God and the Devil

It's an accepted truism that growing old is not for the faint of heart. Equally true, though less widely accepted is the fact that just growing up can be traumatic and painful. It's sad that maturity only comes about when we've said goodbye to the magic and myths of childhood. Learning to say goodbye is the hardest thing we are ever called upon to do, whether that goodbye is said to a loved one, to an unrealized goal, or just to a comforting idea. But saying goodbye is what becoming an adult is all about.

As children, we eventually learn that Santa Claus, the Good Fairy and the Easter Bunny don't really exist. We learn that our parents don't really know everything. We learn that teachers can sometimes be wrong. As we get older still, we learn that not every adult can be trusted; that there are those who would harm us in ways we don't understand and for reasons we can't imagine. Good doesn't always triumph over evil. Injustice and cruelty exist.

For some of us, our world becomes a little darker and a little sadder as we are forced to trade our faith for reality; forced to say goodbye to innocence and accept the world and its people as they are instead of as we would like them to be.

For others, the pain is too great. Faced with the loss of the comforting myths and fables of childhood, they seek refuge in a more adult myth. They accept a fable that has caused more pain, destruction, death and evil than any other human construct in history: the concept of a personal savior they call by a variety of names including (to name a few) God, Jehovah, Jesus, Yahweh and Allah.

Unlike Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny who are, at least, likable, the personal God of Abraham and Isaac seems to epitomise the the very worst of mankind's faults and shortcomings. I don't understand why, if people had to invent God, they had to make him such a first class asshole. Those who claim he's a God of love have obviously never read the bible where he's revealed as a murderously vindictive tyrant and bully. He may tell us in scripture to love our enemies but his behavior in the pages of the old and new testaments reveal him to be a diety who has no interest in practicing what he preaches. Believe in Him if you must but don't feel you must share "The Good News". The God you worship is not only false, He's despicable.

It's interesting to note that the antithesis of God, while equally imaginary, is at least a bit more likable. Wars, to my knowledge, have never been waged in the name of the devil. Populations have never been decimated by famine, flood, or conquering armys because they were too "good" or too "virtuous". The devil has never been reported to discriminate against anyone on the basis of ethnicity, gender, disability, age, political affiliation, social status or income level. The devil does not hate blacks, mexicans, or gays. He doesn't seem to feel women are inferior or "unclean". If he isn't crazy about Christians it is at least understandable.

When wars are fought, combatants on both sides always claim that God is on their side. Armys of the North and the South both believed God was fighting alongside them during the civil war. God took both sides during the crusades if we're to believe the conflicting stories of muslim and Christian historians. While the Allies insisted God was with them, Hitler assured the German people that God was on the side of the Nazis during the second World War. God plays for anyone who wants him on their team without regard to the morality or justice of their cause ... and people die as a result.

At least Satan has the good sense to remain non-partisan.

A follower of God is called upon to smite his neighbor for any number acts and beliefs God disapproves of. He expects his followers to be warriors who will kill and injure those who disagree or disbelieve in Him. To be a believer in God is to be a hater of anyone or anything that challanges that belief. For a supposedly divine and perfect being, God is a remarkably immature, violent, insecure and grotesque entity.

Satan is much more sanguine about the whole thing. He makes no particular demands of his supporters. A follower of the devil can get by if he's willing to get a little drunk and maybe get laid occasionally. No one dies; no one gets tortured, no one gets hated.

Since both God and the devil are products of the human imagination with no reality outside the twisted minds of the religious, there's no need to choose between the two. They're both make-believe but if they weren't and I were asked which one I would rather be stranded on a desert island with, the answer is a no-brainer.

Give me the devil every time.

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