all things good
“because you just never know …”
I’ve been musing once more about why humans believe in deities. Previously, in pause for lightening strike, I put it down to the need for an extension of being parented, of feeling protected. Idly browsing round some of the blogs here, I think I underestimated that old chestnut – the fear factor. Clearly, the idea of being in the world alone is a part of the fear factor. But it seems that people do genuinely hold on to notions of a god just in case it’s true and simply not believing will ruin their fun in a potential after-life.
And this then brings me to the next obvious query for any rational thinker who expects belief systems to be believable. The first of many inexplicable paradoxes: why on earth do Christians (the religion I’m most familiar with) believe their god, who they claim is utter benevolence and all things good, would condemn the majority of its creations to an uncertain and confused existence here on earth followed by eternal suffering? Why would a ‘nice’ being bother to do that? Given that this god is omniscient, I assume it would have a fair idea of what may happen from the outset.
As I human being with reproductive organs, I have the opportunity to make my own little creations. My creations will have free will. I’m going to make life as pleasant for them as I can. When they grow to have their own beliefs and make decisions I disagree with, I’ll be here for them (telling them they’re wrong, naturally!). If I thought for a minute there was a chance that any of my creations would spend eternity in a state of torment, I really would have to reconsider the act of creating them. I have that much of a benevolent sense of responsibility and concern. And I’m not all things good.
Hm, when I started reading this post, I was thinking “my thoughts exactly! this is what I think all the time!” but by the second paragraph you threw in a point I hadn’t thought of before. I agree with you in that it does seem silly for people who are religiously minded to believe in a deity with such an existing paradox; however, I think that some may say that God is not just benevolence and his “kindness” may not necessarily be interpreted as kindness by us… if that makes sense. Basically, if God lets gays die and be persecuted it’s because he wants the world to know of their sins – I think that’s utter rubbish but I believe I’ve heard it before.
Totally agree with your closing as well. In the end, I think that God is merely a coping mechanism for humans to face their fears and answer the bigger questions in life without much serious analysis. Like how a long time ago scientific/natural things like seasons or night and day were explained with mythical stories and deities and what not. For example, one of my acquaintances told me that he and his family were traveling in a car once on a speeding highway. None of them were wearing seat belts. They got into a serious accident that lead to the car rolling around quite a bit, yet, in the end, none of them were hurt at all besides a few scratches. My friend told me that he thought that there was no possible way for such a miracle to occur if it wasn’t God who was behind it.
Anyway, wonderful post. Thanks for making it so thought-provoking!
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Thanks Thomas! I love the story about the car crash. There’s never any reference to probability in these cases i.e. although you’re likely to be killed or injured in an accident like that, 10% (or whatever it is) of people come out unscathed – regardless of their religion! I also shudder to think what their opinion is of people who actually do die in car crashes – were they unworthy, evil, unimportant people?
As to the rationale regarding a divine and ‘good’ being allowing eternal suffering, maybe someone who believes it can enlighten us as to how this isn’t paradoxical and just downright nasty!
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