Pursuit of Happiness: The Right to Religion

To society,

When it comes to man's happiness, I previously showed that love is man's perfection and therefore key to obtaining happiness. Now, I intend to explain one of the fundamental rights pertaining to that love; the right that early American settlers valued dearly: the freedom of religion.

Simply speaking, religion is about rendering what is due to God*. The focus is not on us, but on God. Religion falls under the realm of Justice, but in doing so, we show our love to God.

Of course, there are many religions and it can be difficult to say which is true. However, this is not because of religion itself, but rather it's relationship with faith, philosophy, and morality.

Faith and religion are not the same, but they are very much connected. Faith gives us premises to build our logic. Most of our knowledge and ideas are based upon faith. We exercise this in science when we trust that prior scientists did everything correctly. No one has time to prove everything that others have proven before, otherwise we would make no progress. We also have faith in our own experiences, which in turn affect our philosophy.

Philosophy is the way we view how the universe works. If we say science is how things are, philosophy is the logic for why. Religion and philosophy play a give and take game as philosophy influences religion, and faith gives premises for philosophy. Morality then is applying that knowledge to how we should act, of which religion is part.

The reach of morality is largely dependent upon the scope of faith and philosophy. For example, Christianity in general has "love your neighbor as yourself" as it's second greatest commandment. It also heavily teaches that God associates himself with each individual person. As a result of this world view, it has a huge stake in preaching how we should treat others. At the same time, you can see how each denomination differs in how it treats God based off their differing philosophies.

Now, since it is difficult to judge which religion as they are matters of faith, it is important to recognize them for what they are. By understanding that religion is how we are to give back to the Divinity, we can see why it's important to be free from political powers. History and modern times are filled with persecutions by politicians who see religion as an obstacle to their selfish ambitions. While I will not admit all religions are good, there is good in the nature of giving back as it is our nature to love.

With love,

N. D. Moharo

* for the definition of religion, I took from the catechism of one of the world's largest religions. If Catholicism cannot have a say in what religion is, then I don't know who can. However, I think it's fair to say that when we say religion today, we mean the whole package of faith, philosophy, and morality.

P.s. it can be an act of love to allow people to practice their religion. Even if we oppose a religion, we must make sure there is no hatred and no desire to harm anyone, otherwise we are more likely to be the agents of evil

Listing why a Person Might or Might Not Believe There is a God

To the Atheists and Apologists,
    The debate over the existence of a god is a very interesting one. One reason is that not everyone have the same reasons for his or her belief whether there is a god or not. There can be any number of reasons and those can determine how firm one will stand when debating. To help, I've compiled two simple lists and done my best to provide a brief explanation. I won't address the flaws or either here, but perhaps another time I will try that.

Realize that these lists are not what all of either side hold, but instead are compilations of various reasons individuals might have.

Note: If someone has a strong opinion, it means they have deep concerns. We need to listen and figure out what they are.

Why someone might not believe in a God

1. Problem of Evil: If God is so good, then why does he let us suffer?
2. Parents: I knew a girl in college who surprisingly converted to a religion. Her explanation is that her hatred of religion was not her own, but her mother's. When she realized that, she found she liked religion after all
3. Hypocrisy: seeing people who preach some values only to act against them.
4. Doesn't Make Sense: Cannot grasp the various concepts of God and how they can tie together. How can a God of Love punish eternally? How can God be Infinitely Just and Infinitely Merciful? If he is all-powerful, doesn't that mean he can create something he cannot lift meaning he is't all-powerful?
5. Misunderstanding of positions: Sometimes people have a hard time grasping one concept and once it's explained in a logical manner, they convert. For example, perhaps they were assuming a different definition of justice which opposes mercy completely.
6. No Encounter: Don't believe to have had any miraculous events in their lives
7. No reason to believe: Burden on proof are on the claimants, not the doubters.
8. Evolution: 
1. I'll be honest. I can't explain this one. I just know some people use it but I don't understand their explanation. So if you know how to explain it. Please share and I'll update this list
9. Education/Indoctrination: Someone in a position of authority said there isn't a god
10. Having to change my life: Realize that if they truly believe in a God, they have to change their ways and they don't want to.
11. Too many wars because of conflicting Religious ideas

Why someone might believe there is a God

1. Family tradition: one's parents promoted belief from an early age and to consider people you trust to be wrong on something important would make you question your whole life
2. Can only see despair in a world without God: With all the evil and suffering in the world, they would only despair if there was no paradise.
3. Too many coincidences: Seeing how one major event would have never happened if anywhere in a long chain turned out differently encourages belief there is divine intervention.
4. Prayers: Might be marked as coincidence to some, but the fact that some people get what they prayed for makes them believe there is a God who is listening.
5. Poetic Justice: In our world, too many criminals are able to get away with their crimes. A God who is just could issue perfect justice in the next life
6. Someone they love is dead: They want their loved ones to be eternally happy and the idea of paradise is consoling
7. They have heard or witnessed miracles concerning trusted sources: If you witness a scientifically impossible fact, like a 15-pound tumor disappearing within a night, an easy explanation is that there is some being who has power over nature
8. Stories of saints inspire them: the testimonies of people who are highly regarded to be wise and virtuous act as highly trustworthy material. Since many of them cast away many worldly desires such as fame, fortune, and even sexual pleasure, they are not considered to be corrupted
1. Some modern examples include Mother Theresa
9. People with real faith become great people: The people who believed so much that it inspired them to act with great love and become saints act as a testimony to goodness. People who want to become better themselves see these saints and work to imitate them because they see their actions as good.
10. The Martyrs, especially early ones: The death of people close to the time of the "revelation" because of their resolve in faith in their god makes people wonder about if it's true. Since they were willing to die for their god, there must be a strong reason why they believe it to be true.
11. Evolution doesn't cut it: The idea that a single organism evolved into everything we have today is a bit far-fetched. Perhaps the biggest kink is the separation into sexes. Why go from self-replication to requiring a partner? Some things which became necessary had steps of evolution where it there was no point. An idea that there is design makes more sense to these people
12. The universe is ordered: For physics and science to be possible, there needs to be order. For the variety of life, objects, and forces, things work pretty well together to the point that we can understand them
13. Why believe Scientists?: It takes faith to believe what scientists claim is true, especially with the long track record of being wrong. Since they don't fully understand everything that's inside our own universe, how can they make a claim about something outside?
1. Even the science community is at odds because their "discoveries" don't matter when it comes to proving there is a god or not. Hence some scientists believe there is a creator while others don't

These lists are not exhaustive and could use better explanations, but I hope they do help in some regard. If you have something to add, please comment below or tweet @ND_Moharo 

