Re: The Great Chessmaster

I agree with Khayyam’s view of such a manipulating creator, assuming that a Creator of any kind really does exist. In a world full of so much innocent human suffering (for references see the Conflict in Darfur, the refugees from the recent earthquake in China and the people starving in Myanmar because their government won’t allow for foreign aid after the tidal wave there), it is hard to believe in the supposed benevolence of any sort of God. For example, the belief that the bad things that happen to the world are actually trials testing our faith in the Christian God simply don’t account for the sheer amount of violence, suffering and death throughout the Christian and non-Christian world alike.
However, the part of Khayyam’s vision that I disagree with is the random nature in which the creator moves the pawns across his chessboard. Something that I have learned in my nineteen plus years on this earth is the overwhelming power of karma. Everything happens for a reason, and if you harm another in any way, you will eventually receive your comeuppance. Accordingly, I do not believe that the creator always randomly chooses a few pawns to pick on; clearly some of those involved are deserving of the injustices presented to them.