The New Divine Comedy E-Book

Bedrettin Simsek

• Herausgeber: Bedrettin Şimşek
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

A novel as divine as Dante's Divine Comedy and as diabolical as Goethe's Faust by Bedrettin Simsek. 
Reminiscent of a comic version of Dante's Divine Comedy and its antithesis, the work begins with an intellectual conflict between a dying atheist and a cleric, then takes the reader on a dizzying journey through the landscapes of Purgatory, Heaven, and Hell. By creating a post-mortem in which the sinners enter heaven first and the good can fall into hell, the book deserves the title "The New Divine Comedy. 

Leseprobe

Bedrettin Simsek

The New Divine Comedy

ISBN: 9786057362148

This ebook was created with StreetLib Writehttps://writeapp.io

Table of contents

1. Preamble

2. Land of the Dead

3. Apocalypse of Souls

4. Psychostasis or Weighing of Souls

5. First Judgment

6. Entering Hell

7. Purgatory

8. Last Judgment

9. Entering Paradise

10. Ascension

11. Epilogue

When " The New Divine Comedy" was published in 1998 under the title " The Discussion between an Atheist and a Priest," Bedrettin Simsek and the publishing house were sentenced to two years in prison for insulting religious values. This sentence was suspended on the condition that they would not commit the same offense again. Bedrettin Simsek was then ostracized from the literary world. Publishers, fearing the reaction of readers or punishment, closed their doors to him. In the end, he became a cursed writer whose name no one ever spoke.

" The New Divine Comedy" not only reveals the genius of Bedrettin Simsek, but also gives the reader an opportunity to understand the nature of the ban imposed on him for years in the literary and publishing circles of Turkey.

Translated by Bedrettin Simsek

Revision date DECEMBER 2024

1

Preamble

With his cassock on his back and his skullcap on his head, the cleric approached the dying man's bed.

"Here," he said, "it is time to die! Be brave, put aside your worries. Choose to save your soul for the new life that awaits you. Think that God wants back what He has given you.. Death is coming to rescue you from your enemy. So do not fear death, which will open the gates of paradise for you. Fear that at the moment when your soul is victorious, your body will make that victory meaningless. Do you hear me?"

The dying patient nodded.

Cleric:

"Death can give you a victory as well as defeat you. How will you face it then? What will you say to it? ''I have waited for this moment, longed for this moment. The moment I have been waiting for has finally come.. But why am I in despair, why can't I feel joy?' Will you say that? Or will you say, 'The world had captured me. It was very dear to me; what a pity! Now when death puts me on a throne, I lose a treasure, because my defeat is sitting on that throne'. Is that what you will say? Then think of your sins. Think of the torment you will suffer for them. Do not fear death. It comes to save you from your enemy.. With death, a burden will be lifted from your back. Do you hear me?"

The patient nodded again.

The cleric came closer and continued:

"I was brought here by your wife and children because you insulted God behind your mother-in-law's back when she called you to pray. You told your wife that you had renounced your faith after living all your life as a good religious man, and you denied your religion in front of your children. Is this true, traitor?"

The dying patient was silent.

The priest said, "There! If you don't repent of your words, if you don't believe in God, if you don't give up your soul and call on the name of God, if you don't say with your last breath, 'O Lord! I seek refuge in Your mercy for my blasphemy,' then you will die as an unclean person. Let me tell you what will happen then. When you are laid in the grave, two angels will come and interrogate you. Depending on the result of this interrogation, your grave will become either a garden from the gardens of paradise or a pit from the pits of hell. For as our great religious scholars say, the grave of the believers will be enlarged and filled with pleasant smells, while the unbelievers like you will be hit on the head with an iron hammer. They will scream so loudly that everyone will hear it except for human beings. Do you understand me?"

The patient made a sign that he understood everything.

The priest said, "Then believe before it is too late. Ask God for intercession. Tell Him, 'O my God, I believe in You, I bow down before You'".

The patient was silent. The cleric said:

"Go ahead, pray to your God, 'O my God, keep me out of your hell. Won't you speak?"

Suddenly the patient began to groan.

"Ah!" he groaned. "Will there be no peace and comfort for men on their deathbeds? Will these clerics frighten the man even as they send him to his grave? Will they follow him with such threats until his last breath?"

