{"id":4694,"date":"2011-11-26T11:08:34","date_gmt":"2011-11-26T16:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=4694"},"modified":"2011-11-26T11:08:34","modified_gmt":"2011-11-26T16:08:34","slug":"what-if-this-is-all-there-is-what-if-im-not-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/11\/what-if-this-is-all-there-is-what-if-im-not-right.html","title":{"rendered":"What if This is All there Is? What if I’m not Right?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

John Hobbins shared this story which he heard at AAR\/SBL in San Francisco, and I thought it was worth passing on (it is apparently a variation on a joke told by Stephen Colbert)<\/a>:<\/p>\n

A guy commits suicide. And he goes to heaven, which is not what he expected.<\/p>\n

God greets him there, and the guy said, \u201cI\u2019m so surprised I\u2019m here. First of all, I thought there was no God. Second of all, I thought if you killed yourself, you know, you were damned forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

God said, \u201cI admit it often seems I\u2019m not around. It\u2019s not the people who don\u2019t think I exist that worry me; it\u2019s the ones that think I do and are convinced that their wishes and my wishes are identical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for suicide, you know, it\u2019s complicated. You have to take into account things like depression and jilted love. Everybody at least thinks about ending it, you know, about killing themselves at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n

And God adds, \u201cEven I\u2019ve thought of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The guy said, \u201cCan I ask, why didn\u2019t you do it?\u201d<\/p>\n

And God said, \u201cWhat if this is all there is?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think I like it because it deflates the assumption of knowing it all, of having all the answers, of being right, that so many people have, in mutually-exclusive fashion. David Hayward\u2019s recent cartoon illustrates this point too, from a different angle<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Hobbins shared this story which he heard at AAR\/SBL in San Francisco, and I thought it was worth passing on (it is apparently a variation on a joke told by Stephen Colbert): A guy commits suicide. And he goes to heaven, which is not what he expected. God greets him there, and the guy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,42,88],"tags":[281,1625,2484,4005,5887,8875,10169,10394,10835,11865,12032],"class_list":["post-4694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-academy-of-religion","category-humor","category-society-of-biblical-literature","tag-aar","tag-cartoon","tag-david-hayward","tag-god","tag-joke","tag-pearly-gates","tag-religion","tag-right","tag-sbl","tag-stephen-colbert","tag-suicide"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat if This is All there Is? 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