I kept seeing movies and artworks like The Matrix, Avatar, Trons, Paprika (a 2006 anime, you guys have to really google youtube the trailer to know what I mean!), even from video games such as Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, etc
and then suddenly I ponder and saying to myself wow, all these humans’ creations & imaginations are really really fantastic and mind-blowing, that I wish they would be the real heaven, instead of the biblical heaven!
I mean gosh..it seems to me that the idea of biblical heaven seems to be: gold pavements (ew, boring), playing harp in eternity with God (ew, boring boring), and so on.
so being a highly imaginative & creative person myself (that I even often find this so-called Real world a super boring, mundane place, thanks to those great human’s artworks!), I sometimes really can’t help to wonder, if this theistic (or biblical, christian, whatever) God does really exist,
then, does He seem to be so lacking in imaginations than humans, as can be seen from the Heaven’s imagery in the bible?
but isn’t the Creator (God) is supposed to be much MORE imaginative than His creations (us humans) ?? then, why the biblical heaven is (or seems to be) boring?
PS: I even dare to say that those who love those biblical imagery of heaven usually tends to be boring people too and lacking imaginations..sorry, just saying brutally honest. no sweet-candy statement. I know I’m definitely not alone in saying this.
10 comments
In my opinion, if you argue the human mind should be less creative than God, than our earthly description (the bible) of heaven (and God) is also bound to our relatively restricted mind and can therefore not adequate. I think that’s a general problem within religion. How can a human being say, it knows what God is, while stating that God is greater than human awareness.
Now I don’t believe in God or heaven in the biblical sense, but I see your point. And if there were a heaven, than it’s likely to be more than just sitting around being happy and divine and whatnot.
I personally like to think of an afterlife to be like a plain white space, a surface which every individual is given and on which you can project your own imaginations. As if becoming a God yourself. (So every dead mortal would become a God and be given a world with new mortals that will become Gods themselves. Just an idea. but funny)
From my religions point of view, God himself is a product of human creativity, both surprisingly complex and yet bound to the possible imagination of its creators. But yeah, that makes you wonder why God and heaven tend to be that boring. As if we couldn’t come up with something better.
Deep. The universe is a live but not conscious life. Maybe it some how want it to have consciousness. We are bon we all die. So will the universe like us.
As for a god. There’s something a work. Not all radom. & even if there is a god. Maybe there no heaven or hell when we die we just die & not to exist to know that’ that your gone hard for us cause we all know one day we are all going to die.
@razor wire: even your post sounds very interesting & mind-opening
that I wish you are the one who made the Bible
(this post is definitely not for the Bible/Christian-sensitive person. no offense here, just simply saying what’s in my mind).
You have to remember, the stereotypical heaven (afterlife) in the bible was created by humans. By that I mean humans thought up what heaven looks like. None of us really know what heaven or the afterlife is like or what it looks like… the ones alive anyway. It’s all speculation.
@blackqwert
Mostly I think evolution is pretty random and our existence just a side effect during the birth of our sun. But if you look at things closely, like the DNA for example, it makes you wonder how something of such a complexity should be random. I doubt there is an entity named God like the bible tells us. But maybe there is something. Whatever it may be.
“The universe is a live but not conscious life. Maybe it some how want it to have consciousness.” I really like this idea. It wants consciousness. Interesting….
@niki
lol I can’t write books. But you appear to be a philosopher.
I think if someone gets offended by this post they’re just tight minded. A serious christian should be able to represent his point of view with arguments and respect the thoughts of other.
@radar
agreed. As if our brain could bear the whole truth. But still we can’t stop thinking about it.
my point of view on the matter:
I’m agnostic, I believe there is a higher supreme being, whether or not they deserve to be worshiped is a completely different question. 😛
Religion and mythology is created by humans to explain what they fear, the unknown. in the old days, we didn’t understand what a volcano was, or why it would explode and what not. so in different places we come up with different stories to understand so we no longer have to “fear” it. The thing you have to realize is that all these different cultures come up with very similar stories to explain it, therefore it’s just our way of coping. The bible is the same thing, we don’t know anything about after we die but what we see here while living. We don’t understand how the universe is made, (yet), so we came up with stories to explain everything.
Literally if you do the research, the bible copies many different other mythologies and religions, and dared to call it originally their own. Also, most of it is a way to understand astrology/astronomy. They actually use the information to know when to farm for crops and harvest and all that. Even three days of “Jesus” (whom has never been proven to exist in any journal of famous people during the time he was suppose to exist, it’s a bit hard to believe that someone with so many miracles goes on unknown by people during that time, and no one bothered to tell their story?), of his Resurrection is the same time period of the “cross of stars” that hovers the horizon for three days before coming back bringing the spring rotation.
Furthermore, when reading the stories as though it’s a real book, hopefully some people would have the common sense to realize, that the stories don’t add up. none of the math adds up. Even “God” contradicts him/herself just within the first chapter alone. (I’ve studied many religions, like I said, it makes sense that something exists out there, but I don’t believe any human has the right to say their religion is true). I mean, really look through it, you don’t have to go to far to say, “hey, something doesn’t add up here?”
let’s say god created man, and created him with free will, which is the very thing that truly separates man from angels…. okay.. so we have free will.. now I got two problems with this… Someone that tells me that god has a plan for me is one…. there went the purpose of free will, thanks, great way to be a hypocrite. The second, being the angels did not have free will, so how does “Lucifer” (meaning bringer or light/truth), have the FREE WILL to defy god and become a fallen angel? That doesn’t add up. Again, humans created these stories… I was 12 years old asking all these questions to the point my own church teacher tells me, “the bible is just a book of morals for humanity to follow” in other words a book of lies. But they preach it as though it was history/truth. That’s bull…
Btw, if a religious/sensitive person does try to preach on here, one, it’s against the rules of the site, and two, sorry people, your bible states thou shall not judge.
@ConstantDisaster: I really like what you said, and there are many of your points which are also what I have in my mind too. we seem to arrive at the similar conclusion regarding all this ‘biblical God’.
But your few first paragraphs that explained so thoroughly about religion mostly as human’s “fear/uncertainty-coping mechanism”, and also to understand astrology/astronomy is very interesting, and thank you for sharing it.
I wonder, have you ever read the book “God is not great” by Christopher Hitchens?
although I’m same like you, a “free-thinker” agnostic now, believing in *something unknown* out there, but that book is probably THE book that truly lead me to sort of ‘transforming radically’ from a once quite extreme-Christian (aren’t you surprised!) into almost the state of an Atheist.
it’s basically a *compilations* of all VALID arguments against religions, all packed in that one small yellow book.
You should check it out mate. one of most interesting books I’ve ever read.
@niki:
You know what, I’ll see if I can get that at my local library. That sounds like something I could actually sit down and read and my ADHD won’t kick in and tell me, “ooo, shiny object.” 😛
Just remember- yesterday’s religions are today’s mythologies.
also, how many of you here also have heard about: Virtual Reality (VR) , Lucid Dreaming , Astral Projection ?
I really wish/hope those things are true … so I can enter into the world/universe of IMAGINATION, .. & bye bye boring, mundane, harsh, & limited Reality ! )