The cleric said angrily:

"What! Are you still insulting? Do you not fear hell, or at least of the torment of the grave? Do you know what awaits those who do not believe in God in the grave? The earth will squeeze their bodies like a mangle so that they will not be able to move even in the greatest pain. A demon with a chain around his neck will rise from the earth and beat them with it. Their graves will be filled with fire even before they enter hell. A snake specially created for these tortures will sting them day and night. Scorpions will bite them with their poisonous fangs. Even if their bodies decay, a new one will be created and that body will be tortured. Imagine how terrifying the scene in the grave is. This is what will happen if you do not believe. Therefore, only the light of religion can guide you in this darkness."

The patient looked pensive for a moment.

"What will happen if I believe?" he asked.

The clergyman said, overjoyed:

"Then you will be taken to heaven, that land of eternal youth and beauty, where there are rivers of honey and milk, musky wine, comfortable seats, a variety of ripe fruit, clothes of fine silk, trees with trunks of gold and branches of silver, mansions of pearls and rubies."

"So, my faith in God will help me, will it?"

"Yes."

"It is in my interest to believe in God?"

"How do you know that?"

"If it is in the interest of believers to love God, how can God take their love seriously?"

"Excuse me?"

"Then aren't they offering their prayers as a bribe to God?"

"Shut up, impudent! Don't add to your torment in hell. If you don't think of yourself, at least think of your children. Why do you want to torment your wife? Just for the sake of your innocent mother-in-law, can't you say that there is a God? And what if there is? Then no matter how much you beat yourself up. So, you won't see any harm in saying that you believe. But if you say you don't believe, even if you're right, you won't gain anything."

"Even if God exists, what difference does it make?" said the patient. "Nothing. My decision remains the same. I believe there is no God."

"Alas, you die in sin."

"Then tell me, Imam, what is God's purpose? To make His servants believe in Him, or to keep them from sin?"

"Both. For those who have the fear of God in their hearts do not sin."

"So the one who does not believe in God, even if he is good, will be considered to have committed a sin?"

"Not believing in God is the greatest sin."

"But what if I don't believe that He is perfect?"

"Then try to repent for your sins without thinking of God."

"How can I not repent? I have committed a serious sin, Father. I wasted my life believing in God, in religious delusions. Yes, I regret it. I regret having spent my whole life in such nonsense. I made a mistake, and you are asking me not to go back from that mistake. You are preventing me; you are trying to poison me."

"How! When you should be asking for God's forgiveness."

"Just when I have found the truth, I die prematurely. But now a door is opening before me, through which the perfect appears to me. I have never seen anything so clean, Father, and how dirty I am dying. So how can I not beat myself up? Life is entrusted to us. We must give it back in time. God expects us to waste it. I have wasted it. I have nothing left. Now nothing will give me back what I have lost, nothing will compensate me for my loss."

The clergyman became even more angry.

"Oh! So you want to be buried like a heathen? Do you know what you will face in hell, let alone suffer in your grave until the Day of Judgment? May the scorpions and centipedes devour you! At least I wish you had died of diarrhea."

"Calm down, imam, why do you get so angry when you see someone who doesn't believe in God?"

"Because this deep irreligion gives me the creeps. If you weren't sick, I would have put you in your place with a stick."

"And I would answer you, if I commit a crime against God, is it for you to punish me? Who appointed you as God's lawyer?"

The cleric rejoiced.

"What, did you say God? See, even if you say He does not exist, you are actually admitting His existence. Then there is no problem! After all, this Supreme Being prefers the worst sinner to the best denier."

"All right, as you wish, God exists. Now go."

The cleric tightened his grip on the patient's collar:

"No, I will not leave until I see that you believe. It is my duty to save a soul in danger."

"I don't understand."

"What cleric has ever seen a heathen and not taught him a lesson? Would I miss this opportunity to do good deeds?"

"Oh, Rabbi, while you are trying to save me from hell, won't you fall into that hell?"

"Don't worry, nothing will happen to me."

"What if the opposite happens, what if you go astray? Because I used to be like you, I used to believe in God naively, but now I have become like this."

"Are you challenging me, unbeliever? Do you think you can defeat a wise old man like me, a man of faith whose sermons are famous all over the world, with your vile ideas? After all, you just said that God exists."

"Yes, he does, but only as a product of our minds. That is what is terrible. A dream created by man dominates his life. That the dream he has at night continues during the day."

