Intention of God

Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do against or for God. Its just a collection of various thoughts which may sound heretical or devotional.

Ever wondered why God created humans? Am sure some of us would have pondered over this thought and would have come up with his/her own conclusions. Every time, I posed this question, to different friends of mine, I manged to get different responses. Each response was based on, if he/she believes in god, nature of their upbringing, circumstances etc.,

It is interesting to note that, while most of them believed that there is a power greater and beyond human conscience and grasp no one ever witnessed (seen, smelled, touched, tasted or heard) "God". This by no means discouraging those who are trying to know God, but, on a lighter note, may be my friends and I are not so lucky yet.

Let me start with the one who triggered the conversation. He is into video games. According to him, God created us to wage wars. So, this act of ours to wage wars, struggle and survive just like most other animals on this planet is justified. Peace is for cowards he added.

One other believes that, the entire universe is filled with the energy, called, God and quotes the law of conservation of energy as to why this creation and destruction happens.

Another thinks, there is nothing like 'Universe', this has to be a 'Multiverse'. So according to him, multiple events occur simultaneously and parallel universes comes to existence for any "n" number of decisions that may / might have happened. (This may seem impossible, but remember, "infinity" and "imagination" are undefined). So, with all the possible experiences, when a person's cumulative knowledge increases beyond a certain value, he attains the status of "God" and there could be few animals/humans who have already attained the status.

A couple of friends from all the religions are ardent believers in God. They cannot think of a possibility that there is no God. They are performing all the rituals to their best as mentioned in their holy books and are trying to be in good books of the God to avoid hell.

There is a TV series called, Ancient Aliens, which states, Aliens visited Earth (they may be frequenting now too...but I always wonder why people living in USA manage to spot an UFO every time) and our ancestors believed them as Gods. Now, if aliens are Gods, I wonder who created aliens then? If aliens also evolved as per Darwin's theory, then there is no God, its just evolution. But, is there something beyond everyone's' comprehension?!

Should capital punishment be abolished?

This has been a topic of discussion in my country, India, in the recent past. The country, esp women’s faith on their country, for their safety, shook greatly, when several rape incidents occurred across the country. People were outraged and staged massive protests. There was an emotional outburst across the country demanding for death sentence of rapists. Nation’s pride was at stake. One evening a friend of mine and I were discussing on this topic and he asked me to express my views on capital punishment. Here is an attempt on the same.

Before we jump to the 'punishment' part of any offense, let us first take a look at, what does the word, ‘Law’ mean. Well, according to Wikipedia, there is no universal definition for the word, ‘Law’ but its a set of rules and guidelines. So the fact is, it depends upon a person's ability to interpret the laws or guidelines upon which a verdict is given.

Given that, we are societal animals, we are governed by set of rules and guidelines for the smooth functioning of society. Since most of us are very religious! (Let's check this out in my next blog post) we have framed certain religious laws as well. So are there any factors which any law should satisfy. What could be its virtues?

* Fortitude - firmness of purpose. Does it have sound purpose for framing it?

* Equality - Is it applicable universally? Or at least to all the citizens / refugees of the land? The law should be the same even to accused until proven guilty

* Timeliness - A law should not only last for a reasonable time (again scope for interpretation) but should be amended according to current circumstances and ensure if any punishment is awarded, should be delivered in time

* Ethical - Does the law have morals? 

Now why should any Law change with time? Is it not possible to make a Law permanently once and for all? Sadly, human behaviour isn't so simple to predict. The way each generation matures, learns, survives, grows and thinks is different. Had it not been for noble thinking by a couple of great men and massive effort by North Americans, African American slavery would not have been abolished. They would not have been allowed into schools. Women (around the world) would not have been allowed to participate in Olympics, have education, vote and work. LGBT community wouldn't be having their rights, though most are evolving worldwide right now.

Now let's assume, Indian laws are up to date. Should capital punishment be allowed in India? 

The problem is two fold, one capital punishment is awarded only if, guilt of the accused is proved beyond reasonable doubt and is a rarest of rare crimes. Now, it depends upon Judge's prudence if the crime committed is rare and he/she is absolutely sure about the punishment. Mulling over these two issues, 

http://www.dl.ket.org/latin2/mores/legallatin/legal01.htm

If you're interested you may want to watch the following video clipping, a debate on capital punishment NDTV – A question of life and Death

Disclaimer: These are my personal views and I haven't studied law. Views may vary and do not represent Indian Law in any official capacity .