Let Justice Be Done Ch. 69

"Depends on the context. As a deity? Yes. As a being within and of Creation? No." The Almighty replied. 

"...Did you just quote 'Doctor Who'?" Raguel asked in amused curiosity. 

"Doctor Who?" God tone had playful innocence to it. 

"Yes, I mean..." Seeing his Father's amused look, Raguel couldn't help but whine. "Daaaad."

God chuckled at His son's reaction. Then He had a more somber look. 

"Raguel," He said. "I am not the YHWY of the world you came from." God said plainly. "When I plucked your soul into this world, I felt Him. Thus He does exist in some form, but He and I never interacted." God shook His head. "Whether is He a different version of I, a counterpart, something wholly different, or we're are all part of the same Overbeing, or He is a being on a greater, grander level, I could not tell you. Only that He exists." 

"...Why didn't you tell me before?" Raguel said, oddly he felt...fine. Not angry or  sad, just contently curious. Like the idea might have been always there, and now he was exploring it by talking about it. 

"I know how I am seen. The veneration and importance I have, especially to one who wished to be more connected to the spiritual aspects of life like you." God explained. "Telling you from the start would have had you either overcompensate in worshiping me, as a way to push away the past, which would add to your troubles in dealing with your past life. Or you wouldn't have believed me, thinking I am either being humble, or that it was a test of your faith. I needed you to come to the conclusion yourself through your own experiences, so we can talk about this subject in full."

"I see..." Raguel looked down in thought, before he let out a huff as he smiled. "To be honest, I don't think I thought about you like, well, God too much. Maybe I should have." He chuckled. "To me, you were my Father, that's all I needed." 

"And you are My son." A feeling of love and acceptance spread in Raguel's heart, reaffirming what he knows and feels about his Father. "And now that we have established that I'm not the same YHWH from your first world, we can talk about my aspects."

"Aspects?" Raguel tilted his head. 

"Yes, like how I am Perfect yet not. Let's start at the very beginning. From the utmost basics of fundamentals of spirituality and philosophy." God spoke in His teacher voice, pointing upward with a finger. "Is 'Creation' inherently good or evil?"   

Raguel curled his bottom lip and resisted the urge to immediately answer the question, opting to think about it a little, even if the answer is obvious. 

Or 'should' be obvious? I might be wrong. How to be sure? Right! Ask, duh. 

"What's the definition of 'Good' and the definition of 'Evil'?" Raguel asked, to have a starting point. 

"'Good' is any act that nourishes and, or makes better, as a core definition. From there we can derive that 'doing good' is a moral choice, and by choosing 'right' we are behaving virtuously." 

"And how do we know we're choosing 'right'?" Raguel asked raising an eyebrow.

"One thing at a time, you're jumping ahead." God smile. "So then, what is 'evil'?" He continued. "'Evil' is any act that diminishes, that is harmful. More importantly, it is the perversion of 'Good'. Thus it is corruption. From there we can say that acting immorally is sinful. So we return to the original question, is 'Creation' inherently good or evil?"

"You can create things that bring destruction..." Raguel paused for a moment, realizing what he just said. "Which is a paradox, or more correctly a perversion of the act of creation. So creation is good." 

"Very well," God smiled and nodded. "And if I am the Creator, then I'm suppose to be virtuous, to be good. Now what is something I truly value and consider sacred. This should be an easy one."

"Free will." Raguel said plainly, as he shrugged.  

"Correct, why?" God said pointedly. 

And that stopped Raguel short, forcing him to not go with the flow, but stop and think. 

"Beeecause..." Raguel rubbed his chin and narrowed his eyes. Free will is sacred because it's...good? Okay, that doesn't answer why. I'm back to the starting point. The thought ran through Raguels mind a few times. 

Free will and good. Good is doing virtue. 

This thoughts felt like they were going in circles. His intuition was telling him that answer was right in front of them. That he was missing it, as one who misses the forest for the trees. 

What is the definition of 'good' again? Any act that nourishes and, or makes better. Wait, 'act'! His eyes widened as he smile. Doing good is an act and to act you need free will. In order for an act to occur, there needs to be a will behind it to push it forward by the act-er. Hehe, act-er, actor--No, focus!

"Choice!" Raguel beamed. "Because 'good' is a choice, and in order to choose you need free will to do it."

"Good," God nodded, smiling at His son's quiet groaning at the pun. "Now we move to the topic of 'evil' and why I allow it. First let's establish something. I am  'Almighty' but I am not 'Limitless'. This is an inherent part of Myself, due to being Virtue itself."

Raguel crunched his expression as his mind struggled to put the pieces together. "Okay, hooow-why? How?"  

"One, there are other gods, other divine beings that can push against my authority or influence. Being stronger than them is irrelevant. The fact that they even exist nullifies the concept of My being 'Limitless'."

Raguel touched his temple. "...Okay." He said not seeing the relevance yet. 

"Two...do you think I'm omniscient?" God gave a mischievous smile. 

"Is this a trick question?" 

"Think about it." God told him. 

So Raguel did. He stayed quiet longer this time, before thinking out loud. 