With Love,

N. D. Moharo

The Rationality of a God becoming a Man

To the Truth-seekers,
    A valid concern many religions have about Christianity is the concept of "God becoming Man." How can a being, who is perfect, become man, who is imperfect? This would mean that God changed which is contrary to the nature of being perfect. When you are perfect, you cannot change. Therefore, God cannot become man, because that would mean he was imperfect to begin with.
    It's an interesting paradox, but the answer makes sense when you hear the explanation, "God did not change." To properly understand this, we need to switch perspectives. To us, it appears that God changed, but not from the perspective of God. Let me bring you back to the analogy of a virtual world where you are a god.
    In this analogy, you have complete control of the virtual world. You are its god. You decide to become one of your characters. Are you still the god of that world? Yes. Do you lose any of your "Divinity"? No. Do you still have perfect control and know everything? Yes. If you maintain your Divine Knowledge and stay perfectly virtuous, nothing changed. That is how it looks from God's perspective. And if God is perfect, even as a character in his creation, he would be perfect. There is no change. In fact, it is perfectly God's nature to have become man, because God is Perfect Love.
    If God is Perfect Love, he would perform acts of love. A great act of love therefore is to become man, dwell among us, teach us how to love, and give us the perfect example of love. Why? Because that is what is best for us. By us having a perfect model and teaching, we are able to love more and become perfect. Also, by God becoming man, you have the most definitive authority for establishing a religion. No other man can establish a religion better than a man who is God, especially when the religion is about True Love.

With Love,

N. D. Moharo

P.S. The prompt for this topic was how last time I suggested that the mentally handicap from birth are angels incarnate. I don't know if this is true or not, but I wanted to address the argument that "Angels becoming man would lower their nature." It wouldn't because they would not lose any of their angelic nature. Instead, it'd be a perfect showing of their angelic nature as the purpose of their life on earth would be to bring people closer to God. They are God's servants and therefore would gladly accept this task. Of course, since I am not an expert, I can be completely wrong.

How Hell is the Result of Love

To the Truth-seekers,
    Hell is an interesting topic. It is a valid question people have when asking about a God who is supposedly Perfect Love. "How can an all-loving God condemn someone to eternal punishment?"
    It's fairly easy to explain hell as an act of justice, especially poetic justice. Do evil and you will eventually be punished either in this life or the next. Also, if you sin against someone who is infinitely good, the just punishment would be eternal. But hell is actually the result of love.
    It sounds paradoxical, but hell is an act of love for the sinner. When someone goes to hell, it is because they chose not to love. Since love must be an act of the will, and God respects our free will, God would not force us to love him. Since God is Pure Love, and the sinner chose to reject love, being with God would be worse than hell.
    Hell is "Where God is not." It means there is no other love in that place beyond its existence. This also means if someone wants to hate God for eternity, they can do it. Now one may argue that it would be better for God to wipe out the sinner's existence. However, that would violate two things. First is that God sees everyone's existence as good, just like those against the death penalty see that all life is good. Second is that annihilating the sinner would counter hell being an act of love for the rest of us.
    Jesus gave us an analogy. We are salt whose purpose is flavor. But if we lose our flavor, then we will be thrown out to be trampled under foot by men. This shows two things. First is that God will still use you even if you fail your purpose of love. Second, though I don't know if they did this in Israel, is to keep the rest of us from falling down. The purpose of salt on the ground is to prevent men from slipping on the ground. Salt is what you throw on ice so that men can walk. God sends people to hell so that we might not.
    God wants what's best for us, and that is for us to be willingly united with him. The first step is instilling the fear of punishment. We have a free will, but we don't initially start life by loving God. When we are children, we initially only fear punishment. We don't really care for our parents. But as we grow older, what started as fear of punishment can grow into fear of offending our parents. The punishment is a seed that grows into an act of love. When we reach this stage, it means we have a true love for God. Of course, if you chose otherwise, then you will receive the punishment promised. Being removed from existence would not encourage you to chose love, but the fear of punishment might.
    Another argument is that "Good parents rehabilitate their children, not condemn them eternally." This is true, and that is exactly what life is. Our life is our rehabilitation. We are here so that we may become better people by choosing to love. We receive many opportunities to grow in love for God and our neighbor. It is then our choice whether we want to stay in prison or get out for good behavior. Hell is merely the life sentence that we may choose.
    Now this revelation might have brought up some concerns, especially due to our fear of wrongful imprisonment. "What about the mentally disabled from birth?" Since they cannot freely choose to love or not, technically the scale of justice is balanced. However, since God is Perfect Love and wants what is best, they will be united with him. Then why should they live on earth at all if they will go to heaven anyway? It's so that we may grow in love by caring for them. They teach us how to better love each other. They live in order that we may live with God forever. I actually wonder if they are God's angels incarnated, because they have already chose God.
    So what about those who never learned about God or learned wrong about him? Actually, they can still go to heaven, though they probably would not reach the pure perfection. If they were truly ignorant through no fault of their own, and they tried their best to live with virtue, they simply unknowingly chose God, because he is the source of love and virtue. However, it is far easier for them to live in virtue and chose God if they are taught correctly. That is why I write to you about the message of True Love. It could be said that God did inspire the other cultures' great teachers in order to prepare them to receive the gospel of the Religion of True Love.
    So is hell fair? Yes, in terms of Justice. No, in that sinners possibly deserved worse. It is also not fair because God gives us so much to avoid it. Since God is Infinite Love, and forgiveness is an act of love, all we need to do is repent when we are wrong. When our repentance is because of our love for god, it is a perfect act of love in itself. When it's not perfect because it's based off fear of punishment instead, God will still forgive, but we need to do whatever he commands for restitution, which is always another act of love so that we may grow in love.
    Hell is the result of Love, because by its existence, we are encouraged to love. If there was no punishment, not only would that violate justice, but also allow us to not care to love. That would not only be bad for society, but also for ourselves. The existence of hell is True Love trying to call you to itself.

With Love,

N. D. Moharo

P. S. Since Hell falls in the realm of Theology, I can be wrong. This is merely an explanation on how it would make sense, especially given the purpose of man being to love.

Conversion Theory

To the People and Missionaries
    It's not often that I speak of matters of faith, but this time there's a philosophical element to it: Why do people convert? I'm ignoring the cases of conversion for a spouse and social status as those are not true conversions. The conversion I'm referring to is the total conversion where one's life changes because he or she truly believes the faith. For this letter, I'll reference Christianity because that's what we have the most experience with, but also it's the crux of my theory.

