Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia;  Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.

Post 61. December 25, 2018

God's Inscrutable Plan

Evolution, Not Salvation

A popular excuse for the Problem of Evil1 ─ that the world is unfolding according to God’s Plan, which is beyond human understanding ─ is merely a diversion, advising us to "suck it up" and accept the bad with the good, while hoping for a better deal in the next life*. Ironically, the old "mysterious ways" theory belies divine benevolence, implying that what’s good or bad for me is irrelevant to God. The faithful must accept the fact that they are pawns in the Lord’s chess match with Satan. The hidden meaning of the "my ways are not your ways" Plan is explained most clearly in Calvinism : The Creator intended for only a few “elect” humans to go to heaven; and the majority, including innocent babies, are destined to suffer & die & then burn in Hell for eternity. What kind of divine plan is that?

The Torah's depiction of a fearsome psychopathic Tyrant King in Heaven was rejected by early Deists. But, since they saw no alternative to the concept of ex nihilo creation, some rejected only the Old Testament version of vengeful Yahweh who savagely disciplined his chosen people, yet they accepted the more user-friendly deity of the Christ, offering salvation for all — at least all who keep their eyes closed and hope for heaven. Others diverged further from tradition, and resorted to a science-friendly Clockmaker deity, for whom the Plan is just to mark time indefinitely, with no particular end time setting. It's simply Cause & Effect all the way down.

Modern Deists, or NeoDeists, tend to update their god-model to include the Big Bang beginning, and the non-local Quantum Indeterminacy of current Science, which is not compatible with Predestination. This vaguely-defined deity, whose intentions are inscrutable, is more mind-like than machine-like. The divine Plan now seems more like a heuristic computer program, calculating each new step from inputs of the last step, in the context of the Programmer’s initial settings, and as directed by the Problem Statement (purpose), which points to an unknown answer.

Humans find ourselves muddling in the middle of that evolving computation, ignorant of the Programmer’s personality, and of He/r Entention. We are like unsophisticated people who have no idea how a cell phone works, but quickly learn how to operate it for our own primitive purposes. We admire the ingenuity of its faceless creator — some call He/r “Jobs” — and respect He/r creative superiority. But there’s no point in worshiping this mysterious maker, since S/he is not of our barbarous third world, and asks nothing of us. Ironically, some feel obligated for this gratis gift of benevolent technology, and seek some way to communicate their thanks to "Jobs", who is not receiving or returning calls at this time. Undeterred by the lack of feedback, we share tweets & gossip on the phone about how "Jobs" loves us. And how everything seems to be going according to “Jobs” plan, even when the phone malfunctions.

There may be a scripted game plan for this marvelous exercise in creativity, but we can only glimpse non-specific signs of entention in the futurity of the arrow of time. Nevertheless, human nature impels us to expand those hints into grand dramatic narratives. But Deists must remind themselves that our projections of purpose and intimations of meaning are only subjective fictions, not objective facts. And besides, the final chapter of the Plan/Program/Story has not yet been written.

Not Quite the End of Post 61

* The BA blog advises us to "suck it up" and accept the bad with the good, while working for a better deal in this life.

Adapted from my reply on Quora to the question :
Does everything really happen according to God's plan? Is God actually in control of everything, and all is according to His will?

Plan A or Plan B?
Post 61 implies that there is a divine plan for the universe. It’s not a plan of salvation though, but of evolution.

That the Great Architect has a plan for the Creation makes sense.

But the details of the design vary depending on who is interpreting the blueprints.

Judaism

Islam

Christianity

Hinduism

Faith?

Works?

Baptism?  

Universal Salvation?

Submission?

Martyrdom?

Chosen People?

Etcetera

So I ignored the doctrines of men, and developed my own outline of The Plan from indirect evidence available to the naked eye and the discerning mind. It’s a narrative of grand scope and cosmic significance, gradually working toward a big finale or a pffft fadeout, I’m not sure which. Whether it’s a tragedy or a farce depends on the actor. Anyway, my role in the Big Picture is minor, but I put my heart & soul in it.   

1. Problem of Evil :
    The obvious imperfections in the world are a philosoph-ical problem only for those who believe that it was created especially for humans to enjoy and rule over, as in the Garden of Eden myth. If the Creator was omnipotent and indeed intended to create a paradise, what when wrong?
   The Abrahamic stories blame the existence of Evil on a personification of that negative quality. And it also blames the victims for their own suffering. But those evasions don’t address the root of the theological dilemma.
   Regardless of those scape-goats, the all-powerful creator either didn’t intend to make a ideal world, or was not able to follow through, due to some obstacle. Both of those options belie the definition of the Abrahamic deity.
 So, in the Enformationism myth, I have flipped the script to place perfection at the end of the story instead of the beginning. My Creator didn’t intend to create Paradise, but to evolve it. And even that is just a guess, based on the skimpy facts at hand.