doubtingmarcus:

*There’s a minor spoiler for The Matrix here but seriously if you haven’t seen The Matrix yet where have you been for the last 12 years?

There are many theistic pessimists and nihilists in general who’d like to tell us that without a divine eternal plan, that our actions don’t matter at all. They say “well in the end the earth will be destroyed” or “in the end the universe will suffer a heat death” claiming that without cosmic significance nothing we do ultimately matters. Without a heaven to go to or a hell to avoid no actions matter so they say but just because there are multiple paths to the same end doesn’t mean that all paths are equal.

Imagine two real journeys that lead to the same destination. On the course of one of them you know you are going to be kidnapped and tortured for two weeks before returning to where you are now restored to full health. On the other one there will get a balmy vacation for two weeks before returning to where you are now. If this were the case I imagine you care which path you would take. It seems to me perverse to say you don’t care whether or not you will be tortured. Just because they end with the same result doesn’t mean it wouldn’t matter to you or your loved ones rather or not you’d be tortured or go on vacation.

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