Reflective Essay: Heaven's Gate Mass Suicide

When I was a little girl, my grandma and grandpa drove my sibling and me to church every Sunday. I was taught the ins and out of being a member of the Church of God, how Christ is the truth, the light and the only way to Heaven. Heaven was taught to be a place to look forward to, a place away from the terrible earth with all the evils that live among us. Where were taught that it is by faith we believe, then we need to follow the rules and we will be saved from hell. Everyone in the church had this simple loving yet serious voice every time they would speak the important choices that I had to make to ensure my salvation. I believe that anyone that is a part of a religious group of people demonstrate the act of willing themselves to believe
I believe that many human beings need and desire closeness with others. This is why humans can be lured into a religious group, be given a purpose and community resulting in them willing to believe without evidence. We see this throughout history; take the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide. The people in the group willed themselves in belief that aliens would take them to a better place without any real evidence. It is my observation that this was group did not just randomly belief this theory but took the time to learn from the founders, built relationships with the other members and choice to belief without logical realistic evidence. They belief because the people in their life believed, they believed because there was purpose and a plan for their
Williams clearly understand that the environment and the relationships around a person influence their will to believe with or without evidence. I believe that therea re many spiritual journey a person takes in their life time with different levels of will to believe without so much evidence and many times it depends on the people around them and there trust level to will themselves to believe. I also feel this is a means for self-survival, some people survive in an environment where there is life, choice and momentum to ensure they have meaning in