John's Assignment - Samuel, Mark L.

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Résumé :
John's Assignment is a satire on the human condition. Surely we are more than just a complex collection of organic material that developed from the singularity explosion of infinitesimally small, infinitely hot, infinitely dense astronomical and physical properties some 13.7 billion years ago. Was there really nothing before this big bang? If there was nothing, are we only products of evolution possessing nothing greater than the whole of our organisms? These questions have fostered enlightened musing from some of our greatest thinkers in science and philosophy and have brought sound evidence to the answers of 'how' but little empirical rationale for the 'why.' This book is about the 'why.' Man has a celestial spark within his character and an ever pressing need to survive and be more than himself, more than his base instincts, wavering between love and self sacrifice to narcissism and desperation. We are self-aware and wonder about the purpose of our existence while at the same time striving for principle and worth. Sometimes we fail and sometimes we succeed, but always we strive. Are the qualities of compassion, love, loyalty, integrity and sacrifice really just ethereal products of chemical reactions? Are faith, insight and miraculous occurrences creations of our wishful minds? Lastly, do our desires for a heavenly Father simply reflect our insecurities or are they sound manifestations of the eternal truth? John provides this comprehension and does so in a manner that is painful for all to accept, for it comes at the price of dissonance within our minds for our most cherished thoughts, our religious beliefs and our methods we use to daily operate our lives. I wondered how we would react if an angel presented himself and gave us these answers, while pointing out our absurdities, those which countless millions have adopted and died defending. Through a series of dialogues with seventeen of the world's national civic and religious leaders, began through the orders of The Almighty and resulting in the continuation or devastation of the earth, John has an assignment for us all.