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What if...?
I'm not one to label myself, but if one were to define my religious views as best as possible, one would probably come up with "agnostic atheist." This means that I believe there is no existing god, although I can not physically disprove it. I have always been trying to counter-argue even my own views, and thus I've come to wonder...if there is a god, given the seen circumstances, what would he truly be like?
For a long time, I would answer that this hypothetical god would have had to create the universe billions of years ago, created life on one tiny planet (possibly by accident), and just let us evolve without a care in the universe for us. But lately I've been thinking differently.
When we think of gods, we think of creators of mankind. They created us in their own image, to reflect their values and desires, and to carry out their plans. But what about everything else we share the world with? The animals, trees, flowers, even the bacteria...what role do they have to play? This is where my hypothetical god comes in. In my view, if there is a god, then he/she/it does not preside over our species.
This god presides over the entire biosphere...nay, the entire universe. He ensures that everything is kept in balance, and that matter itself is organized into beautiful systems of self-regeneration. The collapse of one unit brings the rise of a new one under his design. But of course, we can't discuss theology without bringing our race back into the picture...it is, after all, all about us! So how do we fit in anyway?
Well...here's where my train of thought turns dark. What if...we are that rebel? What if we are the fallen angel? What if we are the Satan, the Apep, the Hades? The one who invades to disrupt the balance, cause chaos, and shake the throne? Look around at the world we live in. We are ravaging and exploiting our world's natural resources. Our materialism and greed allows for the subjugation and merciless slaughter of innocent animals and even other people. What if in all this, we are the ones attempting to destroy what a god created, not for us, but for every living organism? What if in our attempts to further our race and thus carry out our own god's plan, we are the usurpers of the true god's plan?
These are only my thoughts. I am not saying that I believe this is the case, these are only hypothetical questions to think about.
Signed,
An environmentally aware nonbeliever.
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Favorite Quote:
"Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you was beyond my control."
Just want to point out that as the one taking the default position (you don't think there is a god, or if there is, you don't think we've found it yet), the burden of proof is not on you anyways. The one who must prove something exists is on the person making the claim (theists).
I agree with you in that I think the humans are the real disrupters, but not in the sense that we are evil. What is evil or good, what is wrong or right, is a subjective label that we put on things, but that label does not always stick. Those labels change as we gain more understanding. For example, most people think that monogamy is the only way, but then there are people who can give reasons why it may not be, and most animals aren't monogamous either. Does that make them wrong? No, because they have different standards for themselves, and they do not dispute over it.
And I don't think all humans work to cause chaos, or that it's a trait of mankind. The vast majority of every species is to obtain and promote traits that better their species. Now for humans, since we're the top of the food chain, this can become sticky, because if we better ourselves too much (such as overpopulation, overconsumption), then we often hinder other species. We also create a lot of disputes over every little detail of our morals and decisions Because we hold such a high position, so there is more weight to everything we do. The problem with today is the overconsumption, overproduction, and overpopulation are being promoted as GOOD things (especially in the U.S., not as much in Europe anymore, they've passed that phase). Almost every industry practices some form of planned obsolescence (think of cars: why do people buy a new year of car when the one they have does it's job [transporting them] just fine?). Having a lot of stuff has become a status symbol. You should watch this video clip: http://youtu.be/RUwS1uAdUcI
It explains that as a region moves from less developed (third world) to more developed (first world, like U.S. and Europe) they follow certain patterns.