06/13/2024
Got a little story I wrote for ya!
Two rational sane men meet in a desert. A short distance from where they meet there is a small shack with one door leading to the inside. Inside the shack there are some cabinets, shelves, a table with a chair at one end and a counter. Neither of the two men can see the items inside the shack because the door is closed. The two men begin to talk. The first man we’ll name Jim. The second we’ll name Bob. “Hello Bob, how are you today?” asks Jim. Bob replies, “I’m doing very very well today Jim, I feel that god has blessed me today, so I am feeling exceptionally good today, and I’ll tell ya what, I’ll bet if you have faith in god he will bless you as well!” “Oh?” said Jim, “I’ve never heard of this “god” you’re referring to, but he sounds like a great guy. How do I meet him?” Jim asked. “Well,” began Bob, “You’ll just have to believe in him. If you believe in him enough, it will be clear to you that he is real and everything in your life will be better! You see, I have this book that tells you everything you need to know about it.” “Really?” said Jim, “Who wrote this book?” “It was written a very very long time ago by a bunch of different people, and then over the centuries it was RE-written to be better understood by the people who followed it within that given era of human societal evolution.” Bob said.
Jim looked perplexed. “So,” he began, “You’ve never met any of the people who wrote this book. They’re all long dead. How do you know if any of it, much less ALL of it is true?” “I just have faith that it is!” Said Bob. “This book tells me all about the things that happened back then like a flood that covered the world, about a guy who was actually the SON of god who came back from the dead, but ended up dying anyway so that his father, (God) would forgive all of mankind’s wrong doings, about how when his followers had no food, he made it appear out of thin air, and about how he could cure people’s terminal diseases by simply touching them!” Now Jim was VERY confused. “So, you’re telling me, that way back then all these miraculous things happened because of God, and the proof of this is this book that was re-written a multitude of times, by multiple authors thousands of years ago, and you want me to believe this even though NONE of those things EVER happen these days, and the only evidence of this is that it was written in this book?” “Well Jim, you HAVE to!” “Um, why is that? Jim asked. “Because if you don’t, after you die your consciousness will exist in the worst possible agony for eternity!” “MMMkay Bob, lets try something here. According to your book, god is ALL that is good, and is ALL powerful, AND that he created human beings with the intent for us to worship him right?” “Thet’s right!” said Bob. “Ok, what are the senses god gave us to experience the world around us with?” Bob thought for a moment, “Well, you’ve got eyes to see with, ears to hear with, skin that is sensitive to touch to feel with, and a tongue and nose to taste and smell with.” “Well, that’s almost all of your senses Bob, “ Jim said, “But you also have a mind to rationalize with as well right Bob?” “Oh, definitely!” cried Bob. Jim then reached out and touched Bob on the arm. “Did you feel that Bob?” “Yes!” he said. “The we can agree that your sense of touch and MY sense of touch are real, and basically very close to, if not at 100% reliability when it comes to reaching out and touching something, or something touching you. Correct?” “Yes!” said Bob. “Ok, when you are talking to me I can hear you, and when I talk to you, you can hear me as well correct?” “Of course!” Said Bob. “So we can agree that our sense of hearing is at about the same level of reliability as our sense of touch correct?” “Sure.” said Bob. “I can see you standing in front of me right now Bob, can you see me?” “Well of course.”said Bob. “So we can agree that our sense of Sight, touch, and sound are all very tangible, very reliable senses that we have as human beings right?” “Agreed! “ exclaimed Bob. “Ok Bob, are you able to detect god with ANY of these three reliable senses?” “Well, no. Bob said. “What senses are you using to experience god with Bob?” “Well, I believe in him!” Bob said defiantly. “Ok Bob,” Jim looked down at Bob’s wedding ring. “Let me borrow your wedding ring for a moment. Do you love your wedding ring Bob?” “Well, I love my wife, and that ring is a representation of my love for her, so I guess yea. I do Jim.” Said Bob. “Mmmkay, I want to show you something.” Jim took the ring from Bob’s hand and said, “Stay right here Bob.” And with the ring in hand, Jim walked into the shack nearby. A few seconds later Jim walked out the door and said, “Okay Bob, I’ve left your wedding ring somewhere in that shack right there. You love, or at the very least have strong feelings of affection for that ring right?” “Yes.” He said. “Ok, without using ANY of your senses can you tell me where inside that shack I’ve left your ring?” Bob thought for a moment, “Well, “ he began, “If I can’t use any of those three senses to locate it, that means I can’t really go in there and look for it because I’d be using touch and sight to search for it. How am I supposed to know where it is?” “Well,” Jim began, you have a longing to have your ring back right? You care for it and as such you are concerned that it is not within your safe keeping right?” “Yes!” Bob said. “So, it’s safe to say, in regards to your belief that god created you and every other human, that in doing so, he gave you a sense of care, so to speak?” “Right.” Said Bob. “So knowing that your sense of care cannot possibly locate this thing you care about without the use of the other three senses, why would a deity who wished that his constituents to worship him, only allow himself to be experienced by his people through the use of what we’ve just proven to be a comparatively unreliable sense, in this case care or love, but NOT be experienced by the only three senses humans can reliably count on for any tangibility?” Jim paused. Then said, You are telling me that I should live a life that’s centered around a tail told by a book that frankly has a VERY unstable creation and has been re-written numerous times, and been changed to fit whatever the current trend of morality happened to be during any given era, and believe in and worship the main character in this tail, (which by the way says that a lot of very unlikely and frankly physically impossible events that it says took place, but NONE of which every take place in THIS day and age), and this deity who supposedly created us didn’t bother to make himself detectable with ANY of the three most reliable senses HE gave us, and finally, that if I find this all to be utterly Ludacris because it absolutely defies all scientifically proven knowledge (Which CAN by-the-way be detected by said senses) and I choose to not believe, that as punishment, me and every single other human being on earth who agrees with me, (Even the ones who have never even HEARD of him) will suffer the worst possible agony for all of eternity after we die. This is what you expect me to follow? …..um, no.” and with that, Jim walked off and went ahead with his life and in regards to life events beyond his control didn’t experience anything worse OR better than Bob. Bob on the other hand led a difficult life because he believed that every ill fortune he experienced was a result of not being a good enough follower of god, and that every fortunate event was god blessing him for being a generally great god follower and as such, Bob’s ideas on improving ones own station in life were terribly skewed and so he basically learned nothing because everything was “gods doing” and only his level of faith could change his life for the better, not rational decisions. The end.
