Why Does God Need A Spaceship?

 

 I Refuse to Bow to Needy Gods

 Possibly the only memorable thing about the film Star Trek V was Captain Kirk's (William Shatner) question of a purported Supreme Being.  And it is an excellent question.  Why does God need anything?   We create these all-powerful deities and then we have to spend everything we have to placate, cajole or appease them.  Frankly, it sounds pathetic.

We have had deities that demand sacrifices be made to them, be it livestock, money or human life in order to secure a good harvest or to ward off the plague.  And while one community rejoices that their prayers were answered when the hurricane veered away from them, but then explain why the prayers of the community that was hit were not also answered.

Almighty God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to 

make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise that 

when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant 

their requests.... from a Prayer of St. Chrysostom

 

My mother thought this was the silliest prayer because in any conflict if both sides are praying for victory, someone is going to have settle for 2nd place.  God answers all prayers, but often the answer is "no."  

 

Most of our human devotion to the unseen is based on the ancient idea that absolutely everything was in a deity's immediate interest, so it was necessary to keep that deity happy.  And being human we childishly thought we could just do for the gods what we would like for ourselves.  This is very like getting a present from a four year old whose idea of the perfect gift is a bag of balloons or strings of bright plastic beads.  

 

Because we did not understand the mechanisms of disease, of weather, of geology whenever something bad happened it was because the deity was angry -- because someone somewhere committed a sin or tolerated sins to be committed.  I wish I could say this we have grown past these primitive beliefs, but then in 2017 after the ravages of Hurricane Harvey we had a number of Evilangelicals stating that this was God's wrath against the toleration of homosexuality.  It occurred to me that if God wanted to send a message about gay love he would have wiped out San Francisco rather than Houston.

 

GDW does not need anything from us.  Not golden temples nor constant praise.  GDW requires no acknowledgement at all.  It is entirely up to us how much focus to place on getting through the Maze this time around.