Test

This isn't my first rant on the topic, so if that puts you off, let me know. I'll unfollow you on Twitter or remove you from Facebook or any other social media if you have ever come close to preaching about your faith, but choose to minimize my opinion.

It seems, for some reason or another, that the three-letter word is popping up more and more and more online these days. I might go so far to say that I haven't even been in an environment quite like how it is right now, regarding the sheer frequency of the G-word. And I used to talk to lots of bible thumpers. Went to St Gabriel's Primary School, even. The devotion is nigh on palpable.

What irks me though, is how some people can so blindly attribute all that is good to an external locus of control, and yet label any misfortune as a "test".

I don't even know where to start, really.

If you're facing difficulties, looking at it as a test can be a good thing, I admit. It's almost always beneficial to all involved when things are framed in a positive light. No point despairing, right? But you see, there is a difference in changing your point of view on things and believing that it's merely a part of a big cosmic plan.

Let's say you're a Good Person. I think most of us are. Good People. Sure, everyone has their faults, their moments of weakness, their little things. But I don't think most of the people I know are Bad People. I'm sure this applies to the people you know too.

Extend that, and eventually you'll come across more than a few Good People who seem to have been screwed over by the Big Cosmic Plan. A test? Can you really say that with any conviction to the innocent young boy who's lost his family in a hurricane (an act of God), or to the poor honest woman whose children are born with birth defects, or to her beleaguered husband who loses his job to someone sleeping his or her way to the top?

Yeah that last dude wasn't screwed by the Big Man, you say. It was another person that screwed him (well, everyone but him, maybe...).

So what about that Bad Person then? Does the plan not apply to him or her? Aren't they tested? If the Power(s) the Be are testing you to see if you're "worthy", why not "test" these Bad People? Because they're already condemned? Then why do they still get the material wealth? Why are some Bad People born with a silver spoon in their little infantile mouths, and live out a life of comfort and luxury?

But they will be punished in the afterlife, you say.

How do you know that? Because some book that exists in several versions says so? The same book that also decrees that certain cultures and demographics are less than human? I'm not even going to get into that. Yet.

If the "afterlife" excuse is all you have, it's a piss-poor one really. You're trying to tell me that we, creatures of this mortal plane of existence, are supposed to work and strive towards an intangible, unproven, unconfirmable, otherworldly reward? That's faith?

No. I think faith is internal. You believe that things will work out if you actually do something about it. Getting onto your knees won't help (in most cases...), but it might let you focus or calm down to get things done to then make things better. It isn't some Divine Being that's helping you along, it's you finally coming to terms with what you have to do.

Again, some people will object to that, saying that their Deity is their focal point. And that's what I agree with. Everyone should have their own focal point, their own way to meditate - for lack of a better term - over things and to find the solution, or what is perceived to be the best path towards the solution. Again, that brings me back to my earlier point, in that I believe everyone has the ability to make things better for themselves. Perhaps (and probably) not to the extent of which they might ideally want to, but it's more than what an unproven Lord and Creator might bestow upon you.

Here's where someone interjects with an anecdotal story about how someone they know had their life changed for the better because of divine intervention. How they prayed for assistance, and something came out of nowhere to make things brighter and easier. One problem though. If you pray, and that solution appears out of the blue, there isn't really any way for you to say with any certainty that it would not have happened without the prayers. Right?

And what about the millions of people who do pray for help and receive none? Be it your Grilled Cheesus or other religious artifacts, can you really believe that somebody up there helped you get a B+ on that history test when children are starving all over the world?

Do you really believe that that's their test?