Obeying God
As humans stumble through every day life, we are haunted by those ultimate questions: Why are we here? What does god want? and What must I do to get to heaven? Of course, those questions usually take a back seat to those more mundane questions of: What will I eat today? Where will I sleep tonight? and How can I get across this street without getting blown up? But I digress.
Ultimately, either there is a god or there isn’t. There is either an infinite creation or an infinite creator. Both ultimately require a leap of faith. The decision, for all practical purposes, comes down to whatever you’re most comfortable believing. Or you could flip a coin.
Of course, one way of looking at it is that if there is no god, nothing we do is truly going to matter anyway, as far as our immortal souls are concerned, namely because we don’t even have immortal souls. So if we choose to believe in an infinite creator, and we’re wrong, what have we lost but a few Sunday mornings and 10% of our income (well, probably closer to 3%)?
Should you choose to believe in an infinite creator, either he, she, it, or they is good or bad. In other words, either god is malevolent or benevolent.
If god is malevolent, then he’s created us solely to mess with us. On a worse case scenario, we’re all part of some sick, demented joke and regardless of what we do it’s not going to matter because ultimately we’re screwed. On a best case scenario, a malevolent god just doesn’t care. Either way, there’s nothing that we can do that will ultimately matter. Have a nice day.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that we – people, maybe even the entire earth (if not more) – are side effects of some greater plan, and god is completely unaware of us. Or, he is aware of us, but we really don’t matter. Humans are the fleas on god's dog, so to speak. Of course, that could disallow the conventional definition of god, that of being all-knowing. But then, there are those who will argue that god can do as god wants. Just because god doesn’t follow our logic, he doesn’t cease to be god.
Whether god’s unaware of us, or if he is, but we just don’t matter, it all works pretty much the same as a malevolent god. If either case is true, then all bets are off anyway. All bets, that is, as far as our trying to figure out what it is that god wants us to do, or its really mattering even if we do.
Most people, understandably, chose to believe in a benevolent creator. Even if they’re wrong, what difference will it make? Here’s the rub, though. What someone chooses to believe may not ultimately make a difference to a non-existent god, but how that person chooses to worship that god could make a lot of difference to everyone else. But I digress.
Assuming that god is good, that we have been created for a positive purpose that is all part of god’s plan, the next question is: What does god want? Namely, what does god want us to do? Or, in a more selfish vein, what do we need to do to make god happy so that someday she will reward us, either with a more tolerable life now or eternal happiness in the hereafter? Or, preferably, both.
For instance, is it really necessary to chant Latin psalms and burn incense while throwing blood on an altar to make god happy? Did god really make us solely so we could sing her praise continuously? If so, wouldn’t that make god rather egocentric? And so, we’re back to the malevolent god again.
What is probably more close to true, is that god wants us to be happy. That’s it. I mean, think about it. If god doesn’t want us to be happy… Wow, how messed up is that? Of course, our happiness has all sorts of social strings attached, namely that our happiness can’t cause others to be unhappy, which requires knowing the consequences of our actions, and, ultimately comes down to our need to make others happy as well as ourselves. Truly, our happiness ultimately depends on others being happy, too.
So if that’s the case, if god wants no more from us than to be happy, then does god really care if we go to church? If we could only be happy by not believing in god, would god truly care? Would god really damn us to eternal misery simply because we chose not to believe in her? Or because we believed in the wrong flavor of any particular faith? Or we were so isolated that we never heard of her at all? If that’s the case, it seems like we’re back to the malevolent god again, because god ultimately doesn’t care if we’re good, only if we jump through the hoop.
But here’s the catch. Once you’ve decided that there truly is a god and that she is benevolent, and you’ve further decided that what that god wants is for us – all of us, not just a chosen few – to be happy, content, free from hunger and fear and repression and all the nasty things that humans have been doing to each other ever since we figured that rocks make pretty good weapons but certainly can be improved on, then how does religion fit into that?
We cannot throw out the logic of god simply because it doesn’t fit into the logic of some religious text that was supposedly given to us by god. (The fact that it was given to us by god should be suspect, because chances are you only know that text comes from god because it says so in the text to begin with.)
In other words, if the Bible, for instance, tells us we should smite our enemies, but that goes against the whole idea of god’s (not necessarily the god of the bible) wanting all of us to live happily together (especially since the only reason that they’re our enemies is that they don’t believe in the God of the Bible) then maybe…just maybe…it is the Bible that is wrong. Of course, that is blasphemous, according to the Bible.
It doesn’t matter if the Bible, or any other text, is historically accurate. The true question is whether or not it makes logical sense. After all, there are lots of things that are historically accurate that truly make no sense. The Greeks, for instance, truly believed in Poseidon, but that doesn’t mean that he’s still living under the sea spearing things with his trusty trident. Or that he ever did live.
The problem is, always has been, and always will be, that if you set out to prove something to be true, you will. There are PhDs who believe the earth is flat and they have proof. It bears repeating: It doesn’t matter how silly or illogical something might be, if you want to find proof that it is true, you will. Just look at all the complex mathematical models that were created to prove that the earth was in the center of the universe. We should never make our logic fit something that we believe to be true, that we want to be true, especially something we believe to be undeniably true. We should use logic to decide what is true.
Whether there is an infinite creator or an infinite creation. Whether there is a benevolent god or a malevolent god. Whether we believe that we are part of some great plan or just a by-product of a cosmic-scale industrial accident. It doesn’t matter. We should be kind. We should try our best to make the world a better place for everybody, not just a select few. We should try to be aware of the consequences of all of our actions and then always try and act in a socially responsible manner that will ultimately make the world a better place, once again for everybody. And hopefully along the way, we’ve found personal happiness. And when we die, that should be enough. Whether or not there is a god. But if there is a god, and if that isn’t good enough, do you really want to hang out with him for all of eternity anyway?
