Trouble is, gods are far too fragile for us (this goes along with the fact that he turned out to be tiny). They can’t bear to have primates saying bad things about them, scientific theories threaten them, and just leaving them alone is something that upsets their existence.
It’s like Nietzsche said, we killed god. Evolved apes are too powerful for him. Evolved apes are his agents to teach ID/creationism in the schools, for he had neither the evidence nor the power to get his ideas to humans.
So it’s kind of sad, sure, but we knew he was going to die eventually as he was never robust enough to live in the same universe as humans (some gods are aloof enough to survive humans, of course, however they can’t manage to do both that and too affect the universe in time periods which can be studied).
I think it was Greg Bear who wrote a (surprisingly good) short story along these lines, set forty years after the death of God, narrated from the POV of a `son of stone and flesh’ (the statues came to life when God died, you see, and, um, reproduced with people in a bacchanalian orgy…)
I must say I’m *glad* I don’t live in that universe: there’s lots of power in being able to change natural law by a mere act of will, but if you ever slip up, oops, was that a solar system there? I must have let the strong force slip. Sorry. Tired. You know how it is…
Ichthyicsays
Someone should pull out the Season 1 story of the crucifiction as told by Dr. Seuss.
Woo hoo! Finally, I found a conspiracy I can buy into.
;D
standsays
There’s a science fiction book I read once where they discover God (in the form a giant human-looking guy), floating face up in the middle of the ocean, dead. The religious people end up trying to cover the whole thing up. It’s really hilarious, but I can’t remember the name or author.
Has anyone ever heard of this book? I remember the same author wrote a book about the Messiah returning in modern times except that she is a girl and the virgin impregnated is a man. Also a very entertaining book.
Hmmm. I posted pretty much the same thing this past Sunday. Coincidence? I can’t help but wonder.
Carl Sachssays
Stand —
The book was Towing Jehovah by James Morrow, who also wrote Only Begotten Daughter — the other book you were thinking of.
I’m teaching Nietzsche’s “God is dead” in two weeks. Maybe I can assign KitH for extra-credit?
standsays
Yes! Thanks, Carl.
Baratossays
All this talk reminds me of the one book by Phillip K. Dick, where god’s corpse is found floating in space. The only real reaction is to start making toys in His image.
Thank you kindly for all of the explanations, folks. Yes, it’s a Kids in the Hall segment that was filmed in B&W for a retro look. I did recognize the comedians in the skit.
That was Bruce McCulloch doing the Nietzsche bit with Mark McKinney as his severe-looking fellow thinker. Kevin McDonald and Scott Thompson wore the fright wigs and exclaimed that their minds were blown, and Dave Foley wore the priest’s collar as he explained how short God was. Their shows ran on the Canadian CBC network from 1989 to 1994, so the clip is at least a dozen years old.
I guess my main point about George’s imaginary friend remains unaffected, though.
Black & white video, eh? That must have been many years ago. (Funny, I never knew that Nietzsche had ever been videotaped.)
Main point: If God has really been dead all these years, then who the hell has George W been talking to every night?
Presumably, Henry Kissinger was hiding under the bed each night when
W. prayed …
Zeno said:
“Main point: If God has really been dead all these years, then who the hell has George W been talking to every night?”
A bed, wall, or chair, of course. ;-)
Zeno:
Actually, it’s only about 5 or 6 years old. They filmed it in B&W for a “retro” look…
Why, the same person that everyone else who thinks they talk to God actually talks to, of course: himself!
Wow, today’s news just keeps getting better and better! ;)
Actually, it’s only about 5 or 6 years old.
IIRC, that was a “Kid’s in the Hall” sketch, which means it would have been done in the late 80s/early 90’s, yes?
btw, here’s more Kid’s sketches if you’ve never heard of them before:
http://thetravisty.com/Kids_In_The_Hall.php
I love the anti-spam feature now at UTI, requiring the user to type in an answer to a trivial math problem in order to comment.
