It feels like I’ve started a number of posts on this blog with:
“One of the things I find strange about religion…”
There’s a good reason for this, I find many aspects of the world’s organised religions strange, odd and peculiar. There are certain points of religion I just can’t rationalise. Or, to be more precise, I can’t rationalise why people blindly believe and follow some of the stranger parts of their various religions.
One of these aspects that I find puzzling is the seeming lack of activity by the creator God in the last couple of the thousand years. It seems like he was very active, very tangible and very overt in his activities during the time of the Bible (the Christian God at least), but has since ceased. See the chart to the right for my take on his activity. I’m sure those who have studied the Bible intensively could point out some errors in the chart, but I don’t think anyone could deny the general direction in which it heads, downwards.
So what’s happened? As always, there are multiple possibilities. So let’s take them one-by-one.
God Never Existed
By far the most feasible explanation is that God never existed. After all, we know that the time line above, as informed by the Bible, completely missed out a few billion year’s worth of history. As we understand more of our creation and subsequent evolution, the need for a creator God to explain things diminishes. If God didn’t create us, then what did God do, and why should he be considered a God?
I say this is the most feasible option because it seems highly unlikely that if there were a God, his influence would decrease over time. Especially during a period where his very existence is constantly being called into question, the world is waging holy wars in his name and scientific advances are revealing that feats once credited to God are nothing of the sort. It would seem, logically, that God would want to be more involved now, than ever.
God is Dead
Another option might be to consider that there once was a God, who interacted regularly with his creations in a real and tangible way, but has since died. It would at least explain the recent lull in his activity. This must lead to some important questions for those who choose to follow the religion that holds this dead God as a deity. If there is no God, is there still a heaven and hell? And if so, can you still get into them?
Could it be that God was the spark that triggered creation, then the spark that set our moral boundaries before disappearing? Obviously, all signs point to an emphatic “no”. I mentioned above that it would be logical to assume that God would want to be present and overtly influential over the world at this time, and used this as an argument for suggesting that he never existed. It may be, however, that he is simply incapable of exerting influence any more. This may be because he is dead, or it may be because his powers have subsided, in which case he can no longer truly be considered a God.
While I suggest death may be the cause, it might be that the God simply stopped caring. Retired, if you will. The particular reason you choose to assign to this lack of activity is largely irrelevant, as the end result is the same.
The Unproven, is no Longer Believed
Logically, this is a logical extension of the first point. During the time of the Bible, writing was rare. The ability to write, read and certainly publish work was not as commonplace as it is today. Therefore, if you had a story to tell, and had the ability to publish it on a grand scale, you were more likely to be heard and believed. It’s a simple case of a drought of information. As time moves on, the ability to convey one’s ideas has grown. Now, if anything, we have an untameable flood of information available to use. A flood that’s been steadily increasing over the years. This wealth of information has allowed us to be far more selective of the things we choose to believe. For example, in scientific quarters, claims are challenged and peer reviewed multiple times before being accepted. We can effectively weed out the false, unproven, unsubstantiated claims.
This may not have always been possible in the past. Could the claims, and fantastical stories in the Bible have been treated as facts because they were one of only a few sources available at the time? I have absolutely no doubt that if such a story came about now it would be treated as fiction, the authors dismissed if they claimed it to be true, and rightly so.
Extending this point for the sake of discussion, it might simply be that the supernatural acts described in the Holy Books were simply exaggerated beyond reality for the sake of story telling. For example, the parting of a sea may simply be crossing a low flowing lake. When people hear that someone has crossed said lake, and revisit at a different time of year, it may seem impossible. Only a miracle could have allowed it. There may also be events that are accredited to a God but were simply acts of nature, but the lack of scientific understanding at the time lead to the mis-attribution. Couple that with the possibility of exaggeration, and “Chinese Whispers“, and you’ll have quite the fantastical story on your hands. This completely absolves the authors of any wrong doing and discounts the possibility that they embellished the stories for personal gain.
Are you listening, God?
Given the absence of God as an obvious influence in the world, it seems highly unlikely that he is present at this point in the earth’s history. This is likely because a creator deity has never existed, but one might put forward a case to argue that it’s because God has become increasingly impotent over the years. Either way, he ceased to be what we would commonly describe as a God a long time ago, in the unlikely event that he ever existed in the first place.
