I'm probably going to offend some people with this post. In fact, I already apologize in advance for any strong emotional language I might use. But I really can't help it, I just HAVE to vent this emotion somehow.
I post it in Coffee House but if admin thinks its suitable for Faith&Belief, by all means move it there.
Yesterday evening I watched a TV show about people with a genetic condition called
Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB). Basically, people with this condition lack a certain proteine which makes their skin "detach" from the underlying tissue very easily. About 1 in 100.000 children are born with it. There are different types and degrees, but in the most severe cases even a simple touch can make the skin come off. Large blisters appear and have to be opened, and these are equivalent to 2nd degree burn wounds.
The report was about two adolescents. One 21 years old and the other 14. Actually, I had seen another report a couple of months ago about a British guy named Johnny Kennedy who had the same disease, and a foundation, and died at the age of 36. I also had the exactly same thoughts back then..
Anyway, EB in the highest degree is one of the most horrific conditions I ever witnessed. Even at birth the kids already have open wounds. Their parents can't even hug them without causing injuries. Most of the patients never get through their 30's because of skin-cancer or because their bodies become totally exhausted and/or poisoned. Their hands and feet are slowly reduced to clumps because with all the blistering and resulting wounds, the fingers and toes "melt" together over time. One of the fathers told how one day he was taking a walk with his kid (toddler back then), when the kid fell and when the father tried to hold its hand, the entire skin of the hand just came off.. Ugh! Their whole body becomes covered in blisters that not only LOOK like 2nd degree burns, but are just as painful as well. They also have blisters in mouth and throat, making eating very difficult and painful. The whole body needs to be covered in bandages to fight infection. Other than that, they start of as completely normal (no developmental issues or such, they are 100% aware of things)
Here's a site with info:
http://www.ebinfoworld.com/abouteb_misc.htm
At one point, they showed how the mother of the 14 year old boy needed to remove the bandages to give him a disinfecting bath. If she didn't get help, it took her the better part of an afternoon to do just that. Not only that, but removing the bandages was very painful no matter how careful it was done, and the bath that followed after it.. Oh dear... Imagine how the kid started to cry and just kept repeating how painful it was.
The mother and kid had to go through this routine each and every day. She told things just got worse over time, also. There was no progress, just downhill all the way.
I am a grown-up guy of 33, I am not emotional, I have no kids of my own, but while I watched this (and even now that I'm typing this), I couldn't help but cry. If you want a definition of a continuous living nightmare, here you had it!
The very next spontaneous thought was: how can some people claim that there is a benevolent watch-over-everybody God out there? How can they POSSIBLY claim this, knowing something like EB exists? A torture, both for a kid and his family, the most evil people couldn't even come up with if you gave them carte blanche?
So yes, it's the kind of consideration one casually makes in case of for example natural disasters like Katrina or the Tsunami. There are countless opportunities, each and every day, to ask yourself that question. Most of the time, these thoughts subside pretty quickly. But from time to time, and I guess it has to do with the fact that it's about an individual and about an innocent KID, a threshold is passed. Yesterday was such a day. EB is such a trigger.
I was raised mildly Roman Catholic and slowly became consciously atheistic/agnostic without being very missionary about it. It would be more accurate to say that religion never was an issue to me at all, that it simply never got any grip on me. I always had the "live and let live" approach. This is largely due to the fact that there really wasn't much "pushy" religion around me.
Nevertheless, I can say that yesterday I had thoughts about killing "God" next time I would cross him on the street. And not "just" kill, I'd first do things to him that I possibly couldn't write down here. Really. And if someone would have been there while I watched the program, and mentioned a benevolent watch-over-us God, I would have punched him in the face as hard as I could without a second thought.
It would have helped, I'm almost 100% sure. I'm almost sure I would actually have done it, because obviously the "God" is not available to cool your outrage on, because he simply plain obviously... DOESN'T EXIST. (that's why my bad thoughts didn't really shock me, either)
The idea is not just nonsense, it is a SICK JOKE. It is idiotic, stupid, indefensible, moronic, inexplainable, just plain DUMB. I can't imagine what is responsible for the kind of brain-wiring that enables people to seriously consider the possibility.
Before anyone points it out: I am aware that Johnny Kennedy, mentioned above, was actually religious himself. He reasoned that the purpose, assigned by God, of his life was to "learn something". I won't blame him. How could it ever have been possible for him to get through the next day with the idea that he was simply a cruel Darwinistic accident of nature? Maybe there is the one and only benefit of religion.
- end of rant -
At least I feel better now.
™ Version 4.2