Maybe this could be adapted as an anti-troll feature with a little bit of tweaking…?
“Please type in the definite integral of 3x^3 + 4x^2 in the range 0 to 14.3”
I’m sure you can think of some more suitable questions ;-)
Trouble is, gods are far too fragile for us (this goes along with the fact that he turned out to be tiny). They can’t bear to have primates saying bad things about them, scientific theories threaten them, and just leaving them alone is something that upsets their existence.
It’s like Nietzsche said, we killed god. Evolved apes are too powerful for him. Evolved apes are his agents to teach ID/creationism in the schools, for he had neither the evidence nor the power to get his ideas to humans.
So it’s kind of sad, sure, but we knew he was going to die eventually as he was never robust enough to live in the same universe as humans (some gods are aloof enough to survive humans, of course, however they can’t manage to do both that and too affect the universe in time periods which can be studied).
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/b8ykm
I don’t remember this one. But it is classic KitH. Someone should pull out the Season 1 story of the crucifiction as told by Dr. Seuss.
Not just dead, though…dead AND small.
Why, he hardly weighed nothin’.
Here is a good one for you. David Icke explains the history of the world. A reptilian species actually controls the world!
http://gods4suckers.net/
I think it was Greg Bear who wrote a (surprisingly good) short story along these lines, set forty years after the death of God, narrated from the POV of a `son of stone and flesh’ (the statues came to life when God died, you see, and, um, reproduced with people in a bacchanalian orgy…)
I must say I’m *glad* I don’t live in that universe: there’s lots of power in being able to change natural law by a mere act of will, but if you ever slip up, oops, was that a solar system there? I must have let the strong force slip. Sorry. Tired. You know how it is…
Someone should pull out the Season 1 story of the crucifiction as told by Dr. Seuss.
you mean this one?
http://thetravisty.com/Kids_In_The_Hall/wmv/Dr._Seuss_Bible.htm
Wow! And he’s connceted with these fine folk:
http://www.evilatheistconspiracy.org/en/index.htm
Woo hoo! Finally, I found a conspiracy I can buy into.
;D
There’s a science fiction book I read once where they discover God (in the form a giant human-looking guy), floating face up in the middle of the ocean, dead. The religious people end up trying to cover the whole thing up. It’s really hilarious, but I can’t remember the name or author.
Has anyone ever heard of this book? I remember the same author wrote a book about the Messiah returning in modern times except that she is a girl and the virgin impregnated is a man. Also a very entertaining book.
Hmmm. I posted pretty much the same thing this past Sunday. Coincidence? I can’t help but wonder.
Stand —
The book was Towing Jehovah by James Morrow, who also wrote Only Begotten Daughter — the other book you were thinking of.
I’m teaching Nietzsche’s “God is dead” in two weeks. Maybe I can assign KitH for extra-credit?
Yes! Thanks, Carl.
All this talk reminds me of the one book by Phillip K. Dick, where god’s corpse is found floating in space. The only real reaction is to start making toys in His image.
Thank you kindly for all of the explanations, folks. Yes, it’s a Kids in the Hall segment that was filmed in B&W for a retro look. I did recognize the comedians in the skit.
That was Bruce McCulloch doing the Nietzsche bit with Mark McKinney as his severe-looking fellow thinker. Kevin McDonald and Scott Thompson wore the fright wigs and exclaimed that their minds were blown, and Dave Foley wore the priest’s collar as he explained how short God was. Their shows ran on the Canadian CBC network from 1989 to 1994, so the clip is at least a dozen years old.
I guess my main point about George’s imaginary friend remains unaffected, though.
I miss KitH. They made some feature-length movies after the series ended, but their sketch style doesn’t translate well.
Just which god is it that died. One of these Chinese ones?
http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/chinese-mythology.php?_gods-list
Or is it one of these from other cultures?
http://www.godchecker.com/