"Suppose that's true, what's the harm?"

"Imagine a man who was born a pearl diver, father. He spends his whole life at sea, but he can't find a single one. He cannot know the value of a pearl; he cannot appreciate what he has not seen. Hasn't he spent his life in vain?"

"I will not deign to answer this question, but I will only say this. How sad it is to sin without having the right to complain at the end! What consoles the infernals is not that the door of forgiveness is open. That door will open again in the end. What comforts them is that they are allowed to complain. Because complaining can be a sign of repentance. The one who complains also asks for forgiveness. You poor, you deprive yourself of even this right. You are committing a crime. I dread to think what awaits you on the other side."

"So I'm going to hell, am I?"

"Unless you ask for forgiveness."

"So there will be justice on the other side?"

"No doubt."

"Then for someone who has suffered from the injustice of the world, even if the place of justice is hell, it will be a place of salvation. Don't deceive me, Father. I have never seen justice in the world to see God in it. If I believed in God, it would seem horrible to me. If there was a God, I'd curse him every day. Good thing there isn't one. That way we don't have to hate him."

"Wretch! May God help you; may He forgive you!"

"Oh Father, will God forgive me whom I accuse so much? Shall I ask Him to forgive me?"

"Even when you accuse God, don't you acknowledge His existence? Then think, what if God exists, what if you are wrong? Won't you have a shred of doubt in you? Won't you ask yourself, what have you lost if there is a God whom you now blindly reject?"

"Even if there is no God, shall we pretend that there is? Let's believe the lie, no need to seek the truth. Let us spend our lives chasing after a dream. Then why were we born?"

"Alas! You are sacrificing your eternity for something temporary. Even in death, you cannot leave this world. If your life hadn’t been wasted, if it had been so perfect, wouldn't you lose it again when you die? Don't love the world so much. Don't blame God for something you're going to lose anyway. Besides, there is no point in complaining that your life has been wasted. What would be the point of being sad about losing something that is already temporary?"

"Well, let's assume for a moment that you are right, then tell me, why can't God boast about what he calls his work? And then he requires his servants to believe in him?"

"Because gold and silver are not of equal value to everyone, and the world is the way it is because of the sins of people like you."

"I understand from your answer that there are foolish servants of God."

"Do not despise fools. A wise man can be led astray by another wise man. But a fool cannot be persuaded by all the wise men put together. That's why stupidity is also a virtue in its place."

Patient:

"True. Only the fool is safe from the snares of thought. Where the wise man thinks, he will not think at all. He will be at ease; he will have no fight. He will not clash with himself; his desires will not tear him to pieces. His faith will remain intact because his mind is not working. Come on, confess, father. You are most comfortable when you don't think. When you think, you feel as if you have sinned."

After being silent for a while, the religious man said, "Actually, I can't say you are wrong. I have seen so many people die, and even though they were ungodly, in the end they took refuge in God. Why? Because they lost their minds. At the moment of death, they became stupid. They were chanting the name of God and saying stupid things. So they were in exactly the state that we want to see them in. Because that also gave us an opportunity to correct them. Just like a doctor needs people to be sick in order to work. That's why people have always shared the most precious moment of their life, the moment of death, with a priest. Look at that and realize how precious we are, traitor! That is why when someone dies, there is always a priest present. He sends him off on his most important journey. If the clergyman arrives late and the patient dies in the meantime, he will at least enjoy it at the funeral. There is no cleric who would miss the opportunity to show himself in his flamboyant attire in the presence of the dead. The funeral is like a cleric's wedding ceremony. Like the bridegroom, he leads the way. He stands at the head of the tomb. Everyone looks into his mouth, even more interested in him than in the deceased. He is the protagonist of the funeral. He leads the cortege. He is the one who stops the procession. Now you say you don't want me to be with you at your funeral. What's a wedding without a groom, madman? No doubt God suffers the most when His servants become wise. But if a man is clever, what can He do? Even I, when I read the scriptures, can't keep my mind from wandering to irrelevant things, and I get so caught up in my thoughts that I end up confusing the prayers. That's why I read them aloud. What else do you think is the reason why preachers deliver their sermons as if they were scolding their listeners? It's not to make their voices heard, but to drive away the silly thoughts that come into their minds at that moment. Maybe that's why worship requires so much repetition. Will God punish His servants for this? Even if we never say it, haven't we had some thoughts that put us in a difficult position? Could it be that thoughts similar to those of the skeptical haunt the pious? Even a pious person may not be able to resist laughing at some silly thought in a blessed moment. Would he have committed a sin? I don't think so. Since God has kept the door of the mind open, any evil wind can blow through it. The Lord Almighty should not hold this against us. There are many women who, while praying, think about what they have to cook that day. This daily problem is carried up to the court of God, where perhaps the angels discuss it among themselves. Does God forgive our weaknesses? Among all the nonsense that comes into our minds, are there no ideas that question the existence of God? Is it in man's power not to think what he does not want to think?

