by John Rixey

Created on: October 29, 2008

First off, it is a shame that we are to understand that this question is referring to the Christian god. There are a lot of religions in the world and there is a lot of time to make up new religions. Atheism is not the rejection of Christianity. It is the rejection of religion in general as a moral/ethical guide for living.

Back to the Christian god, though. Before there was anything at all, there was God. God, having created us "in his own image" is understood to have a human body with its brains, body hair, digestive system, genitals, etc. This means that God would need food and a proper environment to survive. Since there was nothing, though, God as a human character could not have existed. The argument from Christians, however, would go something like, "God doesn't need food and air - because he is God." That is not an argument.

So out of nothing, God created the universe which contained all of the animals that it currently contains. God is believed to still exist somewhere. Where? Heaven, of course. Where is heaven? Nobody cares. It exists only in our imaginations. It is simply the idea of a place where everything is great. This is where God lives and where your soul goes when you die (if you meet the proper qualifications). This "soul" exists in the same way that God exists. We can only imagine it. The soul is a major component of Christianity. It is the soul that is imprinted with your sins and your beliefs and it's the soul that goes to heaven. Even though this concept is a major part of the religion, there are no details provided about the soul. Does the soul have a body? What does it look like? Can your soul think? Does it have your memories? If so, do braindead people not have souls? If the soul cannot think and has no memory, you would not remember your life or identity after death, so you would essentially be a stranger to what you are now.

All of these questions about the actual characteristics of the easily-accepted parts of Christianity are rarely addressed. If they are addressed, the explanation will sound something like, "The soul exists in a different dimension that we cannot see." So now we have a new imaginary dimension. Answers to questions about this dimension can be as absurd as necessary. Since the whole thing is imaginary, anything can be said about it. Does the soul have to eat? No. Does God get diarrhea? No, of course not. Do souls have sex in heaven? No, because it's not necessary. Does God speak English? Yes, of course - perfectly. Modern English? All English. Is there anything to do in this dimension of heaven? Yes, anything you want.

In short, the whole thing is a little ridiculous if you really think about it - not about the Bible, but about the basic view of existence that you must have to believe a human-like God is watching you and remembering the awful things you felt you were forced to do so that when you die, a translucent copy of your body (from some point during your life) floats into a different dimension where everything is super-duper.

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