Not-So-Intelligent Design
When one is exposed to an act that supposedly showcases self-sacrifice and love that seeks nothing in return, it’s easy to get lost in the melodrama and forget the nuances of the entire situation. Who wouldn’t be moved at the thought of someone you don’t know willingly suffering through hours of flagellation and a brutal crucifixion? Who wouldn’t be humbled when someone regarded as superior voluntarily gives up the position to just be up to the mercy of crazed men?
Millions. Yes, those were rhetorical questions, but once you really take a step back from this overly romanticized lie fabricated by people from two thousand years ago, it would be clear that the logic that they used was clearly flawed if not terribly lacking. The idea of having a nobleman choosing to take of his fancy garb along with his status to be subject to the worst that man could dish out is touching to say the least, but one factor is different here. That nobleman is a mere human. He did not choose to be put into that situation and sacrificing himself for the supposed greater good were decisions that he made based on the limited variables that he could control.
Let’s try it this way then.
Imagine yourself as the architect of the universe. You control the realm of possibility. Nothing will exist if you do not will it. Nothing will happen if you do not place it as something that is possible. Your power is so immense that the existence of concepts also rely on your approval. To further illustrate, you could’ve chosen to have not made the scrumptious and fleshy mature plant ovaries that we now arbitrarily call as fruits to be common place. One word (or thought) would have stricken it off the realm of possibility. No one will miss it because it never existed - similar to how a person in 1800s never had a yearning for a world ran and dominated by the world wide web.
Things like love, joy, happiness and euphoria exist because you made them exist. Concepts such as famine, death, plague and decay also persist because you chose to make them part of the list of things that could happen. Words are but words. We can arbitrarily call any phenomenon, physical entity or abstract concept with any term, but regardless of what name it goes by with, the characteristics and the essence of what it stands for remains the same. That is the rationale behind creation - everything about it was by you.
This includes the concept of sin. The ability to sin was an unnecessary addition to creation and an intelligent architect would’ve simply edited it out of the final design. Sure, sin does make life more exciting for what it’s worth but is the threat of eternal damnation - yet another concept constructed by the supposedly perfect creator — worth the risk? Doesn’t it reek of a pathologic sadistic tendency? If you were the creator, wouldn’t you have just removed the possibility of sin, pain, greed and everything that is wrong in today’s world so that your creation would just flourish for your greater glory? Wouldn’t a smart designer do that? Again, if you’re going to argue on the basis of boredom or restrictions, don’t bother. Just like Pocahontas who didn’t get to use a cellular phone to stay in touch with Atahualpa, people won’t miss it one bit if it never existed in their realm of possibilities.
What is the purpose of sin then?
Sin was added by the supposedly intelligent creator so that he could come back one and save the day. It’s like a playwright casting himself in his dream play and making sure that all the lights will be on him. He made sure that every concept was in line so that he could bask in the glory of being number one. It’s an egoistic entity wanting credit for hanging the very nemesis of man over his head.
The whole story speaks of a creator who only created the universe so that in the end, people would realize how great he is even if a lot of the entities and concepts he created were either vindictive, self-serving or simply unnecessary.
I personally feel that it’s alright to believe in your god if you think you have to (and need to). But why believe in a fabricated story by a few deranged men from two thousand years ago and claim that it is the truth?
Benj also blogs at http://atheista.net
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April 17th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Somebody said necessity is the mother of invention. Sin was invented because ancient racketeers found a need to earn easy money. They are what we call now as priests, bishops, and pastors who mulct the gullible masa of hard-earned cash to keep them in line and to keep their bellies full and hands unsoiled.