THE GREAT GOSPEL OF JOHN
VOLUME 5
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus in the region of Caesarea Philippi. (cont.) Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 16
- Chapter 33 -
The God of the philosophers of nature.
1
(Roklus), "If any extremely wise God was the creator of the tree and its fruit buds, he would surely go about it more economically, because a wise economy belongs in the sphere of wisdom! But from the often extremely uneconomical initial beginning of things, it is more than clear that the things emerging from the raw natural forces in their mutual fight that repeats itself mostly in the same way, are put forth in an immense number, from which only as many reach completion, as to what extent the arguing forces did not silence each other; because with such silence the active cause of the becoming and maintaining ceases and inevitably with it the produced work itself. But insofar the once started fight maintains itself and lasts, its work will also survive with it, prosper and reach a certain maturity.
2
Would a deity, most clearly conscious of itself and all its actions, be able to act this way with all wisdom and with all of the most tenacious consistency? I say: No, this would have to be for it by a lot more impossible, than I could imagine a most wise ruler who would build cities and palaces with the biggest diligence and expense in order to afterwards destroy them, and would keep doing it on and on! Would there still be such a stupid person on earth to whom it would occur to call him wise?! However, the thinking and much-experienced person should call wise a god, who does the same thing to a much more complex degree, who calls into existence works of the highest internal organic perfection largely only to ruin and destroy them immediately after! No, someone who in the great narrowness of his knowledge and experiences can in his blindness imagine something like that, can do so; that is impossible for me!
3
Two plus two must be four for the wisest god, as well as for a person expert in numeracy. If, however, any existing god said, 'My dear man, two plus two is five, even seven for me!', I would say to such a god, 'Either you are a fool, or you like taking me for one; because with such numeracy skills it will be hard for you to create a whole world and maintain it! A blind person will become one of the most famous painters sooner than you will draw the worst mushroom out of the earth with your wisdom!' We Greeks had a painter called Apelles, who painted people and animals so realistically that nature, one could say, was outdone. Well, this famous painter certainly drew no line free of charge, but charged well for each one; but how many lines does this supposedly wisest god draw free of charge, for whom for special, wise reasons two and two can, or even must be seven!
4
Everything is often so beautiful and full of hope in spring! People are already looking forward to a good harvest to have their work and efforts rewarded. They thank in advance the invisible being which, according to the belief planted in them from childhood, they worship as the almighty god, or even as several gods. But just a few weeks before harvest the most immense storm comes and devastates the whole land to such a degree that the good people do not get from the hoped for harvest enough to hide behind a nail! This is an occurrence that certainly repeats itself on earth, as far as we know it, every year in the most different lands regularly, sometimes here and sometimes there.
5
The blind, superstitious people hurry like sheep to their incredibly greedy priests and ask them, what they did wrong before god or the gods that these struck so hard! Thus, when the people stand before the priests in such familiar way and these legislators, in god's stead, do not have anything to object against the lawful and thus by the gods demanded lifestyle, the priests put on a very good-natured and compassionate face and console the poor sheep as well as they can and like to, advise them with gentle words to be patient, and also explain to them as insistently as possible, that for their own sakes God put to the test of eternal life after the body's death their patience, the strength of their faith and the content submission to his will!
6
The mythical Job, whose story is a rather good one, is always held before the crying Jew on such occasions; and for the moors there are in their religious books a lot of such small anecdotes that beat down the sadness of poor people. The people then return home with these empty promises, completely consoled and in a certain way merry, and fully surrender to the hope for better times, and that God will not let them perish completely!"