Green Oasis

My oldest daughter has taken to asking God to “protect all the good people” and “make sure there are no hurricanes or tornadoes” and other similarly kindhearted, faithful wishes for the general welfare. Our world-wise adult reflex is to prompt her to water down her requests to something meaningless like “please watch over them”. Why?

Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, … if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. (Matthew 21:21–22)

For with God nothing shall be impossible. (Luke 1:37)

If nothing is impossible for God, why can’t he seem to muster the same benevolence as my child? Have adult believers learned to be less compassionate in their prayers in order to cover for God’s lack of compassion?

Lincoln sent me a link to a conference about the convergence of Mormon thought and engineering. I’m highly doubtful that there is a God, but I’m an engineer so why not manufacture one?

The Howard W Hunter Chair is interested in expanding the discussion of Latter-day Saint (LDS) perspectives on the attributes of God and the potential of man through a variety of innovative directions. One of the directions to be explored is whether there is a possible resonance between Mormon and engineering thought. The assumption is that according to LDS understanding, God is the architect of the Creation and the engineer of our bodies and spirits. Man, on the other hand, is believed to be capable of growing to become like God. The theological question is: where does engineering fit in the convergence of these two realms?

They’re asking for papers. If that’s your kind of thing, have fun.

Here’s another way to look at my infidelity (in the religious sense of the word): of all the things in my collected experience, I feel no need to label anything God and worship it in the traditional way; nothing that I know about compels me to worship it as God.

I had an amusing thought while sitting in church last Sunday. If the trinitarian view of the Godhead were correct and Jesus was God, then perhaps Jesus’ crucifixion was God’s way of saying “You know what? I fucked up. All this cruelty and suffering is all my fault, and now it’s time for me to pay for my crimes.”

It makes perfect sense to me, and it would make an omnipotent God seem like less of a jerk.