Disclaimer: This has more to do with psychology than theology.
Imagine that it is revealed conclusively to all mankind that God exists, but he doesn’t like us. We also learn that the archetypical model of Christian afterlife—heaven and hell—is real, and it awaits all species, except Homo sapiens sapiens—for us, consciousness is simply extinguished upon death. We learn that he harbors no animosity toward us, hence, no smiting or banishment to hell, he simply finds us obnoxious and doesn’t care to have us sucking the fun out of his kingdom in the sky. In short, he created you, didn’t like what he created and chose to abandon you in favor of those creations he likes better. We understand that he is unyielding in his choice and nothing can be done to change his mind or your situation. All non-human species will enjoy eternal bliss (except for those who’s bad animal behavior condemns them to hell); you will be snuffed out like used cigarette butt.
(A silly scenario, indeed, but one that I hope may tease out some not-so-silly thoughts and discussion into the nature of human psychology).
Given this incontrovertible knowledge, what effect, if any, do you suppose it would have on the life of the average person, and on society at large?
A few points to ponder: Would we tend not to contemplate God, since his existence has no effect on the course of our lives, or would we harbor chronic resentment toward his actively chosen non-involvement (e.g. feelings of abandonment)? Likewise, would we harbor resentment toward animals—the chosen ones—and, if so, how would it manifest? Disregarding those who find more comfort in the prospect of future non-consciousness than any possible afterlife, would there be any significant psychological difference between an atheist contemplating his belief in non-continuation and someone who has absolute proof of his non-continuation (i.e. absolute proof being more definitive than belief, the Atheist psyche may have more wiggle room: I don’t believe I’m going to heaven vs. I have proof that I’m not going to heaven)? What negative emotions or behaviors, if any, would permeate society (e.g. recklessness, sociopathism {this should be a word;}, ennui)? Could a psychologically healthy and productive society exist with this knowledge?
God is a product of human imagination. Bummer, right? The good part is that He is no less a product of human imagination than, say, a road going from point A to point B. First, we imagine that a road could be built, with all of the benefits inherent thereto. Later maybe we build it, and the road becomes a reality.
But God is more difficult to build than a road. Hell, an airplane is much more difficult to build than a road, but we’ve done that, too. It took us a good long while after conceiving of the possibility, but we eventually did it.
One of these days we are going turn God into a reality, same as we have interstate highways and United Airlines today. This will take longer than until this coming Christmas, because it’s such a big project. But we’re working on it, all the time.
Using the road-God comparison, all we have as yet are rocky footpaths, and that includes every world religion to date. But in time those footpaths of the past can be turned into the roads of the present.
Imagining God is no different than imagining a road.
This would be great. Sure, early on fromerly religious people would go nuts thinking that no heaven/hell = no consequences, but society would step up and demonstrate that there are still enough carrots and stick around to direct behavior. Hedonism would go on the rise, since all of the pious ones (except the ones who waste their time trying to desperately change the mind of the unchanging God and get into heaven) would have to go find something better to do than be pious. After the initial upheaval (and assuming no dingbat nuked us,) the primary motivation of the masses would shift from worrying about religion to more productive pursuits, give or take the people who think that life can’t go on without a hell to avoid (despite the fact that that would have been the case with things working fine all along). After a generation or three I imagine the freaking-out-people would fade out, due to a lack of people being raised dependent on a caring God. After a certain point you will have the functional effect of atheists ruling the earth, give or take no-longer-socially-dividing issues like creationism/evolution and whatnot, and the fringe groups of despairists and favor-seekers.
I also imagine there would be a stark division of the views on carnovorism. Some would eat meat to spite God, and some would avoid meat to avoid angering him, but I don’t imagine that many would carelessly just enjoy a burger anymore.
I don’t care what kind of shape I-95 and UAL are in; the fact is they get us from point A to point B. They do it a lot faster, and a lot safer, than a swift run. If we hadn’t imagined them as possible, they wouldn’t exist at all.
We will make God exist, same as we have made so many other things that we once only imagined. But it’s going to take a while longer.
We could exterminate animals - sending them all on to eternal bliss and earning the esteem of God for providing him with all those chosen steak… erm… pets.
I suspect a lot of formerly non-religious types would suddenly become devout worshipers. Not in the hopes of gaining favor, mind you. It’s just that God would suddenly seem a lot more wise and just than before.
Or, conversly, if god doesn’t like me, I would immediatly remember that I don’t much like him either - so screw him.
How would this version of god’s existence change anything to the non-believers’ day to day life? I don’t think there would be many converts, because what would be the point of worshipping something that doesn’t like you, doesn’t care about you, and doesn’t care if you are worshipping it
If I found that the god of the Old Testament actually existed, I would enlist on the side of Lucifer. That god is vicious, malevolent, inconsistent, evil, and mean-spirited. Lucifer would be the bright side.
God is an introvert. My two “friends” pray and cow-tow and do all the required shit. One has had three heart attacks, the other had a severly deformed child (that lived to make the family life hell for a number of years).
I just ignore (and deny) him and keep my mouth shut. He doesn’t fuck with me.
My premise is that this version of God’s existence would have an effect on the lives of both believer and non-believer. The effect would be the development of insidious onset psychological pathology and this may lead to aberrant sociology. IANAPsychologist, but I welcome both lay and professional perspectives. Let me use analogy to illustrate my point:
Two cases of growing up with fatherless:
Always knew that your father had died before you were born.
Always knew that your father was alive and that he wanted nothing to do with you, abandoning you before you were aware.
You were raised identically in both cases. I believe, on average, #2 cases would develop more psychological and behavioral problems than #1 cases. Furthermore, I equate this case study to that of the Atheist in my OP case:
Atheist: Never believing in the existence of God and learning that, although you were technically incorrect, the effect for you is essentially the same (i.e. no effect on your life).
Learning that God exists and that he abandoned you (your species).
In both cases, God has no influence in your life, but I surmise that #2 cases would develop more psychological and behavioral problems than #1 cases—inferiority complex, at the very least. However, the effect may not be as pronounced as that in the 1st case study: you the individual being abandoned (specific) vs. your species being abandoned (vague).
Now, let’s examine the theist perspective by analogy:
Two cases of growing up with a father:
Your father was always in your life and you learn that he planned well for your future and always loved you.
Your father was always in your life, but you learn that he never really loved you and didn’t plan well for your future.
You were raised identically and properly in both cases, but the paternal motives were different. I believe that #2 cases would develop severe psychological and behavioral problems—more so than those in the Atheist case study. Feelings of deception in addition to abandonment would predominate. Substitute “God” for “Father” to equate this to the theist perspective in my OP model.
Conclusion: I believe that my OP model would create an environment of psychological damage and behavioral problems for theist and atheist alike, but worse for the theist.
Addendum: Let’s up the ante and see if the outcome is different. Imagine the OP model, but instead of God abandoning man and giving us no afterlife, we learn that he hates us and we are all condemned to hell upon death. Would this change to way you lived your life. Do you anticipate severe psychological problems, or could we put the thought out of our minds?
