Riddle Me This

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Riddle Me This
by Cost-of-Progress
04-Feb-2011
 

I used to ask my mom about god when I was little.  She had a cookie-cutter answer every time: “We are too tiny to question god’s existence; he is god almighty and acts in our best interest. There are things we just do not understand as mere human beings……so we must not question them”. I would ask my friends with the same curiosity and they too reported the same type of answers from their elders. How convenient, I don’t know why I am here, I don’t know what the purpose of [human] life is on earth – if there is a purpose, but I should accept the lame answers that religion gives me.

It is rather universal how all religions basically have the same answer to my childhood questions. Just accept god they say, there is evidence of his existence all around you. Oh really, what might that be? The bees and the birds, the oceans, perhaps it’s the sun. Did he put the sun in the sky to keep me warm and enable me to grow food? How did he protect his hands when he handled that big burning ball of nuclear fusion? How did he make it work ‘cause I’d really like to duplicate that on earth to make clean energy now to reduce my dependence on foreign oil……Is life a test? Is this just a big huge laboratory and are we humans just a test specimen?


Ahh all these questions. They are good questions though: If there is a god and he is benevolent and kind and all that as we are told every time we ask, why is it that “His” children have been at each other’s throat for as long as they can remember or have kept written history? Here’s another: As far as we can tell, at least in the range we can “see”, the earth is the only marble that can harbor life. Why then, this God doesn’t make this earth the best place for life to enable itself to flourish without wars, hunger, famine, tyranny, murder, incest, disease, injustice and poverty? Yet another: What would god do when the population on earth reaches a critical mass taxing its resources to sustain the human race?


It is no coincident that the three so called major religions – the Abrahamitic Religions – are all based on the same principals; those of governance and the perception of what is supposed to be the “rules” to guide one’s life. Great, I have no issues with that, but humans have gone a lot farther in their utilization of religion than a mere “How To” cookbook on life. The concept of religion is fascinating in that theoretically if there is a need for religion (and I am not saying there is not) only one religion should suffice. Yet, throughout history, different ideologies have been the basis for spawning a myriad of religions and depending on the local environment and culture, each religion has had a different interpretation of what this god is supposed to want from us. What’s even more interesting is that most of these religions do not even recognize one another as the legitimate local representative of god – one god. In response to the question of why all these religions and why all the injustice and mayhem in the world, those with seminary education, and those without, say that we are created by god, but left alone on our own accord.  Aha..…told you, we are but little microbes in the great laboratory of god. He is just practicing to create the perfect species – earth is nothing but an experiment of what can go wrong and how you can fix it. Only he hasn’t figure out how to fix it by eliminating the flaws. I wish he’d hurry though, don’t you?


I insist that this has got to be the answer. Why else would the creator create us only to put us through what our species have been through? Wait, there’s more. If you have not had enough during life, after you die, there’s hell to pay, literally. You are judged on your actions when you were alive and depending on how good or bad you were heaven or hell awaits you. Oh give me a fucking break. It’s a lot more fun to do the things that will send you straight to hell, no? Am I being tested here? How are we doing so far? I’m telling you, this is yet another hint to the experimental nature of being human – of being created.
No one knows how many other civilizations are out there. No one knows how many civilizations have come and gone in the span of the reported age of Universe at about 15 billion years. No one knows what was before that and no one knows what will become of us. Is god still watching his creation? It looks like the experiment was soon abandoned after “creation” and left to fend for itself. We’re on our own; there’s no one looking after us, protecting us, watching us learn, and encouraging us to be better. Could it be why we don’t do near enough to better ourselves? Could it be why we are so good at hating each other, killing each other and dominating each other? I don’t know, but I do know that we’ve been doing just that ever since “creation”.


So…….if there’s a god up there, I wish he’d get back to the lab fast. If/when he does, I bet he’ll be rethinking his recipe for creating humans. “This one doesn’t look too good, I shouldn’t have taken that long cigarette break”, he’ll be thinking to himself. Perhaps the “design” wasn’t so “intelligent” after all!

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Rea

Chapeau, COP !

by Rea on

Not an admirer of Marx but when it comes to religion must reiterate: "Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes"


Bavafa

I become a believer

by Bavafa on

when I see a nice pair of bosom (tear shaped ones), only God can make such awesome things.

Other then that, I go back to the first event or thought that marks my self identity and I remember it as if it was yesterday. I was around 12 and in a discussion with my cousins who's mother (Zan Amoo) was religious and insisted on her kids to practice their daily prayer. It was during that discussion that I came to understanding and openly claiming that this is all a hoax and basically a bunch of BS. Fortunately for me, my parents never expected us to do any of the religious mambo jumbo, neither they did it themselves. My parents answer was that "I don't know but lets just go along with it just in case". Their motto was, try to be a good person and kind to others if there is a God then you will be OK with that.

That belief has not changed ever since if any thing has got firmer. And a few times that I was in a real jam (life threatening stuff) I wondered if I would be turning to god for help… but no, remained a true infidel.

Now there are at least two occasion that I was cursing God for his design. One was when my mom passed away due to cancer and another time when I was climbing in Alaska and had to get up in the middle of night in a -40F type temp and for duty call. Couldn't he design us that it would just evaporate?

Mehrdad


hamsade ghadimi

...

by hamsade ghadimi on

i remember when i was a kid and asked my mother "where is god?"  she told me that god's everywhere.  i asked "is god also in the dark closets?" to which she said "yes."  i was scared shitless from god for a long time.


Cost-of-Progress

Anahid and Esfand

by Cost-of-Progress on

Anahid jon, thanks for reading my humble blog. I agree that we need a break from the everyday doom and gloom that is all around us. The contents of the blog, however, are intended to stimulate thoughts with a twist of smirk-inducing satire....glad I could make you smile, if that's what you did! 

My dear hamshahri,

I do not need god, but it appears that the communist countries do (smile baby). The very concept of god is the basis for most religions and hence, the ultmiate predicament humans have found themselves in since they stood upright.

____________

IRAN FIRST

____________


Anahid Hojjati

Dear COP, I enjoyed reading your blog, thanks.

by Anahid Hojjati on

COP jan, thanks for your blog. I needed a break from reading and writing about all these past and present uprisings. So many uprisings and many times, the countries just get worse. Dear COP, you had some funny lines in your blog, much needed for this Friday with all these news.


Esfand Aashena

The birds and the bees is NOT religion talk!

by Esfand Aashena on

COP jaan religion talk is why we're here?  What's the meaning of life?!  Anyway, there either is a god out there or not.  What difference does it make to you?!  After all these years if you don't know by now you'll never know!

They tried to force feed the absence of god in Communist countries starting with kids young as 6, no young as 5, well no was it young as 6 or 7?! anyway, the point is absence or existence of god makes a difference to those who need it.  Do you need god?!  

Everything is sacred