A Christian will counter that God speaks to them everyday.
PS: Your page is stretching beyond my 1024×768 display. Just thought I’d let you know.
But does he do anything?
Go to an mental institute in the world and you are certain to find people who claim someone, something or many someones are speaking to them, even now. These people are restrained for the safety of the members of our society.
Just hearing voices doesn’t prove anything, except maybe that you need to have your head examined.
Perhaps the most likely reason for the apparent inactivity of god is that a god is no longer needed on a day to day basis.
For example, 2000 years ago everything seemed the product of the supernatural. The sun comes up, the sun goes down – must be the act of god. The rains come early – god again. The river is in flood – god’s wrath. Dinner is ready – thank you god.
Now we know more about our world, probably even know that there is more to know than we can ever know, but we do not generally require supernatural explanations for things we don’t understand. We build large hadron colliders etc. to find the answers ourself.
So the concept of a supernatural god is less necessary in our day to day lives, and therefore god is not seen to be as active.
Guy
Great reply Guy!
Actually the Bible God committed suicide, because he made so many mistakes, he created the angel Satan and allowed evil to exist, and then he regretted ever making a man and a woman and Noah’s ark was a total fiasco, he elected Noah to build a boat to filter out all the wicked people, but soon after, we have the wicked city of Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot raped his two daughters, yet he was considered a great man.
The bible god should have been shot to begin with.
There’s plenty more gods to choose from, out there.
Thanks for the useful info. It’s so interesting
What is viewed by you guys as God “doing things”?
Most Christians in America don’t have to, and just don’t, rely on God for anything. We are our own god’s. We get hungry – we go to the store. We don’t even believe God will/can provide for us. And God doesn’t need to prove to us He exists. He is God. And everything Jesus did and raising Him from the dead should be enough. And so I’m not surprised at God’s not doing a ton of miracles everywhere because it isn’t biblical. Every instance in the bible where Jesus healed someone it was because of their faith.
“When He (Jesus) had gone indoors the blind men came to Him, and He asked them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ ‘Yes Lord,’ they replied. Then He touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you.” (matthew 9:28) This is just one example.
I think to say God is dead based on that WE don’t see Him doing huge spectacles is incorrect. I think God is acting the way He has proved to be for thousands of years. God hasn’t changed. We have.
Like I said, we don’t believe. And its sad that many believers will put their salvation in Christ but not believe anything of the power He says they have in His name. That’s the point I am at in my faith. I haven’t seen paralytics get up and walk, but I’ve seen lives changed and the more I seek God the more I find.
I encourage you to keep searching. And read the bible… it may surprise you. Or give you more ammo to unload on dumb Christians.
The entire concept of God is absurd, but if believing in fairy tales gives solace to weak minds then who am I to try and take that from them? I have been an open atheist since I was 7 (41 now). I have never understood atheists who are constantly on the attack against believers. It seems almost as though some have elevated atheism to the status of a religion.
** Insular shock
God can no more die than Sherlock Holmes can die. They are fictional characters.
When Nietzsche had his own fictionalized Zarathustra utter the now notorious “God is dead,†he intended to convey “that the belief in the Christian God has become unbelievable.” God is literally in-credible.
America is 100 years behind Europe in grasping cultural realities. Only one of which is “the death of God.”
In backwater America primitive assertions abound — for example, xianity must be true since my belief and that of others have made positive changes in our lives.
Members of any sect within islam, xianity, judaism, or zoroastrianism (the Big4 monster-theisms) can cite their myths, cultic practices, endlessly circular magical texts, and fifth-rate fan fiction (“theologies”) to equal effect.
What uplifts me, what comforts me, what I’m willing to die for . . . is no evidence whatsoever that my belief is true or false.
Xianity cannot be refuted. (Could you refute “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes�)
Xianity can only be dismantled. The de-deification of culture (including the sciences) is our task for the next 100 years.
anti-supernaturalist
How can Christianity be “dismantled” ?
I’m curious of what that would look like.
