefs and if it brought her solace through a tough ordeal then I'm somewhat happy for her. Then, I add the caveat that while she is welcome to her beliefs she has to remember that they are her own. She is not allowed to force me to partake in them. It's a simple statement.

Person X: "I think life is meaningless, and it'd be better to be dead."
Me: "Ok mate, you're free to think that, but you're not allowed to kill me to find out."

How is this such a controversial topic? Just because she went through an ordeal doesn't mean I'm going to lie to her and say her belief is right. She's not a child, and I won't insult her intelligence in quite that way.

[Malik00]

But isn't that little different then telling her "You're free to live in ignorance if you want, just don't bother me with it?"

[ladsin]

@Malik00 she’s free to talk about it, and I never once said nor implied that she didn’t.

My wording was very, very clear. “so long as you don’t want to legislate your religion, or disparage other people as a result I am more than happy for you to believe what you do.”

[Malik00]

... sigh... and people say I'M dense.

[ladsin]

@Malik00
I don't blame them. You've repeatedly beaten the dead horse of the straw man you've erected, but I've never said she's not welcome to talk about her beliefs. So, dense is certainly an apt description of you at this point.

[Malik00]

Yeah me and 7 other people apparently.

[Malik00]

Point is you're clearly not sincere, so if you're gonna be so backhanded about it, people would just prefer it if you just didn't say anything. You clearly think she's full of shit, so why even try to be supportive when you clearly don't give a shit?

[Malik00]

W/e at this stage all you're gonna do is try to write me off as a blithering idiot. So there's no point in keeping this up anymore.

[somewheresomeway]

@Malik00 I agree. He could have been much more mature about how he responded.

There is someone that causes an atheist’s blood pressure to skyrocket and automatically sneer whenever they hear the word “God” or anything about faith. It doesn’t matter if someone miraculously was cured for cancer or if someone is offering condolences to the passing of a loved one. At what fucking point did this woman mention anything about “legislating” her beliefs? She was sharing her experience without “disparaging” anyone.

One of the reasons I think some atheists automatically fall back on sneering insults is there is a deep down nagging voice they have that makes them wonder if they might be wrong. They got to shout back at the voice by getting automatically defensive.

[myTake Owner]

@somewheresomeway @MalikOO thanks you guys for understanding my words. I appreciate it. 💋

[ladsin]

@somewheresomeway Ah, I'm glad you're a mind-reader, but I'm somewhat concerned because you're not even doing that great a job at normal reading. If someone writes a story about how they like horse-playing with their buddies and I say, "that's fine, just make sure everyone involved is ok with it" would you think I was a jaded and angry a-horse play-ist? No. That's stupid. Similarly, saying that I am fine with theistic belief, SO LONG AS X DOESN'T HAPPEN, is not indicative of my anger. (Words in caps for emphasis to note import).
@Malik00
There are a lot more than 7-9 dense people on this site. If you get validation from such a small thing as "Hey, a few people think you're mean" then I don't know what to tell you. Refer above if you'd like.
@Desconchecida I'm presuming I properly understood your myTake then? If that's the case congrats on your recovery. Best of luck going forward.

[SammyGurl]

I wasn't raised in a Christian home, we only went to church at Christmas and maybe Easter, my parents aren't believers.
I became a Christian four years ago through my best friend, (now my husband!! Yay!!). We've been besties since Five and six years old! He always used to invite me to his church, I'd go just to be with him it was fun!
Then as we got older and I stopped being a little Tom boy he started noticing his best friend as his best girl! He stepped up his talking to me about God, why I needed to know Him. So at seventeen I realized I wanted what he had and told him I wanted what he had, I wanted to know how to become a Christian too!
So four years ago I probably would have said something like, "Oh that's nice or that's sweet"! Now I can say I get it! I really agree, especially how it's not your faith until you make it your own and its tested!!
You're right Cancer really sux!! Thanks for a refresshing take; yes you should do another take where you focus on the cancer, maybe even how your faith has helped you through the worst.

[myTake Owner]

Im thinking about a new take focusing it yes

[StrangerByTheDay]

First, let me thank you and say that you have indeed a beautiful way of writing dear Desconhecida !

The post is brief and does not really match your title, I guess something is missing or you have posted it by mistake before it was completely done, nevertheless, it is good.

I understand however from the last picture that you have endured yourself "Cancer" or someone close to you did, and by having faith in God and its Power, you have made it through the critical illness.

I don't follow any religion anymore because of the way it is being taught to be honest nowadays, but I do believe in God, good and bad, right and wrong, etc... and I understand how religions teach us to love and respect, fight against racism and discrimination.

Hopefully the are done with cancer in case it was the subject dear and thank you for the beautiful words you have written.

