Imagine waking up one day to find a brand-new car parked in your driveway. You never ordered it, never signed any paperwork, never even hinted that you wanted one. Then, a bill shows up in your mailbox, demanding monthly payments for the next several decades.

You’d be furious, right? You’d probably call the dealership and say, “I never agreed to this! Why should I have to pay for something I never asked for?”

Now, let’s apply that same logic to existence itself.

I never requested that the universe be created.
I never asked to be born.
I never begged for existence.

And yet, many theists tell me that life is a gift from God—a generous, loving offering that I should be grateful for. But if this life is truly a gift, why is payment expected? Why am I told that I must worship, obey, and devote myself to the very being who supposedly gave it to me?

That’s not a gift. That’s a contract I never signed.

The Burden of a “Gift”

Think about it: when we give someone a gift, we don’t expect them to spend their entire lives repaying us for it. If a friend bought you dinner, but then demanded that you bow at their feet in gratitude every night for the rest of your life, would you still call it a gift? Or would you see it as an obligation disguised as generosity?

And yet, religion teaches that we are indebted to a deity simply for existing. That we must spend our lives in service, devotion, and sometimes even suffering, just to earn favor from the one who supposedly placed us here without our consent.

What kind of loving creator operates like that?

Do We Owe Anything?

Some might argue, “Well, God gave you life, so you owe Him everything.” But why? If I had no say in being born, if I was never given a choice in this existence, how can I possibly owe anyone for it?

If existence were truly a gift, it would come without conditions. No required worship, no eternal consequences for not believing, no guilt for simply questioning the terms of the arrangement. But that’s not the reality religion presents. Instead, it tells us that failure to repay this “gift” results in eternal punishment.

At that point, is it really a gift at all?

We are taught from a young age that we must be grateful for life, that we must serve and worship the one who supposedly gave it to us. But maybe it’s time we start questioning this assumption. If we never asked for life, if we had no choice in the matter, then why should we be indebted to anyone for it?

Maybe, just maybe, existence is not a gift from a loving god—but simply the result of a natural universe unfolding as it always has.

And if that’s the case, then we owe nothing to a deity that we never agreed to serve in the first place. What do you think? Let’s talk about it.