The heart of man has been the same for well over 100 years. Its clear to see, as far back as we can look that man has been screwed up and has been chasing money, sex, fame, power, and stuff forever. And it has led us nowhere. I don’t think society will change at all in the next 100 years. We will still pursue the same meaningless things that have left our parents unfulfilled, as well was theirs, and theirs before them. No advances in science or technology have changed that fact.
“for example, xianity must be true since my belief and that of others have made positive changes in our lives.”
so lives changed by faith in something isn’t evidence? If that’s not what is? someone being healed? someone being raised from the dead?
Because that happens.
I really like the ‘fictional character’ analogy. Sure there is a God and a Luke Skywalker and a Bugs Bunny. There are also those little voices some people hear in their head. (..and have the audacity to say that Jesus talks to them)
But God as a ‘real’ entity ?? Are they joking ??
Nope, he’s long gone, if, in fact, he ever even was….
talk to any christian missionary working in foreign countries and you will get a much different response than “god isn’t doing anything”. in a foreign african tribe (supposedly as i heard it) one of the elders recieved a vision as a young child that the people bearing the book will bring truth. 80 years later missionaries showed up with a bible and the tribe was gonna kill them but the one elder who remembered the vision stopped them.
also there was the protestant “revival” in the 80s. God suddenly became very alive again.
you could dismiss the first as a nice story, and the second as a rave. here’s a real statistic-
most rehab centers average success rate is less than 50%. Teen challenge, a christian rehab program that brings God into the picture, has a success rate of 86%. is god dead?
I’d love to see where you got the stats for your rehab anecdote. There’s evidence that suggests any claims of a success rate over 40% are malicious in intent and without proof. For example, many rehab clinics use somewhat questionable means of measuring their success.
You also have to look at the specific circumstances involved. You cite one example against the average, I’m sure, even if the quoted figure is accurate, there are many more examples of rehab clinics that use theistic values and have far lower success rates than non-theistic ones. Something we do know is that teaching theistic values to teens results in higher rates of unplanned pregnancies. But one can use statistics to “prove” almost anything.
teen challenge did a little presentation thing at my church and reading this i remembered they said they had a ridiculously high success rate. i searched it on the internet and it was true. so i posted it. you can search it yourself. of course ppl trying to explain the high success rate have claimed that the fact they choose only a handful patients from all their applications explains it. you can call that “malicious” if you’d like.
i know stats don’t prove anything. but do plays on words like- can god create a rock so heavy he cant lift it? – really prove anything either?
When I came into contact with paranormal it was a shock god never entered my head then one Sunday I came into town walked into are parish church.Not my local church I sat down did not know anybody yes I went back the week after a held-lay lady came over to me and said she thought that I should speak to the reverent and she had already ask Debbie to see me after sermon so after talking to Debbie I had a talk to this lady she told me that when she was 18 yours old she had a serious op and while under anesthetic a strange man with a lovely soft voice came and held her hand and told her he will stay with her she would be OK this same voice told her that I was in need of help and told her to ask Debbie to talk to me god has blessed her.
What if God is dead, simply because a large proportion of people no longer believe in God?
Just a childish thought 🙂
On a more realistic note, what if god did exist, but simply transfered dimentions, that is to say, god was once in our dimention, then simply moved on after it finished its fun around here or something. Or, it started focusing on the dark matter ‘world’ which we can not percieve, or something to that effect.
That could be possible, although it assumes when god ‘finished’ it thought it finished, and didn’t realise over time people wouldn’t care. Meaning, either the assumption that god knows all is wrong, or god never existed.
Moving to something more realistic, what if God simply died (or lost its abilities) after the big bang? That is entire possible, for we don’t know what created the stuff that created the big bang. Although that leads us back to the argument ‘if god is not all powerful, why call it god?’, which will lead to the ‘god is energy not an incarnation’, which will lead us to a whole other set of topics.
Personally, I don’t believe there is a god, and I don’t believe we need one.
I’ve come to the conclusion that humans, one way or another, percieve our world, and process it through different cognative processes. If that involves believing in a higher power, or the cycle of nature, or some sort of incarnation, so be it. But at the end of the day, it isn’t what we believe that matters, but how it shapes our actions and reactions towards changes in an individuals internal and external environment.
To dwell on anything else is as elementary as my spelling capabilities 🙂