    The first part of my theory is that people convert to a religion they see as more Christian. Consider what Jesus said to be the two greatest commandments. The first is "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." The second was "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:28-31). These practices are what people are looking for when searching for faith. You must have both.
    The interesting thing is that some faiths try to make themselves "open" by relaxing some of their practices. The result is that doing this does not attract people for the long run. In fact, it only causes more people to leave as it goes against that first commandment, which is what people are searching for when examining religions. After all, what's the point of a faith if there is none? The purpose of religion is to "give to God what belongs to God." If people see that this is not being carried out, then they see there is no real faith. At this point, these religions care more about money or influence than about a God they heard about. When groups of Christians find things they don't consider Christian, they will split and create their own denomination. To be honest, I consider each denomination to be a different religion, just as Judaism and Islam are different but believe in the same God and some of the same scriptures.
    Let me give you an analogy. Imagine there's a bird club. The participation is high and members are very active and excited. However, at some point the management decides it needs to attract new members so it decides to open up the club to dogs as well. After the initial jump in membership ends, management decides to open it up to mice. Next are fish, and eventually cats. Eventually the club is so open that birds are very rarely talked about. The bird club only exists in name. When people come to the bird club, they are seeking to share their love of birds and learn more about them, but these people see mostly cat lovers and dog lovers. "This isn't a real bird club. If I want to talk to dog lovers, I can go anywhere in the world to find them. There's no need for a club," the onlookers observe and leave.
    This is what happens to religions that relax their practices for the sake of attracting people. It doesn't work. It may attract attention of the world, but at that point, it's just a hollow institution with nothing to offer, but it will still ask for money. People should be nice to each other all the time, but people also want a place to actually praise and learn about God. That's what Religion is for.

    Consider this famous verse from Revelation 3:16. Here, God says, "So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth." To remove the practices of a faith in order to attract people is to become lukewarm. The idea is that if the people of the world are to be considered lukewarm, we need to be lukewarm as well in order to attract them. However, the people who are lukewarm want to feel cold or hot and so are looking for religions that are so. I'm not sure what the proper interpretation of this should be, but here's an idea I have. To be hot means to be energetic, singing, dancing, and praising God. To be cold means to be quiet, listening, and meditating on God. If you are lukewarm, then you are doing neither of them.
    I've observed how the youth appear apathetic in daily life but become very passionate at conferences. Why is this? The word lukewarm means to be apathetic, unenthusiastic, indifferent, etc. However, these conferences tend to be "hot" with passion and excitement. These same youths say that they "felt God's presence." However, once they return to the lukewarm society, they no longer care. If church is lukewarm as well, that explains why they leave. They want that "heat" from their church, because Heat causes the lukewarm to become hot. Likewise, a place that can encourage contemplation and prayer, such as a quiet church building, can make the lukewarm cool.
    This is how people know there is no faith in a particular church. The church is supposed to change people for the better apart from the world's evils, but instead they become part of the world's evils. Religion is supposed to counter the evils of the world. This is why "Christians" may convert to religions like Islam. They see a counter-cultural movement that condemns the evils they see. They see people willingly perform sacrifices. Many Catholics in first-world countries these days say it's so difficult to not eat meat on a Friday while Muslims go a month without food and water during the day. I found this out because I went to a theme park with a Muslim and he wouldn't even drink water during the hot day, but he did not complain one bit.

    When people say why they converted to a religion, they tend to say things like: I saw their faith; they really love God; they are so passionate. These things fall under the first commandment. Other things you may hear from converts are the following: They accepted me; I belong here; I'm welcomed. These things follow the second commandment. People are searching for these things. In fact, my boss one day told me his praise for the Roman Catholic faith despite not being one. He told me that he admired that they had not changed their core beliefs despite all of the pressure of the world. That's amazing because so many other Christian denominations alter their core beliefs so much throughout history. I would add that the constant service to society (everything that we take for granted now such as hospitals, schools, homeless shelters, orphanages, and advocating justice) is also something to be admired and why we can condemn those who murder "in God's name." Perhaps this is the key to finding a real religion. A real religion serves God and Man, but the service of Man is to convert him to Goodness and Love of God, not convert God to the evils of Man.

With Love,

N. D. Moharo

The Error in the Logic of Religious Extremists

To the Zealot and those talking with Zealots,
    The word zeal means "great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective." The problem is that this great energy often has people going to the extreme and that leads to problems. So while you can have an appropriate zeal for something good, the kind we hear about isn't always good. Today, I write to you on how to properly understand zeal in religion, as well as its proper practice.
    Religion's negative connotation in the world stems from the over-zealous behaviors of many people. However, when practiced properly, religion is a gift to the world and they stem from 2 important commandments.
    In the Judeo-Christian tradition, which I believe Islam has some respect for as well,  there are two key commandments that summarize the Law. The first is "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength (Deut. 6:5)." The second was "You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:28-31; Lev. 19:18)." Religious Zealots tend to try following the first, but ignore the second, which in turn breaks the first.
    Elsewhere in the Judeo-Christian tradition, God says, "I do not take pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn and change his way (Ezekiel 33:11)." If your god is Goodness and Love, this is easy to explain. In order for man to be perfect, he must grow in virtue. Since true love desires what is best for someone, Love naturally desires for a man to become perfect before he dies. Love wants everyone to love and be good, especially those who are wicked. However, if the wicked dies, then he is forever condemned to be wicked. Love would rather he live as long as possible, so that he may convert.  On the flip side, that means Evil itself is what delights in the death of the wicked. Therefore, killing for the sake of religion is wrong. It does not encourage True Love, which is the only way society can reach peace and harmony.

    So if your religion preaches to kill those it finds wicked, there is something wrong. If you believe in a god who is good and the author of life, he doesn't need you to do any of the killing. Instead, he would be actually capable of using the wicked to bring others closer to him. If your god is good, then he delights more in the wicked being able to convert than the wicked dying.

    Something else we must remember is that true conversion takes place in the heart as well as the brain. It cannot be forced by social pressure or the sword. Otherwise the result is someone who acts like a religious, but truly doesn't care. That means if you want someone to join your religion, you must convert his heart and mind, not his fears.

    Lastly, I must make a plea. Come to the Religion of True Love. Here, you will find peace and perfection. The world is certainly corrupt, but massive slaughters and violence will only create more corruption. In fact, it is not uncommon that those who order massive slaughters are actually the corrupt. Those who aren't corrupt are then lost. Honest Love for God entails Love for his creation as well.