Ultimately, either there is a god or there isn’t. There is either an infinite creation or an infinite creator. Both ultimately require a leap of faith. The decision, for all practical purposes, comes down to whatever you’re most comfortable believing. Or you could flip a coin.
Of course, one way of looking at it is that if there is no god, nothing we do is truly going to matter anyway, as far as our immortal souls are concerned, namely because we don’t even have immortal souls. So if we choose to believe in an infinite creator, and we’re wrong, what have we lost but a few Sunday mornings and 10% of our income (well, probably closer to 3%)?
Should you choose to believe in an infinite creator, either he, she, it, or they is good or bad. In other words, either god is malevolent or benevolent.
If god is malevolent, then he’s created us solely to mess with us. On a worse case scenario, we’re all part of some sick, demented joke and regardless of what we do it’s not going to matter because ultimately we’re screwed. On a best case scenario, a malevolent god just doesn’t care. Either way, there’s nothing that we can do that will ultimately matter. Have a nice day.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that we – people, maybe even the entire earth (if not more) – are side effects of some greater plan, and god is completely unaware of us. Or, he is aware of us, but we really don’t matter. Humans are the fleas on god's dog, so to speak. Of course, that could disallow the conventional definition of god, that of being all-knowing. But then, there are those who will argue that god can do as god wants. Just because god doesn’t follow our logic, he doesn’t cease to be god.
Whether god’s unaware of us, or if he is, but we just don’t matter, it all works pretty much the same as a malevolent god. If either case is true, then all bets are off anyway. All bets, that is, as far as our trying to figure out what it is that god wants us to do, or its really mattering even if we do.
Most people, understandably, chose to believe in a benevolent creator. Even if they’re wrong, what difference will it make? Here’s the rub, though. What someone chooses to believe may not ultimately make a difference to a non-existent god, but how that person chooses to worship that god could make a lot of difference to everyone else. But I digress.
Assuming that god is good, that we have been created for a positive purpose that is all part of god’s plan, the next question is: What does god want? Namely, what does god want us to do? Or, in a more selfish vein, what do we need to do to make god happy so that someday she will reward us, either with a more tolerable life now or eternal happiness in the hereafter? Or, preferably, both.
For instance, is it really necessary to chant Latin psalms and burn incense while throwing blood on an altar to make god happy? Did god really make us solely so we could sing her praise continuously? If so, wouldn’t that make god rather egocentric? And so, we’re back to the malevolent god again.
What is probably more close to true, is that god wants us to be happy. That’s it. I mean, think about it. If god doesn’t want us to be happy… Wow, how messed up is that? Of course, our happiness has all sorts of social strings attached, namely that our happiness can’t cause others to be unhappy, which requires knowing the consequences of our actions, and, ultimately comes down to our need to make others happy as well as ourselves. Truly, our happiness ultimately depends on others being happy, too.
So if that’s the case, if god wants no more from us than to be happy, then does god really care if we go to church? If we could only be happy by not believing in god, would god truly care? Would god really damn us to eternal misery simply because we chose not to believe in her? Or because we believed in the wrong flavor of any particular faith? Or we were so isolated that we never heard of her at all? If that’s the case, it seems like we’re back to the malevolent god again, because god ultimately doesn’t care if we’re good, only if we jump through the hoop.
But here’s the catch. Once you’ve decided that there truly is a god and that she is benevolent, and you’ve further decided that what that god wants is for us – all of us, not just a chosen few – to be happy, content, free from hunger and fear and repression and all the nasty things that humans have been doing to each other ever since we figured that rocks make pretty good weapons but certainly can be improved on, then how does religion fit into that?
We cannot throw out the logic of god simply because it doesn’t fit into the logic of some religious text that was supposedly given to us by god. (The fact that it was given to us by god should be suspect, because chances are you only know that text comes from god because it says so in the text to begin with.)
In other words, if the Bible, for instance, tells us we should smite our enemies, but that goes against the whole idea of god’s (not necessarily the god of the bible) wanting all of us to live happily together (especially since the only reason that they’re our enemies is that they don’t believe in the God of the Bible) then maybe…just maybe…it is the Bible that is wrong. Of course, that is blasphemous, according to the Bible.
It doesn’t matter if the Bible, or any other text, is historically accurate. The true question is whether or not it makes logical sense. After all, there are lots of things that are historically accurate that truly make no sense. The Greeks, for instance, truly believed in Poseidon, but that doesn’t mean that he’s still living under the sea spearing things with his trusty trident. Or that he ever did live.
The problem is, always has been, and always will be, that if you set out to prove something to be true, you will. There are PhDs who believe the earth is flat and they have proof. It bears repeating: It doesn’t matter how silly or illogical something might be, if you want to find proof that it is true, you will. Just look at all the complex mathematical models that were created to prove that the earth was in the center of the universe. We should never make our logic fit something that we believe to be true, that we want to be true, especially something we believe to be undeniably true. We should use logic to decide what is true.
Whether there is an infinite creator or an infinite creation. Whether there is a benevolent god or a malevolent god. Whether we believe that we are part of some great plan or just a by-product of a cosmic-scale industrial accident. It doesn’t matter. We should be kind. We should try our best to make the world a better place for everybody, not just a select few. We should try to be aware of the consequences of all of our actions and then always try and act in a socially responsible manner that will ultimately make the world a better place, once again for everybody. And hopefully along the way, we’ve found personal happiness. And when we die, that should be enough. Whether or not there is a god. But if there is a god, and if that isn’t good enough, do you really want to hang out with him for all of eternity anyway?
posted by The Holy Grail Press at 11:03 AM
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