"You know the future, or you can manipulate it or plan for it. But there are other gods, and they would also be able to see the future and, if not your actions, the actions of those around you, and respond or change their movements to that. But you would know and so would they, and then the precognition would loop back..." Raguel felt as if his brain being frying up. 

God chuckled at His adorable son.

"I give up!" Raguel threw his hands in the 'air'. "You have...something to be so knowledgeable. Let call it omniscience unless you call it something else. So yes, I would say you're omniscient." He said with a frustrated pout. 

"Omniscient means knowing everything. Past, present and future. That I would know not only every action ever but every choice."

"...Yes." Raguel felt he was beginning to figure out the bigger picture. 

"Then how could there be 'free will'?" 

And just like that it clicked for Raguel. 

"You are good. And because God, I mean, you, I mean Father!" God chuckled as Raguel scrambled to talk, as his mind was moving faster than his mouth. "Because Father is good, you have to allow free will at any cost." His hands moved sporadically with his explanation. "Meaning you can not be 'Limitless'. There has to be things beyond your preview to allow free will to exist. It's, it's..." Raguel dropped his hands in his lap. "It's fundamental. 

"It's part of your being because you care about free will. So you allow us choice." He was quiet for a moment. "But then how..." He looked up to meet his Father's quiet proud gaze. "How...do you know so much? Are you not omniscient but just knowledgeable? But how does this allow you to..." Raguel looked away as he reviewed his current life, seeing how things lined up to work out well when he made the right choice. Or was I even choosing? "Do you have omniscience, Father?" He finally asked. 

"In a manner of speaking," God chuckled at His son's groan, at another 'mysterious' answer. "Tell me, son. How do you think my 'omniscience' works?"

Raguel wanted to just say 'he didn't know' and ask for the answer, as his brain was seriously getting hell of an exercise with all this thinking. 

Raguel really gave it his best shot, but every time he thought of a method for how God could have divine knowledge that outwits other gods or being with future sight, he fell back into the loop of "He know, they know, He know they know..." etc. etc. 

"Father," Raguel let out a long sigh. "I don't know, please tell me." He pouted. 

God chuckled and ruffled His son's head. 

"I Think." 

"...Come again?" Raguel blinked at few times at that answer. 

"I just sit down...and think." God gave an amused smile. 

"...What?" The answer was just so outside of Raguel's expectation, especially with how normal it sounded, it left him flabbergasted. 

"While Future Sight and Probability Manipulation are within my capabilities, it is not the bases of my omniscience and planning. Rather 'thinking'. Just plain thinking." God said.  

"...Huh?" Raguel didn't understand. 

"Simply put I put myself in other people's shoes. I envision how they think and feel and how they would act in response to different events. Then I do that over and over again, then add Future Sight and Probability Control into the mix, and repeat the process. Even if others sense those two powers, they assume they have my plans figured out, when in reality I just act anyways, regardless of their planning, having already figured them out." God explained, smiling at Raguel's jaw dropping expression. "Of course, there are other powers in the mix for full knowledge scanning and sensing, but at it's bases my omniscience is basically," God smiled. "Just thinking."

"That's..." Raguel struggled. "That's so normal!"

"Of course it is," God laughed. "You are made in My image. Everything you do comes from Me. Why wouldn't my omniscience be just that?"

"..." Raguel stayed jaw dropped for a while. Then he took a deep breath, and rested his head on his palm. "What were we talking about again?"

"Free will." God replied. "Now as we established, if my omniscience is limited, to allow free will to exist, meaning I don't know all event or control them, we go back to evil and why I don't destroy it completely everywhere, given that I Am Almighty."

Raguel nodded, listening intently. 

"Because it is a choice. Because in order for something to be good, it has to be a choice. It has to be something you choose to do." God said. "Very well, you might say, 'why not make all humans morally virtuous from the start?'. Again, choice. If I made it so people can't choose evil, then they are not good people. Just automatons following a programming. To be virtuous, they have to choose to be good." 

Something tickled Raguel at the back of his mind. His intuition trying to point to something.     

"But you're Perfect." Raguel pointed out. God smiled and nodded. "As a deity," slowly the pieces were adding up. "And Man is made in Your image." The idea in Raguel's mind was like all the puzzle pieces were lined up but not connected yet. "So why aren't humans perfectly virtuous capable of choosing of their own will, the right path every time?" Raguel sat up straight. 

For the first time since Raguel could remember, God sighed and looked tired, before giving his son a somber smile. 

"And now we come to Adam, Lilith and Eve." God smiled as He let out a breath as if a weight was lifting off His shoulder. "And why, there are so many stories of me being wrathful, even being cruel, unfair and maybe even seen as downright malevolent at times." He looked Raguel straight into his eyes. "The biggest example being the story of Job."

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AN: I still find it a bit funny that this heavy topic came up in Chapter 69. Heh. Or maybe it's because 69 implies sex, an act whose ultimate goal is to make babies, meaning the creation of life. And since this chapter was about life, creation and morality etc, maybe it fits after all. 

...Or I'm just talking out of my ass to sound cool. :P