The clergyman, himself a frequent offender of these sins, said:

"To tell you the truth, I have often thought such nonsense myself. It was obvious that the devil had inspired me. Fortunately, my faith was strengthened each time. Of course, it is our actions that God will judge. If He were to punish us for what we think, He would have no place to put His servants in hell. So no matter what you say, even you have a chance to go to heaven. As long as what you do doesn't match what you think. I don't think God would be too hard on our weaknesses in the kitchen or in bed."

"So, Father, we can't avoid the question of whether there is a God?"

"Of course there is."

"But isn't it a sin to even ask this question?"

"The important thing is how you answer it. In the end, does doubt weaken your faith? Or does it strengthen it? Doubt can lead to certainty. It can make you want to believe more. Then doubt can also be a sign of faith."

"I think differently. Inappropriate ideas flash through the brain like lightning in the sky. The thoughts that we banish from our minds are like buzzing flies. Those who fight them the most are the ones who get stung the most by them."

"Still, it is a vice, not a sin."

"But isn't sin always born out of weakness? Doesn't it give us an opportunity to defend ourselves, an opportunity for God to forgive us? What does God have to say when His servant claims to be weak?"

"I said no. We must distinguish weakness from sin. Sin is what God commands us not to do. Weakness, on the other hand, is something man does unintentionally that only offends God's will. The Almighty knows how frail His servants are and cannot be too persistent. This is the great forbearance of the Lord. Even He knows that human stubbornness cannot be overcome."

"How is it, Father, to punish people for their sins and at the same time forgive them for their weaknesses?"

"If even the most pious, the most devout, when alone, cannot help but wonder if there is a God, what can the Almighty do? In fact, he has solved this dilemma in two ways. First, by intimidating his servants; and second, by dazzling them. In this way, the honorable being has shown how prudent he is. He offered them heaven and hell. Hell deters the weak creature from evil, while heaven attracts him to good also because of his weakness."

"Then weakness cannot be man's fault."

"Perhaps? If man did not show weakness, he would not believe in God. That is why God first sees what the servant does. Does he go astray or does he manage to control himself? After all, weakness can turn into sin or it can be an opportunity for good. Aren't there good deeds that man does out of pride, just to be liked by others? For this adorable Supreme Being did not create His servants good or bad. He only made them independent of Himself by a free will."

"Then, father, the responsibility for the defects of creation may well be laid at the door of free will."

"More or less."

"If He left everything to the will of His creatures, couldn't God have made them at least as intelligent as they were free?”

"No."

"Why, Rabbi?"

"Then they would not have believed in God. If they were more intelligent, they would immediately begin to doubt. Because the mind is skeptical by nature. It asks a lot of questions. If someone is always asking questions, it is because he is not finding answers. That is very dangerous. Because he will be thinking all the time. Nothing undermines faith more than thinking. It is easy for such a person to sin. But for a devotee, religion has already explained everything. He doesn't ask a question that doesn't have an answer in the holy books."

"There it is, Father, the most basic fallacy on which all religions are based. You have explained it very well. You have just described man as a weak being; now you describe him as a strong one. But perhaps it is true; ‘Take evil out of man and God is left’."

"The state of the world cannot be an occasion for crime. Everything is a choice, and in the end he will choose either evil or good. Those who have little faith may say that their choice is difficult. Those who have a lot of faith, no matter how weak they are, will not deviate one iota from the truth. What do you mean, those who harm others will claim that they are weak when they have the power to do so?"

"What a pity, Mr. Imam! Don't you see that this description could eventually lead to God being blamed by His servants for their own sins? If it is the result of the will, then sin must be considered a defect of creation."

