BerryCakes
Local Case Study
- Sep 20, 2020
- 94
No, but seriously. I'd be more than happy to hear out any religious or deistic individuals that can help me change my viewpoint here, because this has been a huge source of sorrow for me.
I grew up irreligious, so I was never really given any easy answers in terms of theology and the existence of God. However, for whatever reason, I had a strong faith in his existence since an early age. I used to pray all the time as a child. I still do pray when I'm caught in a bind, ironically enough.
I was always curious to know what was the "right" path to follow... What can be discerned about God and the supernatural from as close as an objective sense as possible. I never cared much for the concept of Omnism, or that all religions are worthy of respect (see: cults). I find perennialism, or the thought that all religions carry a single, universal truth, to also be flawed (see: Creativity, the religion/cult, and compare it to Christianity). The argument that objective truth doesn't exist is also nonsensical to me (see: 2+2=?, any basic math problem).
If you've ever been caught up in analysis paralysis when it comes to religion like I have, one thing you'll eventually notice is how speciest a lot of religions are. After all, if you ask almost any religious person why suffering exists, they'll most likely tell you that it has to do with the imperfection of man. Either we sinned and are now living through punishment, we are too attached to the physical world, what have you... It's always some sort of fault attached to our psyche, our "free will." What they don't tell you is that there are more living beings on this planet that lack the ability to philosophize and think than the opposite. Why do those animals suffer? Why does sexual coercion exist among non-human animals? Why do some animals eat their own offspring? It's not like these things only happen through human intervention. In most cases, animals do these things on their own.
To put it simply, here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia page focused on the problem of evil.
"1. God is omnipotent, omniscient and wholly good.
2. The evil of extensive animal suffering exists.
3. Necessarily, God can actualize an evolutionary perfect world.
4. Necessarily, God can actualize an evolutionary perfect world only if God does actualize an evolutionary perfect world.
5. Necessarily, God actualized an evolutionary perfect world.
6. If #1 is true then either #2 or #5 is true, but not both. This is a contradiction, so #1 is not true."
If this line of thinking is reasonable, then there is no reason to love God, or dedicate your life to Him. After all, either He isn't worth veneration, isn't powerful enough to save you/anyone else, and/or simply doesn't even know you exist.
I've been able to only find two ways of being able to conserve a love of a god or God while also maintaining intellectual honesty.
1. Abandon the idea that there's one "all-powerful" god and acknowledge instead that there are many gods, spirits, what have you, that all have contradictory wills and values. Some may or may not be worthy of veneration/respect.
2. Become a pandeist, or basically someone who believes that God literally died in order to create the universe. Perhaps life and pain are an unintentional byproduct of His creation.
Some may say that Gnosticism helps to solve this issue, but I personally disagree. After all, the god above the Demiurge, the Absolute or supreme being, has not saved us from the evils of physical existence, either because He's unknowing of our suffering or simply can't/won't do anything about it. It's pointless to direct any energy or veneration towards such an entity, but perhaps I'm misguided.
It has gotten to the point that, despite my clear love of theology and religion, I've been trying my best to suppress interest in it altogether and accept apatheism. This conclusion I've come to is rather dreary and actively sabotages my quality of life.
inb4: God doesn't exist.
The philosophical argument I'm presenting necessitates that God or a god exists in some conceivable way. Whether this is true or not is a completely different conversation.