What would happen if God sneezed?

[myrthman]

A coworker was telling me about a conversation he recently had about what you should say to God if he sneezed. I told him the notion was silly, that God can't get sick. But the rest of the day, I was thinking, "What if He could? What would happen if God sneezed?"

My answer so far is that three more universes would spring into being. What do you think?

[metalikhan]

Sneezing doesn't necessarily mean there's sickness. Sometimes I sneeze just from laughing too hard. Maybe there's some kind of celestial pepper. Or a heavenly version of wasabi.

Considering how explosive some of my own sneezes are, I'd guess He would make millions of new universes with a sneeze.

[waldenwriter]

I read somewhere once that our own sneezes shoot out at about 100mph. So imagine what God's sneeze would be like.

The idea of creating universes is an interesting thought. (For some reason, it reminds me of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, a really popular anime right now, whose title character has the unconscious power to alter, create, or destroy reality when she becomes emotionally unstable). I suppose some Christians would argue that no other universes exist or could exist, but that's not set in stone. God could create other universes if he wanted.

I've always been open to the alternate-universe idea. I think that's part of what kept me interested in the His Dark Materials trilogy when I couldn't get over Pullman's messed-up theology. Even C.S. Lewis somewhat acknowledges the possibility when he has Aslan say Lucy and Edmund must get to know him as he is in their world (since Aslan is an allegory for Christ).

The conflict would be whether the alternate universes would have any connection to, contact with, or impact on our own universe. This idea has been played around with. In His Dark Materials, for instance, the openings into other worlds made throughout history by the owners of the Subtle Knife have caused Dust (the dark matter-like stuff that is key to the plot) to leak out, causing the shortage of Dust that now exists. In the video game Tales of Symphonia (one of my favorite games), there are two parallel worlds (Sylvarant and Tethe'alla) vying for a limited supply of mana. Thus, one world is always flourishing and the other waning. The Chosen's Journey of Regeneration, whose goal is to restore mana to the land that is waning, tips the balance in favor of one world or the other. So...anyway, that's something to think about.