Letter 7: Hey Joe!

I don’t think I’m a bad person, but I certainly would not consider myself a righteous one either. I grew up running with the wrong crowd and eventually I got into enough trouble that I landed myself in the local jail at the ripe old age of 19. At the time, I would not say that I was an atheist, although if you had asked me if I believed in God I would have said no. I was instead simply unconcerned with such things as God and religion. However, I had an experience while in jail that left me with little room for doubt that there was at least something out there, and this made me interested in God.

 

After my release, I started investigating God and religion (mostly from the Bible), and while I was learning, I began remembering things that I had learned in science classes which caused me to raise a few questions in my mind. I therefore ramped up my efforts to learn and this led me to speak with a man who knew a lot more about science and religion than I did. In our conversation, he unloaded a mountain of evidence on me that seemed to indicate that the Bible was not accurate. He showed me many points of comparison between the Bible and science regarding the origin of the Earth that did not add up, and I found that everything he said was quite accurate. So, as a result, I began to seriously consider the validity of religion and the Bible. However, I continued to search, exploring both Bible and non-Bible based faiths to see if I could find anything that would better support God’s creation of the Earth. However, I found nothing. Thus, I hit a point where it seemed rational to disbelieve in God. However, I could not get past the experience I had in jail. I knew somebody was there and this led me to do something that I had never done before (at least not seriously) - pray, assuming if God did exist, He would defend Himself on the issue.

 

It wasn’t much of a prayer. I simply directed the question verbally to God regarding His creation of the Earth, and I was surprised when a response came instantly. As soon as I asked my question, a different question popped into my mind: How would anyone know how I created the Earth? This thought led to a string of thoughts that entered my mind as follows: “The Earth is a place where I test the faith of my children, and there can be no faith if there are no options for choice. I purposely created the Earth in such a manner that it would appear as though I both did and did not create it, so that both options would be viable.”

 

These thoughts took me off guard because I had never even considered such a concept. I found myself laughing out loud as I contemplated what it meant, and I asked one more question (out loud) without even realizing that the words were coming out of my mouth. “You mean you planted false evidence?” I never got a reply, but that is what I gathered from it.

 

Thereafter, I tucked this experience away in my mind and I moved on. This left me believing in God and it settled my mind and so for quite some time, I did not actively engage in my search for truth but instead went about life (college, marriage, kids, job, etc.). However, from time to time I would think about what I learned from this prayer and I would try to envision God creating the Earth.

 

Given that my natural disposition in life is that of a smart a*s, I could only envision a scene that left me laughing every time - God directing the Angels, “Hey Joe, have your men bury a few more dinosaur bones over there and make it look believable. And oh yeah, make sure the Neanderthal skeleton gets in the right place.”

 

Anyway, after having this experience with prayer, I went for some time not knowing what to do with this information, but later in life when I started discovering the amazing things that science has revealed about matter, the light in my mind turned on and everything started to make sense.

 

So, with this new thought, let’s go back to the analogy of the Matrix-like world and universe and assign some assumptions to it: (1) there is a God; (2) He has children and He wants them to learn faith via hands-on experience; (3) in order to create a situation where faith could be learned, He purposely created all things in a way such that there would be viable evidence for both theories (God existing & God not existing, creation & evolution); and (4) He created the Earth and universe in a virtual way, using light and conscious energy (like the Matrix) which he then plugs his children into systematically so they each get their respective chance to learn.

 

Under these assumptions, consider what life would be like in that world and universe. As far as I can tell, it could be exactly like ours, if God wanted it to be. Thus, how do we know it is not ours? Everything I find thus far tells me that our lives are similar to this, but not quite so simplistic. There is more to it than this that brings it out of the movies and into reality. In the next letter, we will begin discussing what that is.

 

Until then,

 

Joshua 

Reviews

[Meat of Dog]

Interesting that you had a spotty childhood! I too did the same thing but got wise before running into legal trouble (with the things I was doing I have no idea HOW I managed to avoid it). This is a good piece of information to have because it shows you have some real-world experience of hardship against which you base your theories as opposed to those who were born with a silver spoon and a pocket of money who try to be philosophers. It’s interesting how you meshed creation theory and the evolution of space in the idea that god made ‘evidence’ that pointed against him to test faith. Actually, my ex had the exact same idea. She used to say ‘that rock that science says is old? God MADE it old, duh. See, he made everything, in an instant, millions of years old.’ I have literally not heard that theory again since reading this letter here. You’ve got me to do some thinking, and I guess that’s the point of these letters. Thank you!

[bOhEmIa (mahim)]

Have you tried other religious scriptures? Just curious.

[michael.c.m]

Letter 7 read thus far - A reflection: is this delusion? or is it illusion? Have to admit, there are more souls beneath these skies that believe. You(the author) have an open mind, inquisitive of truth, at least your personal truth, and this quest never ends poorly. About religion, globally, could be more about control than anything else. Good reading thus far. ps- read Heidegger about the nature of being - could add more texture; read Husserl on phenomenology.

[Coffee Vampier]

Ps. We believe the King James version to be the most correct.

[Coffee Vampier]

I am slightly confused as to what in the bible was wrong. Then again there are plenty of things wrong with the King James version. Think about it if there is a God there must be a Satan to create the evil. Now take this into account... If there is a Satan he will want to do anything do make sure that the writings in the Bible don't add up. This being said may people over thousands of years have taken the Bible and have taken things out to their liking. Thieves and robbers have taken pages out and misplaced them and so on. Now if there is a God would he not want the correct translation here on earth to teach his children? In my church we believe the Lord had given Joseph Smith the bible to correctly translate hence the Joseph Smith Translation. To back up the Bile we have the Book of Mormon. The bible testifies of the Book of Mormon it talks of another branch to come forth among the children. As the Book of Mormon testifies of the of the Bible. Now if one were to think the Book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith it's highly impossible but that's another story..

[CHRIS ANDES]

can't deny the fact that it's full of essential words ..

[Serenity]

Interesting approach. I confess I just read this part since you requested me to read, but I like your style enough to go back and read the rest. For me its never been a question of if but rather why. And thats something we all have to seek for ourselves. Good work so far. Can't wait to read more.

[SilverTearRusted]

The letter presentation is effective, and style poignant, flowing naturally, freely. I appreciate the philosophy of self, as well as that of the nature around us. Finding purpose in the seemingly significant and insignificant equally is truly nature to my soul. The science and religion are just vehicles in which to evaluate that nature... in this case, you have provoked thought and consideration of the an age old argument. Well done.

[Parashar]

well written

[Coyote Poetry]

The more we know. The less we believe. The birth of my children gave me purpose. Before the kids. I saw death before 39 year old. I wanted a Hemingway death. Babies made me realize. We are here to mark a path. To teach and to hope to do some good. Religion and logic is a hard place to be and to understand. We live in a world where I seen Christian kill Muslims and Muslim kill Christians. They believed they were doing the right thing. I never understood how they got the logic of killing another person because of religion was right? The more I live. The less I know. Today 2,000 kids and woman died of hunger in Africa. Woman in the USA are killing their children and then themselves. So many questions and no answers. A government can spend 1.2 trillion on war. Not give shelter and food to a woman in need. I don't know. If there is God. He must be sleeping. Thank you for the chapter. Made me think.
Coyote