Unforced Errors

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.   Ephesians 6:12

Someone dies. Someone else loses a job.  We’ve had natural disasters galore between Mexico’s earthquake and an onslaught of record-shattering hurricanes.  The common question is “If there’s a loving God, why?”

People often ask that rhetorically to try to make the point that God doesn’t exist. Some people really want to know, in which case it’s a great question, but addressed top the wrong being.  Instead of arguing that disasters prove that either God is not love or simply doesn’t exist let’s argue that terrible events ARE proof that there is a devil who hates us all and loves to cause as much harm and suffering as possible!

Why is the evidence always directed against God instead of acknowledging the obvious, namely that such things prove that the world is wicked and the devil does exist? Ergo, God must exist too.

But let’s back up and take this from the top. Slowly.

God is love. As the Creator of us all and of all we can witness and more, God puts Himself last.  That’s how much He loves.

God wants a loving relationship with separate, intelligent life, so He created us and a world for us to live on and a universe in which it can exist. He created us in His image, but as individual beings apart from Himself.  He made us this way to have a real relationship, a relationship of choice on both parts.  See A Love Tutorial!

Furthermore, God put Himself at risk from His own creation, those He loves, by giving us the ability to say no. He makes plain what it takes to have a relationship with Him: don’t eat from that one tree.  Just that one.  Later it’s the Ten Commandments and certain conditions even after the Tree was chosen.  He never gave up on us!

Think on this: do you have someone who loves you? Do you cherish that love? Is that love meaningful to you?  What if you found out that that person only loves you under compulsion?  What if that person has no choice but to love you no matter what?  Would you still find that love meaningful to you?  Would you still cherish it?  Would that person even be an equal to you in your eyes once you discover that his or her love is mandatory for them?

They would perform all of the acts of love such that you wouldn’t know that it was forced upon them. But if you found out that it was all required, forced behavior, would you enjoy it as you do now?  At all?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other technologies are coming together to create robot companions; dinner company, house mate, slut…?  Go ahead and Google “Sexbots” and see how far we’ve fallen.  These automatons are for lonely people who will settle for all of the mindless acts of love, because they can’t find a real mate, sad as that is.

The point is that, in this case, the creators (humans) place themselves over the creature (robots). Humans would get conversation, company, a nanny, or sex from these things.  It’s all about what an individual can take from or do to something/someone else.

Did I just say “someone” in reference to robots? Well, yes.  Because lawyers and ethicists are starting to ask the question, “If AI is a sentient being, who’s going to protect the rights of these sexbots?”

While I find the argument ludicrous, it goes to prove my point; we are not at all like God. We – as a race – create a new “life form” for the acknowledged purpose of enslaving it to our will and even abuse.  Some people find that objectionable and want to protect the robots…and/or make a buck.

God did not create robots or AI. He created living, self-aware beings who could choose and then put Himself at risk by allowing us to reject Him.

And exactly how do we reject God? After He asks us to use His creation within its design parameters, i.e. be nice to each other and the planet, we do everything we can to use ourselves and others outside of everyone’s design parameters.

Some of us even flip Him off and tell Him to get the F*** out of our country and lives.

No, we choose against God and enslave ourselves to the god of this world and his “…rulers of the darkness of this age…(and) spiritual hosts of wickedness.”

And who put HIM in charge of the world??

Um, that would be us. Because, starting with Adam and Eve, we chose Satan over God.

When terrible things happen, it shows very clearly that God does indeed love us. He loves us so incredibly much that He allows us to reject His overtures of love if we so choose.  It’s also proof that the choice of rejection puts us in league with Satan and gives him sway over this world.

And then we complain about God’s behavior when the consequences come home to roost. That perception also demonstrates how the rulers of the darkness of this age…(and) spiritual hosts of wickedness work in this world, cloud our minds with bad thinking and perceptions.

Fortunately, Jesus placed Himself even lower than the angels in order to suffer our lot and pay our debt for us. Again, all we have to do is to choose wisely.