THE DEATH WATCH-TWENTY-FIVE

(Here is part two of my answer to my cousin's letter.)

Nobody considers Fire or thunder, as “God” anymore. However, I consider it axiomatic that the “infinity” of time and space, for us, human beings, is going to remain the domain of GOD for a long time.

I don’t agree that nobody considers other Gods. The world is populated by many more members of religions other that Christianity and Judaism and among these religions there are still many gods to worship. I also don’t agree with the infinity of time and space being only God’s domain since I don’t recognize God, yours or anyone else’s.

So. “not believing in God” – as I grasp it - does not constitute a denial of his existence. As a matter of fact I rather tend to assume that the universe did not “create itself”. Nevertheless, I find it bizarre to attribute to God human qualities or behavior, like “hating”, “loving” “rewarding or “punishing” etc.., and of “Him” having any “interests” whatsoever, like that I kiss the Mezuzah on entering a room, or that I don’t cheat my customers. So, logically, there is no reason for me to fear God (to be deterred by him), and I can be as selfish as it suits me,

There are very many Christian faiths that do not adhere to this God that one need fear and I have yet to see any evidence that the fear of God is a deterrent to any criminal of any age or belief.

So far so good, but let me ask you this: How do you explain feelings like COMPASSION, PITY or REMORSE? What is it that prevents us from being CRUEL (especially to defenseless creatures)? What is CONSCIENCE? If it isn’t GOD that deters us and causes us to be decent human beings, what is? What I mean is that we don’t have to be believers and we can define ourselves “atheists” as we chose to be. All this can not exclude God from our heart.

This finally leads me into a concept that I have long held and that is that “man” or “human beings” are just animals and, therefore, have animal instincts. The fact that they are a different sort of animal is a story that takes a different direction and I will gladly expand on that at some other time. For this discussion I contend that “altruism” is not a natural behavior in the animal kingdom. Selfishness is much more a part of the natural behavior of animals, including human beings. Any act of charity, including the work of Mother Theresa, is based on the selfish self satisfaction that is gained in the process of helping others. The so-called feelings you name, compassion, pity, remorse, cruelty, conscience and the old stand-by guilt are all mitigated by some outside force, and it is not God. If it were, our prisons would be nearly empty because there are very few Atheists behind bars. The deterrent is the law, the badge and the gun. “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime”.