NationStates Jolt Archive

This is a refocus of the thread I started Thursday about why a God would make the world so fucked up. I'm trying to get to the basic question I hoped that thread would answer for me, namely, what could possibly motivate an omnipotent being to do anything whatsoever. I haven't been able to come up with anything.

The Christian response is that God made the world perfect. Man screwed it up later.

The Christian response is that God made the world perfect. Man screwed it up later.

That was the response to the first thread. This thread is asking what sort of motivation an all powerful God could actually have to do anything, good or bad.

There is one thing that has always been and will always be beyond God's grasp. Yes, it's true. He isn't quite perfect. He's very close. Closer than any of us could ever hope to be. But he has one blind spot:

Money. He can't handle money. That's why the church always needs more. God can do anything except balance a budget.

If you want to get God something, get Him an accountant. :D

This is a refocus of the thread I started Thursday about why a God would make the world so fucked up. I'm trying to get to the basic question I hoped that thread would answer for me, namely, what could possibly motivate an omnipotent being to do anything whatsoever. I haven't been able to come up with anything.

I think that we are children of God. I mean real children. When the human race grows up we will be a God. So God creating people was just God reproducing. All the bad stuff that happens on Earth is people just going through growing and learning hard lessons. I hope that was understandable. My English is slow.

What do you get the being that has everything?

Nothing: it's the one thing that being doesn't have.

There is one thing that has always been and will always be beyond God's grasp. Yes, it's true. He isn't quite perfect. He's very close. Closer than any of us could ever hope to be. But he has one blind spot:

Money. He can't handle money. That's why the church always needs more. God can do anything except balance a budget.

If you want to get God something, get Him an accountant. :D
OK. Now I'm prepared to believe I was created in His image. :cool:

That was the response to the first thread. This thread is asking what sort of motivation an all powerful God could actually have to do anything, good or bad.

He wanted someone to love. Angels didn't work, because it's like people loving a dog. There is a love there, but it's not nearly on the same level as loving another person.

I think that we are children of God. I mean real children. When the human race grows up we will be a God. So God creating people was just God reproducing. All the bad stuff that happens on Earth is people just going through growing and learning hard lessons. I hope that was understandable. My English is slow.

Problem: why would an omnipotent being want children? Wouldn't god use a condom?

He wanted someone to love. Angels didn't work, because it's like people loving a dog. There is a love there, but it's not nearly on the same level as loving another person.

Can't God just give himself an infinite amount of expression for love without creating stuff? Or even get rid of his own love altogether?

He wanted someone to love. Angels didn't work, because it's like people loving a dog. There is a love there, but it's not nearly on the same level as loving another person.

That is what I am also saying. If we are not the actual children of God then we are just pets. That can not be true. So I believe we are Gods offspring and he is our real father and we will someday grow up to be a God even though it may take thousands or millions of years of growing up time.

Can't God just give himself an infinite amount of expression for love without creating stuff? Or even get rid of his own love altogether?

Sure. God can love Himself because of the three-person trinity. However, God wanted someone else to love. He didn't need us, but He wanted us.

As for the second, He can't get rid of His love, since it is His nature to love.

motivation to create life with free will: Boredom
perfect gift: yo-yo.

That is what I am also saying. If we are not the actual children of God then we are just pets. That can not be true. So I believe we are Gods offspring and he is our real father and we will someday grow up to be a God even though it may take thousands or millions of years of growing up time.

I take issue with the idea that we will "become gods." God is infinite, while we are finite. That won't work.

Why play an RPG? because it's fun watching people fight and shit. I'll let you interpret the meaning of shit in that context.

Sure. God can love Himself because of the three-person trinity. However, God wanted someone else to love. He didn't need us, but He wanted us.

As for the second, He can't get rid of His love, since it is His nature to love.

But if he's omnipotent, why can't he change his nature? What would make him want others to love if he could just satisfy all his desires for love by making them inherently satisfied?

motivation to create life with free will: Boredom
perfect gift: yo-yo.

Can't God just eliminate his own sense of boredom?

Problem: why would an omnipotent being want children? Wouldn't god use a condom?

That question is hard. I can think only that the same things would make a God happy that would also make people happy. If a God did not reproduce, what would the God do? Why would he make the world in the beginning? Being a God would be boring.

Can't God just eliminate his own sense of boredom?

Yes. By creating the world and having children.

Why play an RPG? because it's fun watching people fight and shit. I'll let you interpret the meaning of shit in that context.

