paul siemering

Why is it that when somebody says God people feel they have to go running for their bibles? What has a book to do with whatever gods may be? Wherever you want to look for god the 2 worst places to start are scripture and church. See consider this. The universe is about 15 billion years old. Now if we are to have gods they can't be some pipsqueak who showed up in the middle east a few thousand years ago. God is the super being who launced the universe, with or without a big bang. So forget about that monster in the old testament. He ain't there. If there is a god, she has to take care of the whole immense, like infinite, universe. She probably does not know this planet is even here. If she does notice it she is not likely to yell down orders to all those fruitcakes who come to us telling us all about what God said. Cause she ain't never yelled down nothin to nobody.

Jinto

Indeed, in the event that there is a god (referring to any hypothetical practical omnipotent being), there is no reason to suspect that it gives a flying flip about us. However, when somebody says "God this" or "God that," they are probably referring to a theistic, rather than a deistic, god. Statistically, most of the people who come here to argue about theistic Gods using the name God as opposed to, say, Vinshu, are referring to the judeo-christian God, so to save time we reply as though they were talking about that God unless otherwise specified. It's a time-saving device, not a reflection of what we believe is most logical.

Note also that the only God talked about on this particular form is the Judeo-Christian God. That's why it's called Biblical criticism and Archaeology.

Tufted

I would think that if God created the Universe, and made the physical laws for the Universe to follow, He/She would have done it as an experiment to see if intelligent life could be created.

Nobody knows for sure how common life is. If you were God, wouldn't you be seeking beings that were seeking you? He/She has waited a long time for our existence.

Man may indeed have a built in instinct to believe in a creator. But I believe that would have been an evolutionary process, that selected tribes that believed in life after death. Certainly much easier to survive as a group if members are willing to sacrifice their lives for the best of the group.

It's when man starts to claim they know the story that we get in trouble. My vision of God, as creator of the universe, does not include devils or other spirits. Why does man do this? Why can't man follow his own reasoning? We have very little information at this time to define who God is.

Marduk

“My vision of God, as creator of the universe, does not include devils or other spirits. Why does man do this? Why can't man follow his own reasoning”


The Hindu’s have an interesting concept of this; the universe has many levels, each with it’s own reality, time is different on each level, with Brahma on top (the first created being by Vishnu) 1 year of human time = 1/33,750 of a second in Brahma time, (they even have a special word for 1/33,750 sec. a truti)
“demons” and “angels” live in the next level, in their world they are flesh and blood, they live and die but seem immortal to us because of the time difference. Humans are related to these guys somehow, the “Devas”. The Devas, and some humans, can travel between the different worlds and often interbreed.
Plenty of ancient stories from many cultures like this, from Celts to Hebrews, the Book of Enoch tells of interbreeding between angels and humans, Enoch travels to this realm which highly parallels the Hindu Vedic stories. The demons, as in the Bible stories, are those who rebelled against the proper order of the universe. Everybody wants to be the King. Many of these beings don’t much care for humans, being we are at the bottom of the pecking order, but somehow we are necessary. To get up the ladder of existence you must go through many human incarnations.
And watch out when a Hindu says ‘many’ they mean it! Hindu cosmology is the opposite of the Bible, where the Earth is 6000 years old, the Hindus go the other way, not only is the Earth billions of years old but people have been on Earth for millions and millions of years.

Magus55

Why do you assume its a she?

CX

This seems more like GRD to me...off you go.

Ojuice5001

My general tendency is to agree with you. The Supreme God must be responsible for all facts, and therefore you can't start with the Bible, which is a tiny subset of all our knowledge.

Now if an inquiry based on all knowledge leads to a god similar to that of the Bible, then it is legitimate to believe the Bible. I'll leave up to you the question of whether such a situation is likely to be actual.

Keep in mind that even if the god of the Bible is not the Supreme God, he may exist anyway. He could easily be a god like Jupiter, Mars, or any other, who merely claims to have created the universe.

Spaz

Why would it have a sex at all?

WWSD

Why do most religions assume that god is a he?

I would assume a god would have a more interesting shape, but then, this god could probably appear as anything it wanted.
I imagine that this god would appear to its creations as whatever suits them the best. Or is least shocking. For me it would be Kelly Hu . Oh yeah...

Magus55

Well, Christianity assumes its a He because, God speaks as a He in all of the bible, and Jesus is a He, there is no She in the Godhead.