Darth Harley and L’il Yoda
Harley and Li’l Yoda talked that recess, and many others after, and became good friends. They talked about video games, God, TV, sports, and music, to name a few. Harley would always go home and tell his parents about his conversations with Li’l Yoda, and his parents were delighted he made a friend. Harley couldn’t always remember the details of his discussion, his memory being no where near as good as Li’l Yoda’s, but he thought he remembered the important parts and while Harley didn’t have many ideas of his own to say about God, or even if there was a God or gods, he thought he came up with some good questions. For instance, he and L’il Yoda discussed:
(Baby Yoda/Grogu image Wiki fair use: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grogu)
1 (Li’l Yoda) Science isn’t exactly sure how everything began, so God must have created everything
(Darth Harley) A long time ago they didn’t know why the sun moved across the sky, so they guessed a god was making it move. Is it a “good guess” to say we’re not exactly sure how everything began, so an invisible, magical leprechaun must be responsible?
2 (LY) When I die, my soul will live on forever
(DH) Why do you think we have a soul? When a part of the brain gets destroyed, that part of the mind stops working. What would be left over that would be a soul?
3 (LY) God is our loving father and wants us to always think about Him, worship Him, and stay close to Him.
(DH) A father may want those things when you’re young, but doesn’t a loving Father want you to grow up and discover your own place in the world, not having to think about Him and depend on Him for everything?
4 (LY) God Can Do Anything.
(DH) Why can’t He show up now and say “Hi” to us?
5 (LY) No one can see or hear him when God talks to me, but he always does, and even helps me to think what to say, like right now.
(DH) My imaginary friends talk to me and we have great times, but they’re not real.
6 (LY) God is Love.
(DH) Then why is there so much animal and human suffering? That’s not love.
7 (LY) There’s no suffering in heaven
(DH) Then why don’t we just start off there? That still makes things more confusing. If God made heaven without suffering, then he could have made this life without it. Again, that’s not love.
8 (LY) God always answers prayer, just that sometimes the answer is no
(DH) We know heat makes water boil because it always works. Prayer and good results go together sometimes, but it seems to be an accident, not that prayer works.
9 (LY) The doctors were sure my mom wasn’t going to get healthy again, but she suddenly did. It must have been God!
(DH) Isn’t that like saying it’s almost impossible to win the jackpot when you buy a lottery ticket, but someone won last night, so it must have been God?
10 (LY) Some religious people (not me) say God hates LGBTQ people.
(DH) Who you love isn’t a choice. Is heterosexuality a choice? If God hates someone for something extremely important to the person that they didn’t choose and can’t change, then God is Evil
11 (LY) We’re not that different. We both question the belief of most Gods. I don’t believe in Zeus. You just disbelieve in one more God than I do.
(DH) What happens when you question and look at your God the same way you question and look at Zeus?
12 (LY) God helped me to win my hockey championship!
(DH) Does that mean God made the other team lose?
13 (LY) Don’t you want to live in heaven forever?
(DH) It would probably be like living in Disneyland forever, great for a while, but eventually you would get tired of it.