RE: Where do atheists get their morality from?
September 4, 2012 at 10:43 am
(This post was last modified: September 4, 2012 at 10:45 am by The Grand Nudger.)
A major nitpick with the idea that any god would simply have to possess greater power and knowledge (or whatever) than what it created. Specifically with regards to a "got the ball rolling" god.
Suppose this god sparked some event approx 13.75 billion years ago, the level of complexity that has emerged since then from the multitudes of interactions and including sentient things such as ourselves could easily surpass whatever was involved in that event.
To use a more "down to earth" example. Just because some entity is capable of doing something that we aren't doesn't make it wise or powerful. Plants engage in photosynthesis without any consciousness, "power" or knowledge whatsoever, and yet we are unable to replicate the activity. Perhaps this "ball rolling god" sparking the universe did so in the same manner that a plant converts UV in useful energy. Not through knowledge or power (or even intent) but as a function of it's machinery.
Suppose this god sparked some event approx 13.75 billion years ago, the level of complexity that has emerged since then from the multitudes of interactions and including sentient things such as ourselves could easily surpass whatever was involved in that event.
To use a more "down to earth" example. Just because some entity is capable of doing something that we aren't doesn't make it wise or powerful. Plants engage in photosynthesis without any consciousness, "power" or knowledge whatsoever, and yet we are unable to replicate the activity. Perhaps this "ball rolling god" sparking the universe did so in the same manner that a plant converts UV in useful energy. Not through knowledge or power (or even intent) but as a function of it's machinery.
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