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...then that leads to questions of 'why?'. Why did God go to the trouble of creating souls to populate a world that he also created?

So it's not a question of do you have control over what you do with the life that you have, even the Bible states that all of mankind has perfect free will to do as he/she pleases. The question that is asked by philosophers and holy men over the centuries is 'why are we here, what is the meaning of being alive?'

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The Bible also answers that question.

I think questions such as those above are, obviously, only asked when one doubts the existance of any, and especially, an "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." - type of being.

Well put, by the way, alphamicky.

Interesting that one would consider Athiesm to be a "religion," as Bitov(?) puts it. This would seemingly be an oxymoron. However, since religion can also include a definition of a "thing that one is devoted to or is bound to," then it is really the power the 'state' seeks to have, instead of to Whom it rightly belongs.

(just an interjection)

Altered State