Without Divine Right

Sebastian Stan as Jack Benjamin

Jack: My whole life I’ve waited for this moment, my chance to lead, to impress my personality on a country and make it better. Tomorrow it happens, but I don’t feel anything. It’s not there.

Reverend: You mean, he, is not there.

Jack: Shouldn’t he give me something, words of wisdom or an image for a new standard? My father had signs. Butterflies, whole conversations, whatever to give him the confidence to speak in his name. What’s my blessing?

Reverand: God did not take counsel with sinners, you and I, we’ve been made unforgiveable.

Jack: …I can make good of our mistakes. Once you put the crown on my head you will see how well it fits.

Reverend: That crown will never touch your head. That is the hollowness that you feel and you know it. He knows it. And he will never speak to you.

Jack: Why not?

Reverend: You are not the one he wants.

~ Kings, episode: The New King, part 2

Cain’s Children

I love Kings and I’m very sad they will not be on for a second season. I’ve tried to write something meaningful and insightful but my words don’t do the show justice. I was catching up on the remaining episodes airing this summer. Being a former political science major I’m drawn to the questions in the show such as what does the role of religion play in a king’s life and how does that affect his people directly, does he see himself as a sword for God, where does the true source of his power lay- in the people, himself, or once again God? What does he sacrifice to stay on the throne? Why does he choose to be fair and just, why not abuse his power?

The following quote comes from a scene in the episode Brotherhood. The prince and the young man who is unaware he will one day replace the king, are fighting with rebels and capture their leader. Upon seeing the jealousy the prince has for his rival, the rebel leader comments,

There were two brothers, Cain and Abel. God’s first grandchildren. And the wicked one killed the innocent one because of jealousy. Then he became the father of mankind. So… beneath the veneer of civility, we are all children of Cain.

Maybe I’m the Only One in Control

I’ve been thinking about getting older. This is not where I thought I would be. Even in the span of 6 months, this is not anything close to what I thought my life would be like. I used to think that something was planned for me. More and more I think that I’m the only person behind the wheel. I’m starting to wonder if it’s only been me in the driver’s seat all along. Does God hate it when we let ourselves become the masters of our own lives? Does he hate us for thinking that we can do it without him? That instant when you’re in control, and you’re the one chasing and bleeding for your dream, are you alone?

Why There Is

So religion is not something I like to write about. Reading my views and opinions is not the same as hearing me speak about it. I don’t think I could ever capture in writing the passion I have when I talk. When I say passion I do not mean that I am an overzealous “bible thumper.” I am quite far from being just that. I tend to talk about a lot things in a passionate manner.

But anyway, within the past couple days I have been assigned spirituality readings for my health class and I saw a couple of essays where people were facing death or had a near death experience and said, if there is a God why is there so much pain and suffering? When I see stuff like this or I hear it, on some level it makes me sad that these people can’t see and aren’t capable of seeing or understanding why this is so, or why it would be so, because they don’t want to see it and they don’t want to understand. I was doing some research for my comparative politics class when I came across a non-related topic in the magazine The American Spectator. The title that did it for me The same question that I hate to see/hear came up in this article To An Atheist Friend by Michael Novak, “Why would a good and just God allow so much evil and injustice to metastasize in this world…”

The concept of Good cannot exist without Evil or Bad. Without knowing what bad/evil is, how can one know good? Whether one believes in the Devil as the opposing force to God, there is still an opposing force when people choose not to act with good will. God gave us rational choice. These people expect everything to be peachy and to have the good life handed to them on a golden platter, when they did not earn any of it! People are so quick to blame God for their own failures and mistakes, or whenever something doesn’t go their way. God gave you a choice. You had the freedom of choice and chose your own actions. You can choose to be good. Others can choose to be bad. When others choose to be bad that affects you in a negative way. If everyone had to be good then we wouldn’t have the freedom in choice now would we?

Here’s a good statement on free will from the article: “If Heather chooses to go to the store, God wills it. God does not will it ‘in advance;’ in him there is no time. For him the willing is simultaneous. When Heather uses her freedom to go to the store, then God ratifies her freedom and choice. Simultaneously the ratifying act of God’s will does not precede human action. It is simultaneous with it. If Heather chooses X, then God permits X to be done. Thus does he make good on the scriptural promise of human liberty. God is not jerking her strings around or forcing her to be contrary to her own will.”

And then of course there is always the question of why do unjust people benefit while good people suffer? Why do bad things happen to good people? But how does one expect to have people with strength in character if they never experience hardships so they can learn and grow? God doesn’t owe you anything. These people expect God to lead or fight their battles for them. He gives you so many opportunities, God can only go so far. When he gives you an opportunity it is up to you to grab it and do something with it. Why do the unjust get away with being so? Because there are good people out there who don’t do anything about it. They choose to do nothing. Life is about adversity and facing challenges. It’s not fair at times but when something does fall into the right place, it makes the moments much more sweeter.

“The Creator didn’t promise a rose garden… Everything that happens to us is for a good, even when one cannot see how that can possibly be true.”

Thoughts on Evil

A university professor, at a well-known institution of higher learning, challenged his students with this question: “Did God create everything that exists?”

A student bravely replied, “Yes He did!”

“God created everything?” the professor asked.

“Yes, sir, He certainly did,” the student replied.

The professor answered, “If God created everything, then God created Evil. And, since Evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then we can assume God is evil.”

The student became quiet and did not respond to the professor’s hypothetical definition. The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven, once more, that the religious faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, “May I ask you a question, Professor?”

“Of course,” replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, “Professor, does Cold exist?”

“What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?”

The other students snickered at the young man’s question. The young man replied:

“In fact, sir, Cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider Cold is in reality the absence of Heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460F) is the total absence of heat, and all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created the word to describe how we feel if we have no heat.”

The student continued, “Professor, does Darkness exist?”

The professor responded, “Of course it does.”

The student replied, “Once again you are wrong. Darkness does not exist either. Darkness is, in reality, the absence of light. Light we can study, but not Darkness. In fact, we can use Newton’s prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure Darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of Darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn’t this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present.”

Finally the young man asked the professor, “Sir, does Evil exist?”

Now uncertain, the professor responded, “Of course, as I have already said. We see it every day. It is in the daily examples of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crimes and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.”

To this the student replied, “Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like Darkness and Cold, a word that was created to describe the absence of God. God did not create Evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It is like the Cold that comes when there is no heat, or the Darkness that comes when there is no light.”

The professor sat down.

The student’s name: Albert Einstein.