...In the beginning, there was nothing. Which exploded.
-Terry Pratchett
I've often told people I don't believe in God, which is true. I've also qualified that with the statement that I don't believe in Han Solo either, but a lot of people seem to think he exists too. Both are fictional characters (and Han's ship is cooler), they've just managed to get really popular. But my mindset goes further than that, I don't believe in God or gods because there aren't any. There are no psychics, there are no prophecies and there's nothing supernatural about the planet I inhabit. The world that I see is unique, beautiful, ever changing, mind-numbingly strange and completely explainable, it just takes a long time to do so.
It's said that a god or gods can only exist in the margins. This means that anything that isn't explained by modern science or human knowledge must be God. Lightning once came from Zeus on Olympus, the sun was formerly the domain of Ra, fire was stolen from the gods in countless folk tales and myths. This boundary has been getting pushed back for centuries, ever since we learned that the Earth is not the center of the universe or even our own solar system. Since the Renaissance, human knowledge has advanced to frightening levels, extending human life, learning a great deal about our world and even how to make peanut butter M & Ms.*
The neat thing about all that is humans figured it all out. We had no help, no divine inspiration, no etherial cheat sheet. I've heard theories that aliens must have assisted ancient cultures build their structures; The measurements are too precise, they say. I think this is honestly insulting to say about the race of beings to which you belong. Maybe we were a little more anal retentive about stones back in the day, maybe we actually spent a fuck-ton** of time trying to get things right or maybe people are actually smarter than people give people credit for being (if you've worked out what this sentence means, add 3 IQ points to your score).
Saying that science doesn't have all the answers is completely true. We don't. Ask any scientist, he'll admit that he doesn't have all the answers. "But," he'll come back with, "we're learning more all the time." Then go ask a priest. He'll hold up a millennia old book and claim the answer is God. Religion hinders science by taking away the need to explore. If you have faith, you have the answer to all of the following questions:
- How did we get here?
- Why are there so many different kinds of animals?
- Where did these massive bones buried in the ground come from?
- What made me think of this new invention?
Believe it or not, they all have the same answer: "God did it." You're done! No need to study, learn or try to figure things out. Thanks for playing, go persecute/convert some heretics.
The world is confusing enough as it is, do we really need something spiritual to keep us all in check? Ask a Bible thumper, next time you see one, why the damn book is so important. They'll tell you it's the divine word of God, that it teaches you how to be a good person, that it is the foundation of our law and order.*** If they're REALLY crazy, they'll tell you that if it wasn't for the damn Bible, they'd go around raping and stealing and killing. Run from these people. Quickly. They're saying that, if not for their invisible friend telling them "NO," they wouldn't care about other people's suffering or pain.
I'm a moral person, so I think. I've never believed in a god, I've never felt anything I couldn't explain and I've never needed an imaginary friend to guide me. Despite my Atheism, I've never fired a gun, never had a drop of alcohol or other mind altering drug, never intentionally hit anyone in my life.**** I don't believe in God, but then I also don't believe in Satan, demons, angels or the Loch Ness Monster. You're responsible for your actions, choices and morality. Attributing anything to a higher power lessens the thing being attributed. God didn't help you get a touchdown or beat cancer or get over your dangerous habits; YOU did, and the people around you probably helped.
Planet Earth is amazing. It's a one in a million lucky shot that we're here at all, which makes us feel very special and makes us think there MUST be a plan, some divine idea or reason for our existence. Consider the possibility that there isn't. The world is still beautiful and tomorrow the sun will still rise and set (unless you're reading this at the South Pole currently). What is lost by saying the world is godless and purposeless, that it's just HERE and nothing more? Roses still smell lovely, ice cream still tastes great and a sunset is still a sight to behold.
Finally, all cultures since the dawn of time have wondered if there is such a thing as a soul and what happens to it when you die. Deep down, most people think the answer is, at the very least, something rather than nothing. In a spiritual sense, everybody is living for the afterlife. In my view, the soul is something that is created by the sum of your experience. It is everything you've seen, done and been that has made you the person you are today. It's also a fairly brief thing to have, a soul. When you die, it ends. There is no where for it to escape to, it resides in the neurons that fire in your brain. Without blood and oxygen, it stops working and ceases to be. Some would view this as a hopeless statement, but I see it in this way...
- There is no afterlife, there is no reincarnation. THIS is all we get. When your gone, the only things you leave behind are the memories of the people who knew you. All you can do is try to make some good ones.
Hope this wasn't too heavy a post. Thanks for reading, hope I kept it entertaining up until that last bit.
*Peanut butter AND chocolate all in a candy shell?!?!?! Simply amazing...
**This is not profanity for profanity's sake, a fuck-ton is a technical term. It's larger than an ass-load, but is smaller than a shit-load. Above that you get things like a fucking ass-load, a shit-ton and a metric fuck-ton.
***Refer them to Exodus, the book of Job and most of the rest of the book where people are killing each other and God is smiting the innocent.
