How long did the dinosaurs live on Earth? 165 to 180 million years, according to Britannica.
That’s a really long time. Humans and ancestors have been on Earth for 6 million years. Homo sapiens, for about 300,000 years. Civilisation as we know it has existed for a mere 8,000 years.
The universe began 13.8 billion years ago. And scientists speculate it has at least another 100 trillion years before the last star fizzles out. It would take trillions of years more for whatever’s left like protons, black holes, and anything left to dissipate, if at all.
We live in a very big universe which has been here for a very long time and will likely last for another very, very long time. We might just as well call it Eternity.
There is a chance that some time and somewhere in this very big universe, superbeings, if not humans, will somehow figure out how to build and live in a place which would last for as long as the universe exists.
It does make sense that there already may be a God with such a place that has lasted for a very long time and will still be around for a very long time in the future.
It may also make sense that such a God would be capable enough to create our world and the trappings we now live in.
It, thus, makes sense to have hope that such a God may have communed with human beings on Earth and offered them and their descendants a spot in that possible place that would last for almost eternity.
It also would make sense that there would be conditions for humans to qualify going to go to such a place. Belief & faith in the God, plus following the rules communicated from representatives (e.g., prophets, Messiah, angels), praying, and simply being a good person, would be examples.
If individuals qualify, they go to that place which some would call Heaven. Those who fail would not enter that Heaven and would end up in a not-so-aspiring place some would call Hell, or they just simply die and become no more.
Religions, especially the older ones, are more the wiser in asserting their authorities to who is God and what the rules are to go to Heaven. They have throughout history ingeniously devised & rationalised rules which reward those who believe and threaten those who don’t.
This essay’s discourse would be no exception to their scrutiny and criticism. I could be banished, excommunicated, or plainly labelled an outcast by outspoken clerics of these religious faiths.
What the religions do not guarantee is a good life here on Earth. They may say there are rewards waiting for their followers but if experience teaches anyone anything, everyone goes through some good and bad in their lives; some will have better; some will have worse. There is neither equal balance nor equity. Nothing is fair. It rains on the just and the unjust. The sun shines on the gentle and the wicked.
There is no such thing as a benevolent God. God won’t be kind to all people, unless you happen to be one of a few He (or She or It) selected out of some special favour.
God, however, is a provident God. God provided people a planet with abundant stuff to live their lives comfortably and with genes that give human beings talents to dominate the world. Everyone goes through life suffering and enjoying depending on how they utilise their God-given skills and available resources. But there would be people who’d be lucky or unlucky. Some would be fortunate, and some won’t.
Live with what you have and what you can get and play by the rules you’ve come to believe in, whether from the religions you learned from or from what you concluded from your own thoughts.
While doing so, be mindful that the future is an eternity and that there may be superbeings we call God who may judge us worthy to join them in a place called Heaven that would last as long and have amenities much better than what there is presently on Earth.
Otherwise, well, sorry. We could say we tried and hoped.
Ellery's Essays 