author Acrobat Wrote:I think it's perfectly fine to say things like God is pleased when we do his will, or when we do good, or are kind, etc. and displeased when we doing things against his will, do wrong, etc...
It's not fine we take these expression to their literal ends, implying God feels pleasure one minute, and displeasure another minute, or that his nature changes, contingent on our actions, or in some way negates his essential properties. God is not contingent on us, we are contingent on him. God being eternal and omniscient, also begs the question of when was God displeased or pleased with our actions only after they occurred, or in his foreknowledge of it occurring, which he always knew?
God isn't a being like finite beings, subject to the finite changes of the universes and human lives. So statements like God's displeasure and pleasure can't be viewed as we might say of finite beings. So displeasure and pleasure are in essence the impact of Gods essential and unchanging nature on us, like the impact of the heat from the sun on an object. To borrow the sun analogy, we might say that Gods Good and Loving nature, allows objects reflective of goodness and love to draw near it, and objects not reflective of goodness or love to burn when near it. Like the sun God's nature need not change, but his nature impacts the objects not himself.
No it is not perfectly okay to lie to people. The buy-bull lies about God's nature. If there must be a being that is an emotion, like love, then there must be a god that is hate, a god that is contempt, a god that is happy and a god that is sad.
I'm really feeling sorry for God not knowing happiness and joy. I did ask if God was happy and if I listen to you the answer is no God is not happy. God does not feel He is the feeling.
We call humans without emotion sociopaths and psychopaths.
I seriously cannot comprehend God as love itself. Love does not cause suffering as did God when he created all this per the bible. Gen 1,2, and 3.
Human's cannot really know God can they? WE are too stupid. Too limited to our planet. It is an ant trying to understand a human.
Goodness could never burn people in Hell. Goodness does not call for genocide and infanticide, approve of slavery, kill boys for mocking a bald man, subjugate women to men, create naked people then tell them be fruitful and prosper, love cannot be equated with forcing a family into breeding. That is not goodness, not goodness at all. It's almost like we live in a different universe according to Acrobat.
You did not respond to my comment about emotional intelligence. God cannot understand the plight of humans without experiencing emotion. This is why we have empathy for each other. You are saying God has no empathy. I do not want to be judged by a character with no empathy or compassion.
You also did not answer the question: How does sin affect God?
good·ness
/ˈɡo͝odnəs/
noun
noun: goodness
1.
the quality of being morally good or virtuous.
Belief in a Cruel God makes a Crueler Man. Thomas Paine with minor edit crueler instead of cruel.
