Opinion: Were we created to satisfy God's vanity?

By Moses Baguma 

I've seen some unpleasant photos from Chad following the slaying of Idriss Dèby. The photos are reminiscent of the ones I saw from Libya when Gaddafi was being ousted from power and from many other war torn countries.

The sight of the same photos has acted as a stimulus to my mind to evoke images of famine victims from different parts of the world including northern Uganda -- images of pandemic victims -- images of fatal accident victims -- images of falsely accused people being sentenced to death etc.

In exact terms, I have meditated about human suffering.

Amidst tragic contemplations, a certain phrase came to my mind: "whenever you feel low, remember that you are the sperm which won". Many times, I hear similar lines from motivational speakers, I read the same from online platforms but, what's winning in this very context?

Winning means you are the victor at something and therefore, for the winning to make sense; good moments should be a consequence of that win. Could it be possible that the one sperm which fuses with the ovum is the unluckiest or breeds the unluckiest person?

If the rich also cry, if clerics are also not sure of going to heaven, if presidents, kings and queens also lose sleep over earthly troubles -- why should we still believe that each living individual is the most fortunate just because they are the consequence of the fusion of the one sperm and ovum?

Folks, this is where I find philanthropic antinatalism somewhat attractive to go by. As far as I can see, no human being can smoothly escape all the troubles of this world and, no man consents to his coming into earth. So, it's like man makes the the saying: "misery loves company" come to pass each time they reproduce.

We face a lot of turmoil and uncertainties but we can't let those misfortunes end with us. We somehow, through reproduction, expose other souls to the same plight, for our miseries to have more company. And sometimes, the new souls' plight is more profound than their predecessors' because of the constant change of status quo which, the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, observed.

For instance; if a Ugandan gave birth today and a civil war broke out ten years from now, after the demise of the parent, the new soul would encounter more pain and stress than their parent.

If every man faces pain, sickness, stress and the constant fear of death, what was the purpose of man being in existence in the first place? Wasn't it God's vanity that preceded the creation of man? Wasn't it because of God's love to be glorified that he created man?

Perhaps, God just wanted to test his artistic powers by creating man, not to make man find pleasure. We are just consequences of God's experiments -- which experiments were motivated by His ego.