Infinity’s Edge

Note: This post is a work of fiction. In case anyone had any doubt. Just a very short story I felt like hammering out.

I’m the man who made the world. You wouldn’t know it looking at me though. Nothing all that special about me. In fact, I used to be just like you. Well, I still am, but I used to be just like you think you still are. Confused? Give it time, and you’ll get what I mean. You might not believe me, but you’ll know what I mean.

As a young man, I spent my time searching for the truth of the universe. Never did find it. I tried though. Studied magick, witchcraft, eastern philosophy, eventually became a fundamentalist Christian, convinced I knew the one true path to God and determined to show everyone else the light. I would be the one who could bridge the gap between believer and non-believer. You can probably guess how that turned out.

During this time, there was an expedition for one of the holy artifacts used during the reign of King Arthur. Most people dismiss him as a legend. However, I now have it on very good authority that he is real, and he did many of the things people claimed, even some of the supernatural things. But, that’s really a bit of a tangent. The point is, I joined the expedition, and sought the Holy Grail with a group of like-minded Christian archaeologists.

Well, long story short, we found it. Rather, I found it. The rest of my crew perished in Siberia. How it ended up there, I have no idea. Some prince probably took it for just a fancy chalice and used it as such, and it was traded and bartered amongst royalty until it made it to Russia, where it somehow fell into the hands of others and was eventually lost.

I stumbled upon it quite by accident though. While walking along the snow-covered wastes, I wandered onto a lake without realizing it. When everything is covered in snow and ice, you don’t tend to pay attention to more ice. It collapsed, and I thought I was surely going to die. Would have, too, but I crashed through close enough to the grail that it pulled me to its hiding place, safe from the freezing water of the lake. It wanted me to find it, so it saved me.

See, the Grail wished to be reunited with Excalibur, though that isn’t the blade’s true name. Truly, it is called Infinity’s Edge. As we get more into this tale, I think you will come to see why.

In any case, the Grail led me through Earth, protecting me from the pressure, heat, and other dangers that exist far below the surface. After King Arthur, the blade was disposed of by people who never wanted it to appear again. It’s power threatened them, and they wished to maintain control of the populace. I don’t know who it was, but they had a vested interest in keeping their power.

Finally, I reached Infinity’s Edge at the core of the world. Upon touching the blade, I learned more about our world than you could possibly imagine. I certainly can’t explain it all. I was also given the power to remake our world, in any fashion I wished. In short, Infinity’s Edge granted the wielder power that belongs only to God. How could I use such power responsibly? Furthermore, why was it there in the first place?

At this time, I was still a fundamentalist Christian. I wanted to be right badly enough that I considered rewriting history on the spot and creating God to fill that role. It was very tempting, because then I could truly be right, and could likely start proving it to those who didn’t believe. It didn’t feel right though. I’d still know I’d been wrong. And truly, it wasn’t what was best for us. I tried to think more about what the Biblical Jesus would have done. And I had my answer, because it was what he had always tried to do when he was alive.

I planted the divine spark within humanity. Now, every person who walks this planet has the power of God. Most haven’t realized it yet. Even the highly spiritual, the spell casters, the priests, and all the others fail to notice the spark, as they are focused on their old ways, and not the new path open to them. That’s okay though. People will notice with time.

Now, why not just make everyone aware of this spark? Well, I considered it, but people have just as much propensity for evil as they do for good. I didn’t want people to just begin fighting over resources before they realized they don’t need to do so anymore. The power does not provide wisdom or knowledge, after all. We still have to learn that ourselves. We’d destroy ourselves if we went down that path. If people learn of it gradually, we’ll be able to incorporate the changes into our lives more easily. We don’t do rapid change well. Gradual change lets us get used to it a little at a time.

So, someday, people will see their power. Then, perhaps we’ll all learn to rely on ourselves more. Though I suspect in reality, people will have to rely on themselves more before discovering the power they have. After all, things like this tend to mirror the way we’ve always done things. In the meantime, I have more work to do. Otherwise, it might be a long time before I have someone else to speak of this with in casual conversation.

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Pascal’s Wager Is a Poor Reason to “Believe” In God

Pascal’s Wager is a horrible, horrible reason to “believe” in God. The reason is simple. You don’t choose to believe. You either believe or you don’t. Events over the course of your life may change your belief, and you may change it because of arguments that actually convince you of God’s existence or non-existence. But if you just pretend to believe because it’s safer, you don’t really believe. And God would see through that. So if he cares what you believe, than pretending isn’t going to help you. And if he doesn’t care what you believe, there’s no need to pretend in the first place. If Pascal’s Wager is what convinces you to believe, you are pretending, because you’re professing belief under duress, not because you truly believe it. This is not a knock at those who may profess belief because they’ve been confronted with this argument, though I do wish they would stand up for themselves and speak out about their true beliefs. But this is a warning to those who use Pascal’s Wager as a conversion argument. It doesn’t work. You aren’t convincing anyone to believe anything. All you’re doing is convincing them to profess belief in God, not to actually believe in him.

Also, I’d like to point out that many practicing monotheists (Christian and non-Christian alike) believe in Universal Salvation. To believe a loving God could condemn someone to hell for choosing the wrong beliefs is completely illogical, particularly when he has given us no way to know for sure. The Bible doesn’t count, as I could just as easily cite the Vedas or Koran as ultimate truth, with just as much validity. If God wanted us to be blind through life, he wouldn’t have given us the ability to reason through situations and ideas. As he gave us reason, I’d think he expects us to use it to better ourselves and our world, wouldn’t you? And since it’s illogical to think a loving God would condemn us to Hell for the wrong beliefs, I guess he’d think to make it clear which faith we should choose if he required us to make that choice correctly. Since that isn’t the case, and most of us presuppose a loving God, I’d say that leaves the option that God isn’t really looking for us to make the right choice of religion. He’s looking for us to live our lives the right way, which there is also no guide book for, which leaves us to reason out the best way for ourselves. Guess we’d better think for ourselves instead of relying on the Bible, don’t you think? Yes, there is some presumption in this paragraph. I know I don’t know the will of God. But I’m trying to come to a reasoned conclusion here based on premises that are commonly held by many religions, the most prominent being that God loves us, and my own reasoning and thought processes.

So, not only is Pascal’s Wager a poor argument because God can see what’s in your heart anyway, it’s also a poor argument because a loving God wouldn’t condemn anyone to Hell for making the wrong choice of religion without the knowledge to make an informed decision, or using our reason to come to our own conclusions. Stop using Pascal’s Wager to try to convince people. It doesn’t work, and it’s quite possibly one of the most flawed arguments to convert people I’ve ever seen.

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