If you type "Dr Manhattan vs Jesus" into Google, guess what the first result is... yes, it happens to be my post from weeks ago contrasting the cold caricature of God that is Dr. Manhattan to Jesus. If you look at the screenshot I've included, you'll see that all sorts of queries have led people to that post. In fact, 55 people have visited my blog by searching for some variation on Dr. Manhattan.
Of course, the vast majority of those people "bounce" (leave the page immediately) so I can only guess that they didn't find what they wanted. If you look at the results from the aforementioned Google search, you'll see that most of them involve fantasy match-ups between Dr. Manhattan and Jesus, as well as Thor, Osama bin Laden, Dark Phoenix, Darkseid, and Uber Cable, among others.
While it's true that most of these Googlers didn't bother to stick around and read what I had to say, at least 20-30% at least found it interesting enough to take a gander. As such, I'm curious... To these people I ask, what were you really looking for? Where you, in fact, looking for an epic cage match of godly proportions? Where you looking for the compare and contrast exercise I wrote? Or something else entirely? Sound off in the comments.
10 comments:
I was looking for Doctor Manhattan, thanks.
I'm a LDs and a soldier in the Army. I was looking for someone with the sense and respectable level of intelligence to write exactly what you have blogged. It truly takes a remarkable genius these days to understand that dr. manhattan is only a highly evolved, superior human, but he is still merely human. He gets angry and has fits past a certain point. In no way shape or form does he resemble the Christ. It's all for fantasy though but people should be careful whom they idolize, because we are in the prescence of a jealous GOD.
Thank you guys for the comments, please keep them coming!
Agnostic by choice here. Looking at Dr Manhattan, what I saw was what I call an elder god. I wondered if any others saw this. I was hoping to see a comparison of the attributes of a god and the good dr. Historically, there were many gods not even as powerful as the Dr. Although he did become more and more apathetic to humans, who is to say how he will react to life that he himself has created. Humans are themselves that way. Brian
Thanks for your comment Brian. I appreciate your perspective, which is exactly what I was hoping to get with this post!
I like your comment asking how Dr. Manhattan would react to his own creation, especially considering how we as humans react to the things we create, or even our own children if we can be said to have "created" them. Personally, I believe there's a lot in the human make up that reflects our Creator. A desire to create is one thing, and an affinity with what is created is another. Good stuff.
I have always considered the most powerful of Superheroes to be a god, but in most stories heroes like Superman never lose touch with their humanity. In many ways, they behave more humane than the rest of us, and they serve as a model for us. I always believed this idea to be flawed, the reason I don't believe in Jesus is because it don't believe a man could do that. I don't believe someone with such great power, not hold himself above the rest of us. An immortal god, sent here to save us would quickly realize that humans cannot be "saved" by a hero or god, if we are to be saved we must do it ourselves. Dr Manhattan realized this.
Well I had been reading an article about dualism and naturalism and those perspectives can impact a person's views on abortion. The writer was arguing that while a naturalist could argue against abortion ultimately he has no objective reason...that is he cannot argue that a fetus has intrinsic or objective value....that got me to thinking about how it is that something acquires value and what value is... and if such a thing can be objective, or that is to say exist divorced from a mind. I thought that if value requires a value giver, then in what way is it objective? Anyway so I started thinking about ways in which value could require a mind while still being an objective property and that made me think of how God's mind might be constructed in such a way as to make it possible for both of these things true. One thing I thought was that maybe if there was only one possible outcome or a single way for things to be constructed then maybe this could work...but then why does God get angry at the outcome? and so I thought of Dr. Manhattan...particularly the scene where he tells his lady that she is going to tell him that she cheated, and then when she tells him he gets angry. Sort of like it was the only reaction he could have had...very meta I think. Anyway I was looking to see if anyone else had any comparisons or analysis of this particular aspect.
well anyway I hope that was enough detail to be useful. It was a fine article, just not precisely what I was looking for.
thanks,
Spherical Bastard
@Anonymous
Your statement that you couldn't believe Jesus was who he claimed to be because he wouldn't be able to resist holding himself above the rest of us with such limitless power seemed ironic to me, because it's one of the reasons I believe Jesus was who he claimed to be. You're right: no mere mortal, given power, can resist the lure to use it or be corrupted by it. At the very least, they would become amoral and disassociated, like Dr. Manhattan became. That's why I believe Jesus was more than a mere mortal, because he wasn't corrupted. He was very un-human in that sense (though more than human in many other senses). I think it strengthens his claim to divinity.
@Spherical Bastard
I can tell you're a thinker. What a fascinating train of thought to lead you to do a Google search.
I think the point about the scene with Dr. Manhattan getting angry, even though he knew it was coming, was really to accentuate his humanity (what was left of it anyway). It strikes me as a pretty "human" thing to do. How often do we act surprised by something we should have known was coming, or even by things we knew were coming?
Hi - you present an interesting 'take' on the theme. I found your discussion while I was looking to see if anyone had written anything concerning whether Dr. Manhattan can actually be considered god-like. In the film, the character denies such a description; he goes so far as to openly declare that he does not believe in God. Note - this is a powerful message, since (because of his obvious abilities) who is better placed to know whether God exists? If Dr.Manhattan says there is no God then surely there is no God! However, he does experience an epiphany towards the end of the film - acknowledgging he was wrong about the (non) existence of miracles. Further, he leaves at the very end - saying he's off the "create life" elsewhere in the universe. In accepting the existence of miracles, and by becoming a creator, Dr.Manhattan has become very "god-like".
I was intrigued by your juxtaposition of Dr.Manhattan and God in terms of atheist and theist. You emphasise how Dr.Manhattan, an atheist, is very different from Jesus. You are, of couse, correct. The New Testament describes Jesus as God-incarnate. Jesus is a man; he lives among us and experiences the human condition so as to gain a greater understanding of why we do what we do (specifically, sinful acts). Jesus dies, and once again becomes God (in the proper sense), dying for our sins and - in the process - becomes something more than he originally was. He is certainly not the same wrathful, vengeful and destructive being as shown in many parts of the Old Testament.
Dr.Manhattan exhibits certain features in common with the God of the Old Testament. Generally, he is a "good" being, and is working towards a noble cause (world peace, unlimited clean energy), but on occasion he is utterly dispassionate and destructive. His power and knowledge clearly places him outside of society, and he has grown distanced from the human condition. In some ways, this is similar to God in latter stages of the Old Testament.
I think the reason for the major differences between Dr.Manhattan and Jesus are a consequence of the fact that Manhattan started out as a man. He is a man turned God. He has to learn to become god-like. Jesus is God turned man. He strives to lives as a man. Ultimately, both characters develop and change - especially as, in their final moments, both arrive as genuine godhood. Jesus ascends; Manhattan becomes creator.
Overall, an interesting topic - for it says something about how man conceives of god. If a normal human being were suddenly to have god-like powers, what would happen? The outcome says something about our nature.
I can be contacted at simon.philips@talk21.com
What i was looking for doesn't really matter.
The fact is that i found power in your story and convidance, something I lost allong the way...
Thank you
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