Shank Godley Butcher
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1/6/2008 7:24:36 AM
I Think #1 - Flying Blind
If God is watching, don’t you think he would have done something by now?
My friend was studying philosophy and our drunken conversations often turned to religion. I can’t quote the great philosophers but I have a fairly strong fundamental knowledge of the pioneers, thanks to a vague college education. So, the result – whether my more learned friends like it or not – is a litany of half-reasoned ideas based on what I understand of ‘the art of thought’.
So, when I claimed that the earth was a ‘set and forget’ creation, which required no maintenance, my colleague was taken back by the concept, despite its simplicity. As a Catholic, he’d been brought up to believe that God was very ‘hands on’ and constantly involved with the everyday running of the universe. In fact, studying the bible, you’ll find eras of history when the deity was working overtime, really throwing everything at the pagans to get their attention.
The Old Testament rocks – it holds a thousand big-budget _scripts between its grimy covers – but the rest has been quite ho-hum really. God is having a long break. Perhaps the pearly gates have a sign that says ‘back in 5 millennia’ because the creator has a piss-poor curriculum vita. Last job? Joan of Arc? And she might have just been some loony bitch with a bad haircut. No, God’s definitely changed vocations. Remember the parting of the Red Sea? That was awesome. The plague of locusts? Who could forget that? But name me one recent miracle. Exactly. You can’t. And don’t mention Donald Trump’s hair. That doesn’t count because it’s obviously the work of the devil.
But if man/woman is made in the image of God, we should look at ourselves if we wish to understand ‘the creator’. Obviously, we’ve been passionately copying God since the dawn of time. We’re obsessed with both construction and destruction. From an early age, we spend our time building monuments then take only a few enjoyable seconds to knock them down. We ask our parents why God allows natural disasters and war to occur, but as parents, we should simply point to our children’s’ smashed toys, ripped clothes, cuts and bruises and say ‘that’s why’.
And if God is the master version of our species, you’d have to assume that the creator rarely sees anything through. How likely is it that God would still be working a 12-hour day? It’s unlikely that we get much heavenly attention at all. It’s more likely that God is just supervising, or – and this one isn’t the most optimistic view – forgot about us, centuries ago.
Isn’t it enough to create? How many architects watch their plans become reality, then apply for the job of janitor in the same building? None. Once it’s done, it’s done.
I hope God is listening to you, but I doubt it.
Shank
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