“BECAUSE I COULD”
I don’t remember who and where it was (not that it really matters — they’re everywhere and nowhere), but I saw a news report recently of a computer hacker who, when caught and asked why he did it, answered “Because I could.”
How ignorant is that? I mean, if I were to do likewise unto him, impersonally drive him crazy and arbitrarily make his life miserable, would he let it pass if I told him I did it “Because I could?” I’m not God, after all….if I were, there would be no question of letting the victim figure it out for himself. I wouldn’t have to tell him anything.
Except if I were such a God, how I could live with myself….which, it seems to me, is why man had to invent a god in his own image — a God who works in mysterious ways, a God who at least professes to care, at least pays lip service to empathy; and, to go man one better, promises eternal bliss in a next life for those who love, honor and obey Him. Above all, man cannot have a Creator whose mixed bag includes God-caused suffering for which He is morally responsible. Man brings more than enough grief on himself in this life — he needs all the help he can get to get through it without losing it.
But, assuming there is a non-invented Creator (which I assume is a non-starter for atheists), what are we to make of created reality? Wouldn’t a realistic relational afterlife (if there be such) demand that a Creator apologize to us as much, if not more, than we apologize to Him for wronging others? And if that is the best we can hope for, how surreal is that? How could there be a moral Creator who supposedly would have been cognizant of all this from all eternity? Can you say “premeditated?”
And that, my friends, is why it is much easier to be either an atheist or a believer in the God of religion — any religion. No muss, no fuss, no getting all bent out of shape (except with each other). Whatever you do, don’t be a deist, or even an agnostic. Why risk torturing your brain with conundrums that tie up your mind in knots?
Because you could.
myatheistlife 2:22 am on December 28, 2014 Permalink |
Quite poetic… and tragic
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mistermuse 9:15 am on December 28, 2014 Permalink |
Quite right – the devil, as they say, is always in the details. I appreciate your comment.
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arekhill1 1:46 pm on December 28, 2014 Permalink |
You’re going to hell.
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mistermuse 2:03 pm on December 28, 2014 Permalink |
I hope they have beer there (even if it’s warm).
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Don Frankel 3:43 pm on December 28, 2014 Permalink |
“You can if you think you can.”
“If they asked me I could write a book about…”
But of course “You are what your record says you are” and that is bad for the Jets today and they say that the Gods of Football will never let them win another Superbowl.
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mistermuse 4:20 pm on December 28, 2014 Permalink |
Hey, Don, the Jets won today! I guess Wrecks Ryan showed you (hahahaha)!
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vonleonhardt2 2:27 am on December 29, 2014 Permalink |
In my religion, the act of Jesus on the cross is just as much to reconcile man to God as visa versa, but the evangelical party never touches the second part.
But, there is an issue of subjectivity there. If you strip an ultimate meaning, then is any meaning more valid than naked exploration of possibilities? Seems most honest in that case.
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mistermuse 7:08 am on December 29, 2014 Permalink |
Thanks for commenting.
There is an issue of subjectivity in every belief, is there not? Even our “take” on facts can be subjective, beginning with whether a “fact” is a fact. How many so-called facts are actually facts?
I see ultimate meaning as the ultimate question, so rather than stripping it from the exploration of possibilities, I would call it the basis for the exploration of possibilities. But your question is a good one and, I believe, contributes to the discussion.
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Don Frankel 3:44 pm on December 30, 2014 Permalink |
Muse I wish old Wrecks had. At this point in the season you’re supposed to lose to get a better draft pick so Wrecks can’t even lose right. But he’s taken his sorry ass down the road. Maybe he’ll get a TV gig where he can kiss Bellychicks rings.
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mistermuse 3:59 pm on December 30, 2014 Permalink |
With apologies to the ghost of Richard Nixon, at least you won’t have Wrecks to kick around anymore, Don.
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