In One Punch Man, Saitama, a bumbling young Asian man,
decides he wants to be a hero. He gradually realizes that not only can he
withstand all attacks without being damaged (a vastly underrated superpower),
but he can also defeat all enemies with one punch. Unable to find challenges
from conventional monsters, Saitama seeks for challenges in other areas in life
(bargain hunting, killing mosquitos, observing others), but he secretly longs
for an adversary who can give him a fight.
While a somewhat cheesy setting, the question at the anime’s
core is a brilliant one, well suited to our world with its Omnipotent ruler: if
all conflict can be instantly resolved by overwhelming power, is meaningful
existence still possible? (Of course, an even more foundational question is:
what is meaningful existence? or even simpler, Why? We will deal with this
question in due time.)
Unless it is coupled with infinite knowledge, I think the
answer is no. Thus, Saitama is fundamentally bored because he is omnipotent without
knowing why or how to best use his abilities. The Lord, by contrast, knows
everything – not even time is a mystery (since all is as one day with Him, and
time only is measured unto man). While there are many things He does not reveal
to us collectively, we can observe some truths about how an unstoppable force
creates meaning.
He creates and inspires many different things that point us
back to Him. Each individual strand of music (Sidenote: how do beings without
time experience music? Maybe it is similar to us remembering a song we have
already heard.), each medical cure, each new invention, every new species and new
member of every species, literally all things are made to testify of God (Moses
6:63). They may not all do it perfectly (because pure testimony should flow
from our own will and not from external force), but that is what they were
created to do.
He continues doing the things that brought Him to this
point. The course of God is one eternal round. There is not even a shadow of
changing in Him, even though we are constantly being tempted and enticed from
all sides. The oceans move about, but the Lord holds all things in the palm of
His hand.
The Lord’s work and glory is centered around beings who are
still capable of experiencing real conflict between good and evil. His energies
are not devoted against His enemies directly (because he could one punch them
into oblivion, or dismiss them with a snap of his fingers, as Hugh Nibley once said),
but indirectly as He advocates tirelessly for us and our advancement.
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