.....and we just don't get it? And he actually did create the planet and mankind and everything else, including the laws of physics. I'd assume that God knew full well that man simply couldn't grasp the complexity of his creation. So what better way to induce 'critical thinking' into his creation than to provide an instrument that simply defied logic. Thus, the story(s) of Genesis. Now there's a tool to induce 'critical thinking'. (genius). And what an effective tool it's been and still is. And what a gift it's been for 'critical thinkers'. And God must be pleased with his plan. "I'll find a few scribes and feed them some information that will be sort of accurate" He said. "I'll have then write that I created the Heaven and the Earth. And that the Earth was dark and void and without form" Well, that's accurate according to cosmologists. "I'll tell them that I made it light". Could be. "Then I'll tell them that I started the planets rotation and revolution around the Sun, creating day and night", Could also be in line with scientific thinking. "I'll bring in some water at first using my comets and cover the planet, then have the land masses rise up to form continents". Tectonics. " Then I'll make plants and trees and grasses and have the trees produce fruits". Hey, we haven't departed from scientific reality yet. Things are moving along just fine so far. Time for some activity. "I'll make happen some life forms. Birds and fish and reptiles and mammals, things like that to populate the entire surface of the planet". Done deal, and they're still here. " All this stuff I've made and put there to be will be able to reproduce and multiply it's (their) own kind". VoilĂ !, Genetics. Now at this point, God was pretty pleased with what he'd done. But something was missing. He may have said; "this is all OK, It's a little different from the other planets I've made so far but I think it's ready for some sentient life. "Let me make man and woman. Those apes I made earlier are pretty efficient designs, I'll make humans using that model. In fact, I'll save some effort and just convert one of those apes". Evolution. " but I'll do some enhancements. And make him self aware and intelligent. 'just like me, sort of' ". So the scribes wrote this information down. In their own words of course. Some things were taken out of context. The making of the Sun and Moon were put in the wrong place, but hey, these guys were chipping this story on stone tablets with chisels. "who'll ever notice?" Then one scribe asked the other scribe, "Dude, how long did this all take?", Dude replied, "Hell, I dunno..at least a few days..Yeah..six days sounds good". So Genesis came to be. Inaccurate? probably, Complete? Not nearly. a few misspelled words poor punctuation and some things out of context. When God proof read the copy, he probably chuckled to himself as he OKed it saying, "this will give those 'critical thinkers" something to latch onto. 'God saw that it was good' and took the next day off. No I do not have any links
He did, we do to some extent. But we're working on it. Half the fun of taking a road trip is all the sightseeing along the way to your destination.
So....we are an entertaining experiment for the Big Guy upstairs? That sucks...hope he doesn't get bored and throw is away.
Judging by the way things are going 'down here', I'd venture a guess that He just may be in the process of doing that. I doubt that we're all that entertaining. More of a pain in his butt.
I noticed that you're located in the 'center of the universe'. Assuming that that's where the Big Bang originated and that the laws of physics are still in effect, it's been quite some time since you've clicked on 'Post Quick Reply'. So how did you manage to read my post so quickly?
It's a relativity thing. The frame of reference of the observer is the center of the observable universe. And that which is unobservable is not known to exist.
I want to know, if God exists what does he think about his own existence? If you are omnipotent what is your motivation? What's the point of starting something if your 100% certain of how it will turn out? Strikes me if there was a god he must be so bored, no book he doesn't know the ending of, no TV programme he doesn't know who did it, no journey he doesn't know the ending of and all the bit in between. If he goes to bed he knows what time he is going to wake and what he will do when he awakes, Just an eternity of being right!
If that were the case, 'knowing the outcome of everything' and I was omnipotent, I would simply will it so that I didn't know the outcome of everything. But then, "who knows the mind of God?". Maybe God is merely a 'middleman' Consciousness formed from chaos. As surprised by future events as we are. Or possibly, he simply enjoys playing the game. I play golf. If I knew that I would birdie or eagle every hole and would ace every par 3...I would continue to play golf. My motivation would be; could I possibly get a bogey?
I didn't place any blame. It does present a paradox though. If there is a God and He created us, and then judges us to be 'imperfect'; then he is judging himself to be imperfect therefore not God.
According to some of the Believers....we are the "ants" in "God's ant farm"....and if it pleases Him, he can burn us with a magnifying glass....and we're supposed to be grateful for it.
There are those of us that would prefer it if indeed we were 'ants' in some ant farm. All sharing equally and attending to the Queen Ant. Does 'socialism' ring a bell?
Hmmm...like the Commie who said- "If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven."
God made this universe. And God fine-tuned it so that small, rocky planets are everywhere with hospitable zones. There are 30 billion of them in our Milky Way galaxy times the other 200 billion galaxies in the observable universe (which equals a very very high number of Earthlike planets). God made the universe to make us: sentient, self-aware, free-willed entities. God did it so we are firsthand observers of existence in this finite place. You see, nothing is ever lost. Right now there are billions of planets full of sentient beings like us and what 85% of the septillions of us have in common is the belief in God. THAT is God.
Anyone suggesting that I sell all my possessions and giving the money to the poor, is immediately placed on my list of 'watch out for these people'. Besides, who needs treasure in heaven..I thought that things were all going to be free.
Maybe not. He's got to realize that his very nature (as believed by a few religions) is quite 'ungodly-like'. Fringing on monstrous. That everything attributed to him has been made up by man. Maybe he's a nice guy and will reward those that prefer to see him as the nice guy he is. That those people are actually mocking the 'fabricated god' (and rightfully so). They will be rewarded. Those that put their trust and faith in the fabricated 'monster god', well..they're the ones with the "real big problem".
Do you really think an omnipotent God is going to be upset about a bit of gentle mockery? I should of thought he would be a lot more annoyed with the ones who have made up religions and used those religions in his name to control people of the ages.
Yeah, certainly he must see the humor in what people believe about him. It's funny that the believers can read about all the crap he's been accused of perpetrating on mankind and still say that he's a kind and gentile god who harbors nothing but love for his creation. (reason 2 of 'why I'm not a Christian')
God is a mystery actually. I don't view God as some white haired old man on a throne. I view "God" as a power "The Force" the Boss. I intend to not (*)(*)(*)(*) the Boss off if I can help it but I fail sometimes. "God(?) is to complicated for people to understand but it will all become evident at some point in the future.
if there is a higher-power\God, I do not think he would be a jealous\vengeful type of God, I think it would be better than that