N. D. Moharo

P.S. Whatever your religion may be, pray for me. ISIS will probably hate me for this post. At the same time, I hope this reaches to all members of ISIS

The Religion of True Love

Dearly Beloved,
    I have written to you many times about True Love and that it is the perfect Religion. I have shown that religion is often the scapegoat of politics and selfishness. I will also explain the error in the error of logic in the religious extremists, as well as why people convert in the future. So how is True Love the perfect Religion?
    When I'm talking about religion here, I'm meaning that I want for you to make True Love the most important thing in your life. We often have a habit of turning immaterial things into our idols, but they don't satisfy us. But True Love will satisfy and make us perfect, though it may take a while as selfish desires can be difficult to break.
    There are two important teachings of the Religion of True Love and they are the same two from the Judeo-Christian tradition. The first is "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength (Deut. 6:5)." When your god is True Love in its purity, shouldn't it be easy to love it? It's also easy to see that every sin is one that attacks love. It makes morality much easier to grasp again.
    The second teaching was "You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:28-31; Lev. 19:18)." However, that teaching is actually superseded and made perfect in "Love one another as I have loved you" from the Christian tradition. This might be hard to understand without background in what this meant so let me explain that to you.
    In the Christian mythology, the love of Jesus is that he willingly died for his friends and those who hated him. Even praying forgiveness for those who unjustly killed him. He's supposed to be God, but he humbled himself to die a tortuous death to show his love for everyone. I cannot find any love more perfect than that. I'm probably still at the level of "love your neighbor as yourself," but that's okay. It's a good starting point and I have the rest of my life to work towards that perfection.
    Is this perfection possible? Yes. Testimonies from many generations of peoples show that there are quite a few who reach this high level of love. You do not have to die in order to reach this level of love. But you do need to live in love. When everything you do is with true love in your heart, made greater through humility, then you've reached the highest a man can.

    Now belief in there being a god is an interesting thing. You first need to figure out the proper idea of what it means to be a god. After that, proving the existence or non-existence is almost impossible because we can doubt. However, Art, technology, and even video games show that the existence of a god is certainly reasonable while explaining why we might doubt. Of course, there are also the famous Five Proofs  that argue for the existence of a god. If anything, it is more reasonable that there is a god than there isn't. This is because you can never prove that there isn't a god, only that our concepts of god are wrong.
    Another point to consider is "who is telling you there is no god?" It is likely the corrupt world, because it knows the real belief in a good god is opposed to corruption. When your God is True Love, you will seek to become True Love itself as well. You will do everything you can to serve this Love and that can only result in us becoming better people. So even if this concept of god is a lie, it is the greatest and only lie worth believing in, because we become better people.
    Now if you are wondering which concept of god to believe in, I have two requirements. First is that the concept is logical and plausible. The second is that its nature is True Love in its purity. While the second technically does not have to be true, it's the one worth believing in. This is because it is plausible that our creator is a masochist, but that wouldn't make us better people. Also, if our creator truly was a masochist, by us being good, we'd actually be better than our creator, which is something we could be prideful for (and also happens to be the plot twist of a certain video game that got me thinking about this).
    You may wonder if I'm asking for you to convert to Christianity. The answer is I am asking Christians to convert as well as the rest of the world. Jesus preached a gospel about a God of True Love, but many Christians today have accepted a God of Selfishness. I want them to find the God who is both Truth and True Love, because Truth is only thing that is perfectly logical and True Love is the source of all goodness. That is a God worth believing in. And when you have a god that shows the best example of love possible, you cannot find anything better. When you accept this, it is the spark of a fire of love. This is the God who can inspire us to become perfect.

With Love,

N. D. Moharo

Is Money the Root of All Evil?

To the Poor, Rich, and everyone in between,
    You have likely heard the phrase "money is the root of all evil." Is this true? Not of itself, but it certainly is the root of many evils. Money by its nature is good. It helps us haggle and make smooth transactions. We don't have to make too obscure contracts and complex trades for simple things. In truth, it grants power and that's where things can start going wrong.
    So money is not the real root of evil, but the love of money to the point that it becomes god is evil. Money is power, but power corrupts. Have a lot of money and you can have more corruption. The reason for this corruption is because of temptations. Temptations don't necessarily arise by what you can do, but what you think you can do. So the more power you think you have, the more evils you can think about doing. This is why people who inherit a lot of wealth suddenly have troubles. It takes a lot of virtue to be able to withstand the flood of temptations that comes with wealth.

    So that is one reason for the argument about money being evil. Another stems from a similar vein. When money is your god, you seek it by all means. You will murder, steal, and corrupt others for this gain. That spread of corruption multiplies and leads to suffering and death all around. Not only that, but you will enslave others for your own gain.

    How does money multiply corruption? It helps to recognize the true root of all evil, selfishness. Selfishness is essentially making yourself god, with the idea that everyone is to serve you. It manifests itself initially with internal conflict. By throwing your passions out of control, it promises to put it in balance, but actually makes it worse.
    So money spreads corruption by creating an imbalance of passions in everyone it can. It purposefully creates conflict in some way or another. It creates needs that didn't exist by making people selfish instead of loving. It does this through advertisements, entertainment, and societal chaos. Why does evil exist? Because it fights really hard to maintain its power. It tries to convince us that it is good, despite all of the harm it causes.

    Is there an antidote? Yes, and corruption knows about it and has tried to destroy it at all costs and by any method it can. True Love is the antidote and how society can become perfect. It's the True Religion I've advocated before. It is the perfection of all virtues and is strong enough to withstand corruption. This is how families and loved ones can not only grow, but thrive in a safe environment. It creates peace and and justice. Can you imagine the Middle East and Africa finally being at peace? True Love is the religion they need, not money. America may not be a religious nation, but the Founding Fathers did recognize that good virtues were beneficial to society. It is why we have hospitals, libraries, public schools, universities, orphanages, shelters, etc. These were advocated by those who had love for others. Let us take back control of our society and continue their legacy by practicing True Love.

With Love,

N. D. Moharo

To Grow in Love

To Those Who Desire Perfection,

     I have written that the perfection of mankind is to truly love. I've also written long before that the phrase "Be a Man" means to "Be a Hero". There are no greater heroes than those who act out of love. These are the heroes that everyone benefits from. Even those who live by doing wicked deeds depend on these heroes existing. In fact, the only way the world could ever be perfect is if it embraces the message of true love rather than corrupting it. Of course, even if we are to recognize acts of love, how do we grow in it so as to become heroes?

    The answer to that lies in virtues. I think the word virtue contains the Latin word for "man" because of this connection. Of course, many cultures have their own set of virtues and some are directly opposed to each other. However, I do believe we can identify a global set of virtues and the key is true love. I will say it again that "True love is putting another's deeds before your own." This is important in helping know what is a virtue and what is not in order to not be conflicted. When your conflict is gone, you end up with internal peace, bliss, and perfection. It is a tough battle because we have been preached the message of selfishness from birth. But we do see people who have obtained that joy, and so we know it is possible.

