Below is a parable. Feel free to comment and share thoughts.
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There was once a great professor who was well known through out the land. He was an avowed atheist who wrote and spoke of the certainty that there was no God or afterlife. The professor had a great following but deep in his heart, he knew that he hid behind his brilliance and intellect. His crusade against religion had not brought him the meaning he desired. The professor felt a hunger for truth, even if he had no idea what truth might be.
During his time at the university, the professor had heard of an old mystic who lived up in the hills outside the city. Up in the mountains the mystic had created a small community for the people society had rejected: the poor, the sick, the lepers, the unwanted immigrants. The mystic was said to be the wisest man and this rumor had from time to time made the professor quite jealous. But eventually his desire become stronger than his pride and the renowned professor packed a bag and hiked up into the mountains.
After a good day’s journey, he arrived in the mystic’s small community. He found him in his small hut, deep in prayer and meditation. After a time, the mystic opened his deep green eyes and looked at the professor.
“What can I do for you, my son?” He said quietly.
“All my life, I have believed and taught that this life is it. Nothing before and after. No God pulling the strings. But instead of this belief freeing me, I feel nothing. I am alone. Even my fame leaves me unfulfilled. Teach me the meaning of truth.”
“You do not believe in God?” the mystic asked.
“No. I have never felt or seen him in my life. I have never had reason to believe God exists.”
The mystic nodded. “If there is no God, there is no great being to fix the mess this world is in. It is up to us. Near your university I know there is a homeless shelter and an orphanage that are always in need of volunteers. Go and work there as much as you can, and there you will find truth.”
The mystic closed his eyes again and began to pray. The professor returned to the university, disappointed in the mystic’s reply.
The following weeks the professor began to volunteer during the weekends at the shelter and orphanage. Gradually over time he began to volunteer his evenings as well. Within two years, he had enjoyed his work so much that he quit his job at the university and become the director of the orphanage. He began to write about his work at the orphanage, and his published works had begun to bring in enough money to refurbish the building and provide more facilities for those in need. For the first time in his life, the former professor felt true love and meaning for the work and people he had touched.
One morning the former professor returned to the mystic’s community up in the hills. He rushed into the mystic’s home and found him praying but began to speak anyway.
“I was wrong!” he shouted. “I was completely wrong! There is a God. I have seen his love in the smile of an orphan. I have seen his mercy in the soup line, his joy in the embrace of another. I have seen his words of love written in the lines of a poor man’s face. And although I do not know him fully, There is a God!”
The mystic stood up, smiled, and went to embrace him.
Not a fan of this. What is the point? That people who are atheists, non-believers in a higher authority like God are devoid of meaning in their lives? So what if an egotistical professor who wrapped himself in his own knowledge discovered happiness in helping others? How does that in any way signify god’s work? can’t that simply be the work of man’s good intentions, born from our own intellectual capacity to understand the ultimate fruits of our labors? God and the perception of such as a figure to guide us towards making “moral” choices, “healthy” decisions, and spreading “kindness” are concepts uniquely human and thus open to individual interpretation; when people share beliefs it become religion and cultural practices, I.E. Christianity and its hundreds of sects. God is a scapegoat for the ills and flaws of Humanity- you prove this point in your analysis of the movie, The Watchmen. Why do you define your life by the rigid guidelines of trusting in a god? Has god helped you? Or maybe somebody else did? What if you helped yourself? How would you be able to tell the difference between your own good human intentions and what you as a member of the human race believe is right versus what god, however interpreted, is right?
Embrace your own mortality and weakness, its what makes you Human and perfect. Better to believe in nothing when there is nothing to point for or against.
You have a lot of good points. I’ll do my best to respond to them all.
As to the question of so what if an egotistical professor discovered happiness in helping others, to me it is significant. I find great meaning in serving others, even if I fail to do it as much or as well as I would like. I cannot make helping others significant to you.
Your question: “God and the perception of such as a figure to guide us towards making ‘moral’ choices, ‘healthy’ decisions, and spreading ‘kindness’ are concepts uniquely human and thus open to individual interpretation” is crucial. I agree with you to a certain degree. Truth is absolute and we cannot know it fully. But certainly we can say that there are some things that are wrong. Do I have the right to own slaves? Do you have the right to murder? These are more farfetched examples but none the less important. Once you open the gates to relativism, anything becomes possible. I wish to dwell somewhere in the middle. I believe there is truth in the Bible and while we may never be able to understand it fully, it is difficult to read the line “love your neighbor” and use it as justification to go to war.
What makes my guidelines rigid? That I even have guidelines? That I believe in God?
Has God helped me? Yes I believe so. Has someone else helped? Have I helped myself? Have I simply confused some kind stranger’s actions for some divine being’s? Maybe. I cannot prove or disprove anything, I only have what I believe and what I experience to be real. There is no way I can “tell” the difference, but I certainly feel something bigger than myself or those around me.
The point I was trying to make in the parable is that God is known through other people, that we can experience His love through other people. Faith and love is lived out through our works and relations with other people. That is significant for me, and I see that played out in the lives of Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Mother Teresa, etc. It is not merely, “Oh this nice man helped this old woman cross the street, it must be an act of God!” It is much deeper, more meaningful than that.
“Embrace your own mortality and weakness, its what makes you Human and perfect.” I agree there is something to be said for recognizing our own mortality with humility, but how does what makes you Human make you perfect? If by perfect you mean truly human, than we merely disagree on what the highest form of humanity can be. Humans are not compassionate by nature.
As to your last line, “Better to believe in nothing when there is nothing to point for or against”, I will simply say this: “The world needs more hypocrites. Hypocrites try to believe in something and fail, while there are plenty of people will believe in nothing and succeed.”