Opinion by definition is a belief lacking positive knowledge or proof. And it is a fearful thing to ascribe such a thing to God. But does God have opinions? If you dare entertain the question it opens inquiry for every kind of philosophical and theological speculation, much of it very disquieting. So for that reason if no other since the great majority does not want to have their comfortable beliefs questioned most people would not be willing to entertain the notion. Granted such speculation begins with the assumption of there being God about whom to speculate. But beginning with the assumption could God(s) have been expecting more of Adam and Eve than they delivered? According to the Bible story God regretted he had made the Adam, and determined to destroy humankind with a great flood.

God sometimes chose people that did not live up to his expectations; that proved a great disappointment to him. As with the story of Adam and Eve, didn’t God know beforehand how such people were going to turn out? Perhaps no more than parents can do with their own children; perhaps God is no more able to predict the outcome than earthly parents?

I’m well enough schooled in theology to know the apologetics, but all such eventually devolve into things like semantics, and being for the better part only speculation cannot offer real answers for what are after all opinions without positive knowledge or proofs. Though science supports much of the Bible, when it comes to questions concerning Deity(s) we must fall back on opinions and speculation.

The Biblical account indicates God was often involved with decisions that did not turn out as anticipated or hoped for. The very lunacy of the history of humankind being one of wars and hatreds does not leave one with the impression “God is in his heaven, and all is well upon the earth.” There hasn’t been a time in history when this has been the case. So, I believe the question as to whether God has opinions is a legitimate one. Too much of the Creation evidences trial and error, a “Let’s try this and see what happens” approach. This was the basis of my book “HEY GOD! What went wrong and when are you going to fix it?” But the very title brought me no little condemnation from religious sources. Had some of these people actually read the book they would doubtless have become downright apoplectic. I recall one fellow who was anxious to have me visit his church until during the conversation I mentioned the book. His invitation was immediately withdrawn.

It is a good thing the Bible ends on a positive note, that there will be “new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness… and all tears will be wiped away.” You couldn’t ask for a happier ending to the lunacy and cruelty of what this earth and humankind has been prey to. However, not to cast stones at the Bible and discount legitimate questions about God there is enough of real world problems to deal with that involve much speculation about things scientific; medicines for example.

Neither Emerson nor Thoreau had any use for an “opium eater’s paradise,” and I have never been tempted to enhance my writing with such artificial aids despite some very admirable writers, some of great genius doing so. Nevertheless, some of the “remedies” I recall from childhood might qualify. What with so many disasters involved with medications today and so much being said of our being an “overmedicated” society it brings to mind some of the medications of yesteryear I knew as a child.

In that bygone era of my childhood homeopathic remedies were a household staple. A few I recall were really distasteful like a tablespoon of sugar dosed with turpentine; hence Julie Andrews singing “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” But the sugar did not make the turpentine any more palatable. A sore throat was treated with a rag soaked in kerosene wrapped around it. My brother and I would drink sassafras tea, chew slippery elm and licorice root for digestion, and would endure charcoal tablets “good for the blood.” Fuller’s Earth and mustard plasters were commonly used when we had a cold, as well as that nationally acclaimed Vick’s Salve, not only rubbed on the chest but made to swallow as well.

Since intestinal worms were a commonplace of that bygone era, Vermifuge was essential. But this medicine was especially deadly if misused. However, our great-grandmother having been trained as a “practical nurse” as they were called in her day was in charge of all doctoring in the family and my brother Ronnie and I felt quite secure in her capable hands.

Cod liver oil, Carter’s Little Liver Pills, Lydia Pinkham, Creomulsion were found in the medicine cabinet along with iodine and mercurochrome. Some bottles like that Vermifuge were adorned with the familiar skull and crossbones icon of death warning of poison. You won’t find such bottles in medicine cabinets today.

Among the banes of childhood, some of you will recall being dosed with Castor Oil; really ugly stuff to choke down. But it was perplexing to me as a child to be warned never to eat any of the beans from the castor-bean plant (Ricinus communis) in the yard as they were deadly poison! How could Castor Oil be considered beneficial, and the beans it came from be dangerous? Why on earth was there such a plant in the yard? I don’t know. The folks loving plants and gardening, perhaps they had it because of its beauty. And while the large, shiny and mottled beans were quite beautiful as well, being warned Ronnie and I were never tempted to eat one. We had never heard of the deadly ricin, but our grandparent’s warning was sufficient for us. Though also perplexing to me was the caution of never eating cherries and drinking milk together as this was said to be a poisonous combination. I wasn’t told of the prominent connection to the death of President Zachary Taylor.

In Little Oklahoma, when the weather turned warm off came the shoes of all the children and most of the womenfolk. After a long, cold winter it was wonderful to feel that warm alkali soil on my bare feet all summer long. But this led to many injuries from the ubiquitous and cruel goat’s head stickers, splinters, broken glass and rusty nails, sometimes leading to blood poisoning. Then there was the caution to Ronnie and me never to go barefoot in the chicken yard or anywhere there might be animal waste because of the danger of picking up diseases from doing this.

Of the folklore of the time in our neighborhood, in the case of blood poisoning was wrapping the infected limb with a dead chicken. Fortunately, neither my brother nor I were ever subjected to this “cure.” But in retrospect, many of such “remedies” were not that far removed from the practice of medicine like “bloodletting” in the past. And I’ll bet many of you oldsters out there have similar stories from the past.

Having lived long enough to look back far enough, it is a wonder to me so many children of my era survived our doctoring in childhood. The typical items to be found for doctoring in most homes of those far off days would cause horror in families today! And many of those items of time past could never be purchased today without a prescription if at all.

Yet, even with the blessings of modern medicine and the truly marvelous advances of medical practice we still face the “practice” of physicians that equate with the auto mechanic saying, “Let’s try this and see if it works,” or in the spirit of scientific inquiry, “Let’s try this and see what happens.” And there seems to be no end of “modern” medications that prove to be harmful.

I don’t question how much better off we are today due to the advances of science and medicine, but there was a lot to be said for that sassafras tea, slippery elm and licorice root as well. At least these continue to be beneficial and leave me with the warm feeling I am not being a guinea pig for the pharmaceutical industry or a victim of the FDA’s “oversight.” And given the increasingly high cost of prescription drugs and increasing number of government boondoggles, I’m grateful I was raised with sassafras tea, slippery elm and licorice root.

As to our modern day witch doctors, psychologist and psychiatrists, “Conversation Therapy” is now suggested for the elderly. But years ago I had been pointing out just having a friend to talk to would do more good than paying for “therapy.” How sick do you have to be to believe you can “buy a friend” to listen to your problems? It was my asking God if he had an opinion about something that was troubling me that started the whole line of inquiry into this aspect of God; and if God is not my friend then why the question at all? Can we have any question of such a nature that does not reflect our own divinity and personal relationship with God? Don’t all children have questions of their parents, oftentimes questions of a most perplexing nature?

But if we are in fact made in the image of God, if the very Spirit of God works in us as his children and we reflect our heavenly parentage and are given to opinions and speculation why not our heavenly parent or parents? If much of our science is predicated on “Let’s try this and see what happens” why limit God precluding trial and error, precluding opinion? Someone had to try the first mushroom and tomato. The problem of course is mistakes are made on the way to knowledge, on the way to knowing what is good and what is bad; and since this is true for humans, why not of God?