|
|
|
|
Suppose a God suddenly appears in front of you in your home and tells you the world will end in six months when a huge meteorite impacts with our planet. Everyone and everything will perish.
...EXCEPT. You alone have the power to stop that from happening. The catch is, to do so, you will die.
It might be an easy choice, because you hate the life you live, it is a life of loneliness and despair. There's not a day that goes by you don't wish you were already dead, except you keep on anyway despite everything. Now this God tells you all this, except it gives you a choice!
You can sacrifice yourself for humanity. You will die forever, there is no afterlife and there never was. Furthermore, nobody will ever know what you did, no songs will be sung about your heroic and seemingly selfless deed.
OR, the God tells you...
...You will find your true love as soon as you step outside the door of your home. Everything emotionally that you were missing will be yours, all the wrongs will be rightened and you will be truly, thoroughly happy for the first time in your life. For six months, total bliss will be yours, and then the world will end and you will die along with everybody else when that meteorite impacts. No reincarnation. No afterlife. Nobody will know of your choice except you and the God, nobody will ever accuse you because of your actions, least of all the person who loves you should you tell anyone.
What would YOU choose, and why?
Don't try to pick the choice you think is "right". Pick the one YOU think you would make.
"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
e
|
 |
On fire! |
Location: currently So Cal
Registered: May 2002
Messages: 1179
|
|
|
I'm already married, so unless he told me that I'd already found her, I'd pass right by the guy on my doorstep and never have that true happiness anyways. Either that or I'd leave my wife for him and kick myself everyday for what I'd done to her, not to mention the rest of the world, and I still wouldn't be truly happy even in a perfect relationship. Might as well just kill me now and let the rest of the world go on. Sorry to sound so pessimistic, but in that scenario, there is no "right thing" for me, so I might as well do the "right thing" for the rest of the world. Of course, I guess it could be argued that the "right thing" for the rest of the world might just be to let it end. 
Think good thoughts,
e
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As another married man I have to agree with e and sacrifice myself for the good of the community as it seems, in the end, anhilation is for me any way:-(
Friendship is the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts or measure words
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I would sacrifice myself.
Because I could not live with my conscience if I did not.
Because I would know that everything I did in the next six months would be futile and pointless.
Because I would know that I could never face the guilt of knowing that I had just sentenced the new true love of my life to death.
Because there would be no future to plan, nothing to live for, just a ticking clock inside my head.
And because I don't think I could ever persuade NASA to train me as an astronaut and launch me into space in 5½ months' time!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ch.oo.lo
|
 |
Toe is in the water |
Location: Michigan, USA
Registered: August 2003
Messages: 49
|
|
|
Hm... I really don't know. I don't believe in a god of any kind and it's kind of hard to imagine believing in one. But if i had some other kind of proof of this happening... um, i still don't know.
I think i'd have to choose neither. I'm not looking to fall in love or for anyone to fall in love with me, so the second option holds no appeal. I think i might (huge maybe) choose the first option if it was just the human race that was going to be impacted by this meteorite (don't ask). But, because the whole planet would be destroyed... ::shrug:: it's bound to happen sooner or later, in this case it would just be sooner.
I'm never lonely, despite spending the majority of my time alone, and i don't hate anything, and i don't understand the concept of despair (among others, love included), so... yeah. I would do neither even though it's not an option. I'd just keep on going the way I am until the meteor hit.
-jeanne
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
marc
|
 |
Needs to get a life! |
Registered: March 2003
Messages: 4729
|
|
|
Perhaps God did..... And the rock is on its way.....
Life is great for me... Most of the time... But then I meet people online... Very few are real friends... Many say they are but know nothing of what it means... Some say they are, but are so shallow...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
marc
|
|
Needs to get a life! |
Registered: March 2003
Messages: 4729
|
|
|
Now consider this....
In theory.... God created the universe in 6 days.... According the scientific community the universe is some 6-7 billion years old.
Would it then be posible to consider the notion that 1 day to God is about 1 billion years to us?
If this is the case (and it also lends to the immortal theory as well) would not these 6 months be a very long time to us?
Just an abstract thought.......
Life is great for me... Most of the time... But then I meet people online... Very few are real friends... Many say they are but know nothing of what it means... Some say they are, but are so shallow...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ch.oo.lo
|
|
Toe is in the water |
Location: Michigan, USA
Registered: August 2003
Messages: 49
|
|
|
Extremely interesting thought. Kind of a logical mediator between both sides of the argument. But wouldn't you think that by that time we'd a)have found some way to live outside of earth, or b) be able to detect and/or destroy a meteor before something like that happened? Assuming the human race hasn't managed to destroy itself and that technology continues to progress at the current rate.
