[thechat] Mythology was comics

Joe Crawford jcrawford at avencom.com
Fri May 25 10:07:29 CDT 2001


on 5/25/2001 7:38 AM, Ben Dyer at ben_dyer at imaginuity.com wrote:

> Second, it's always interesting to me that something good happens after
> something bad and people say "Big Deal" or "that was a lucky coincidence,"
> and just brush it aside like it was nothing.  I choose to believe that
> there's more behind it.
> 
> It comes down to this (as this thread is winding down now): you can choose
> to say we're all here and that everything we do is completely by chance or
> that this is all a conscious effort by a higher power who, despite our
> stupidity and fraility as humans, hasn't allowed us to completely destroy
> the planet.


There's a side dish which comes along with this way of thinking.

The side dish is that the cruelty and horrors of the world are also part of
a plan. 

I've seen the world, and I don't buy it.

** warning horrible imagery and bitter sarcasm ahead **

I'm right now remembering taking care of a girl (I was monitoring her
airway, and taking care of her ventilator [the machine which breathed for
her] ) - 9 or 10 years old, with buckshot embedded in her face, chest, and
arms - bloodied in the aftermath of her father shooting her and her brother.
(He might have shot the mother as well, but I don't remember).

For me, choosing to believe that there's "more behind it" with regards to
this incident is at odds with a sane god. Why does this "God" choose to give
some business a new client, while on the other hand allowing a young girl to
get riddled with bullets?

Yes, this is the central question of books like "why do bad things happen to
good people" - and I remember the arguments about free will vs. divine
intervention in school, and in numerous arguments with friends, colleagues,
my mother, and other family.

But to me it looks like God needs a better PalmPilot - he needs to
reprioritize his efforts. Time to put "preventing kids from getting shot"
above "helping floundering web businesses."

If there is a God, he appears to be an underachiever -- so much unfulfilled
potential.

This to me reinforces my thoughts that the whole question of a creator is
irrelevant. If it exists, the entity is *not* paying attention.

    - Joe





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