Good question
Submitted by F.O.D. on March 23 2000 23:51:39
In reply to What if There Were no Heaven? submitted by Ford Prefect on March 19 2000 10:04:15
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I've wondered a little over this question before, though not through to its entirety. My initial reaction is to say I like God for his own sake, for his friendship and love, and that's still valid even if I turn to ashes and become but a memory in God's heart. Life with him today should be enough. But as forgiv'n quite properly mentioned, Paul brings up the argument of logic (or should that be "logic of argument"?), that if there is no resurrection, then we are to be pitied more than all men. So how does that fit? Is there really no point "trying to be 'good'", if we're just going to dust anyway? What exactly did Paul have in mind when he wrote those words? I'm inclined to prefer to see things another way, namely, that the goodness of life with God near and now is very "proof" of life after. If God takes so much delight in us today, through the mistakes and the insanity, how much more will he delight to have us near afterwards, when there are no more mistakes to be made? Not exactly "proof", really, but I think I like keeping that kind of perspective. So, if God's plan for us were to have us shine with life for a brief period, before the flame passes along, would that truly mean there would be no point living in love with God? But why would there need to be a point? Couldn't we just live our brief life seeking to know and love him, and finding joy and him? Why would that be meaningless? Was Paul really trying to say it would be meaningless? Could Paul have been wrong? I hate asking that sort of question, it makes me nervous, but sometimes I have to. Or perhaps rather Paul had something else in mind. Maybe he wasn't thinking it terms of some intellectual "what-if", maybe he was referring to our real life, where we believe there is an afterlife and preach that, and he's saying it would be rotten to be preaching that if it weren't true after all. To put the question another way, does God's will have any meaning for real life today, or does it only matter in eternal terms? That is, take sin, for instance. If we sin, there are consequences, right? God hates it when we sin, but is that just because he hates it because he hates it, or is there a reason behind him calling something sin. That is, does God call something sin because it objectively wroughts destruction on our life here and now, or because he arbitrarily wants to call it sin? Is God's will for us arbitrary, or is it actively designed to make us the best we can be? I should like to think the latter, that God does not ask things of us for no good reason, but because they will bring some good and life and love. But I find it truly difficult to identify any objectively good reason for God to stand against homosexuality. It's like he says it's wrong (as many or most read it in the Bible) because he wants to say it's wrong, not because there's any real reason for doing so. And I find that a very sour justification for Will. Did I get off-topic? I meant to make a happy and brief reply about the joy of living today with God, but got onto something else. Too many things on my mind all at once. Love, F.O.D. |
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