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

The world ain’t saving itself

Post 17.  February 19, 2018 continued . . .

Deist Divine Justice

   Holocaust : punishment, purge, or program?

This excerpt from a Messianic Jewish website attempts to justify the paradoxical & puzzling history of divine justice for Yahweh's battered but proud chosen people:

<< virtually all your articles on the subject speak about how “G-d works in mysterious ways” and we, finite creatures, using the finite tool of our intellect, cannot presume to understand His “reasons.” At most, one sees references to some cosmic tikkun (“correction”) that is achieved through suffering and tragedy, whose precise workings are beyond our ken. . . . because it brings us face to face with the profound realism of Torah and our concept of a compassionate G-d. . . . “It is impossible that the Holocaust was a punishment for sins. Even the Accusing Angel himself could never find sufficient sins in that generation to justify the extermination of six million holy martyrs with such unspeakable cruelty.” In our individual lives and in our view of history, we have a choice concerning how we wish to relate to G-d. We can see Him as that Big Meanie in the Sky, and interpret accordingly. Or we can see a deep relationship happening between Man and G-d—something we cannot always fathom, but believe in with unalterable faith. >>
Link to article

So, the choice is yours : a> you can accept that G-d is indifferent to the plight of his people, and simply lets Nature take it's haphazard course, or b> you can blindly believe that, despite all evidence to the contrary, G-d is using the Jewish race for some ultimate occult purpose. In the latter case, Justice is not defined by human wants or needs, but as whatever G-d does is right, no matter how seeminglly cruel and meaningless. In other words, the Jews are merely powerless pawns in a heavenly chess game between Good and Evil, as exemplified in the callous treatment of Job, mere collateral damage in a vainglorious wager between Yahweh and Satan.

Neo-Deists, who adopt the BothAnd principle, can choose a more pragmatic Stoical position though, somewhere in between the stark either/or choices above. From that philosophical perspective, G*D can still be envisioned as Just, in the sense of fair & impartial, like a referee in a game with well-defined rules. The official aloofness of such a deity is not a sign of complete indifference to human concerns, and doesn’t suggest an Olympian warlord cavalierly using humans as canon fodder for a heavenly war, but is more like a programmer who sets some parameters and a few degrees of freedom, then allows the what-if possibilities to play-out toward an uncertain destiny. In the game of life, humans have one advantage over all other creatures : the super-power of Reason; which is the ability to discern good from evil, and to choose a path of win-lose self-interest, or a game-plan of win-win altruism.

Like the god of Job and the Stoics, the god of Neo-Deism is, for practical purposes, equivalent to implacable Nature, which has absolute power over all natural creatures. That's why humans gradually developed their own Culture, with man-made rules to suit their own needs and desires. Over the years, civilizations have become more & more estranged from Nature, in their attempts to escape its inhumane rewards & punishments. They have tried their best to create “Justice systems” that reward goodness, and punish bad behavior. The lesson here is to stop waiting for the impartial judge to impose justice from above, or for a Messiah or superhero to save us, but to work together toward a more ethical, stable and fair society. It’s up to us to level the playing field.

End of Post 17

Game Theory :
   Game theory is "the study of mathematical models of conflict and cooperation between intelligent rational decision-makers".
   Players can choose from several Strategies, such as Cooperative/Noncooperative; Symmetric/Asymmetric; and Zero-sum/Non-zero-sum. That latter game plan is also called Win/Win.

Game of Life :
a zero-player computer game, not between humans, but algorithms, merely trying to stay “alive” long enough to replicate. Their soulless competitions typically follow the patterns identified in Game Theory.

NeoDeism :
It’s a rational reasonable belief system, not a head-in-the-sand blind faith. Even if our G*D turns out to be nothing more than a fictional hero, that model of fair-minded creation will have served its purpose : something to aspire to. A little less obsequious than slaves of God, and a little more optimistic than god-deniers.

“I may assert eternal providence, / And justify the ways of God to men.”
John Milton, Paradise Lost

To Justify the ways of G*D
  The “deep relationship” between Deists and the Deus, is that of Creator and creature. The only thing special about human creatures though is that they have evolved a moral sense, and the reasoning ability to compare what-is to what-ought-to-be.
   When “acts of God” violated the Jew's sense of propriety, they would meekly bow and accept it as “God's will”. Meanwhile, like Job, they grumbled under their breath, that God's will in this case was unjust.
   But Neo-Deists can take comfort in the knowledge that, despite the vicissitudes of life, they have created a personal character of virtue, and a culture of justice, that can make the world a better place, and would make G*D proud.
   The ultimate significance of our relationship to G*D is something “we cannot always fathom”. Yet, we can interpret the signs of progress in evolution to mean that there is some divine destination, out there on the edge of infinity, that is meaningful to G*D.
   Meanwhile, as creative creatures, we can construct a purpose of our own as a target to aim at, as we progress along life’s arc. If it turns out that there is no cosmic purpose, then our faith will not have been in vain, It will have served as an ideal model to guide our petty personal purposes, and may even contribute to progress in human culture..