Watchmen

"The God of our faith has revealed himself as HE WHO IS; and he has made himself known as 'abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness' (Ex 34:6). God's very being is Truth and Love."

- Catechism of the Catholic Church (para. 231)

Dr. Manhattan is not God. The very idea is absurd. But it is the kind of mix-up that the real God has been working to clear up from the beginning.

Man's understanding of God, limited by nature and mutilated by original sin, struggles to rise up as high as it ought. The greatest elevation we can imagine is a god that controls the created order. If a being can rearrange atoms, see the full expanse of time, and have no need to sleep or breathe or eat, then we are satisfied enough to call it a god. It can do what no human can do. But of course, that doesn't mean such a being can do what God can do.

Super-human does not mean super-natural. The ability to manipulate creation is not the same thing as being able to create out of nothing. The former is a very understandable concept of god as a kind of omnipotent human-perhaps exactly the kind of god that the serpent promised Eve that she could become. But the latter is the actual nature of God, who simply is, apart from any created thing that could be controlled.

This idea of God as beingness itself, not to be perceived on the same plane as the various pagan gods, is a major part of the teachings of the Old Testament. Through His prophets, the Lord reveals that He is not in competition with the gods of the Amorites or the Canaanites. He is not vying to be chosen above Baal or Asherah. God simply IS. He is the reason man exists to imagine creatures with power over nature. There is no conception of Baal without the God who made consciousness itself. Humans dream of super-creatures that can only hope to control what God made. As theologian Christopher West noted, the devil does not have his own clay. Creatures can only sub-create.

Yet sub-creation that far surpasses any human ability is mightily impressive to the human eye. It might be interesting, in a dryly abstract sense, to ponder God as the cause of existence. But the flesh has dominance over the intellect-human beings are drawn to whatever appears to have the greatest power over the material. If you are looking at a being that can arrange atoms at will, then what is the likelihood you will pause to give supreme worship to the One that created the atoms themselves? What good is the One who made the world, when you are concerned with flattering the being that seems to have the power to make it do whatever it wants?

This is the emblem of original sin: instrumentalization of God, self, and neighbor. Something is only good for what use you can get out of it. Any goose that lays enough golden eggs is a god. God is the thing that promises the greatest possible gratification, and the trick is to control it so it will give us what we want. Worship is flattery, sacrifice is quid pro quo, and heaven is pleasures of the flesh. Such a god can be cruel and capricious; quick to enslave us with our own desires. But despite the dangers, this god is the only source in the universe with the power to give us what we want, providing that we please it enough and catch it in the right moods. This is the kind of god that is ultimately good for something.

Of course, the above is a perfect description of Satan. One can gather why the real God would start with teaching us who He really is.

The Old Testament is replete not only with human worship of false gods-various conceptions of control over the material world-but most significantly with human attempts to instrumentalize those false gods. The accounts of the battles with the various Canaanite tribes outline the practice of bringing one's "god" onto the battlefield as an ultimate weapon. This is like using God as a kind of Pok�mon. Whoever has the strongest one wins the battle. The Lord responded by giving the Israelites the Ark of the Covenant, meeting us where we were at, at a level we can understand.

Of course the Lord goes on in the Old Testament to show that He cannot be controlled-the Ark is not taken into battle against His command. God is not a being that can be used at the whim of the creature. God is not a means to an end. He does not desire sacrifice; this isn't a quid pro quo relationship. He is not there to be flattered into granting wishes. A relationship with the Lord has a bit more to offer than merely tipping the scales in ones favor in a battle. Throughout the Old Testament, God patiently teaches the Israelites what it means to obey the Lord for His own sake, preparing the groundwork for humankind to have the emotional maturity to be ready for what a relationship with Him is really about. He makes us ready for the glory of Jesus Christ-a true relationship with God based on charity.

We have been trying to snatch back the use of Baal ever since.

A pagan conception of God-as a being that has ultimate power to exercise dominion over creation, and can give us what we want, or withhold it in displeasure-offers a relationship defined by mutual exploitation, not love. But it is familiar and safe. It offers the possibility of control. If you know what this kind of god wants, you can make the right sacrifices. This kind of god is just as much a slave to the relationship as the poor human creature that is involved with it. And again due to original sin, human beings prefer relationships based on gratification and control, not love and freedom.

So back to WATCHMEN: how is Dr. Manhattan any different from Baal? Well for one thing, he really exists, at least in the universe of the graphic novel. And Dr. Manhattan is self-aware; he sees how he is used as a glorified Pok�mon by the American government against the Russians. This is a "god" who is merely the ultimate trump card weapon. He isn't loved. He is gratified and bribed. His relationship with Laurie, begun before she was of legal age, is indulged despite the impropriety, providing that she keeps him happy. He can roam about nude, be flattered everywhere he goes, and his amoral apathy for humankind is ignored. Who cares, so long as he intimidates the Russians? God, after all, is merely a means of wielding power.

This is all the people want from God, in Moore and Gibbons' world. No spiritual journeys please. No need for a God that loves us. We just want the upper hand against our enemies. Dr. Manhattan is the ultimate rejection of Jesus in favor of Baal. But the people of Watchmen find themselves abandoned by Dr. Manhattan as dismissively as any other false god has done. He who would seek a god of power rather than love soon finds himself both enslaved and despised.

Dr. Manhattan, by definition, could never be God. He didn't create the universe, and he does not love it. Abandoning it is meaningless to him.

Power-as opposed to service-is fundamentally about using and being used. It is a means to an end, which God is not. But only love creates and sustains, existing for its own sake. That is absolutely what God is.