     A helpful start and proof of concept for how love improves our lives is the 5 Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman, which I covered in how to recover from a spat. Something to know is that when someone's "love tank" reaches the high numbers, they are more joyful and perform many acts of love themselves. I recall waking up one morning, finding my mother prepared something for my day, and I no longer minded those bad drivers who cut me off on my commute. As yes, patience is an act of love since love is one of the three keys to dealing with impatience. 

  

    I do need to make one note, and it appears worldwide in some form or another. The Golden Rule is "Do unto others as you will have them do unto you." I consider this slightly better than the Confucian way of "Refraining from doing unto others what you would not want for them to do to you." This is because the former indicates to act rather than refrain. This promotes acts of love and societal growth, but the latter can let society decline. Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because self-love is important to have. The concept of love grows with humility, but not with self-hatred. When you don't love yourself the amount proper, you constantly leave your love tank at empty, meaning you have no motivation to love others as well. So yes, I encourage you to take care of yourself, take pride in your work, and have a healthy self-esteem, but never at the expense of other people. That is the difference between self-love and selfishness. In fact, the goal of those things should be to assist you in helping others.

    Back to the nature of virtues, it has been claimed that Selfishness is the source of all sins. So the complete opposite and "Mother of all Virtues" is Love. Not only is it the key to virtues, it's a virtue itself. You can create a good habit of doing everything with love so that it is how you are known. Here are some examples of other virtues: Respect, Honesty, Kindness, Justice, Almsgiving, Fidelity, Helpfulness, Hopefulness, Joy for Neighbor's success, Sympathy during Neighbor's misfortune, Merciful, and Forgiving. 

    A very important virtue is the Worship of Pure Goodness. The word worship may have negative connotations today, and perhaps deserves it, but that's because the things we worship in daily life are not what is meant to be worshiped. Sex is a good thing in itself, but there are people who will fight, sacrifice, and speak words of hatred in defense of their pursuit of sexual pleasure in all things. The same goes with money and entertainment. They are good things, but only in their proper places. Money makes it easier to bargain and trade. Entertainment helps soothe the soul. But when these things are brought out of proportion, they bring about suffering everywhere. We may not recognize the suffering it causes us, but the biggest effect is that it hurts our ability to love.

    Here are some vices that hinder our love for others: Disrespect, Dishonesty, Envy, Cheating, Infidelity, Corruption, Greed, Gluttony, Lust, Apathy, Rage, Hatred, Censorship (the evil kind, not the proper one). All of these increase our own selfish desires at the expense of others. Even if another person is not directly involved, we are exalting ourselves to be above what is good. This actually only creates an imbalance in ourselves, which is a sign of us moving away from perfection.

    This is the perfect man: He is honest and respectful. He rejoices in the good while disdaining evil. He shows Mercy and Compassion to those who need it. He rejoices in the fortune of his neighbor and mourns when misfortune falls upon his neighbor. He learns in order to perfect himself. He is hard-working and perseveres through difficulty. He is courageous and wise. Where there is despair, he hopes and prays. Everything he does is with love. This is a hero worth imitating.

With Love,

N. D. Moharo

P. S. The phrase was "Pride is the queen of all vices." However, I've found the proper understanding of this, and helps explain why it's okay to take pride in your work, is the word "Selfishness." The idea is that an excess of self-love that takes its pleasure even at the expense of someone else is the end goal of all sins. 

True Love

To those searching for love,
    One of society's greatest lies is that True Love is something sexual. Far from the truth. I can attest that True Love exists. I can testify that it can be at first sight, or better yet, not even have to wait for first sight. Let me tell you about True Love and how great it is.
    True Love requires at least 2 people, but only 1 has to give. This is because True Love gives and receives, but the joy it receives is from giving. This is True Love:

• A mother dreaming about her child's future while caressing the womb he occupies
• A father who works hard so that his family will not starve
• A poor man giving his only blanket to a helpless and abandoned baby
• A soldier going to war in order that his country may stay free
• A mother who cries after being told words of hatred by her child, but still cares for her children.
• A man who forgives his brother of his sins.
• A friend who gives up his life so that someone else may live.

    True Love does not care if we are worthy. It cares that we exist. True Love is Godliness and it is the source of all that is good. It is the True and Perfect Religion. Anything that hinders you from being able to love is an evil.

    I do not care what you have done. I do not even need to know you. But I can show you an act of True Love by evangelizing it to you. I have given you many examples so that you may be able to distinguish it from the world's corruption. When you really know what True Love is, free from the lies of religions and societies whose god is money, power, or pride, you can become truly happy. This is because the Perfection and Purpose of Mankind is to Love. Know this: You are Loved.

With Love,

N. D. Moharo

More examples:

• The neighbor who weeps with you in time of mourning
• The friend who rejoices you won even when he lost
• The religious man who prays for those who hate him
• The man who runs into a burning building to save a child
• The stranger who performs emergency CPR
• The friend who loans without demanding interest
•  Love is “Willing the good of the other,”
• “Love is putting someone else’s needs before yours”
• Love desires what is best for someone,

Shared Essays: Christian Marriage

Sometimes coincidences are purely interesting. I recently attended a wedding and the bride and groom prepared some essays for their guests about why they were doing a Christian Marriage. I meant to share this earlier last week but lost access to my computer and only just received permission from the bride to share it. As a result, I'm posting this on Valentine's Day which is a Christian feast day but also famous for showing love to one another. Hope you enjoy the interesting insights this married couple wrote their their guests.

With Love,

N. D. Moharo

Why the Crucifix?

You may notice after entering the church there is a crucifix, an image of Jesus when he died. Why do we prominently display this image, which should seem to appear to be the worst thing to happen? This is because God is an interesting Director and used this event to show how much He loves us. By recalling the death and passion of our Lord, we remember how he took flesh and suffered one of the most painful deaths to show that even though we treat Him unjustly, desert Him, and even insult Him and speak words of hatred, He loves us so greatly that He died for our sins. We pray that this example of Love never leave our minds as there is no better example for Christian Marriage.

There will be times where we make mistakes and hurt each other emotionally, but it takes a strong will to endure the pain, forgive each other, and continue to love each other. We must willfully desire what is good for each other, even at the sacrifice of ourselves. Love is influenced by the heart, but it is an act of the will. This makes it possible to “Love our Enemies” and to love each other even when it is difficult.

Why Christian Marriage?

We often consider Marriage to be about Love even though the joke is that very few actually still love each other after a few years. Christianity, on the other hand, is and always has been about Love.  It is about true, authentic, and undying love. There is no other religion that can claim the title of Religion of Love.