"That is why it is said that God will forgive His servants if they repent", said the clergyman.

The patient said, "That doesn't change the fact that God created man imperfectly. I mean, you can get me to accept that God exists, but you will never get me to accept that He is perfect."

"Maybe, He created it that way on purpose? Isn't each person responsible for maturing himself? Only when he reaches perfection will God complete His work. Those who fail will be cast into hell; those who succeed will take their place in heaven. "

"So it is a crime that man cannot complete what God has left incomplete?"

"No. Even then God will forgive him. As long as he does not sin."

"But what is man to do if his will does not make him strong? It seems to me that religions play such logical games to explain this complex issue. Man does not consciously choose to sin. Because he has no idea of the consequences of his actions.. He cannot imagine them. In other words, sin is the result of a lack of imagination, not of faith. If the murderer had foreseen the pain he would inflict on his victim, he would have suffered as if he were dying himself. So, sin is born out of a lack of emotion. It is a defect of creation. That is, it is a defect created by God Himself. Because no matter how much imagination man is born with, he dies with the same imagination. So, God is responsible for man's sin. He must go to hell with him."

"I never said that he was perfect. I even said that man is imperfect as God created him. But He also gave him the ability to improve himself. Just as He did not take away the ability to destroy himself."

"No, no! A person with imagination feels another person's pain in him. Therefore, he cannot hurt anyone. But he who cannot imagine the pain he is causing others is also ignorant of himself. He has no hope. This is the definition of sin. It is the most desperate state a person can be in. So, it is not a lack of faith, but a lack of imagination. Because even those who have a lot of faith can lack imagination. This explains the state of mind of those who kill in the name of God. In short, Mr. Imam, if God existed, we would have to believe that some people are really evil. But those who do evil do not know what they are doing. Therefore, the Creator is responsible for the sins that people commit."

"The holy books tell us that not a leaf moves on the earth without God's will. It is not for us to argue about this. And it should not make us deny God. For the religions tell us to seek consolation in the hereafter. The world is transitory; it would not be right to deny the eternal with its sorrows.

"Should we then submit to the injustices of the world?"

"These injustices can be resisted. The right thing is to avoid the sins that cause these injustices. I am against the injustice of the world, but what if I also sin? Then what good is my effort? I am not fighting against myself, and since I cannot destroy myself, there will always be injustice. But if I love God, then I have kept my enemy at bay, and even if I am defeated, I have won a victory. This gives me the power to overcome evil."

"So God can offer His servants nothing but death to give them peace."

"Why should death be bad if it is not an end? What is it but a farewell that sends one on to eternal life? God has given us both the temporal and the eternal. But He has advised us never to sacrifice the eternal for the temporal. Think of the hereafter. Put aside the cares of this world. No matter what you do, it will not be perfect."

"This philosophy ultimately suggests that we should fight all battles for God alone, and leave everything else alone. So religion, which is supposed to belong to the afterlife, should not be concerned with setting this world right."

"It is passing a test. The world is temporary because it is a place of trial."

"We are as we are. God doesn't know that and needs evil to find out? Come on, Father, get over it. These thoughts will eventually lead you to the conclusion that God created His creatures only to punish them. Or let me put it this way, if the world is a testing ground, why are you fighting the unbelievers and not leaving them to the mercy of God? If the world is temporary, why do you try to convert everyone? Isn't that interfering with God's work? Or do you want hell to be empty?"

"I know it's hard to get those who disagree with God to accept His existence."

"But what can you do, it's human! If there were no God, he would worship an idol. And he would do so because he is weak. After all, isn't he two separate beings living in the same body? You can try to lead one of them on the right path while the other can go completely astray. You think that God will let you into heaven if you fight against the heathens. Tell me, isn't this desire for a reward also a weakness? Doesn't the effort of believers to spread religion contradict the thesis that the world is a testing ground? Are they so perfect that they expect perfection from others? No, no! These efforts are only to gain favor with God."

"Actually, I can't say that you are wrong. That is why the Almighty does not hear what comes out of our mouths, but only what comes out of our hearts, which is a lesson for those who think they can make themselves heard by praying morning and evening."

"So do you share my thoughts, Imam?"

