Opinion Is there a God? Atheists, agnostics and believers please slug it out here.

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Sometimes. Other times in an oblong. Sometimes outside of those things.

There would be no boxes or oblongs or any other shapes if God hadnt invented them first

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

I don't. But there is a lot of anecdotal evidence of spirits, what do they consist of?

Gin - junpier berries
Tequila - agave
Scotch whiskey - barley
Bourbon whiskey - corn
Rum - sugarcane

to name a few

 

[The Dawes]

God is everything, he is omnipotent.

I think there's a pill you can take for that.

 

[Old Spice]

I don't. But there is a lot of anecdotal evidence of spirits, what do they consist of?

What are spirits? I don't believe in spirits except the wet ones.

 

[WalterBlaknWhte]

Is that another way of saying that God is currently successfully deadlifting a boulder of ever-increasing mass?

No!

Davoren wrecked Elliott's back with that regime.

 

[Old Spice]

You on the one hand discount things that you cannot comprehend or understand yet the entire universe no one yet comprehends or understands it's scope or size or what it consists of beyond a couple of light years so the very thing in which you exist in you or anybody cannot possibly comprehend, yet you banish the possibility of the existence of God totally... how's that for logic.

Yes and I accept that the world is enormous and hard to comprehend. There are domains of knowledge which we do not quite a bit about, such as optics, constitutional law, grammar, mechanics, propulsion and so on. That's not to say that some larger laws we don't yet understand may make the sun rise in the west tomorrow for instance, or that we discover a species of flying dog that has been hiding deep in the Amazon. But from that admission, I say the obvious thing which is that I don't know everything and in fact that it's impossible to know all because human beings are finite creatures inhabiting a vast and infinite universe.

I don't then attribute things I don't understand in the cosmos to some entity that I don't even know exists as a material or spiritual entity. I think it's clear when you just create a subset for things we don't know and dump it in that folder which you label God you get the problems raised above. Quite aside from material or sensory proof is the moral crises they open which for Christians is also a logical problem. If God is everywhere is he everything? If God is omnipotent why does he allow evil? If God is all things is he all bad things as well as good?

 

[sirlothie]

Yes and I accept that the world is enormous and hard to comprehend. There are domains of knowledge which we do not quite a bit about, such as optics, constitutional law, grammar, mechanics, propulsion and so on. That's not to say that some larger laws we don't yet understand may make the sun rise in the west tomorrow for instance, or that we discover a species of flying dog that has been hiding deep in the Amazon. But from that admission, I say the obvious thing which is that I don't know everything and in fact that it's impossible to know all because human beings are finite creatures inhabiting a vast and infinite universe.

I don't then attribute things I don't understand in the cosmos to some entity that I don't even know exists as a material or spiritual entity. I think it's clear when you just create a subset for things we don't know and dump it in that folder which you label God you get the problems raised above. Quite aside from material or sensory proof is the logical crises they open. If God is everywhere is he everything? If God is omnipotent why does he allow evil? If God is all things is he all bad things as well as good?

Well maybe one day you can ask him all this..

 

[Obese Arachnid]

At the heart of the contradiction about God is the impossibility of omnipotence as a concept. A thing (here God) can't be everywhere - unless of course we just bundle everything physical up and say that a thing (God) is everything. That is a formulation full of problems. It has an impressive quantitative appeal but the quality, I'm not so sure. It gives all sorts of organic and non living objects indistinguishable agency. Holy mops and partially omnipotent Jive Bunnies.

If omnipotence is about some immaterial 'spirit' then is God a unicorn in a movie for instance?

Only if a cat is riding said unicorn.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Well maybe one day you can ask him all this..

He likes to be referred to as Him.

 

[sirlothie]

He likes to be referred to as Him.

So do I but nobody does it...