Consider this chain of logic. God is Good. God is Love. God created Man in His Image.  God called Man very good.  If God is Good and Love, then Man’s perfection and Happiness lies in being Good and to Love. Christianity reveals that God created us out of Love in order to Love. God even became Man to show us that perfect model of Goodness and Love. Therefore, Christianity must be the Religion of Love.

Christianity has not only the perfect example of Love, but it challenges us to strive towards that perfect example. Even if we cannot reach the perfect model, there are many heroes called Saints that show us how we can still love greatly. The first heroes we have are our parents bound through marriage, committing to love each other “Through Good Times and Bad, For Better and Worse.”

In today’s society, it’s hard to maintain that commitment, but by focusing on Christian Models and Ideals, we look ahead with hope. We have adhered to its teachings while we dated, and now we shall work to thrive through them as we live as husband and wife.

Why the Mass?

The Mass consists of two liturgies. The first is where we listen and reflect on the Bible. This is to help us appreciate the Love of God and prepare our minds to participate in the second liturgy. The second is where we participate in the passion of Jesus by receiving Holy Communion and praying.

The Mass is where we see a miracle every time with transformation of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus. While the physical attributes of Bread and Wine do not change, we believe that God has changed the substance within. This is amazing because it allows God to dwell within us.

In the Bible, Jesus states that those who want to enter heaven must eat His flesh. It’s a strong statement, but reading it carefully, we see that He was serious. But if Jesus is no longer present here on earth, how is this possible?

We believe the Mass to make present the sacrifice of Jesus. We do not believe that we offer up Jesus to die again and again, but that through a divine miracle, we are somehow present at the one sacrifice.  By this, He who created the world, turned a sea into blood and then back again, and turned water into wine, is perfectly capable of changing bread and wine into bodily flesh without changing anything physical. It’s called a Miracle.

Pondering the Five Proofs for the Existence of a God

To the Religious and Atheists,
    "There is no God" is a claim I philosophically can never claim. For all I know, that could be true, but as I pointed out in my essay about A Higher Power Through Technology, it can't be proven. It is far easier to prove that there is such a thing as a god than there isn't. The most famous of these are the Five Proofs which actually don't make the claim that the god(s) they are about is the same that different religions claim to exist. I will describe a quick summary but this is actually more to prep for my next "letter" in which I will speculate based off a few premises.
     So each of the Five Proofs concludes with "and this is what we refer to as a god." The capital "G" God is what I would refer to as the One that encompasses all five of the proofs but that itself requires some extra logic to connect them all. The first proof is the idea of motion and how nothing in the universe is able to move without having some start. Even in our bodies there is movement when we are still and perhaps that is the best explanation for why we can "stop" and move freely. So in that sense, the idea of a god is the "First Mover" which by definition means it is the first thing that causes motion. Yes, people ask "but who moved him?" but that is an invalid question as it goes against the definition of First. Perhaps the best explanation for understanding this concept is the one I gave in the essay I shared above.
    The Second proof is similar to the first one but is described as the Cause of All Things. After all, the one who puts everything in motion is not necessarily the creator. For example, someone can create a game, but I'm the one who starts it by pressing "play".
    The Third proof is the presence of miracles. Miracles by definition cannot be explained by science and there are still events that fit that criteria such as incorruptible bodies and instant disappearance of 20 pound tumors. Does this mean I believe the world was created in 7 days as described in the Bible? No, because our definition of a day back then revolved around the rising and setting of the sun which did not "exist" until like the 4th "day" according to that same Bible. Hence that was obviously literary (unless the concept of "day" refers to a "day in god's time" which is technically possible). However, I cannot wholly accept the theory of evolution without at the same time accepting the concept of a god because of how we evolved. The big question I have is "Why in the world where all organisms originated from a single cell would 'evolve' into something that requires two of us? Why would we do that especially for a species that takes 9 months to procreate and then years before we are even able to survive on our own?" We may control the earth now, but it certainly didn't start that way.
    The Fourth proof was the concept of a perfect good (or various degrees of things). This requires a few premises such as that "Evil is the absence of Good." I recall this as dependent on the fact that we can put things in order of goodness like the freedom of speech is better than an ice cream cone. While there are things that are subjective, there is a general order of goodness in the world. This proof also uses the premise "One cannot give what one does not have (or at least has the potential to give)" and since there is various degrees of goodness, there must be a highest good and proof calls that "what we refer to as a god."
    The Fifth I needed to look at Wikipedia to recall. But after I saw it, then I could see how it would made sense. I will just copy and paste what I found there

• Many things in the universe may either exist or not exist and are all finite. Such things are called contingent beings.
• It is impossible for everything in the universe to be contingent, for then there would be a time when nothing existed, and so nothing would exist now, since there would be nothing to bring anything into existence, which is clearly false.
• Therefore, there must be a necessary being whose existence is not contingent on any other being or beings.
• We call this being God.

     So I actually originally thought the Fifth proof was that there is Order in the Universe. That may be more linked to the Fourth one I relayed but it is something to ponder. If there is no order, then everything should be in chaos and not exist. But since there is an order to things such as the Laws of Physics that we still have not perfectly understood, there must be a being outside of the universe with the power to establish an order. So yeah, I think my analogy about technology actually really helps explain all of these "proofs."
      Now something I will point out is that I don't think any of these can prove that the ultimate superior being we collectively call "God" is the next level up, just that it is very reasonable that there is one. This is because we could theoretically create a virtual world that has the capacity to create their own stories and virtual worlds. This is the interesting thing about infinite because it can go one direction, but it can also have a start.

