13 September 1982

No Gods need apply

I was wondering why it is that I believe everything that happens, happens for a good reason. At first, I thought it was a belief in a sort of impersonal God. But then if I believe everything in every individual’s life is meaningful, then this impersonal God cannot be that impersonal. However, a personal God is not the only choice left. My belief may just as well be interpreted as a faith in the universe – that with all its marvelous beauty, it cannot be capricious.

8 comments:

Bert Bananas said...

Dear Al, it would seem that you have never been a serious golfer. Serious golfers at some point in time realize that there are no answers for the seeming capriciousness of unfolding events. We soon drop the "seeming" and learn to expect the unexpected and to never know the how or the why of it.

As for your belief in "...everything happens for a good reason..." I see this as a total sell out. Once you accept this notion, it become self-defining and you're blithely explaining to the victims at Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945 was an EXCEPTIONAL year!) what the good reason was for dropping the Big One on them. You might convince some them your reasoning is sound, but I don't think it will be a majority. Always looking for a silver lining always works... until it doesn't work.

brownie said...

I don't believe everything happens for a GOOD reason, but rather for SOME reason. The reason may be to allow bad things to happen once in a while (actually more often than not) so that human beings may actually learn something about life.

If everything were hunky-dorry and we got everything our little hearts desired, we'd never grow up or learn true virtues like compassion, empathy, love and caring. For I believe they come not from the sky, or some book, or a lover, but from suffering. Therefore, the reason for the bad things that happen in life can actually be turned to good.

Peace....

grasshopper said...

As it seems, everything happens, not for a good reason, but for good excuse.

christian said...

hard issues- why does anything happen? glad there are still some people out there willing to think deep thoughts about life. i'd like to think that all the marvelous beauty in the universe had some purpose behind it because it was created on purpose by a creator. if not- how do we account for beauty at all? accidental beauty..? that would be depressing...

Anonymous said...

I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation. I cannot do this in spite of the fact that mechanistic causality has, to a certain extent, has been placed in doubt by modern science. [He was speaking of Quantum Mechanics and the breaking down of determinism.] My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of the highest importance -- but for us, not for God.
-- Albert Einstein, from Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press

stephen said...

The Universe is unfolding as it was meant to.Evolution is constant and everchanging it has nothing to do with any deity,personal or otherwise....

rmacapobre said...

just like einstein. he admired the complexity and the perceived order of the universe.

Anonymous said...

So, "no gods need apply" isn,t it odd how the atheistic mentality is so preoccupied with their denial of God, that their greatest fear is someone who would speak of God? I was under the impression that God would be the last thing on their mind. Or, is it that by denying God hard enough, they might somehow provoke Him to speak directly to that atheist,as if, He were not already speaking to him. Is it not the equivalent of, "he saved others ,if he is God, let him save himself and come down from that cross" If attention is what you are seeking,read the Bible and find Him.