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It has been remarked that gods "do things in their professional capacity which in their personal capacity they loath." This is, of course, sciolistic nonsense. We might assume, consistent with Occam's Razor, the utter absence of any overseeing sentient entity. This would put us squarely in the path of an all but uncountable collection of caterwauling clergy and their equally noisome and noisy constituents. This would put us squarely in the path of a truly impressive flow of cash seeking to purchase an entry into heaven in the next life or at least a full bindlestaff in this one.
Dr. Schund LIKES positive cashflow.
Yahweh is singularly disinterested in human suffering other than to inflict it. In the whole of human history across the entire planet not one deity has volunteered Novocain. It is a telling omission. Can God make a collection plate so vast that even He cannot fill it? Sure! ALL OF THEM.
The nature of god is trivially explicit if we assume, literally, that mankind was created in god's image. Let us not allow ourselves to be mired in trivial compositional arguments, contested anthropometric morphological congruencies, disputed phenominological heresies, or any other aspects of the overburdened manure wagon of theological and religious philosophy teetering on its sprung axles as it goes creakingly and stinkingly down the rutted mud path of institutional, academic, and vulgar observance and speculation.
Man was in the most literal functional sense created in god's image, hence the utter absence of perceptible divine intervention. Rather than some recondite subtlety, the nature of god is absurdly obvious. Consider...
The human ear is exquisitely sensitive, almost to the degree of sensing individual molecular rustlings. The human ear can sense sound energies below microwatt input, a leaf fluttering in an adventitious breeze, the drop of a pin. The human ear can sense and survive without damage (at least in isolated exposures) a blast of thunder or the 180 decibel barrage of a military jet exploding from a catapult or a heavy metal band. How is it that the human ear can encompass such a dynamic range?
The human eye is exquisitely sensitive, literally to the degree of sensing individual photons. The human eye can sense light energies corresponding to a clear starlit night, allowing sightful navigation of the host organism almost at the quantum limit of random detector noise. The human eye can sense and survive without damage (at least in isolated exposures) flashbulbs and arclights and even a brief look directly at the thermonuclear fury of the noonday sun, dead on. How is it that the human eye can encompass such a dynamic range?
Fingertip touch receptors can sense the stroke of a single hair or stab at an elevator button with hundreds of pounds of applied fury. Taste receptors can detect denatonium benzoate at parts- per-trillion concentrations and differentiate between the syrupy acid sludges of Coke and Pepsi. Smell receptors can give notice of a dead skunk miles away, or a very annoyed one a foot away, and survive undamaged to savor a rose. How is this achieved?
Man was created in god's image - logarithmic response. A million times the stimulus gives only six times the signal. A billion suffering humans capture only nine times the divine interest of a dozen unfortunate happenstances. God is preoccupied by a single falling sparrow but apparently ignores the extermination of four hundred million passenger pigeons. A religion with a few dozen adherents has great cachet; a billion member Church is impotent. If we are to assume that the universe is god's private fiefdom under direct and continuous scrutiny and control, it is only by logarithmic scaling that the fate of entire galaxies can be functionally weighed against that of a single blade of grass.
Ten individuals can approach god with a clear voice. One hundred thousand fanatics demanding a say have the weight of numbers as a burden, but only fives times the amplitude as an asset. Divine plan allows the whispers of five independent petitioners to balance the screams of one hundred thousand maniacs. There is a certain wisdom in that, is there not?
The reconciliation of divine oversight with almost universal human suffering is straightforward. Were the whole of humankind to perish in a single night, it would have hardly more than 9.7 times the divine notice of a single family's death. The nature of god renders the purveyors of mass salvation the vendors of shoddy goods.
Given logarithmic scaling, the existence of a compassionate god is consistent with creation and without perceptible value. That sounds about right. Consider personal salvation, especially when we remember that the logarithm of one is zero.
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