4 | [Video]

[reverentresistance]

The Queen's power has to be less than God's... So why do you think He lets us be brought here? This goes a little beyond giving us free will, don't you think?

[Ky's unsure herself, but there's no way to gain certainty. She can only find out what other people are thinking, and that for some reason feels particularly important.]

What purpose are we serving here?

Comments

[mother_of_god]

Don't you want people to be happy?

[reverentresistance]

Being happy isn't the most important thing there is.

[mother_of_god]

[OMGWTF where do you come from?! It must be opposite land.]

Yes it is. What is more important?

[reverentresistance]

Other people's health, safety, the integrity of the world and of hope. Justice. Freedom.

[mother_of_god]

I don't think a lot of people could be happy without those.

[reverentresistance]

And yet those would be worth it even if they didn't make people happy.

[mother_of_god]

If they made people sad, they would be bad.

[Very simplistic morality here.]

[reverentresistance]

You're mistaken.

[mother_of_god]

[Huhbuhwha?]

Why would it be good for people to suffer?

[reverentresistance]

It's a little more complicated than just that.

[mother_of_god]

[A few moments pass.]

Why?

[Seriously, weird religion lady, lay it on her! Someone's morality has to be better than what she was raised with! (By her mother, at least.)]

[reverentresistance]

[Ky's going to try to keep it a little simplistic, because she could go on about this forever.]

Firstly, we don't want to be happy while being in sin. It's about our long-term good. Momentary happiness isn't worth it if it will lead to worse things down the line. All those things -- hope, justice and freedom -- they're about what we can do for the future as much as they're about the present.

[mother_of_god]

[There's another period of silence as the writer takes this all in. Preparing for the future had not been a big focus of her upbringing. At least, not for a future past "God returns and brings Paradise and all the faithful are happy the end."]

Where is sin?

[reverentresistance]

It has the potential to be everywhere. Being in sin really means willingly giving in to what you know is wrong.

[mother_of_god]

[Oh, it's not a place...]

How can you tell what's wrong?

[reverentresistance]

Don't you have a moral sense, sort of like when you feel something to not be fair?

[mother_of_god]

Sometimes it made me do things Mommy said were bad. I don't know if it was right.

[reverentresistance]

Can you give me an example?

[mother_of_god]

I disobeyed because I didn't want to help her bring God to the world. It would make other people hurt.

[reverentresistance]

I still don't have the right context... Your "god" isn't mine, I don't believe.

[mother_of_god]

I'm sorry. I'm not very good at things sometimes.

[A few minutes of radio silence pass.]

God needs to be born into the world so She can open the Path to Paradise. But Paradise is only for the Faithful, and there has to be a sacrifice. And people that aren't Faithful get hurt.

[reverentresistance]

And what part of that did you object to?

[mother_of_god]

I don't

[A pause, as she collects her words and her courage. When she continues, the text is less uniform: letters waver, the burning occasionally eats through the paper entirely, and bits of red bubble at the edges.]

I don't think God is good if She will hurt people. I don't want to hurt people or help hurt them I don't want them to die I'm sorry I'm sorry I don't

[It descends into illegible blobs of black and red.]

[reverentresistance]

Why should God reward the sinners? But He gives us all a chance to repent, because He does not want us to suffer.

Still, it's clear that what you were taught isn't the real picture.

[mother_of_god]

[Another long pause; the other end needs a few minutes to calm down and realise nobody's coming to punish her. The text is still a bit disordered.]

I don't think it should be a reward not to suffer. That isn't fair.