|
Most Atheist arguments challenge the
compatibility of an all-loving God with the perceived injustices of life. The
religious identify such challenges as reflecting an arrogance of intellect --
being the assumption that we as mankind, an element of creation ourselves, know
better than God how His creation should be ordered -- coupled with the failure
to appreciate a larger design.
The fact that many of mankind fail to make sense
of certain aspects of this life should not dissuade from belief in God. The
duty of man is not to question or deny the attributes or presence of God, and
not to incline to arrogance through professing to be able to do a better job,
but rather to accept human station in this life and do the best that can be
done with what we’ve been given. By analogy, the fact that a person does not
like the way the boss does things at work, and fails to understand the
decisions he makes, does not negate his existence. Rather, each person’s duty
is to fulfill a job description in order to be paid and promoted. Similarly,
failure to grasp or approve of the way God orders creation does not negate His
existence. Rather, humankind should recognize with humility that, unlike the
workplace boss, who may be wrong, God by definition is of absolute
perfection, always right and never wrong. Humankind should bow
down to Him in willing submission and in recognition that failure to understand
His design on our part does not reflect error on His part. Rather, He is The
Lord and Master of Creation and we are not, He knows all and we do not, He
orders all affairs according to His perfect attributes, and we simply remain
His subjects, along for the ride of our lives.
The confused and sensitive souls who encounter
difficulty reconciling God’s existence with a harsh and often painful life
deserve sympathy and explanation. If a person accepts the fact that God knows
what He is doing and we don’t, he or she should rest comfortable with the
understanding that deep down things may not be what they at first seem.
Perhaps the wretched amongst humankind deserve their lot in life for reasons
unforeseen, and perhaps they suffer only a short worldly existence to receive
an eternal reward in the next life. Lest a person forget, God granted the
favorites of His creation (i.e. the prophets) the greatest worldly gift of
certainty, guidance and revelation; however, they suffered greatly in worldly
terms. In fact, the trials and tribulations of most people pale in comparison
to those of the prophets. So although many people do suffer terribly, the
message of hope is that the archetypes of God’s favorites, namely the prophets,
were deprived of the pleasures of this world in exchange for the rewards of the
hereafter. A person might well expect a comparable reward for those who endure
the trials and hardships of this life, while remaining steadfast upon true
belief.
Similarly, a person cannot be faulted for
expecting the disbelieving tyrants and oppressors to have all the enjoyments of
this world, but none of the hereafter. Some of the known inmates of Hell
spring to mind. Pharaoh, for example, lived a life of posh magnificence to the
point that he proclaimed himself to be the supreme god. Most likely opinions
changed when he broke wind. In any case, a person can reasonably expect him to
be somewhat dissatisfied with his toasty abode of the moment, and the memories
of his plush carpets, fine foods and scented handmaidens to have lost their
charm of consolation given the heat of the moment.
Most people have had the experience of ending a great
day in a bad mood due to some sour event at the conclusion of events.
Nobody values a fine meal that ends in divorce, a romantic interlude rewarded
with AIDS, or a night of revelry capped off by a brutal mugging or crippling
car crash. How good could it have been? Similarly, there is no joy in this
life, no matter how great the ecstasy or how long the duration, which is not
instantly erased from memory by a 100% full body burn. One side of one hand
represents 1% of the total body surface area of a human being, making a kitchen
burn of a fraction of a fingertip count for less than a thousandth of the total
body surface area. Nonetheless, who doesn’t forget absolutely every little,
every big, everything during that moment of painful thermal
affliction? The agony of a whole-body burn, especially if there is no relief
-- no jumping back, no pulling away -- is beyond the capacity of human
imagination. The few who have survived such burns agree. Not only does the
torture of a total burn exceed the boundaries of human imagination, but the
agony of the experience surpasses the limits of language. The horror can
neither be adequately conveyed by the unfortunate of experience, nor fully
understood by those blessed to have escaped initiation. Certainly one
looooooong, eternal, full-body bath in fire can be expected to erase any
pleasant memories of the past, consistent with the conclusion that
“…the life of this world as compared with the
Hereafter is but a brief passing enjoyment.” (Quran 13:26)
With regard to the subject of the present
appendix, two
elements of guiding consciousness deserve consideration, the first being that
deep down all people have an innate knowledge of the presence of the Creator.
Humankind may intellectualize this awareness away in search of the conveniences
and pleasures of this world, but deep down, all mankind know the truth. What
is more, God knows that we know, and He alone can calculate the level of
individual rebellion and/or submission to Him.
The second element of dawning spiritual
awareness is simply to understand that there is seldom a free lunch. Rarely
does anybody get something for nothing. Should a man work for a boss whom he
does not understand or with whom he does not agree, in the end he still has to
do his job in order to get paid. Nobody goes to work (for long, anyway) and
does nothing more than saying, “I’m at work,” expecting a paycheck to follow
based on nothing more than unproductive attendance. Similarly, humankind must
satisfy a duty of servitude and worship to God if hoping to receive His
reward. After all, that is not only the purpose of life, it is our job
description. For that matter, Muslims claim that such is the job description
for both men and Jinn (plural for ‘spirits;’ singular ‘Jinn’ee,’ from which the
Western word ‘genie’ is derived), for God conveys in the Holy Quran:
“And I have not created Jinns and men, except that
they should serve (worship) Me.” (Quran 51:56)
Many people question the purpose of life, but
the position of the faithful of many religions is exactly that stated above –
mankind exists for no other reason than to serve and worship God. The proposal
is that each and every element of creation exists to either support or test
mankind in the fulfillment of that duty. Unlike worldly employment, a person
can duck his or her responsibilities to God and be granted a grace period.
However, at the end of this probationary period called life, accounts become
due and payable, and such is certainly not the best time to find one’s account
‘in the red.’
Francis Bacon provided a wonderful closure to
the topic of this appendix, stating, “They that deny a God destroy man’s
nobility; for certainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body; and, if he be
not of kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature.”
Should a person believe that after a few million years something worthy of the
barbecue will emerge from the froth of Stanley Miller and Harold Urey’s
primordial bouillabaisse, humankind still has to account for that which we all
feel within us—the soul or spirit. Each and every element of mankind has one,
and here is the metaphysical keystone which separates man from animal.
Again, those who doubt that which cannot be
directly experienced may find excuse for denial of the soul, but they will most
likely find themselves to have scant company. Furthermore, the discussion then
moves into one of the nature of truth, knowledge, and proof, which logically
springboards into the next section, on agnosticism.
|
