Feel how deeply precious it is that you have been given life…
Why should God get all the glory? That’s what some guy (I did not check the name, but it is always guys) wondered about on Quora. Why do people thank God when something good is achieved, but not blame him when things go wrong? It ain’t fair, yadda yadda. (What, they don’t blame God? Go read the Book of Job and say that again with a straight face.)
Well, here’s a few thoughts on why.
Basically, to a believer, the relationship to God is like the relationship to parents, only more so. Without them you would not been here, and without God they would not been here, nor the world in general. If you think it is a good thing that the world exists, and if you think it is a good thing that you are in it, it behooves you to pay some respect to the Creator, if any.
Of course, if you start from the position that there is no Creator, it makes no sense to pay any respect in that direction. We know that.
Now if you think making the world was a big mistake, you have a legitimate quarrel with God. This is a very rare point of view, though. Most people who stay in the world think it has some good qualities.
From the point of view of the believer, lack of gratitude to God is like being a whiny child.
“Waah! My dad gave me a gift but it wasn’t as big as I wanted or as much fun as I wanted! Waah!”
“Waah! My God gave me a life but it wasn’t as long as I wanted or as comfortable as I wanted! Waah!”
Being given life is seen as a priceless opportunity by the believer. (Of course, most of us still want the biggest and most shiny version, given the chance. Nothing wrong with that, but sometimes that doesn’t happen, and we tell each other that it was perhaps not what we needed, and Dad knows best. This makes us feel better – “us” in this case being those who say it, not necessarily those on the receiving end, see Book of Job again.)
But of course, if you are not a believer in the first place, none of this makes sense. Humans, trees, rocks … all are just assemblages of molecules, shifting forms that arise and disappear into ultimate oblivion. There is no life, only organic chemistry. There is no hope, only electrochemical fluctuations in the brain. Nothing lasts, except entropy. We are random shapes born to be forgotten, drifting without volition through a brief existence on a temporary speck of dust in a vast, cold cosmos relentlessly winding down. A logical worldview – but not one that resonates with most people, at least not yet.
It bothers me that you expect miracles. I don’t do miracles. I am not a person who can do miracles, certainly not whenever it pleases me.
If I wanted people to think I was a guru, I would not write about computer games every few weeks, or about embarrassing dreams I have had, or post pictures of myself washing the floor. I don’t want people to think that I am awesome. I certainly don’t see myself as a guru with spiritual superpowers.
If you are plagued by demons (mind parasites) then the recommended thing is to go back to basics. Don’t be attached to your spiritual insights, special powers or special knowledge. See if you can make other people’s lives brighter by living an ordinary life. It is possible to start over, even more than once. As a baby we had nothing. We were born emptyhanded, every one of us. It is possible to start over.
We can become as little children.
But if you have a literal neurological problem, of course you could seek medical help. I am not sure if thinking that I can read your mind qualifies. I mean, there are people who think Obama is a Muslim born in Indonesia, and who are still not hospitalized. As far as I am concerned, most of us are a bit crazy already. But I assure you, I can’t read people’s minds or know things in their lives except by accident, entirely outside my control.
But seriously, consider simplifying your life. Heaven smiles on simple people. (Simple as in uncomplicated, not as in stupid. Stupid people can make quite a mess.) Life is simple, but we tend to make it complicated. The Bible says so. Confucius says so. And so do I.
The problem was a stomach condition triggering anxiety.
Glad to hear that, especially if you are feeling better now!
Hi Magnus,
I saw your post about giving glory to God. I wrote a post on the same subject and wondered if you would like to read it and possibly give your views.
http://www.removingveils.com/why-should-god-get-all-glory/
I don’t think any believer would disagree with your post in principle. It is in practice that the grumbling starts: When loved ones sicken, suffer and die; when natural disasters kill thousands of seemingly random people; when the greedy trample down the poor and the weak with iron heel. Then people ask: Where is God now?
“God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.” (Ecclesiastes 5.) When Adam – that is, all of us – made the choice to know good and evil, it was necessary to know the both of them up close and personal. This is the world we live in: A mixture of good and evil, of joy and sorrow. And as long as we think and live like the first Adam, that’s the world where we belong. At the end of this life, having known good and evil, I wonder: Which did we choose?
One should not need to be a Christian (or even an adult) to understand this, really. Simply think: If the world – the planet itself – were to act the way I act toward others, would we live in a paradise today?
Me, I find that I am not even better than this world in which I live, much less do I feel like I can measure up to Heaven and he who made it.