God bless you!

[myTake Owner]

My goal wasn't to focus in my disease but to share hope. I'm thinking about to write a 2nd mytake to tell my story properly because I feel many people can't understand why and how my skeptical heart changed

[StrangerByTheDay]

It will be wise from you to do so dear.
I guess many people did not get the point you were willing to make with that one, so will be waiting patiently for your next post!

Glad you made it through and that you are still between us :-) <3

[passinby]

I don't know but when I read your take, I feel that you are turning water into wine somehow with your faith and handling such a terrible circumstance.

"I had to lose my youth to discover that there is no such thing as youth. That wisdom has no connection with occupation; wealth does not mean to have money and that miracles happen every day but we are too blind to see." Best words of wisdom... I wish you the best, good luck, stay in remission!

[myTake Owner]

Thanks !

[Hurlyburly]

As an atheist myself I must say that diseases like cancer are things which give religions a purpose. If everything seems hopeless, someone without belief might give up completely. A religious person on the other hand still has the option to pray, to ask god for help, to hope.
Someone, who gives up a fight has already lost. Someone who doesn't give up still has a chance to win.
I'm glad that you won this fight. Best wishes :)

[myTake Owner]

Thanks..

[AD240pCharlie]

I can respect religious people who admit that their belief is purely based on faith, because at least they're honest. There's nothing wrong with believing something just because you want it to be true as long as you don't start to come up with "evidence" which doesn't exist to begin with. Faith is when you believe something without evidence - or even with strong evidence AGAINST it - and that's fine. I'm personally not the kind of person who can do that - I need logic and evidence - but sometimes, I wish that I could.
Anyway, gratulations on beating cancer. My mother had to go through it, and it's one of the most terrible things for you and the people around you.

[myTake Owner]

Is your mother okay now?

[cherryphi82]

I expected more about the cancer but you wrote a beautiful take! I grew up a lot like that, and you're right about faith not being faith until it's tried.

[myTake Owner]

Maybe I write a second take to tell about it

[DoctorWize]

This is my first mytake I have seen being new and it touched my heart. Bless you and hope you stay in remission. Keep your faith in God.

[myTake Owner]

Thanks for reading!💋

[OlderAndWiser]

People without faith will not understand what you have said. If you do not want to see, you will not see.

[monkeynutts]

Never stop fighting, and never loose faith or hope. Beautiful.

[myTake Owner]

I never will. Thanks for reading.

[LegateLanius]

Congrats on getting through it. A buddy of mine was told he had six months to live. He's been alive for over thirty. The cancer came back once but it's back in remission. I'm hoping it stays that way for you.

[John_Doesnt]

I'm glad you found faith, but Xenu is the only lord.
villagevoice.freetls.fastly.net/.../spxenu.jpg

[Intraluminal]

What a coincidence that you "found" a faith consistent with the one you were indoctrinated into as a child, rather than discovering Judaism or Islam or Janism, or Zaroastianism or Thor or Shiva or any of the zillion other God's you could have suddenly accepted.

[myTake Owner]

I found faith. Never said a thing about my religion.

[Intraluminal]

Worshipping Loki then?

[myTake Owner]

If you are making fun of me at least try not to be disrespectful.

[Intraluminal]

You're being disrespectful of the reader's intelligence when you say silly stuff like this WITHOUT examining the cooincidences involved.

[myTake Owner]

Oh dear God...

[Intraluminal]

The truth is that you have a sample size of one. Based on a similar sample size, I can prove that you can survive a 33,330 ft fall without a parachute, as former Serbian flight attendant, Vesna Vulović, did in 2009.

[myTake Owner]

Troll

[Phoenix98]

So your cancer renewed your faith in God?

Is that what your saying, just want to make sure lol.

[myTake Owner]

My unexplained cure made me believe and have faith in something greater...

[Phoenix98]

I see.

[lazermazer]

Great take sweetheart ❤️❤️

[myTake Owner]

Thanks cutie!💋💋❤

[Darknut]

Im sorry to hear this... we can talk if you want😢

[myTake Owner]

Im fine now.. thanks sweetie

[Darknut]

Well ok.. just checking

[myTake Owner]

Thanks sweetie

[RedRobin]

Nice take

[myTake Owner]

Just sharing hope. But thanks!

[englisc]

So you prayed and God cured you without you having to get medical treatment?

[myTake Owner]

There were no treatments for me anymore

[pizzalovershouse]

good to know that you an others are beating it

[Deathraider]

No cancer progression story. Okay...

Well the thing is that miraculous event are seemingly improbable... but consider the law of large numbers.

[myTake Owner]

Glad you chose improbable not impossible hehe
Thanks for reading.