Theology

Let’s see if this works. I’m forcing myself to write this morning. I can’t eat or watch John Oliver until I do. I want to get back in the habit of writing every morning. What did I do yesterday? I went on my Aldi Walk™ one of the many less fulfilling substitutes for my Donut Walk™. I wish Krispy Kreme still gave out free donuts to vaccinated people. I didn’t even like the donuts that much, but I found the whole experience, the walk, the talking to the people in the store, and the donut rewarding. The arthritis in my back has been acting up. That cuts the pleasure of walking while carrying groceries. Even when not carrying them I can’t push the speed or I’m in pain. I didn’t need to walk to Aldi. The main things I needed were milk and half & half that I can get right at the local grocery store; the only thing is that they are way more expensive. I’d rather get the exercise and save the money. When I got home, I was much more tired than usual and did something I rarely do, rest in bed. It wasn’t a nap though I might have dozed. It was just shutting down from all physical activity.

I’m going to move on to something I used to write about often but have avoided of late, God or gods. Most atheist arguments revolve around the burden of proof being on those who say there is a God or gods. I often make that argument; it is intellectual sound. A problem with other arguments is that we don’t want to offend people of faith. There are atheists that go out of their way to do that, but they are part of they, not we. I don’t want to offend but I also want to be honest. The way I see it is that there’s a lot of evidence that a benevolent omnipotent doesn’t exist. Just look at the world, does it look like there’s someone competent in charge? Biden is unpopular now because things that are beyond his control are not going well, especially inflation and COVID-19. God doesn’t have that excuse; nothing is beyond God’s control. If people thought of God as a real person, they felt free to have opinions of, his approval ratings would be in the cellar.

The basic problem in the world is entropy, closed systems become more disordered. The best way I’ve found to think about it is that there are more ways for things to go wrong that right. It takes energy to get things right. God can supply that energy and keep everything running smoothly. What does a world with god look like? Think of traditional views of heaven. People aren’t stupid, they know the world is far from perfect, so they make up rules that say that God like the United Federation of Planets has a non-interference directive. In the name of free will he acts like he doesn’t exist. That’s a mounting of hypotheses that I can’t accept.

The classical civilizations saw things differently. They saw a chaotic world and decided that the Gods were agents of chaos. The Teutons saw them as agents of Kaos, thus their greatest hero was Siegfried. Some of you are going “huh?” Those old enough to remember Get Smart are chuckling. The promise of that line is what gave me the energy to write this entry. The Greeks didn’t see the world going to hell and think, “The Gods really want to set things right, but their professional responsibilities won’t allow it. They saw a world where great powers, the Greek and Trojans fought an epic war because two goddesses were unhappy with the result of a beauty contest. Doesn’t that feel like a better explanation of how the world works? Why do we have a global pandemic? That’s just Hermes having some good-nature fun. The biblical Jews and some contemporary Christians see history as a series of punishments God doles out because don’t get him enough respect. “That’s a nice planet you have there, it would be a shame if something happened to it. Someone might invade, Assyrians, Philistines, or Russians. Some people are even seeing Putin as doing God’s work defending “traditional” values. You treat people with non-conforming sex live well and god is going to punish you.

Now I can make breakfast. I’m thinking bacon and eggs. Tonight I’m seeing Cindy of Arc, written and performed by Cynthia Kaplan. You can join me if you like. If that doesn’t work, it’s running the next two Mondays too. I’ll write a review tomorrow.