In a nutshell — those who know Pascal’s Wager can just skip to the next paragraph — Pascal’s Wager is that if you die believing God exists and you’re wrong, that’s better than dying believing God doesn’t exist and being wrong. So if God is real and you chose Atheism, you wagered poorly. The problem with Pascal’s Wager is that it only works with one religion. With thousands, it falls apart; as any Atheist will tell you, the difference between us and a Christian is less than 1% — we both don’t believe in thousands of gods.
Japan alone has thousands of gods, but it does not have a traditional “creation myth.” Like many pagan countries, it has many deities; however, none of them are creators. They’re all responsible for little things, or small areas. Pretty much each shrine you see is to a different one.
Getting into anime, as one does when Japan is brought up, Noragami is about a god (higher power, not supreme being, so lowercase “g”) who is trying to make a name for himself, so he works for ¥5 (less than 1¢, IIRC) doing odd jobs, trying to gain favour among the local populace. (It’s a bit of a comedy as he is indirectly responsible for killing a high school girl, so he escorts her spirit around trying to bring him back. He also has a father/son relationship of sorts with a little boy who can turn into a weapon for him, though it’s not really a fighting anime. His last “weapon” was a teenage girl who left his service in the first episode. The whole anime is comedy/satire.
As for Christians in anime, it’s rare but there are stories about them, and they tend to stand out. The Colors Within advertises itself as a movie about a girl who can see colours in people’s hearts, but that’s barely mentioned once or twice. It’s more about a Catholic girl in Japan who plays music and some in her church are against it.
Then there’s Mother’s Rosary, the seventh Sword Art Online book. If this were a standalone anime, it would probably be in my top 5. As it is, it’s the last 7 episodes of season 2, so it’s kind of difficult to get to if you’re not a fan of the series. The girl featured in the story and her religion being Catholicism doesn’t seem that important, but it does play into the story and it informs some of her choices. I’m sure they could have made it work had she not been Catholic, but that’s the story as told.
I don’t think most Japanese people believe in a creator, per se, but again, like pagans, they do have minor gods they pray to for things like the weather, harvest, luck, and whatnot.
God exists and only accepts those who question his existence because blindingly accepting his existence are not properly utilizing his gift (rational thinking) to mankind.
The hilarious thing is that any time a Christian says god gave us free will it shows how much they haven’t read of their own holy book. Free will is found in exactly zero places in the bible.
A little correction, ¥5 is about ¢3 US now but, mor3 importantly, ¥5 is kinda of the standard offering people make at shrines so him doing odd jobs for that price is symbolic of his position in a way.
I studied japanese history for a short time in university when I was entertaining the idea of going for a job in the literary world. I distinctly remember a creation myth, with a goddess named Amaterasu.
because Amarerasu is one of the children of the shinto god Izanagi, hence why idk why someone would claim that japanese dont have a creator god when Izanagi is explicitly a creator god.
Japan is also a great answer to Pascal’s Wager.
In a nutshell — those who know Pascal’s Wager can just skip to the next paragraph — Pascal’s Wager is that if you die believing God exists and you’re wrong, that’s better than dying believing God doesn’t exist and being wrong. So if God is real and you chose Atheism, you wagered poorly. The problem with Pascal’s Wager is that it only works with one religion. With thousands, it falls apart; as any Atheist will tell you, the difference between us and a Christian is less than 1% — we both don’t believe in thousands of gods.
Japan alone has thousands of gods, but it does not have a traditional “creation myth.” Like many pagan countries, it has many deities; however, none of them are creators. They’re all responsible for little things, or small areas. Pretty much each shrine you see is to a different one.
Getting into anime, as one does when Japan is brought up, Noragami is about a god (higher power, not supreme being, so lowercase “g”) who is trying to make a name for himself, so he works for ¥5 (less than 1¢, IIRC) doing odd jobs, trying to gain favour among the local populace. (It’s a bit of a comedy as he is indirectly responsible for killing a high school girl, so he escorts her spirit around trying to bring him back. He also has a father/son relationship of sorts with a little boy who can turn into a weapon for him, though it’s not really a fighting anime. His last “weapon” was a teenage girl who left his service in the first episode. The whole anime is comedy/satire.
As for Christians in anime, it’s rare but there are stories about them, and they tend to stand out. The Colors Within advertises itself as a movie about a girl who can see colours in people’s hearts, but that’s barely mentioned once or twice. It’s more about a Catholic girl in Japan who plays music and some in her church are against it.
Then there’s Mother’s Rosary, the seventh Sword Art Online book. If this were a standalone anime, it would probably be in my top 5. As it is, it’s the last 7 episodes of season 2, so it’s kind of difficult to get to if you’re not a fan of the series. The girl featured in the story and her religion being Catholicism doesn’t seem that important, but it does play into the story and it informs some of her choices. I’m sure they could have made it work had she not been Catholic, but that’s the story as told.
I don’t think most Japanese people believe in a creator, per se, but again, like pagans, they do have minor gods they pray to for things like the weather, harvest, luck, and whatnot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_creation_myth
God exists and only accepts those who question his existence because blindingly accepting his existence are not properly utilizing his gift (rational thinking) to mankind.
I win Pascal’s Wager.
I like this. Christians say God gave us free will. Most Christian churches are opposed to free will. It seems to me that they are wrong about that.
The hilarious thing is that any time a Christian says god gave us free will it shows how much they haven’t read of their own holy book. Free will is found in exactly zero places in the bible.
God exists and isegais any non-believer into a magic fantasy land as yuri high school girls.
Also a win.
He gave us a brain with which to question, and if he doesn’t like it that’s on him.
Dude (God), this is your fuck up. You gave me free will, you made whores, you have me suck at math. You didn’t think this will go off the rails?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrVCvnJk4go at 08:20
How is this an Atheist win?
Isn’t Izanagi considered a creator god?
Yeah don’t bother discussing actual Japanese culture with the “as one does” anime guy
We have a creation myth and how is that anime part at all relevant?
A little correction, ¥5 is about ¢3 US now but, mor3 importantly, ¥5 is kinda of the standard offering people make at shrines so him doing odd jobs for that price is symbolic of his position in a way.
I studied japanese history for a short time in university when I was entertaining the idea of going for a job in the literary world. I distinctly remember a creation myth, with a goddess named Amaterasu.
because Amarerasu is one of the children of the shinto god Izanagi, hence why idk why someone would claim that japanese dont have a creator god when Izanagi is explicitly a creator god.