Heaven And Hell

The other day on TV, I saw a woman proudly proclaim that she believed that God literally created the Earth in six days about six thousand years ago. In addition, she also proudly affirmed that both Heaven and Hell were real places with the Devil in charge of Hell and God the boss of Heaven; sadly, this woman was middle aged and appeared to be of sound mind. Well, I’m afraid I think she was not of sound mind.

How is it possible that a person can live for fifty years or more on this Earth and still believe in such infantile nonsense? What goes on in the mind of someone who in half a century has learned nothing of the world they live on or the Universe of which it is a part?

I can state with 99.99% confidence that Heaven does not exist anywhere in the sky, and while the centre of the Earth is certainly full of fire and brimstone, it is not the domain of some nasty-minded, horny-headed man with the feet of a goat and a big dick! I can say these things because we have explored the sky and a little bit beyond, and we have pretty good knowledge of the Earth’s geology, so why do some people reject knowledge in favour of fantasy? Does religion and other fantastic beliefs fulfil some deep-seated psychological need in weak-minded individuals?

I don’t know the answer to these questions but from personal experience of talking with such people, I find that they are uneducated or are willing to throw their education out the window when it comes to matters of what they want to be true. “Want” is the key word here; to many people, the desire for something to be true, in their minds, makes it true; this desire seems powerful enough to overcome their capacity for rational thought. What do these people tell their child who asks – as children often do – a penetrating question? Do they tell the truth and say they don’t know? Or do they fob the child off with an admonition not to ask silly questions? I’d bet it’s the latter.

I’m glad I can’t imagine what it would be like to spend my entire time on this planet believing in crap some other like-minded fool told me without even thinking about it for myself, sadly, many people seem to do just that.

What a waste of life!