(no subject)
Sep. 1st, 2005 09:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bliumchikAgh. Must... not... flame...
Ove in the postsecret community somebody asked the "Do you believe in god" question. That is going to go to 291764274 comments, obviously, but... what really shakes me is the sheer AMOUNT of people who've replied with things like "If there was a God then [badthing] would not have happened".
I am amazed, nay incredulous at the self-centredness and short-sightedness of the human race. Here's what I posted in reply to one:
But who would he stand up for, then? Say you were god - okay, you've prevented the murder of innocents. Now what? Stop people being killed in natural disasters. Now what? Get rid of xenophobia. Now what? Get rid of pollution. Now what? Help people win the lottery? What's left? Once he starts messing around, where will he draw the line? To whom will he say, no, this is something you must work out for yourself? And can you imagine the consequences of even ONE change? How would he prevent the Beslan massacre? By afflicting the murderers with boils and locusts? A miraculous earthquake? How many other people would that affect? EVERYONE. Every little change would be as good as simply controlling everything, and then - what's the point of us existing, if God does everything? Why should we bother to accomplish anywthing or fix anything ourselves if God is just going to bail us out anyway?
God, if he exists, would not think the way we do. We think he does because we're incapable of imagining someone who has completely inhuman priorities - but imagine if you could see the outcome of EVERY SINGLE LITTLE THING you could possibly ever do? You wouldn't think "Children should not die" (especially since you wouldn't have that evolutionary instinct that helps genes pass on) - you would base your choice upon your CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE of the outcome. We cannot know the mind of God, should one exist.
And more importantly: We are not the centre of the universe. I know it's hard to imagine, but unless you subscribe to the "god made adam from dust" dogma, the ONLY possible reason for God to give two shits more about us than the rest of the world is that we're sentient. I'm sure he places us on an equal status with any equally sentient aliens. And I think if he does exist and watch over us, he would want us to become more intelligent - more like him, closer to a stage where we could stop worshipping him and talk to him - because a being that powerful must be lonely.
And how could we rise towards God if he wrapped us in cotton wool? If he protected us from the consequences of our actions how would we learn what not to do? There MUST be consequnces, otherwise we may as well not exist.
Ove in the postsecret community somebody asked the "Do you believe in god" question. That is going to go to 291764274 comments, obviously, but... what really shakes me is the sheer AMOUNT of people who've replied with things like "If there was a God then [badthing] would not have happened".
I am amazed, nay incredulous at the self-centredness and short-sightedness of the human race. Here's what I posted in reply to one:
But who would he stand up for, then? Say you were god - okay, you've prevented the murder of innocents. Now what? Stop people being killed in natural disasters. Now what? Get rid of xenophobia. Now what? Get rid of pollution. Now what? Help people win the lottery? What's left? Once he starts messing around, where will he draw the line? To whom will he say, no, this is something you must work out for yourself? And can you imagine the consequences of even ONE change? How would he prevent the Beslan massacre? By afflicting the murderers with boils and locusts? A miraculous earthquake? How many other people would that affect? EVERYONE. Every little change would be as good as simply controlling everything, and then - what's the point of us existing, if God does everything? Why should we bother to accomplish anywthing or fix anything ourselves if God is just going to bail us out anyway?
God, if he exists, would not think the way we do. We think he does because we're incapable of imagining someone who has completely inhuman priorities - but imagine if you could see the outcome of EVERY SINGLE LITTLE THING you could possibly ever do? You wouldn't think "Children should not die" (especially since you wouldn't have that evolutionary instinct that helps genes pass on) - you would base your choice upon your CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE of the outcome. We cannot know the mind of God, should one exist.
And more importantly: We are not the centre of the universe. I know it's hard to imagine, but unless you subscribe to the "god made adam from dust" dogma, the ONLY possible reason for God to give two shits more about us than the rest of the world is that we're sentient. I'm sure he places us on an equal status with any equally sentient aliens. And I think if he does exist and watch over us, he would want us to become more intelligent - more like him, closer to a stage where we could stop worshipping him and talk to him - because a being that powerful must be lonely.
And how could we rise towards God if he wrapped us in cotton wool? If he protected us from the consequences of our actions how would we learn what not to do? There MUST be consequnces, otherwise we may as well not exist.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 10:32 am (UTC)Your reply was fantastic, by the way ;)
no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 06:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-01 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 03:26 am (UTC)