Musings on God

 Imagine all the amazing creations: the starry night, brilliant sunset, flowers, fruit on the vine, etc. It's easy to assume there is a craftsman who created harmonious beauty: the oceans evaporate, clouds form, the wind blows the clouds to land, the clouds drop rain on the plants, the plants grow flowers, the bees pollinate the flowers, the flowers turn into fruit, animals eat the fruit and spread the seed, bacteria and insects break down the animal's waste making fertilizer for the plants to grow.

We humans consider ourselves to be the most significant of creations. But let's look at how humans fit into these creations over space and time.

The craftsman (God) has been creating for billions of years, yet man has only been around for a fraction of that (0.002%). Imagine a craftsman who has produced countless works of art for 70 years, and then 9 hours ago, the craftsman created something new (man). How could you claim that this most recent creation was the most significant? Could tomorrow's creation (in 500,000 years) or next month's creation (in 15 million years) be superior? 

What about the vastness of space? God's work can be found all around the visible universe, billions of light-years away, with portions of the universe that exist beyond what we can see. A spectacular galaxy appears as nothing more than one of a billion bright dots in our night sky. It would be as if our hypothetical craftsman reproduced all of the works of art on the planet, miniaturized them, and placed them as the period at the end of this sentence. What's the point of that?  (no pun intended). If we are the most significant creation, and all of this was created for us, what's the point of so much beauty we can't see with the naked eye? Sure, we can be in awe at what our telescopes discover, but what about all humans who never saw more than a speck in the sky? Is it wasteful: the immensity of space and the fact that we could never reach any of it in a lifetime?

Humans are just a little figurine crafted 9 hours ago in the corner of an immense workshop.

But surely, the craftsman cares most about this creation. How often do people fall on their knees, pleading for help from the craftsman? How often do these cries go unanswered? Is God an interventionist being who is willing to step in and repair our situation? Surely, the millions of Jewish people who died during the Holocaust deserved an intervention. Surely, the millions of Hindus and Muslims who died from famine and violence before and after obtaining independence in India from the British deserved an intervention. Surely, the 40 to 80 million who died of starvation and persecution under Mao Zedong deserved an intervention. This list could continue for pages.

Maybe God isn't an interventionist. 

Maybe God is just a craftsman who created a beautiful world for us.