And the winner is…
May 10, 2008 by theodoersing
Sorry to keep the few people who recently submitted haiku to our first contest waiting, but I’ve been on vacation the past week and have been out of town for most of it.
Without further ado, it is my pleasure to announce my pick for the winner of best haiku:
A whale gulps Jonah
Then vomits him up–yeah, right!
That’s some fish story
By agnohumanist
I gave it to agnohumanist for the effort and quality of all of his haiku, but I really liked the fish story the best. It mirrors my sense of humor.
Agno, you can take your pick of any of these luxurious prizes! Keep it under 10 bucks though, my money tree is not yet fully grown! I will also need an address to mail it to, so you can contact me at jakedoelling@gmail.com.
Congratulations!
And keep up the good haiku!
You’re a natural!
Skeptigator
yosoyju
mightymjolnir
neuralgourmet
andyscathouse
dystressed
theodoersing
agnohumanist
Congrats agno man
Your haiku skills are awesome
I’m very jealous
Get the IN God We Doubt bumper sticker…
Agno, I’m not trying to diminish your glorious victory in any way, but the whole whale-swallows-person story never really struck me as being absurd. After all, if we are talking about an entity (god) that created the entire universe, all the laws in it, and has control over life itself, it seems reasonable to me that such an entity would be able to manipulate physics in such a way to allow a whale or fish to swallow a person and then spit him out, unharmed.
However, the story is one of many in the bible that can serve as a ‘test case’ for the existence of a god. For example, if someone were able to part the Red Sea (Exodus) or survive being burned alive (Shadrack et al. in Daniel) it would certainly lend credence to the belief that god exists.
If the bible is to be believed, God was clearly capable of performing similar types of miracles 2000 years ago in front of large crowds of people. Why do we not see such miracles in modern times? Is he now powerless? Does he have some ulterior motive for remaining undetectable?
If the Christian (or any) god does exist, it seems exceptionally sadistic to not offer any evidence of his existence — evidence which he provided to others in the past in the form of miracles — and then, upon one’s death, send him/her to be tortured for *eternity* for not believing.
Perhaps I should expect nothing less of the god described in the bible.
Anon,
Many believers like to point out that there are many perceived miracles nowadays, but we in our oh so scientific mindset are too steeped in knowledge to see the forest before the trees.
There are many things in reality that stand as a testament (no pun actually intended) to the sadism of God if (S)He or It exists. God would be responsible for evil in all forms (if you want to be absolutist about good and evil), parasites, hell, natural disasters, etc., etc..
Btw, I also liked your haiku very much. It was a tough decision. I chose agnos’ because I’m a sucker for wordplay: Fish story (as in tall-tale) and fish story (as in Jonah).