God Hopeful?

 

A while back, on my way to work I'd see a billboard. Every time I saw it, it irritated the hell out of me. It said:

 

Every time you say my name, I hear and get hopeful – God

 

It’s a lovely sentiment, isn’t it? God (whether he's Allah, Jesus, Hare Krishna or even the Great Prophet Zarquon – Pascal’s Wager doesn’t help me with this one) loves us so much and cares for us so much that he just longs for us to call on his name. He longs for us to have a relationship with him. And when we reject him we bring him pain. Oh dear… poor old God. Don’t you just feel so sorry and so remorseful when you think of God up there in the magical sky kingdom crying waterfalls of tears because his creations don’t want to acknowledge him? It must be so wounding to his delicate ego, mustn’t it?

 

Every time you say my name, I hear and get hopeful – God

 

Now in no way am I anti-God even though some of my writings may suggest that. Like I said in one of them, you can’t be angry at something you don’t believe in. Likewise you can’t be against something you don’t acknowledge exists. But I just have to say that in this instance, excuse my French, the above quote is a crock of shit. How can a deity that is meant to be all-knowing ever be hopeful? He supposedly knows everything that is going to happen. He knows who are going to be his followers and who he is going to barbeque in Hell for all eternity (which is apparently the majority of his creation). He knows who are going to call on his name with sincerity and who is going to use his name in vain. So how is it possible he could ever hope for anything? And if he is all-powerful, then his will would be strong enough that he would never have to hold out any hope at all. What he wants he would get!

 

Every time you say my name, I hear and get hopeful – God

 

Not only does this quote show a blatant ignorance of the claimed omniscience of God, it shows the audacity of some people who think that they have the right to speak for him/her/it… to claim that they somehow understand God better than everyone else on the planet. An all-knowing, all-powerful God hardly needs some idiot human to speak on his behalf. If he wanted to put up a billboard for all mankind to read, he could easily erect some kind of holographic one that can be seen by every person in the world. Now considering the world is round and not flat like the bible claims, that would be quite an amazing miracle.

 

Every time you say my name, I hear and get hopeful – God

 

I’d like to know who this person who claims to speak for God is and what authority does he/she have? Is this person considered by anyone to be a spokesperson from God? Is this person even a genuine follower of the deity they promote? (whoever that deity is). Are we expected to take their word for this? I certainly can’t see anything biblical at all about that quote. Therefore I can only conclude that the person who came up with this ridiculous statement is a heretic and a blasphemer.

 

Every time you say my name, I hear and get hopeful – God

 

Another thing that makes this quote inane, is that God quite clearly does not care about people calling his name. There are millions of people all over the world, crying out to him, begging him to make a difference in their life in some way, even if it’s to provide them with a crust of bread to prevent from starving to death. But yet it seems God prefers only to answer a select few. I can just see it now, God sitting up there on his cloud:

 

“Hello? Did someone just call out my name? Oh how wonderful, it’s little Nixau in Ethiopia who’s starving to death. I’ve been longing for him to call my name for five years now. What’s he saying? Oh, he’s begging me to help him - beseeching me to keep those vultures off his back and provide him with some food. Ahhhh yes… I feel so much better now. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, I was helping John Smith with getting his car started so he can get to church on time.”

 

(Hey, that person who came up with the above quote put himself in God’s shoes, so why can’t I? I think my take on this is probably a little more realistic too.)

 

Every time you say my name, I hear and get hopeful – God

 

I bet the person who came up with that gormless quote was probably one of those people who got one answered prayer out of about a thousand and attributed it to God and now goes around saying “See? God really does answer prayer! All we have to do is call upon his name!”

 

Every time you say my name, I get hopeful. Isn’t he wonderful? Oh how much he desires a relationship with us. Oh if only we would reach out to him... But woe betide anyone who doesn’t reach out to him. Watch out anyone who has no interest in a relationship with him.