"Of course I do. Frankly, I am not happy with the state of our ascetics either. Besides, I have said many times in my sermons that it is bad enough that what we do in this world puts us on trial for eternity. So our ultimate destiny is determined by temporal things. Should we then be more careful in our behavior? After all, life is a test. Despite this fact, when we look at our pious people, we see most of them in a state of intoxication. They never doubt the truth of what comes to their minds, and they are always sure that they are doing the right thing. These believers who become chatterboxes even when they talk about religion are sycophants of God.. If you criticize them, they immediately become bitchy and say that God is being insulted. They have almost put themselves in God's place; they have almost swapped places with Him. It is unbearable that they think it is a difficult task to fulfill the commandments of our Almighty Lord, and they go around showing off because they can do it. It is as if they have an arrogance that they themselves do not realize. If only Satan could seduce them, he would save them from their empty pride. Wouldn't an apostate choose to appear pious just to command others or to be superior to them? No matter what you do, you cannot lead these masked devils to the right path. Because they already think they are on the right path. They are taking advantage of God. It is not possible to reform them, but it is always possible to reform an unbeliever like you."

"If man is the work of God and he commits such sins even in the path of religion, I don't know what to call it, Father."

"I didn't say it was a bad thing. Yes, our religious are full of arrogance, and this pride is most evident in the face of those whom they know to be irreligious. So they are not tested by what they love, but by what they hate. This is how their inner selves are revealed. For the world is a testing ground. Those who say they believe in God are not saved from this test. This time they will be tried by their love for God."

"Oh Rabbi, a jewel is still a jewel even if its light does not shine. We are what we are. God doesn't know our inner self, so He has to test us to find out? There are many criminals who don't kill, many thieves who don't steal. Is an evil person hidden from God's eyes unless he does evil? Then it is a blessing to God that thieves restrain themselves, not that they steal. God is not interested in how we are, but in what we do. But what is the point of being good if you are heartless? And most people don't even realize the evil they're doing."

The priest sighed at these words.

"Life is beautiful; you can live it as if it were ugly," he said. "Life is gold, but in the eyes of some, this gold has no value. But God Almighty does not want His creation to go to waste. In fact, it won't. For everything is waiting for the day of harvest, when it will be reaped by God's hand. Think of it, farmers sow their seeds. Then the wind blows, the rain falls, the cold does its thing. On the day of harvest, when the farmers return to the field, they find some of the crops grown tall, others burned and dried. While the crops are being harvested, a fire is lit on the other side, and those that do not yield crops are thrown into the fire. Now, can the farmers blame the rain for the failure? They can't, because the rain fell equally on those who yielded and those who didn't. And can they blame the sun? No, they can't. Because the sun shone on all of them equally. God is like the rain and the sun. No one should blame Him if His creation is bad."

"If the world were a place of trial, everyone would only have to pay for his own sin, his own mistake. But it is not like that at all, as you just admitted. God also created the devil to make the test more difficult. That's why so many innocent lives are ruined so that someone can go to heaven. When man tries to be perfect, he acquires more and more imperfections. Other innocent people pay the price for these imperfections. In other words, the crime committed by one person is punished by another."

The cleric:

"This is how it should be. If we do not know what we have lost, how can we understand what we have gained?"

The patient: "Then nothing but sin can bring man to his senses. That is why the world is a place of punishment, you say. God cannot even wait for the result of His test to punish us."

"Poor blasphemer, in all these profane words you do not realize the truth. You cannot see God because you are blind. You are blind because you cannot see God."

"Then don't talk to me, Father, about a faith I have already abandoned. Enough of that! I have a different definition of sin. That's why my vision of hell is different. Mine is harsher than yours. You see, even if God exists, my way is different. And even without believing in Him, I can avoid committing a sin and find the right path."

"That's not possible."

"Why not?"

"Then everyone would have their own definition of sin. What one person says is a sin, another person says is not a sin. The truth varies from person to person; everything gets mixed up. And what would heaven and hell be to a godless person?"

"Everyone's hell is different, Rabbi. For some, hell is being poor. For someone with passions, hell is his passions. When his desires drive him to the edge of madness, the hell is not jumping off, but turning back. For those who fall into an abyss, hell is having no one to hold on to! Loneliness is also hell. For man can overcome loneliness only as a God. Despair is another hell; it forces man to seek refuge with his enemy. But alas, the saviors also push man into hell. So an abyss is deepened. That's it, Father! People are desperate; that's why they can destroy each other. Shall I tell you about other hells where there is no fire, where everything is frozen solid? Tell me, why does God exist?"