N. D. Moharo

Concerning the idea of a god

Hello all,
    While I tend to avoid religious discussion, there is an idea that was floating in my head that I wished to explore. In today's world, some people try to be very tolerant of other people's beliefs. One of the results of this is the idea that there is "One God, and it's the same God for every religion." The idea that is floating in my head says, this is absolutely false.
    I can tell you that the idea of "One God, and it's the same God for every religion" is one that makes it easy for Atheists. The reason is because they need only to disprove one concept of god that people believe and they win their argument. However, if you hold that everyone does not believe in the same god, then there's more work to be done.
    I'll even go as far as to say that people within the same religion don't believe in the same god. If you think that a god is someone who answers your every wish, you are probably missing a lamp or that's not true. If you think that god is someone that was created and then created people and the world, then you are like the Ancient Greeks (except for some like Aristotle). If you think the idea of god is someone's body that we are currently living on, then you are like the ancient Babylonians (or playing a game called Xenoblade Chronicles). The problem is that the further into these ideas you go, you realize they are mutually exclusive of each other. To say that all of these notions of a god are the same shows that you don't have a clear understanding of what being a god means.
    If you have a firm belief in what a "god" is, then you would see that the whole world does not believe in the same god. If you have a definition like, "A supernatural being from which everything was made," then that would exclude any notions that "god was created."
    Part of the reason why I have been thinking about this was hearing the argument that "God, as the first mover, created everything" being countered with "well, who created God?" Such a response demands a question "Do you know anything about logic?" If the idea of a god is that it is the first mover, by the definition of first, that means there was nothing before. So to ask "who created God?" is an invalid question because it is arguing against the definition of "the first mover." If someone insists in thinking that absurd question is a valid point, there is no point in talking anymore. You can't argue with people who are illogical.
    The other reason why I am writing about this is because I am wondering what exactly it means to be a god. You can't say that there is no God if you don't even understand what it means to be God. What we can do is bring up ideas of gods and then refute them one by one until we come to a clear understanding. However, I don't have the energy to do that right now so let's focus on one idea and then what it means.
    Throughout history, it appears that one common idea of god is that a god does stuff for you. If you need water, you perform a ritual and rain will come. If you desire a good harvest, you sacrifice a tenth of your wheat and it will multiply. These ideas seem to be common in a lot of religions. I want to look at the idea that goes against this notion; the idea of fatherhood.
    This idea is mostly popular with the rise of Christianity, though it appears some Christians think of God as someone who does your bidding if you ask. Sounds like a supernatural butler to me from which I then wonder how is that any different from magic? Of course, we have muddled our idea of what magic is, so that will have to be another topic for another time. The reason why I'm interested in the idea of God as a Father is because it goes against the idea of a glorified butler and actually looks better.
    Think of it this way. Do you know of any master that truly cares about his butler? The butler is meant to serve you as the most important person. The idea that a supreme supernatural being is inferior to us is just horrifying and makes no sense. However, a father who listens to the requests of his children does make sense. There's something weird that happens when you grow up. you realize that things that used to appear so important really don't matter anymore. So what if I didn't get to sit at "my desk" in that "one class"? Does that matter now compared to "How am I going to afford to repair my car?" We consider the things that we see right now as the things that are important. As we grow older and realize there are far more important affairs, we can see farther and better organize our priorities and anticipate what is necessary. I think we can easily prove that there is no god that is just like a supernatural butler, but to disprove that there's a god who's like a father is much harder. This is because instead of saying, "right away, sir!" we might hear, "wait a second." Even then, a good father normally would look and see if the request is good for his child ad answer accordingly. A 14 year old might ask for a car, but a good father would say, "You're not ready. Wait until you are older and have experience driving." If we were to say which concept is more likely to be true, I would argue in favor of the "father."
    Now there is more to discuss, but I can't think about it anymore for today. Perhaps I shall visit this topic again another time, but I will likely wait until I have a better grasp of the various ideas before doing so. Until then, I hope that you at least realize that we need to be careful about our definitions of things that we take for granted, such as the concept of a god.

N. D. Moharo

   
Update: J. D. Nyle wrote a piece on magic a while back. Since I don't have anything to add, I'll share the link here: http://neostrikershining.blogspot.com/2015/11/magic-confusion-lotr-and-shining.html

Loss in Layers of Creation

Dear Sojourners of the Imagination,
    I was thinking about my essay concerning my theory of creation and I thought about Creation Loss. This idea is that with each layer of creation, there is something missing from the previous. For our current situation, it's emotion. Think about it. Something people dislike about robots, our great form of creation, is the lack of humanity in them. They don't have emotion or feelings. In some regards, that's perfect, but not for some duties. The lack of humanity can make dealing with robots a chore and a hassle. The prime example of this is the automated recordings on the phone. I absolutely hate those things that tell you "Press # for ____." To make it worse, the options given don't correctly correspond with the reason you are calling. Just to make even worse, they hide the "Talk with a human" so well that you give up in frustration doing so. Some reasons for this is to increase efficiency but it feels more like so they don't have to pay good customer service employees. Alas, good customer service is something that should be highly valued by corporations that want a relationship with its customers.
    Anyways, if, let's say, "humanity" is loss when we create something, what would be the reverse? If we were created, we probably loss something as well. If that were the case, I think it'd be what we refer to as "Divinity." What does "Divinity" mean? I actually can't say for certain at the moment. My guess it has something to do with all of the virtues a man can have. Virtues are the great habits we form that mark our character as good. Perhaps "Divinity" is the "perfection of good with no evil." Sure this would be the result of Judeo-Christian ideals, but perhaps that's the truth, or at least the one that makes the distinction in my head. This is because we can technically replicate with our own nature other things we associate with the Divine thanks to computers or the imagination. The only thing we cannot inherently do now is Perfect Goodness. We don't have a Perfect Morality. We are exactly like the Greek gods... flawed. So this is why I believe that Perfect Morality and goodness is what we loss. We can strive to obtain it, and perhaps robots will strive to learn emotion, can we ever reach that goal? Your faith might say it's possible, but that's a different subject.

From your Fellow Creator,

N. D. Moharo

P.S. What do you think would be the next layer in loss? If we lost Perfect Morality, and Robots lose Humanity, perhaps the ability to create? I'd like to hear your opinions

Relation of Faith and Reason

                A Long time ago, I wrote an essay on A Higher Power through Technology. In there, I stated it was not a proof for the existence of a God but that the idea is reasonable. Some people however, may see it as a proof because it addressed something they had difficulty grasping, how it was reasonable. It proposed a situation in response to the question, “Where did God come from?” The concept of the question itself is interesting, but I will get to that later. All of this led to this essay’s theme of the relation between Faith (in general) and Reason.

                Faith is an interesting thing. It appears to break the rule of “Can only give what you have” due to its immaterial nature. Like said above, it could be that I don’t believe it, but that does not stop anyone else from coming to believe because of it. Another example is how some Catholics cite C.S. Lewis for their Faith but C.S. Lewis was not Catholic. Perhaps an argument could be made that everyone has a potential for Faith and that’s what is given and then it just happens to blossom in the receiver. For example, a man may not have a cherry tree, but he has the seeds though the soil and environment he has is not suited for them. He can give them to another who has the right soil and environment and the seed will become the tree. The same example can also illustrate the idea that the person always had the potential, but was just missing some piece the other had.

                One misconception is that there is no room for Faith when you have Reason. In dealing with actions there is always Faith. There is Faith that what you know is true, that you have accounted for everything. Concerning probability, there is Faith that the number representing your desire will come up. If the odds are 70 % in your favor, you act on faith that the other 30% won’t win out. It can also work the other way, either way you are acting on faith.

