Friday, September 12, 2008

9-11 Made God Irrelevant

Here is what I would say about 9-11 if I had the courage: Did God know the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon were about to happen? If there is a God, and that God can have an influence on our world, I have to think that God would have nudged the pilots' hands and brought those airplanes to different ends. Maybe there was a God who set this all in motion at the beginning of time as some of my scientific friends believe. Maybe there is a God who started the processes that lead to the creation of the initial life that evolved into us. But that God must have set it in motion then stood back, hands off, to let it be self-guided, self-realized, and that God must be practicing a policy of total non-intervention. Therefore, prayer is irrelevant. If God did not answer the prayers of those on board the planes to stop the event or the prayers of those in the buildings to stop the collapse, then God is not going to help me get over the flu faster or keep my children safe on the chess club bus or at college. It is up to me to take care of my body to keep it healthy and to teach my children to be competent and strong and make the right choices to keep themselves safe wherever they are. If God did not know the attacks of September 11, 2001 were about to happen, then that God does not know if we are worshipping him/her/it either. So worship is irrelevant. If God knew and did not fix it, then God cannot be trusted to keep any promises of salvation. So belief is irrelevant. If God knew and could only make it less bad than it could have been, God has limited powers and prayer and worship and belief are irrelevant. I don't believe there IS a God, as such a powerless or limited or distant or uninvolved God seems unlikely, but if there IS a God who has set us on some course to never ever interfere, then prayer and worship and church and religion and belief are irrelevant. An irrelevant God is roughly the same as no God.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh, crap. Didn't you read Gene's post on "IF"? Too bad you had to couch this one in "if there is a God" terms. On the other hand, your "irrelevancy" argument is hard to beat.