The Celestial Bureaucracy
Monotheists are pretty common these days. Christians, Muslim, Jews and even Hindus believe there is one single entity that is all-knowing and all-powerful. Like Santa Claus, it (He?) is able to see one when they are sleeping, awake, bad or good and provide rewards in this life or in the next.
In the fourth century BCE, the Greek philosopher Epicurus came up with problem that is now known as the Epicurean Paradox. He said, “"God either wants to eliminate bad things and cannot, or can but does not want to.” Today, we know it as “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Either God is impotent or he is wicked.
The polytheist and the henotheist do not have to deal with this paradox. They accept that gods are not all powerful. They have competing interests and differing domains. Each is trying to carve out their own fiefdom on this plane of existence. One god can back the Trojans while another can back the Achaeans. Good and bad events can either be from gods or from their inaction.
I suppose “fire and brimstone” Catholics also accept the “impotent’ solution. If the devil can actually wage a war against God and threaten His kingdom, God cannot really be omnipotent. Don’t get me wrong. He can be really, really powerful. But, that’s not omnipotent. If He were, Satan would not even try his little war.
Old Testament types have the “wicked” solution. They accept that God is wrathful and not benevolent.
Most people I have met, though, seem to go with the “plan” explanation. All bad things are really good things because they are part of God’s complicated plan. This is similar to the Chinese story about the farmer’s horse and the farmer’s son. The son falls off the horse and breaks his leg, but the next day the nation goes to war and the son cannot go. The broken leg seems bad, but is really good in the grand scheme. This theory seems all fine and dandy until someone you love gets a painful disease for the “plan.” Should not an omnipotent being have a more effective and less painful plan?
Shifting gears for a moment, let’s talk about the government. A number of people (mostly conspiracy theorists) think the government is nearly all-powerful and all-seeing. The entertainment industry creates worlds where one can “trust no one” and the audience buys it.
We all know the government can do powerful things. So how could the government have let 9/11 happen? Is the government wicked? Some would say so. Some would claims it is all part of their grand plan. Most of us know that conspiracy theorists are idiots and most of us know about bureaucracy and incompetence.
Though the government has massive power, we know that managing millions of employees and 300 million citizens is difficult. Things take time. Things get lost in paperwork. People try to protect their jobs. People have turf wars. People have to deal with a massive amount of regulations. People are lazy. In fact, the larger and more powerful the government becomes, the more bureaucratic it becomes as well.
With this clear real world example, I wonder why no religion has ever thought about celestial bureaucracy to deal with the Epicurean paradox. With infinite power over an infinite domain, should not there be near infinite bureaucracy? Maybe prayers get lost in the mail or maybe angels smite the wrong person on occasion. Accidents happen, after all. Don’t they?
In the fourth century BCE, the Greek philosopher Epicurus came up with problem that is now known as the Epicurean Paradox. He said, “"God either wants to eliminate bad things and cannot, or can but does not want to.” Today, we know it as “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Either God is impotent or he is wicked.
The polytheist and the henotheist do not have to deal with this paradox. They accept that gods are not all powerful. They have competing interests and differing domains. Each is trying to carve out their own fiefdom on this plane of existence. One god can back the Trojans while another can back the Achaeans. Good and bad events can either be from gods or from their inaction.
I suppose “fire and brimstone” Catholics also accept the “impotent’ solution. If the devil can actually wage a war against God and threaten His kingdom, God cannot really be omnipotent. Don’t get me wrong. He can be really, really powerful. But, that’s not omnipotent. If He were, Satan would not even try his little war.
Old Testament types have the “wicked” solution. They accept that God is wrathful and not benevolent.
Most people I have met, though, seem to go with the “plan” explanation. All bad things are really good things because they are part of God’s complicated plan. This is similar to the Chinese story about the farmer’s horse and the farmer’s son. The son falls off the horse and breaks his leg, but the next day the nation goes to war and the son cannot go. The broken leg seems bad, but is really good in the grand scheme. This theory seems all fine and dandy until someone you love gets a painful disease for the “plan.” Should not an omnipotent being have a more effective and less painful plan?
Shifting gears for a moment, let’s talk about the government. A number of people (mostly conspiracy theorists) think the government is nearly all-powerful and all-seeing. The entertainment industry creates worlds where one can “trust no one” and the audience buys it.
We all know the government can do powerful things. So how could the government have let 9/11 happen? Is the government wicked? Some would say so. Some would claims it is all part of their grand plan. Most of us know that conspiracy theorists are idiots and most of us know about bureaucracy and incompetence.
Though the government has massive power, we know that managing millions of employees and 300 million citizens is difficult. Things take time. Things get lost in paperwork. People try to protect their jobs. People have turf wars. People have to deal with a massive amount of regulations. People are lazy. In fact, the larger and more powerful the government becomes, the more bureaucratic it becomes as well.
With this clear real world example, I wonder why no religion has ever thought about celestial bureaucracy to deal with the Epicurean paradox. With infinite power over an infinite domain, should not there be near infinite bureaucracy? Maybe prayers get lost in the mail or maybe angels smite the wrong person on occasion. Accidents happen, after all. Don’t they?
posted by American Dilettante at
2:02 AM
4 Comments:
I see God as the creator of all the physical laws, and could care less about the lives of some complex chemical interaction called "life" someone in the far arm of a random galaxy.
But before that, I tended to feel that the most important question of God was about free will: if we are given it, then we must have the ability to screw things up without being "saved" all the time. Kind of like a parent who must let their kids make their own mistakes.
But clearly (S)He doesn't care, and why should (S)He?
My favorite portrayal of God was in an episode of "Futurama".
God: "Bender, being God isn't easy. If you do too much, people get dependent on you. And if you do nothing, they lose hope. You have to use a light touch, like a safecracker or a pickpocket."
Bender: "Or a guy who burns down a bar for the insurance money!"
God: "Yes, if you make it look like an electrical thing. When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all."
By
mizerock, at 11:09 AM
I always thought that God's Bureaucracy would be a great sitcom or comedy movie. Office Space in Heaven. Someday I'll write a treatment.
Of course, all of these views of "Goddess: why?" just show how limited human imagination is when coming up with theories of the workings of the universe. Whatever social constructions we fancy become it. The AD has pointed out how we're Plan-fixated at the moment. What's next?
By
The Rogue Progressive, at 8:09 PM
So much gets pushed off onto God or Satan when it's really about consequences. Even good people make bad choices or a good person can be a bystander to someone else's bad choies (ie drunk driver).
it's all about free will and sin and very simple actually.
If a divine being created a world of people who would inherently follow the being, what good is that? Anyone can build a robot...
By
Just Things, at 8:21 AM
Interestingly enough, the Chinese did have the notion of a celestial bureaucracy. This isn't surprising since their terrestrial one was so entrenched in the Late Imperial Period. As in heaven so on earth, they supposed.
By
Robin, at 9:56 PM
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