Tony\'s God (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, November 20, 2011, 19:53 (4752 days ago) @ dhw

PART TWO

Back to my prosecutor’s role. You see all of these events as part of a grand design, leading to the fulfilment of God’s “contract” through Jesus Christ. God knows what’s coming and is preparing the way (although his knowledge doesn’t extend to the strength of Abraham’s faith, which has to be tested first). In earlier discussions – and let me hasten to say that I find our discussions extremely stimulating and informative – as well as in this latest post, you appear to see our world as a once perfect design now in the process of being wrecked by us humans. I agree with you that humans are messing it up. And I also agree with you that “humanity is learning the hard way that we are incapable of ruling ourselves in a manner that is good” – although of course we both know that our judgement of what is “good” is subjective, based on preconceived notions etc. But I do not see the world as being perfectly designed. We have had this discussion before, and will have to agree to differ. You believe, as David does, that everything from the beginning had a purpose, whereas I see the evolution of our world as a higgledy-piggledy movement through a mass of random comings and goings – which I summarized once as the Dodo Problem. If there is a God, I would interpret this as a sign that either he made things up as he went along, or he had an idea of what he wanted, but didn’t know how to realize it. In both cases, I then ask myself what was his motive for creating life in the first place? This is where my (speculative) interpretation of the bible converges with my (speculative) interpretation of events on Earth, leading to the following (speculative) scenario. The creation was for his own benefit, entertainment, self-gratification, self-expression, satisfaction of curiosity – not unlike the human artists and scientists made in his image – and we are a spectacle for him, a pastime to occupy his long and lonely eternity. Maybe he’ll even love some of us, and he’ll also enjoy being worshipped, but the spectacle has to keep changing or he’ll get bored. He may even have got bored already, and given up. Your vision is of a caring, loving God, as derived from your interpretation of the bible and the world as you see it. The vision I’m presenting is derived from the world and its history as I see it, and it fits in perfectly with the design theory (there is a god) but also with the chance theory (there is no god). An indifferent god and a godless Nature require no further explanation of higgledy-piggledy evolution, mass extinctions, natural disasters, diseases and other non-human catastrophes, and we do not even have to explain the origin of evil (such a headache for theologians). This notion is preconceived, in that it imposes a pattern on a world imperfectly known, but I’m afraid that applies in equal measure to all notions of God and the world, including of course your own.

That is the case for the prosecution, Your Honour. But don’t ask me if I believe it.