Anyone who has been kind enough to read my posts here will probably have gained the idea that I’m not what you would call religious. Some would describe me as an Atheist, others as agnostic. I don’t think anyone who knows me would consider me to be a follower of any religion unless you consider science and logic to be an organised belief system. Myself though I don’t think I am any of the tradition labels with regard to Gnostic or Theist, Agnostic or Atheist. What I am is a Geek, Nerd and Gamer, a man of some education and intellect, a man of science and technology and reason. Not to mention a man of imagination, I do love my Science Fiction. So when people ask me do I believe or not believe in god my first response is which one? When, as they inevitably do, they say god, the one god, the Christian god, the Muslim god, the Jewish god, the creator of the universe, I will again ask which god is that. Who or what is this god you ask do I believe in, can you describe him/her/it, what do they look like, where can I find them, what do they do? What follows is generally confusion on their part because they are unable to answer my question except in the vaguest of details. Most if not all of them can describe Santa Claus better than they can describe their own god. Yet they ask me, do you believe? Believe in what exactly? I sometimes say to people that I am happy to believe in a god if you can provide proof of their existence that can withstand vigorous and repeated scientific study. People reply that their belief in god is a matter of faith not proof, which is generally the point the conversation stops because I have very little tolerance for blind faith or blind stupidity but I’m mostly far too polite to say so unless they annoy me. Were you to ask me do you believe in gods and then give an example of what you think a god is then I can actually answer your question because it becomes meaningful rather than open ended and vague. As it happens I do believe that it is possible for there to be gods if by gods you mean beings that fit an interpretation of Clarke’s third law. Arthur C Clarke’s three laws
So what is a god or a race of gods? Divine beings, great and powerful creatures, people who can do miracles. What is a miracle if not divine magic, magic from the gods? What is magic if not a demonstration of science so advanced as to beyond understanding. What is a god but a being of such power and ability as to be beyond the understanding of we mortals of earth. So are their gods, yep. I believe there are races and species that fit the description of beings so far beyond us as to be incomprehensible, creatures with science that is, to our eyes, magical. Our galaxy is vast, there are millions of galaxies in the universe. In the space of one hundred years we have advanced so far and so fast that our older generations cannot keep up. Where will we be in another hundred years or a thousand years? Will our thousand year away descendants not have powers or science that we would look upon as magic, as our great great grandparents would have looked upon the technology that our children consider normal.
Mortality for humans, immortality for gods, it does not matter that they are not immortal but simply live one hundred times as long, they seem like gods. If you don’t understand what I mean then look at Marvels Asgardians (the comic ones or the bumbling fools from the movies) and consider just what they would have looked like to those dark age Norse who met them. Or the Sumerian legends of gods who came out of the sea to teach agriculture and maths before returning beneath the waves to sleep. Would we not be the same as we sat in our caves or mud huts looking at beings who had revealed themselves to us with power and magic far beyond our understanding? Would we not call them gods and angels? People say do you fear god, are you a god fearing person? They may as well say are you a person who fears an alien invasion since that is about as likely as the god or a god or many gods wandering down to punish me for some sin, and given the technological advancement and power of an alien species who gets here with enough power to invade us would they not be as gods given my description above? So do I believe that a god or many gods could exist, do I believe that beings with divine like powers, doing what seems to be miracles, flying, raising the dead or any of the other effects they are credited with may exist. Beings with technology or powers so far beyond our understanding to be as magic. Yes. But not the gods you worship. |
2 Comments
Jazz
23/1/2015 11:37:50 pm
For a man that does not believe in God you spent a lot of time writing about him and then still need to have belief in a God that doesn't need worshipping :)
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THoughts from the darkness
24/1/2015 03:48:19 am
This isn't a lot of time writing for me, I write between ten and fifteen thousand words a week on average, just not many blog posts here.
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