“God did it.”
I’m sure that all of us have at some point in our lives pondered upon questions such as “where did we come from?” and “why are we here?” I have, although I’m not much of a philosopher. I can’t remember the last time I put serious thought into coming up with an answer to such questions; it must have been at least a couple years ago. Being not too bright, I simply concluded that the answer is nowhere to be found, and that I should get won with my life. But a recent event got me thinking about this again.
My grandfather’s younger brother (is there a noun to describe such a person?) passed away a few days ago. Having no clue as to who he was, I’m not surprised that I wasn’t moved much emotionally. By the way, I’m amazed at how individualistic we’ve become in modern society. Traditionally, Koreans were very family-oriented; the fact that we have nouns for relatives like one’s grandfather’s younger brother attests to this. Today, we have been forced to become more concerned about ourselves and only ourselves by a merciless, hectic society. But this is an issue to be discussed another time. Back to the topic.
So, this man’s death - reminding me once again of where we’re all headed - brought up those questions in my mind. If we are all going to die anyway, why bother being alive? Surely there must be more to life than, as biologists suggest, to leave offspring who will carry our gene into the future. Science cannot prove the existence of any world other than the one which we occupy. As far as science is concerned, there is no God and there in no heaven. Just fact. Scientists have a theory about how the universe came to being. We’ve all heard about it: the Big Bang Theory. Long, long ago, the entire universe was concentrated into a single point, called a singularity. This exploded with a big bang and expanded rapidly, and is still expanding, creating the universe as we know it. But there is one question, despite all the knowledge we’ve accumulated since mankind appeared on Earth, we cannot answer using science. Where did that come from? Who put that singularity there in the first place?
Well, if science cannot provide an answer, can this thing we call religion provide one? Some certainly think so. And this is exactly why I don’t accept religion as anything more than, as Karl Marx put it, “the opiate of the masses.” Religion acts as a filler of sorts. If we can’t come up with an explanation using science, many jump to the conclusion that “God did it.”
Let’s think about this for a moment. In ancient civilization, when such a thing as science did not even exist, when we had absolutely no knowledge of how the natural world operated, everything must have seemed magical. Something as simple as rain must have seemed fascinating. Today, know it rains when condensed water vapor in the sky becomes too heavy to withstand gravity. But people back then didn’t know that, did they? So they invented a rain god. Most, if not all, ancient religions are polytheistic.
It seems to me that primitive religion sprang as an effort to explain the unexplainable; and with little to no knowledge of science, a god of whatever was the best explanation. True religion was formed when we started to praying to these gods in an effort to influence the natural world to work in our favor.
The hand of god?
Of course, I have absolutely no proof of this; what I say is merely my own speculation. Still, I believe that the ideas I have put out have some ground. As we learned more about the world, and more scientific ideas replaced superstition, the need for multiple gods disappeared. We realized that weather couldn’t be influenced by praying, so we got rid of the rain god, and the sun god, and whatever other god there may have been.
Today, most religions are monotheistic. There’s just God himself. But why do we still need this god? Because we cannot answer the questions I posed at the beginning of this post. We don’t know where we came from, or why we’re here so we just explain it away as an act of God. God put us here. God did it.
So are we really here to prepare for an eternal life in heaven (or hell)? Or are we just here to live and die, as science suggests. No one can say for sure. I’d like to think there’s a reason we’re here, but quite frankly, it really doesn’t matter. Because if this really is all we have, if there’s nothing after death, then it’s all the more reason to make the most out of this gift we call life.
Photo by G-tastic 7
November 11th, 2007 at 8:52 am
What an interesting post - not what most high school students are mulling over in their free time.
Early cultures used systems of belief to impose order on the world. Even without a formal religion, I believe most of us seek similar structure in our lives. My personal code relies heavily on loyalty and some regard for the feelings of others.
Whether or not there will be an “eternal reward” for me at the end of my life, this type of humanistic outlook helps me achieve some measure of peace in an often chaotic and enigmatic world.
“Peace is not something you wish for; It’s something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away.” -Robert Fulghum
November 12th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
I didn’t think about people’s impulse to seek some sort of order in life. That’s a really good point. But I don’t think that’s necessarily the main source of religion. As you said so yourself, people who don’t believe in religion also seek to impose order on their lives. Religion offers something more than order. And perhaps the whole notion of an afterlife sprang from the fear of death itself?
November 17th, 2007 at 10:24 am
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December 2nd, 2007 at 2:43 am
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December 4th, 2007 at 12:45 am
[…] visit some of my friend’s blogs. Among many, I particularly found very interesting to read an blog post from my friend, Joon. Scientists have a theory about how the universe came to being. We’ve all […]
April 20th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Grandfather’s brother –> your great-uncle.