Sunday, September 24, 2017

Is God a Dictator?

I am beginning to feel very uneasy.  Evidently God watches me 24/7.  Worse, he judges me.  Even worse, however he judges me will be carried out for eternity.  That is very scary.  That is the ultimate police state, the ultimate dictatorship, the ultimate control.  Why would he do that if he loves me?  Why would he do that if he wants the best for me?  Why would he do that if he designed me to be imperfect, to have needs and urges and addictions he does not approve of?  Why did he set me up for failure?  If he is watching all the time why doesn’t he intervene?  Why not tell Eve, “Don’t touch that apple!” as she reaches for it?  (And why are humans still being punished for that screw up?) Tell Hitler that Jews are good people who just don’t know him yet.  Tell Trump that deities do not recognize borders or walls?  Why does he sit there and just watch us screw up?

Though evidently if I give up all that I have and all that I own and totally follow him it will all be OK.  Probably not right now because I will have nothing, but for all eternity I should be OK.  Even North Korea does not ask so much of its citizens.

So yes, he must be a tyrant, a big brother who knows all, sees all; otherwise he could not judge us for all eternity.  It is the ultimate Aldous Huxley and George Orwell nightmare.  Add to that the fact that he is guilty of negligent homicide every day, promotes human sacrifice and cannibalism and I am really getting spooked.  I get it that Jonah wanted to hide and ended up in the belly of a whale.  I want to hide too.  What critter will swallow me for attempting to avoid the ultimate surveillance?  I don’t think tinfoil on my head will do the trick.

Or, perhaps, there really isn’t a big dictator in the sky monitoring every move of 7 billion people, and such a being is like the bogeyman, created to scare some into doing the right thing.

"The Eyes of Jesus are upon you,
All the livelong day.
The Eyes of Jesus are upon you,
You cannot get away.
Do not think you can escape them
At night or early in the morn --
The Eyes of Jesus are upon you
Til Gabriel blows his horn."

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