God, the afterlife and meaning

Is there some metaphysical being watching over us?

Herein lies the key.

A creator who made the earth in seven days seems like a rather simple concept - something a primitive story teller would dream up to explain complex stories of creation. The whole saga of the Garden of Eden, sin and the origin of man, as told in the Bible, seems more like a fable than any kind of historical account or real explanation of creation. My suspicion is that most Christians don’t hold to this story literally. (Note the “most”.)

On the other hand, if we look around us, we see a constant interplay of entropy and enthalpy. Whether it’s the process of photosynthesis taking place in the veins of a leaf, or a cab driver taking you to an airport, there is a constant chemical interplay of time and energy. The petrol in the taxi’s fuel tank is not inert, it combusts when introduced to a spark.

The sandwich that cab driver ate isn’t inert either. As he drives you to the airport, his stomach is digesting that sandwich, removing nutrients and taking them as power for his body.

And it’s not just on Earth. Every moment, powerful winds and strong gases are moving, exploding and being lit up with lightning on the moons of Saturn. Everywhere there is energy. It may be in the form of life with neurons firing in the brain. It may be in the warm recesses of a deep sea volcanic vent.

I put it to you, that this is God. The fact that we live in a universe blessed with the passage of time and energy is more awe inspiring than any bearded man sitting in a cloud watching over us.

But this concept has no intelligence. But what is intelligence really? Can the Christian God claim intelligence?

I’ve always thought of intelligence as a combined process of receiving information, making decisions and reacting, with the level of intelligence being defined by how complex those decisions are.

I don’t think this concept can be applied to the Christian God at all. If it’s omnipotent, it is therefore omniscient. If it can see all and knows all, then logically, it can’t receive information it already has. Unless you believe God is as ignorant of the future as the rest of us, then you can’t define God as a decision-making intelligence.

If God doesn’t know the future, then it can’t be the architect of a grand plan - at least, not one without risk of failure. I’ve heard no words indicating God could fail or be ignorant of our destiny.

If God has indeed set some ball in motion regarding our future that it has already foreseen, then it isn’t really much of a process we’re participating in at all - being all-knowing is the same as knowing nothing. It’s all relative.