 

[Old Spice]

This is a very clear, short (20 minutes) and awesome philosophical talk about the problem with the 'totalising world view' prevalent in some religions and scientific theory.

http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2015/11/pze_20151122.mp3

It's based on a book called "The World Does Not Exist' which is not suggesting there is no physical or mental world but rather that there is no singular explanatory theory for the world which can work. A block universe might attempt to deal with space and time but can't explain Angela Merkel's nipples, bagel making or the establishment of micronations or sexual fetishes. There are rather domains of knowledge, not some ultimate backdrop that you reach. One domain can lead to another, but no ultimate domain.

 

[Obese Arachnid]

Well maybe one day you can ask him all this..

Nope because he doesn't exist.

I know because I have faith.

 

[sirlothie]

Nope because he doesn't exist.

I know because I have faith.

You must be the Supreme Being then.... Congrats.

 

[Obese Arachnid]

You must be the Supreme Being then.... Congrats.

Thanks, could you please donate 10% of your wage weekly to me. It's not cheap being god.

Oh & I prefer Mexicana over Supreme.

 

[DAWESOME!!]

How the hell should I know? I wouldn't be mocking him just in case though yeah? They'd hang you guys in some countries for this blasphemy.

They'd hang you in some other countries for your blasphemy. Does that make you want to change what you believe? Why should we be more swayed by threats than you?

 

[DAWESOME!!]

You live in a box mate.

This is pretty ironic.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Can someone please get me up to speed on why God must be omnipresent and omnipotent?

Maybe it's great at creating universes but not so flash at keeping them running without plague or famine. Maybe it's megapowerful but has strengths/weaknesses relative to Satan that explain why Satan has never been permanently destroyed.

It seems that a lot of the mysteries around God would be partly dismantled by God being less than all-powerful, all-seeing, all-knowing etc. And in the same breath that people trot out these ideas as facts, they admit that God is beyond our comprehension.

 

[Old Spice]

There would be no boxes or oblongs or any other shapes if God hadnt invented them first

The devil made rhombuses.

 

[Old Spice]

Can someone please get me up to speed on why God must be omnipresent and omnipotent?

Maybe it's great at creating universes but not so flash at keeping them running without plague or famine. Maybe it's megapowerful but has strengths/weaknesses relative to Satan that explain why Satan has never been permanently destroyed.

It seems that a lot of the mysteries around God would be partly dismantled by God being less than all-powerful, all-seeing, all-knowing etc. And in the same breath that people trot out these ideas as facts, they admit that God is beyond our comprehension.

The ancient, polytheistic Gods were capricious and spiteful Gods. Flawed and with limited powers and interests which were divided up among them, kind of like superheroes. Yahweh, who later also became known as the Christian God, was himself at one point only one amongst many Gods in ancient Israel, such as Chermosh, Molech and two Golden Calves. In fact when Ezra returned from Babylon after the Judeans were released by Cyrus the Persian, he found much idolatry and worshipping of other Gods amongst the population.

This precipitated a bit of a religious pogrom from the returning Judean ruling class who had been impressed by their brief introduction to the galvanising effects of Persian monotheism, and so Yahweh became the one and only God after much slashing of agricultural throats and burning of 'false idols'. Following this monotheistic purge comes all the attendant 'spiritual', i.e. philosophical and logical problems associated with the idea of one, omnipotent God.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Nope because he doesn't exist.

I know because I have faith.

Cant hurt to ask though...free swing!

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

So do I but nobody does it...

Why are you too embarrassed to give your imaginary friend the respect you think He deserves?

 

[sirlothie]

Why are you too embarrassed to give your imaginary friend the respect you think He deserves?

Why do you think there is no greater being than yourself?

 

[Baltimore Jack]

Apollo....now there was a God

 

[Old Spice]

Why do you think there is no greater being than yourself?

Is there a ranking of beings somewhere?

The first rule of ranking beings though is you must exist.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Why do you think there is no greater being than yourself?

There are many greater beings than Myself. None of them are invisible though