                Reason can actually give faith, the greater the odds, the more assurance you have the result you are hoping for will happen (or is true). However, it is not always the case. Some people, despite all reasoning, won’t have faith. I saw a clip of an Atheist debating with Piers Morgan, who claimed to be Catholic, about aspects of Catholicism. Here, the Atheist was actually defending Catholics (to Piers’ surprise) by showing how it was perfectly reasonable.

                There is another way of giving faith is by living it. Sometimes people ooze with an abundance of faith and optimism that it is almost impossible not to feel its effect. Sometimes people just need to see that something is possible.

                Another tenant of faith is how it is necessary. There are some situations where the risks are to high unless there is absolute certainty (or faith) in the results. Someone can have a great product but the publisher still needs faith that it will sell. They know that even though it is great, there is the chance and the examples that it won’t sell.

               Another instance of the necessity comes with dealing with the dual nature of man. While man might be reasonable, there is also the unreasonable side. It’s the side of man that gets trapped by fear.  Consider the building on fire scenario.  Now the person at the top has the choice to jump into the fireman’s arms or stay and burn. There is absolute certainty that the building will go down and will die if stay, but there is the fear of falling that keeps them from action. Faith in the fireman (and self to an extent) plays in finally making the move. Sometimes it’s not even the fear of the jump but that someone else might not make it. This could be seen in the movie Airforce One where family shows some resistance until the lead tells them he’s “Right behind them”.

                Faith is an interesting subject. It’s interesting to see how often we practice it. I’ve been playing a game where the odds are always given to you, but you still have to make the decisions and moves. In that game, there are many situations where I’m hoping the 5% will prevail while another time yelling at empty space why it did. That game is Fire Emblem. Anyone who has played that game series intensely would know what I’m talking about and why it becomes so important. It certainly brought to my attention that Faith is always present and necessary, whether I know it or not, despite its relation to Reason.

               
                Now for the part I promised and outside of the main essay because I don’t see too much of a relation besides what I mentioned (maybe I’ll just do an essay on the general mistakes made in discussing the existence of a God by both sides). One thing I was thinking about for that question for “Where does God come from?” was has to be the assumption. Either way, whether the argument is a God or just matter or the god particle, the argument is being made on the assumption that there is something to be the “First Mover”. To take away this idea would be making it far more complicated and actually sort of against the “evidence” scientists found.

                Anyways, the thing that entered my head today when I considered that was, “What would be more reasonable to assume acted as the First Mover, some matter or a higher power outside of our world?” To me, as much as I could argue that it would be matter, it does not eliminate that a God used that matter in that way. That’s all I have for now. I probably will do that essay sometime after contemplating it a little more.

 

A Higher Power Through Technology

      The greater our technology gets, the easier it is to think that a Higher Power exists. How can this be? As technology advances, humans are getting closer and closer to developing a great Artificial Intelligence (AI). Not only that, we also get closer to creating bigger and more realistic virtual worlds. Not that many years ago, a megabyte was beyond our comprehension, but now we have terabytes and even that is going to be obsolete at the rate we are developing. In a similar timeframe, AI has advanced as well, even defeating geniuses on a game show.

        What does this have to do with a Higher Power? What it means is that we are becoming a higher power. We are obtaining the power to create without bounds. Even today, we can create worlds that people that play for the rest of their lives. We can create Continents worth of space to explore. All of this we can do on a computer.

          Once we remove the barriers our current technology has, we will be able to create a perfect virtual world. This would mean we can make a world like ours in which we (or even just one) is a “god.” We can already see that in range due to Sims. After realizing this, saying that, “In the Beginning there was nothing,” is not that difficult. For in that world we create, there would have been nothing, but what we create can feel time. At the same time, we would be outside of that world’s time and have the power to manipulate what we created.

            We write stories and watch movies of a possible future in which AI surpasses even our own Intelligence if not at least matching. As much as I am not a fan of Blade Runner, it gives us the question about if androids could be considered human if their intellect was equal. Combined with the knowledge of the Human body that we have and continue to accumulate, it soon won’t be too difficult to create an artificial human in a cyber world. As a result, the idea of making someone in your “image” is not too farfetched.

           Creating something in our image is really not difficult to grasp at all. Whenever we create a world to play in, we generally cast ourselves as the hero. In fact, when we watch movies, we tend to want “someone we can relate to.” Not only that, but we grow attached to our creations. Sometimes we hope in a fictional universe that two people get married or have an honorable end. Many artists also grow attached to what they have drawn or sculpted. If those were destroyed, the “creators” would be sad. They don’t need their creations, but they still care for them.

           Getting back to the supposed virtual world, we would have the power to do whatever we want. However, inside of us, we would prefer the idea of having a friend, would we not? As we care for our creations, if we gave them artificial intelligence that was close enough to a human’s, would we not prefer for them to “choose” to love us? While we could force them to respect us, it would be just as if they were dolls. By having them “choose” us, would we not feel a far greater joy? So would “free will” be absurd? No. Yet with that ability to choose, they also inherit the ability to reject.

             Since they would be allowed to reject us, and if we respected them and their decisions, we would permit that. At the same time, we would not hate them but we also cannot just delete them, because their existence is still something good to us. So the perpetual existence and even Hell wouldn’t be out of the question. The furthest we would probably go in breaking their “will” is just influencing them.

            Now it would a great feat to accomplish this, but what would be even greater? To be able to design something that could evolve to various “life forms” from just an ameba. Evolution is just basically more advanced programming. Since you still have the power to manipulate what you made, inserting AI into one particular “life form” is not just a fairy tale either.

          Angels are not crazy either. With our “Administrative” power, we could designate people in our own world to do stuff and maintain for us. They would still need our permissions to do something, but they can act on our will. Even people who are against us can do evil if we permit it. Yet, we can also think a few moves ahead, and turn whatever evil they did into something good they did not even expect.

           While I am at it, I might as well throw in Saints. Since the AI that was created is very high, if they chose their “creator,” they could technically be elevated to the status of Angels who can help maintain the whole world, but reporting to you. It could go as simple as one coming and presenting a situation, and since you favor these “Saints,” you may listen and do what they asked. Hence even the idea of prayer could be implemented.

So what would happen in this virtual world? If we left it “alone” for a while, would not our creation that has been given “free will” and “intelligence” doubt our own existence? They would because the only way we could tell them that we do indeed exist is through their own world. We could program it into them, but even then they would still have the power to doubt, because they can choose. There is really no way they could “know” of our existence except by the Philosophical Proofs that some of us deny today.

          I am not necessarily saying this is the case of our world today, but I am saying that it is not as unreasonable as some people make it out to be. The fact that we are close to doing it ourselves should give us a reason to think that it already has been done with us being the created. If you argue that as a result of our technology, we can prove there is no such thing as a god, then I recommend you to consider this essay and its possibilities.