Imagine There's No Heaven

or, "Questions That Pop Up When You Surf The Web With A Nice Glass of Red Wine".

So, I'm surfing around and looking at blogs and I come to one where the girl doing the blog says, in so many words, because God loves me, I'm going to build a camp for disabled kids. I have no problem with camps for kids with disabilities, in fact I think we need to do all kinds of things for all kinds of people whose lives are affected by things beyond their control...yknow, like hurricane victims and such.

Anyway, my question is, why do we have to do these things because God loves us? Why is it "better" if we do these things because of God? So many people are so quick to say, well, God told me to do this and I did it. But isnt it just as good if we do a camp for disabled kids because, well, disabled kids got a raw deal on the old genetic roulette wheel and we should do whatever we can to make up for it? Why do we need a concept of God to be good? Why cant we just do things because we're all stuck here on this rock together and wouldnt it be nice if we just did stuff like that to make the generally difficult go of it that 99% of us, Christian Jew Muslim Hindu Atheist Whatever, have most of the time rather than having to do it because God loves us?

See, here's the thing I suspect -- what Jesus really said back there wandering around in Palestine is, life sucks, and then you die, and there's a lot of it you have no control over, but it seems to me if we all took care of each other and appreciated the short time we have and treated each other with the same dignity because we're all in the same stupid predicament, it would be much more palatable. How good would it be, said the prophet, if everybody would just be nice to each other for a change?

Again, if we're just racking up points so God will like us and give us cushy new digs in his Vegas-style heaven, that's stupid and pointless and worthless. And if the real point of religion is to get us to be nice to each other, why cant we just DO that? Why do we have to put in place all this pointless power structure crap that seems to result in discrimination and child abuse and things that just make our time more difficult? Why does religion not make things EASIER in a world where things are already tough?

Anywho. This is what you get from a guy who lives underground by himself on occasion. Hope your All Hallows' Eve is good -- next up, spooky stuff from the great Inkling, Charles Williams.....