Saturday, August 14, 2010

The Devil Doesn't HAVE to be an Atheist.





In another fictitious world, yes, the devil is no atheist. In my fictional world, a Ranger, Bard, Paladin, and Sorcerer do battle with a legendary dragon with the aid of four different gods. The point? It doesn't matter how you say it, devils and gods are figments of the imagination. We live in reality, but some people don't seem to recognize the difference between what's real and what's fantasy. Reality is the most difficult part of life, so it comes as no surprise that people invent ways to make it easier. Unfortunately, the recliner in your living room isn't what I'm talking about.

Many people often wonder, 'Why doesn't God do the things that he used to do, such as raining fire from heaven and turning water into blood or wine?' Well, the answer is simple; he didn't, because he never existed, and neither did the thousands of other gods before and after him. Christianity has been around for a very long time and is the oldest religion because it's mainstay in human society has been mostly political. Why does this matter? Well, think about it. Worshiping God (let's say this for the sake of argument, by the way) is engaging in a monotheistic religion, which is the worship of a single god. All that is required at this point is to gather up about a hundred of your closest friends (a lot of which should be in very high places, pardon the pun) and spread the word that you've found the one true god. Oh, and do make it sound very convincing, like... 'If you don't believe me, here's his book. And if you still don't believe me, we'll torture or kill you.'

Polytheistic religions had next to no chance of establishing a political position in society. Imagine having to worship a bunch of different gods, and what if someone didn't want to worship a particular god? More problems than necessary would arise, so it's no surprise that a 'one true god' was conceived, then spread around like a disease until it had infected nearly every corner of the globe. Let's not also forget the issue of money, which religion has no problem with. Slap the two together and suddenly you have a god that demands 10% of your weekly income for whatever reason in addition to a human sacrifice every now and again. We won't get into any of the other requirements you have to meet to be a 'good' person.

Another big problem is that the Christian religion is divided into several denominations who obviously can't agree on the same thing. For example, some of them believe that the doctrine regarding the Holy Trinity is correct, while others believe that God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ are separate entities with different purposes. Still others regard the Abrahamic teachings to be accurate, while a couple (that I'm aware of) don't teach from the bible at all! You'd think that if God wanted his word taught right, he'd either have taught it himself or had a single book written in a language that EVERYONE could understand.

In conclusion, the devil is no atheist because he exists in a fictional world where the god he corresponds with exists. Unfortunately, that world is outside of the bounds of reality, something that was conjured up in someone's head. In reality, things are far more different and operate on a predictable basis where science and the people who understand it can logically pursue an end that all of humanity can comprehend. I honestly wouldn't want to live any other way, especially if that way deluded my sense of logic.

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