God's Politics

What if God doesn't care if we live or die? It's a scary thing to contemplate, but it just might be so. After all, God might love us, but there are so many of us. Even if you really like the ants in your ant farm, you still don't worry that much if one of them dies. Plenty more where he came from.

God, true, might be so emotionally advanced that every human being is precious in God's eyes. But even if that were the case, there's still the problem of life and death being pretty much the same to God. I mean, it's not as if God can't talk to you any more after you're dead. Of course God can. God can do whatever.

God might even prefer us dead to alive. After all, if when you're dead you get to go to heaven and talk to God about things, you'll become smarter, and probably also more compassionate because the knowledge you gain will show you that all the stupid prejudices you had were, well, stupid. You become more fun to be around when you die, perhaps, in God's eyes. There is a morbidly funny joke about an insane man who thinks he's God, so he becomes a serial killer, because wouldn't everyone rather be in heaven, with him? The God who created everything (because "everything" must have come from somewhere) might view our lives as an unfortunate but necessary first step.

This is a potential problem, because we as people really like being alive and do everything we can, generally, to prevent dying. If God prefers us dead but we prefer to be alive, that means that we're at cross purposes with our deity. That's also true if God doesn't care if we're alive or dead, but we strongly prefer to be alive. Either way, God's desire is not the same as our own. And considering that God is omnipotent, I guess we lose that argument.

And we have lost the argument. We're all going to die, after all. If God wanted us to live forever, we would. God either doesn't want us to live forever, or doesn't care.

Now, this is not to say that life has no meaning. It's entirely possible that we have lives for a good reason. It's just that we don't really know what that reason is, not for sure. There are documents and teachings that point the way, but these are often unclear or even contradictory. And the people whose job it is to tell us about them are often jerks. These two things lead to us having doubts and uncertainties about what we should be doing with our lives.

And surely God either didn't mind that we have these doubts, or actively wants us to have them. Otherwise, why give us the capacity to doubt?

Or...what if God isn't actually omnipotent at all? What if God is just really, really powerful, in terms of being able to create things, but is incapable of controlling the things he's created? God wishes we would not doubt, but there's nothing God can do. Maybe that's why we're taught not to doubt...God wanted to make doubt-free people, but couldn't do it, but did the next best thing by telling all religious leaders to tell everyone that doubt was bad. In that case, it really would be bad to doubt.

But what if we can't help it? It doesn't really seem fair to punish us for thoughts we can't really control. I mean, have you ever tried not to doubt something? You can say you have faith in something all you want, but you can't lie to yourself if your own head is full of doubt. God could clear it up by just appearing to us or speaking to us in a voice we could all recognize instantly as God's. But God won't. Or...can't.

And if God punishes you for thoughts you can't control...well, I suppose we have to accept that. You can't argue with God. But that means that God is sort of a jerk, too. A wannabe-omnipotent, posturing, irrational jerk.

So which is more likely, the omnipotent God who doesn't care if we live or die, or the merely powerful God who asks the impossible of us? Which would be better? I personally would prefer the omnipotent God, because at least you always know what you are to an omnipotent being: you're just another ant on the farm. It's not much, but at least you don't have to worry about making God happy; God doesn't care. You're free to decide for yourself how to be a good ant to all the other ants, that way.

But I have to admit that the other possibility is just as likely. There are some powerful forces in the universe, which means that an even more powerful force must have created those powerful forces. But that doesn't mean that the being or force that created the universe is the most powerful thing that could ever exist anywhere. It just means that God is really, really powerful when it comes to creating stars and planets and molecules. But wouldn't it be ironic if God could make all this, and then not control it? What drama: "Here is my creation, perfect and holy, and...wait, what are you doing? Stop that! Stop doubting! What? I'm powerless? Me? Noooooooooo..."

I've got to admit, even though it condemns us to eternal damnation, the second way sort of brings a smile to my face, too.