****At least, not with the intention of causing pain; Everyone does playful jabs.
Blind faith has not been one of my strong points either but no Han Solo? GM Norma always told me that if there was a way to let us know from the "other side" she would. She passed in 1992 and nothing yet. I appreciate everyones right to believe or not believe if they choose, I don't appreicate people looking down on anyone for either option. We are a race of I am better than you because______! Fill in the blank. Love people for who they are and not who you want them to be. And let's work on that Han Solo thing!
ReplyDeleteWell, you know I believe otherwise, on almost all points you have made.
ReplyDeleteI believe that to have real faith, you need to study and learn. Blind faith is not what I'm about.
I do agree with you that ancient people who built marvelous structures like the pyramids and Stonehenge and whatnot were brilliant. I think the engineers today aren't any smarter than the engineers back then. But the ones today work with different tools which makes them seem like they're smarter.
I don't think all religious leaders are zealots, a lot of them will respect that you have your opinions. In my church, we teach that what we do is our own choice. God does not force or coerce us in either direction. If we are good or bad, it's because we chose to be. We are accountable for ourselves.
Which makes me think that it is truly lovely that this is simply your opinion. There just isn't a whole lot of verifiable fact here. A truly open minded scientist or religious leader will tell you that God can neither be proven nor disproven.
And, really Jeff? I agree with Jo Ann. No Han Solo? You can watch him on TV - he has to be real!
And another thing - the invention of nougat covered in peanuts, caramel and chocolate was far superior to figuring out how to combine peanut butter and chocolate inside a candy shell. You seriously need to rearrange your hierarchy of awesome inventions...
Mom - Houdini said he'd try the same thing, but he's never come through either, and he's been dead since 1926! His wife stopped holding seances for him in '36, saying, "Ten years is long enough to wait for any man."
ReplyDeleteSarra - While it is true that a god or gods cannot be proven or disproven, in a scientific mind, you must have enough evidence of something to say it exists. I can prove gravity anywhere on earth with a heavy object, a sufficiently accurate stopwatch and an understanding of how to do math. It works at the rate of 9.8m per second per second (so far). The same reason I say gods don't exists is why I don't think the Loch Ness Monster exists: No proof. The burden of proof lies with the person making the claim. Also, and I'm not sure if this came through clearly enough, I think that if you believe in an afterlife, you can't make a genuine choice on morality. You're doing things right to please God or avoid Satan, not simply because it's the right thing to do.
As a point of clarification, I think Harrison Ford exists, though I've never met the man. The character of Han Solo, however, is a work of fiction, just like Batman. He does still have the best ship in all of those movies, plus a wookie. I'll grant that in the nearly infinite universe we live in, there may very well be a planet named Corellia that has spawned a son named Han Solo who flies a ship called the Millennium Falcon, but that's a real long shot.
NO HAN SOLO!!!! way to shatter my world Jeff. and for YEARS I was hoping he was my long lost brother.... *sniff* :"(. anyways, on to buisness. I see your atheism friend, and raise you an agnostic. while I see your point, and agree with most of what you said, I also leave a gap here for evidence. while I dont trust the ramblings of a milennia old book any more then you, we have yuet to come out with complete evidenciary proof against the idea of it.(granted most the stories in there are warped and garbage, but that's neither here nor there) I also know that while religion shouldn't be the complete base in your life, some people have a REALLY hard time accepting that there is nothing out there. Since we cannot prove there is, but also cannot prove there ISN'T any afterlife, god, or anything otherwise, these leavestit wide open to speculation, doubt and criticism. Which is where my thought comes in. I see room, for a POSSIBILITY of a god, or an afterlife, or a soul, and even aliens! but because I am a logical thinker, until you can effectively disprove these things, I think there is always a possibility people like you and me are so wrong we'd slap ourselves. Then again, I also hate bible thumping zealots telling me I'm going to hell if I dont accept Jesus, a man I've never met and know purely on word of mouth, and follow 10 simple rules. honestly, I think it's poppy cock. BUT, my thing is, if believing in god makes people more comfortable in their skin and able to function as a human being, then all the power to them, just stay out of my head!!!!!Thank you for listening, even if it was a little inane. Go forth, and carry out the plan of the day.
ReplyDeleteAnd for the record, 42!
Tony - Very true, I can't prove, conclusively, that there is no god. But I think the world is much more bearable if you realize that there is no plan, no divine goal and no real direction for us to go in. People dealing with pain should not be told that, "God has a plan." You still have to watch wars go on, family members and friends rot away from cancer and AIDS, rapes and murders continue and especially events like September 11 (which, ironically, was motivated entirely BY a god). I find the world a far more comforting place if it's a random series of events. No one living outside the world is out to punish you or reward you, things just happen. There may very well be a god or gods watching over us, but it's such a fantastic offshoot of the world I know that I need proof of it. Saying there may be gods is like saying we may all be in the Matrix. It's completely possible, but there's no way to prove or disprove it, so it remains interesting, but not a driving part of what I think about my world.
ReplyDeleteI agree. 42.