I have a pretty good "Sense of Wonder." I like to watch soaring birds of prey, such as the hawks that stalk breakfast, lunch and dinner at golf courses.

I've stopped to take pictures of interesting looking trees. I like watching water babble in brooks. I like seeing kids eyes light up and I keep hoping that I'm still capable of that.

Which is why I'm quite content not to be on the ghawd squad prep line. Because ghawds can't know wonder, or surprise, or delight, or even surges of happiness. The trade off for losing these happy human traits is that they can't be disappointed or hurt. Would I enjoy golf if every time, no matter the length of the hole, I hit the ball and it went right into the hole? Is it any wonder that that North Korean dictator only played golf one time?

You know what I like to do? Solve problems. Ghawds can't do that. They never have to solve for X, they always know its value. They've reached the pinnacle of achievement. They can be proud of it, but that'll get old pretty fast, and then what will they do for fun? Endless sex, where you can never be turned down? How exciting is that going to eventually be?

Assume for the sake of this thread that when you die, you pass over to another 'realm' where you are still you, with your own body restored to age 30, and in perfect condition. You remember your life on earth, and all the things you learned are present in your mind. And you find yourself in a big hall, and you're holding a sheet of paper that explains to you that you're in a recruitment center and you can stay there for as long as you want, but you can also start talking to recruiters and eventually take one of the jobs you're offered. You quickly learn that you're eternal and practically indestructible, and that there's lots to do with the rest of your eternal life. It's a big place, the Universe!

But be a ghawd? Never! Too boring! But that's the hook, line and sinker that TBMs have swallowed. My dream is better, n'cest pas?

elderolddog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> But be a ghawd? Never! Too boring! But that's
> the hook, line and sinker that TBMs have
> swallowed. My dream is better, n'cest pas?

Your dream is MUCH better...gods often wind up in dicey situations that become eternal...

or---as you say here---being bored forever.

Eventually gods wind up---as a Cotton Mather sermon I once had to read in eleventh grade American Lit said [paraphrased from my memory of what I read as a 15-year-old]...

...dangling [each of us]...

...as a frantic spider...

...hanging [each of us] over the fires of Hell...

...with God deciding, on a weary and bored whim...

...whether [each of us] are to be tossed into the roasting Inferno...

....or not.

[The inescapable corollary of Cotton Mather's sermon was: God is a psychopath.]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2016 03:28AM by Tevai.

Tevai, I think the sermon you're remembering is "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards.

Here's an especially fun part:

"The God that holds you over the pit of hell like some spider or loathsome insect over a fire, abhors you and is dreadfully provoked. His wrath burns like fire and he considers you worthy of nothing else but fuel for the fire. His holy eyes cannot bear to even look at you. You are ten thousand times more abominable in his sight than the most hated venomous snake is to us. You have offended him infinitely more than the most stubborn rebel ever did his earthly prince, and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you above the fire at every moment…"

Give me that olde-tyme religion.

good observation... the inc. god of momoism never discovers, never progresses, knows everything, Perhaps BY's idea should be entertained more. Young was certain that God didn't know everything, was still experimenting, still learning and progressing, and was actually the first man named Adam. Somehow he forgot everything and became a man on Earth, then died and came and made a baby as a spirit with his gggg grand daughter Mary and then Adam was resurrected because of his son and ggggg grandson Jesus. Regaining his throne on kolob that I guess he lost somehow while dead? All while being the arch angel of this Earth named Michael?

Ok now I'm really confused...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2016 08:49AM by poopstone.

Its thoughts like yours old dog that keep me going...realistic thoughts that finally cause that wtf moment...how could i have ever believed that shit...might be one reason BAgger Vance is one of my favorite shows.....not that im a tee killing golfer...but im a hell of a cart driver...sure appreciate your sentiments...then just imagine gawd hearing the opinions of all the kids on here...no wonder he goes fishing...see gawds not a golfer...sorry to dash that hope of swinging thru eternity...in heaven...a river runs thru it

Well if I were a omnipotent god I'd definitely play lots of golf.

However the only way I'd do it would be to suspend my super human powers before each round. It would be, after all, about as much fun as cheating at solitaire if I could move the pin or make the ball skip across water and roll onto land.

Remember Trevino's joke saying even God can't hit a 3 iron? That vato told the truth!

1 iron.

when you put it like that it all makes sense. God. The most boring job in the Universe. No wonder he drowns people by the thousands and sends plagues of Frogs--just anything to relieve the monotony.

And this focus Mormon Heavenly Father has on our sex lives makes me think that WE are HIS pornography.

"Endless sex, where you can never be turned down? How exciting is that going to eventually be?"

Hmmmn..you mean w/ like hot beach babes, i.e. Swedish bikini team, etc. You know, I hate to make hasty assessments without any empirical research. I just don't know. Would probably have to engage for about a millennium, and then get back to you on that.

But...you're a ghawd to me!
At least, until I actually SEE your golf game...:)

The Wednesday group is going to be playing Redhawk within the next six weeks. Want me to sign you up for that? It'll be a Wednesday morning, around 8:00.

Lemme know!

I'd love to, but I'm currently actually working.
As in all day long, 5 days a week.

A former colleague is the CEO of a startup, and his cadre of very young programmers have been struggling, so he asked me to come on and help. So I'm doing a stint as Senior Engineer for a bit, coding up visualizations of "big data" in java. No weekday golf for a while :(

Thanks, though!

elderdog, your post is spot on. Did you ever see the episode of twilight zone when a criminal dies and finds that the afterlife anticipates all his needs and he wins every hand of poker every time? The predictability of it all frustrates him, and he says,"what kind of heaven is this?" Another guy says, "who told you it was heaven?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2016 08:22PM by donbagley.

Who?

i'd like to throw things into black holes.
that would be cool.

You know what's cool about black holes? In the non-black hole universe, meaning everything not yet in a black hole, photons exist, each one, independently. But inside a black hole, they clump up, and when enough of them 'clump', they form organisms and evolve! It's true, I've seen videos smuggled out by agents of Steven Hawking!

Older black holes have advanced civilizations of photon beings! Of course, they move at a very, very slow pace, but they are all very light hearted.

All threads like this need a closing song.

Good folk may need a shower after reading such stuff, and then...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqHROcl4_EQ