It took a while, but I understand you. By RPG you do not mean Rocket Propelled Grenade. You mean Role Playing Game. That is very understandable position. I think that are the only options. Either we are actually Gods offspring or we are simply a game for God. Perhaps I think we are children just because I want to and God is just having a game. I will think about this.

This is a refocus of the thread I started Thursday about why a God would make the world so fucked up. I'm trying to get to the basic question I hoped that thread would answer for me, namely, what could possibly motivate an omnipotent being to do anything whatsoever. I haven't been able to come up with anything.

Because the one thing no Deity can know, the one thing they can't magically experience, is being alive, human, and falliable. If God made himself falliable and human, he'd no longer be God, he'd be Man. So he made man.

I belive in reincarnation, and I belive that once a soul has learned all its lessons, it rejoins the Deity and thus enriches the Deity's experience and knowledge.

I also belive the Deity is split into subdivisions withen subdivisions, and that half of it is female, the Goddess in all her faces.

Because the one thing no Deity can know, the one thing they can't magically experience, is being alive, human, and falliable. If God made himself falliable and human, he'd no longer be God, he'd be Man. So he made man.

I belive in reincarnation, and I belive that once a soul has learned all its lessons, it rejoins the Deity and thus enriches the Deity's experience and knowledge.

I also belive the Deity is split into subdivisions withen subdivisions, and that half of it is female, the Goddess in all her faces.

My point is that if said being were omnipotent it could just eliminate its own desire to be human and fallible.

Yes. By creating the world and having children.

But can't he just make himself entertained without doing any extraneous steps?

Back to your earlier point about how God would want to reproduce, again, the deific equivalent of masturbation does not have to have the same limitations as the human version.

I notice you did not say he could make his own yo-yo. Interesting.

I notice you did not say he could make his own yo-yo. Interesting.

Well, some things only humans can do.

Perhaps God thinks in a way completely alien to us?

Perhaps God thinks in a way completely alien to us?

Whether he thinks in an alien way or not, a mind of any sort does not act without motivation, whereas according to most theories of God he has acted. The question is, what sort of motivation can apply to a being that can always give tiself perfect fullfillment?

Perhaps God thinks in a way completely alien to us?

Like maybe his brain is in his butt and this foreshadows the "talking out of your ass" saying because we Were made in gods image. But then he got uber-pissed at us and switched where our brain was.

I can't believe I'm doing this...

Bump.

Like maybe his brain is in his butt and this foreshadows the "talking out of your ass" saying because we Were made in gods image. But then he got uber-pissed at us and switched where our brain was.
Ah, we're talking about specifically the Christian God.
Sorry, I didn't read the whole thread before replying.

Ah, we're talking about specifically the Christian God.
Sorry, I didn't read the whole thread before replying.

Some are. That must have been. But you can make any arguments applying to any sort of omnipotent being if you feel like it.

What do you get the being that has everything?
This is a refocus of the thread I started Thursday about why a God would make the world so fucked up. I'm trying to get to the basic question I hoped that thread would answer for me, namely, what could possibly motivate an omnipotent being to do anything whatsoever. I haven't been able to come up with anything.
I know this!!!!!!

The answer is the album "Up" by a band called "Great Big Sea."

Well, that is their best one.

Well, that is their best one.
I wouldn't know. My mother's making me marry Mary Mac.

You must be feeling merry

Well, I think that the world came around because God, being omnipotent and all that, wanted to create something vast and complex to direct and care for.

Make a planet with some oceans, forests, deserts, etc., then put on millions of different species that all form a complex ecology. Then throw in a species made in His image with a high intellect and free will, then watch what happens. It's the only thing that could keep a deity occupied, the evolution of a world like ours.

Oh, god is just a big game designer for all the superior beings around. Money was running tight so he decided to make the first sims game so he would have something to do when the other superior beings could not come over and smoke up. The game was a success and now every highly advanced being has one of his own, and god's profits are WAYYY up......

My Buddhist teacher once said that people are the universe's way of looking at itself*. Could the same apply to a diety?

(*I didn't agree with him, but he's very cool that way.)

This is a refocus of the thread I started Thursday about why a God would make the world so fucked up. I'm trying to get to the basic question I hoped that thread would answer for me, namely, what could possibly motivate an omnipotent being to do anything whatsoever. I haven't been able to come up with anything.
God got bored with being perfect and decided to make us, with free will. In order to see how badly we could fuck up.

The various "God was bored" suggestions remind me of something RA Heinlien said in Time Enough for Love:
God split himself into a myriad parts that he might have friends. This may not be true, but it sounds good, and is no sillier than any other theology.