Philosopher_Twilight · @TwiSparkPhil
25th Jun 2016 from TwitLonger
My take on god.
Let us consider for a moment that god - or Allah, Yahwe, or any of the other thousand gods - exist. What kind of god is he? Why should we worship him or her? What kind of god would judge his creation on whether that creation believed in the existence of its creator and not based on how that creation lives its life among other creations?
Some might say he gave us free will so we can choose to either follow him or not. If we don't follow him - or religion's interpretation of him - we are punished for all eternity versus only a limited punishment of, say, a year or two in prison for our transgressions. Imagine if we did that for every little crime: "Oh you cheated on your wife? off to prison you go for all eternity." or "You ate shell fish when you weren't suppose to? eternity in prison."
How the hell do we think that would be fair? Seriously, religion needs to stop pretending to speak for god based on a book - or books - written a long time ago by people who didn't understand their role in the universe or had any understanding of science, logic, and reason. I'd also like to add that those books were probably written as a way to cope with life back then; meaning they were fiction used as an outlet for frustrations. We do that today.
How many of us cope with our day-to-day lives by writing or watching T.V. or reading a book. We do that to escape reality for a few hours or minutes or however long it takes. I get the feeling someone had the bright idea to start using those books as a way to control people through fear but that's just the logical and reasonable conclusion this agnostic asshole came to. For all I know I'll be sent to hell simply because I'm an albino.
Many religious people would consider me brainwashed by the likes of Richard Dawkins or Neil Degrasse Tyson, or Carl Sagan, or any number of other big name atheists. The truth is that I personally, was never a believer anyway. Religion just never stuck with me. Now, one could say that I just wasn't exposed enough to it and it wasn't shoved down my throat forcefully as I was growing up. That might be the case though I'm not sure if that's true.
I'd like to say because it was due to my intelligence that I never got into religion but that would make me sound arrogant and I don't want to come off that way. Ultimately, I do not know why I am the way I am and why religion just never stuck to me. I guess some people are born more susceptible than others.
Now to get to the real reason I wanted to write this. Were I to die right this second as I was writing this, and stood before god, I'd like to think he would judge me based on how I've lived my life up to the point of my death. Yes, I've made mistakes in my life; who hasn't? But they are not that earth-shattering. I've stolen candy once or twice in my life, lied to someone, other mistakes I can't think of right now but never anything serious. I've never raped or killed anyone, I've never physically abused anyone or anything else that we would consider evil and morally wrong. If he can't do that - judge me based on how I've lived my life rather than my lack of belief in his existence - than he does not deserve my respect. Such a god seems like a tyrant demanding respect from his people and when he doesn't get his way, throws a tantrum and punishes them for no reason.
But hey, these are just thoughts of a disturbed mind living on a rock flying through space with other disturbed minds who do not realize they are disturbed and think they know everything because a book says it's true. You could say we believe everything written in a science book, which would make us hypocrites. You'd be wrong of course, since that book provides evidence and logic. But no, by all means, continue to think you have all the answers and never grow thus not taking Socrates's challenge seriously: "The unexamined life is not worth living" which means question everything and realize as much as you think you know, you don't know shit.