Random blasphemous thoughts..

When it comes to the God hypothesis, I have difficulty in understanding some of the arguments. They simply don't make sense unless you choose to blindly believe in them, accepting the explanation that 'human beings are too shallow to understand God'. As a child I always wished that one day during the church service or at least in my dreams one of those divine figures manifest in front of me, just the way I wished a UFO fly past the sky during one of those trips to the mountains. I had great difficulty in accepting, forget believing, in a supernatural power that hides behind some clouds and do miracles.

For an average religious follower, all that matters is whether the chopstick or matchstick they believe in, take care of them once they exit this world. They are least bothered whether the arguments for such a chopstick really hold up against scrutiny. The elite in every religion who are proponents of 'theology', have been working overtime in coming up with excuses one after the other, to resurrect God, every time science or reasoning finds a loop hole in their carefully crafted folk stories. Take the case of existence of evil. Why is it that an omnipresent God who can see all evil before it happens, and who got the power to prevent it, is not doing so, if he exists? This argument when clubbed with the fact that 'evil exists', could have broken the back bone of theism. But then came the great idea of 'Free Will'.

It says that a benevolent God created us with the free will software installed by default. So when it comes to decisions and choices, we can go our own way and burn our ass for picking up the wrong choices. So should I believe that God created all of us and then let us loose in the world with the Free-Will app turned on? Theology uses free will to explain the existence of evil, which otherwise is a tricky thing for the theologists to do in the same breath they explain an all powerful and loving god. So, as C S Lewis writes in his book 'The Problem of Pain', If God decide to do preemptive evil management, like what Tom Cruise and gang does in 'Minority Report', and start guiding our thoughts and actions at all junctures, we will end up as mere puppets in his hands. He did not want to do that to his beloved creations. So to give us all a chance to screw up ourselves, he gave us free will. To facilitate this, HE had to allow the existence of other free agents like evil, even though he still swears against it day and night! How cool is that?

But why should free will always be about right and wrong? Why cant it be a choice between two good alternatives, like apple flavor or cherry flavor? Is it that God did not think about such a possibility of providing us the free will to choose between good things, thereby keeping evil out of the equation? Why did he want to see some of us choosing the wrong path? Doesn't look good on the resume of an omnipotent and omniscient being who claims to have created all that is there. Another funny argument is about God creating a distance between him and man with evil thrown into the mix, so that we will strive hard to know him and thus become better in the process. Remember we are all born sinners as our great great grandfather stole an apple!

Belief can do wonders irrespective of whether you believe in a dick shaped rock or a smooth talker who could supposedly perform magic tricks. I know the so called miracles can happen if you have strong belief. It is the extend of belief that makes it happen, and not whether you believe in the chopstick or the matchstick. Also all these miracles will always have sensible and verifiable explanations. I always hear about 'inner healing' but have never heard about an arm regrowing or a midget growing into a 6 feet tall person. Why? The standard religious explanation is lack of faith. But I have heard of a twisted arm getting better, from a 60 degree twist to a 30 degree twist! Should I assume that the person with the twisted arm had just enough faith to get it corrected by 30 degrees? Good that cartoonists and caricaturists not so often target religion for their strips. But to be frank, I just don't get it.

I am not sure whether HE will hold me responsible for all these blasphemous statements. I am sure I will get a solid smack if my Mom happens to read this, but not quite sure about Jesus. If I make it to the pearly gates, and HE ask me why did I not believe in him like rest of the herd, I will have to answer like Bertrand Russel - 'Sorry boss, not enough evidence'.

If you prefer some irreverence to go with the blasphemy, check out this video titled 'Foobie Jesus'. It tells the story of a woman who thinks her cat is Jesus. Make sue you don't miss the last scene.