I'm sure i'm sober

I've found myself, as of late, contemplating many things. Due to recent events, and my sudden documentary binge, I've often thought about god, existence, and purpose. I've come to develop certain ideas about god with which I'm fleshing out. I've studied the TNK, and the bible, and it is from these books and recent events that I have begun to develop certain ideas on possibilities of god.

If God is all knowing, that would suggest he would know every destiny and action that would ever take place from the people he created. This would mean that prior to the creation of time earth and the universe he knew perfectly well every rape, murder, torture, mutilation, degradation to occur by the beings he created. Did he just blindly accept the fact that half of his creation would constantly be fighting and hurting the other half? Or did he just simply not know.

If he did know, then this raises some questions. If he did know, why would he be willing to create sentient beings, with souls and feelings, fully knowing the horrors of what many of them would see and experience? To what purpose are these being created?

I've often heard that the reason for existence and everything experienced is that there is some grand cosmic plan, that god has, that is beyond mortal ken. I beg to differ. If there is a grand plan, a design in the mind of a perfect being (this is suggesting god is perfect), the plan itself must be utter perfection, in terms of creation and execution. To what purpose would he create people who, according to the doctrine of religion, would not all be able to serve him in the afterlife? According to religious texts, non-believers and sinners will burn in hell, not live eternally in heaven. To what purpose are these people's eternal sufferings? Do the fires of hell keep the Sterno's of heaven's buffet warm? If god has a plan that requires people to serve him in the afterlife, why create a middleman in earth? This would then also bring into question the purpose of angels if you believe they exist with god.

If god has a plan, and he is an all powerful, all knowing, ever present being, could he not in fact bring his grand plan to fruition with out the help of people and angels? If he does need people and angels, is he following a preset design? This would suggest that something(s) came before god.

What came before god? What was the purpose of creation? If nothing came before god, was Creation in and of itself a way in which God could preoccupy himself? Take his mind of eternity? An eternal being would not have a concept of time that could be accurately understood. My guess would be that if he were in fact eternal, every single possible event that has happened, will happen, and could happen, would be experienced by god simultaneously and continuously. That means that at the creation of earth and man, god simultaneousely experiences our death and the death of earth and existence, as holy texts predict that there is in fact an end to it all.

In any event, what I'm trying to say is that if god were a perfect god, existence itself would not make sense given the scope of god's power and vision. This would suggest any number of possibilities:

A)God is in fact not all powerful, he is following a set structure of creation and is seeing through. This suggests Precedence for creation, as well as a hierarchy. People need to be created and weeded out for some purpose.

B)God is in fact not all knowing. He did not understand the ramifications of his creations and is seeing it through.

C) God is not eternal. Being eternal he would see everything simultaneously. If he had a plan he would simultaneously see it's inception and fruition continuously.

D)God is not everywhere. As we see no direct action of god, no actual hand per say, everything happens do to a certain course of events on earth, nothing is mysterious. Nature itself works as a machine. Earth is a machine that god created and stepped back from, having no actual power to move things on earth.

E)God is cruel and/or uncaring. Understanding that the beings he created would be fully sentient, having feelings, opinions, consciousness, and souls, he created them knowing full well the pains of death, torture, and many other evils in the world. He allowed the insertion of evil into the world. He also knows that many will go to hell and suffer eternally.

Any of these possibilities might be true, as I have pondered. Then again, these are just harmless musings. How can anyone actually comprehend god hood?

As for athiests. Well, what got the ball rolling? Where did time begin? How did life start? Is it a cycle?

Thank you thank you

So late last night I finished Hunter of Dune, and all I can say is TTTHHHANNNKK YOUUU!!!
Finally, some answers. The new book makes complete sense with the back story from the Legends of Dune series, which of course was their intent. I have very few complaints. The first one is that I've waited forever for Dune 7, not Dune 6.5!!! But it's understandable considering the scope of the Dune universe. Actually, thats my only complaint. I try to imagine how Frank Herbert would have approached Dune 7 and the Legends of Dune series. Granted Dune 7 and the Legend of Dune series weren't written that far apart, however, the style of writing is too close together. In Chapeterhouse, you're running through that novel wondering who the enemy is and what the hell's going on. Then when you read Hunters, it feels like you just sort of walk over to where you discover the true identity. Not to mention, that because of the Legends of Dune series, the minute you open Hunters the answer of who the Enemy is smacks your right in your face like "oh duh". I wonder if it would have been so obvious if Frank Herbert wrote the series. This in no way detracts from Brian Herbert and Kevin Andeerson's works, they have done a fabulous job of bringing Dune back into circulation. I love the entire series. I understand that it's not Frank Herbert writing, that it's just his notes, and they're doing a great job. I can definitely feel him behind their work. Wow, i've been waiting to talk about Dune forever!! Barely any of my friends read, let alone read Dune. And the few that like Dune haven't read past the first book. Well, Joe has read farther, but there are better things to talk about with him like beer, chicks, and....well beer and chicks sums it up pretty nicely.