YHWH (GOD)

 

                Contemporary religion, (2010), advocates that YHWH did not create evil and that instead man chose evil out of free will. This is the debate that often times goes on between theists and anti-theists. The argument is that if YHWH is good and all powerful then why are bad things happening? I believe in determinism and the way I see it, Christianity asserts that YHWH is the first cause. Therefore, it seems logical that YHWH is ultimately responsible for all of man’s inadequacies. Whereas I cannot lay complete blame on a parent if their child makes a grave mistake I certainly can blame YHWH because he possesses ultimate power. If a believer in Christ says that I chose to be bad then my response is that YHWH either created me bad or created Adam and Eve bad, because he was the one that manufactured their personalities and genetics. If people are forced into action by a causal chain then YHWH is ultimately to blame for mankind’s mistakes. I cannot blame Eve for her sinful lust for knowledge and power. It is YHWH who instilled it within her.  

 

                If determinism is true then whether or not YHWH is real matters little to me, because I wouldn’t abide by him even if he was real. I wouldn’t abide by him, because he is ultimately the perpetrator of unhappiness. I have no desire to be unhappy and no desire for others to be unhappy and yet because of his flaws there are people in this world who are unhappy. He has no excuse for this because he is almighty and therefore capable of anything. People are born with desires that directly conflict with the harmony of others which inevitably leads to suffering. These people are dubbed sinners and allegedly cast into a fiery inferno for all of eternity. This is YHWH’s doing and I find his actions unacceptable because he had the power to create those beings differently. Furthermore, he has the power at all times to change those beings but chooses not to.

 

                Some will argue that YHWH has limited his powers out of love for humanity and that all acts of evil are done by Satan. If this is so then it seems to me that YHWH is a parent that could know its child’s morbid, hopeless future and yet chooses not to. If this is so then YHWH is a parent that could change its child’s morbid, hopeless future but chooses not to. If this is so then YHWH is aware that a portion of the children he creates will go to hell and out of love chooses not to prevent this. This concept of love is lost upon me.

 

                In conclusion, determinism does not defy the concept of gods. Indeed, however seemingly unlikely it is to me, there could be powerful, unseen beings manipulating us to serve their purpose or there could be a powerful and loving being that created us. I doubt it, but there could be. YHWH, on the other hand, I disbelieve  strongly conviction along with all other gods and ideas relying upon the concept of free will.