Another question, wouldn't 'god' want to stop his 'children' from dying?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ch.oo.lo
|
|
Toe is in the water |
Location: Michigan, USA
Registered: August 2003
Messages: 49
|
|
|
Ok, one more and then i'm done for a lil while  .
1. You said 'a God' meaning, no one in particular. Would this god only 'test' (for lack of a better word) his/her supporters?
2. Wouldn't this make the christian god a liar? Isn't there a promise of heaven made by him? I haven't read the bible, so i don't know for sure.
No more numbers. This is kind of a continuation of 2. God is omnipotent, correct? So shouldn't he/she/it/they already know how the test takers will answer? Nevermind, I'm confusing myself.
Couldn't god create an afterlife, as an enticement of sorts (as i think it is now) to reward you for doing 'the right thing'?
What would be the point in god's asking this question? Either way, you're dead. If you choose the first way, you won't actually know whether it happened. For all you know it could have been the devil/a trickster just trying to get rid of people. If you choose the second way, you're still dead, just 6 months after you would have been. I guess if one were to choose the second way, he/she would die happy, which is enough for some.
That is all.
-Jeanne
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
marc
|
|
Needs to get a life! |
Registered: March 2003
Messages: 4729
|
|
|
Yup
Life is great for me... Most of the time... But then I meet people online... Very few are real friends... Many say they are but know nothing of what it means... Some say they are, but are so shallow...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Unfortunately, along with being an arrogant prick at times, I'm too damn noble for my own good. I'd choose to die. Hey, I'm not so selfish that I'd waste everyone else's life for my own if I could prevent that tragedy from happening. It's just who I am.
It's not the wolf you see you should fear, but all the ones he howls with. Don't be afraid of the song, but don't piss off the choir.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
saben
|
|
On fire! |
Registered: May 2003
Messages: 1537
|
|
|
Some religions, the Mormon faith included do believe that Gods measure of time and mans differ and/ or that the 'day' in the Bible was translated incorrectly along the line. They believe 'day' to refer simply to an 'era' of time, unspecific in its nature.
Why say 1 day is 1 million years to god, though? Sure the term 'year' and 'million' mean nothing in a universal sense. I think God would measure his time according to the growth of the universe, or the speed of light, and I think he'd be more likely to count using Fibonacci numbers or binary than a base-10 system.
I think getting back to Lenny's question though, the six-months he was refering to was by human measurement. Interesting theorising but the point of the question was more a moral hypothetical, rather than a question of god, of time or of whether it would realistically happen.
Look at this tree. I cannot make it blossom when it suits me nor make it bear fruit before its time [...] No matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.
Master Oogway
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
saben
|
|
On fire! |
Registered: May 2003
Messages: 1537
|
|
|
The way I learnt it, to God death is another stage of progression, he has died to reach the state he is at and we must too, to become like him. What god wants to stop is us being 'damned' that is, he doesn't want to see us being stopped in our progression. That's from my Mormon background, though, other religions might see it different. As for if we died and then could no progress further? Well, even God couldn't make that happen, even if he would want to, so it is a void question.
Look at this tree. I cannot make it blossom when it suits me nor make it bear fruit before its time [...] No matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.
Master Oogway
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
saben
|
|
On fire! |
Registered: May 2003
Messages: 1537
|
|
|
Ignoring the 'god' terminology and just cutting to the decision part, I'd choose the second option, if I got everything I was lacking emotionally, then I would feel no guilt for my decision and there would be no reason for me to regret it afterwards. If the choice was six months of bliss for myself before dying or a regular life, then I'd choose the former, so why would that decision change, just because the odds are a bit higher. I'd prefer to die knowing that at least one person was happy in their life, instead of dying knowing that I have doomed a group of people to a life that consists of as many (if not more) downs than ups. Plus, if I was really perfectly happy, then I'd be able to have an impact on the rest of the world. If someone truluy reached that utopian state within themselves, then perhaps through ripple effect the entire world could reach a happy state before dying.
I really don't know what I'd do, I just wanted to see what kind of non-selfish arguments could be made for the second option. If I was put in that situation I'd want to know why, with the first option I would lose out through no choice of my own, but through a random throw of fate's dice. In the second option I gain infinitely, everyone else just has to pay for that. Should the innocent one be punished for the sins of the many to save them? I thought Jesus already did that, this time perhaps the many should pay for the happiness of the one.
I'd flip a coin, heads choice 1, tails choice 2, I can't make that decision and it shouldn't be mine to make, even Jesus chose his path in life as the Saviour.
Look at this tree. I cannot make it blossom when it suits me nor make it bear fruit before its time [...] No matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.
Master Oogway
|
|
|
|
|
Goto Forum:
|
] 
A Place of Safety
Search
Help
Register
Login
Home
What if? 
Re: What if? 