"Because it is necessary. Even if God does not exist, we have to say that He exists."

"So can we say that God was born out of the need to put the world in order?"

"More or less so."

"And that's why you see yourself as a shepherd?"

"Is there anything wrong with that? If there were no shepherd, the wolf would take the flock."

"By wolf you mean the devil, of course?"

"Of course."

"But you cannot deny that the devil also has an advantage. If man did not sin, he would not know what evil is. Then he would not be aware of the good he is doing. So how can someone who has never sinned know the difference between good and evil?"

"Perhaps. But it is not necessary to praise the devil for it."

"In other words, one must both obey the devil and oppose him. If he obeys, he will know what sin is; if he disobeys, he will not be able to see that good is good. For he who does not know evil cannot know good. Here is man! He spends his life creating a hell for himself and after death he falls into it."

"What a pity! You use so much logic to deny the existence of God."

"I wonder, do people trust each other more when they believe in the same God? That maybe it is an expression of man's fear of man, and since that fear will never go away, God will always remain? But what about the fact that religion creates more fear in the hearts? Because it makes it seem as if man will not do good without reward, and will not be able to restrain himself from doing evil without punishment. Here is God! He appeared with man and became the mortar of the first society. God domesticated man. He made it possible for him to live together with his neighbor. In other words, God was born out of necessity. By obeying him, man learned to submit to one another. And so it is now. Religion protects man from man and comforts him when it cannot save him.. It soothes the fear of death and promises a life after death. In the world, it catches the guilty who have escaped justice. It takes revenge in the name of the innocent. When it fails, it consoles the victim by promising to punish the guilty in the afterlife. In this way, it creates many reasons to believe. But how can we explain that religion, which is supposed to heal divisions, has caused so many divisions, that history is full of wars? Of course, the savages believed in many gods, because their gods conquered their fears. When a storm destroyed their houses, they created a storm god. But when they built strong houses that could withstand the storm, they realized that it was absurd to believe in a storm god. All the fears passed, but the greatest fear remained. It is the fear that people have of each other and it is based on mistrust. In a strange way, the God we fear helps us to overcome our fears. He gives us courage. But he also strikes terror into our souls. Because in the hands of the bigot, God becomes a weapon directed against his fellow man. He can save lives as well as kill. In the end, then, God is nothing more than an entity shaped by our hopes, which saves us from despair, and makes us feel powerful."

"Then shut up, don't talk! Why do you want to destroy him, poor man? Why do you want to separate humanity from its consolation? Who can give up the branch to which he is clinging when he is falling into the abyss? Who can stand in a time of calamity without praying to God? That untouched holiness, the only embrace where man feels safe! Even the most bitter despair can inspire hope through it. You said it yourself. Why do you rush brutally into that tender motherly embrace? It is a disappointment that there is no God; but do you think there would be less disappointment in the world if there were no God? Faith is born out of man's need for perfection. Because the world is never going to be a perfect place. Man will never be perfect. That's why God will remain."

"If the world is a place of suffering, it is said that faith in God eliminates any hope of making the world a better place. So, your faith, Rabbi, actually instills despair. It's like poisoning a person with the medicine that he takes to cure his illness."

"Then put down your weapons, poor man! Even if you destroy that dream, you will not find a better one to replace it. Because God is the only thing common to all people, and even if He did not exist, people would find another God out of their desperation. So no one can say that He does not exist."

"That's right, priest, that's what I'm saying. God exists out of necessity. Because He takes away a fear. Whoever does not feel this fear will not believe in God, as I do. For you, the world is a place of suffering and if life is a test, it means that you have already accepted the difficulties of this test. On the one hand, you seem to be punishing evils, and on the other hand, you are hoping for some benefit from those evils. Making them the subject of a test! See how religion is based on evil!"

"Even so, what harm is there in that"

"No harm? If there is no God, won't you have built your whole life on something that doesn't exist, and spent it in vain?"

"And if there is? What do you lose by pretending to believe?"

"Then wouldn't I be cheating God?"

"Never mind. God is so tired of the unbelief of the heathen that He can rejoice in the indecision of the doubter. For even doubt can give way to faith."

"But what if I don't even doubt anymore?"