RE: Maybe there's something like a god out there.
June 3, 2020 at 8:54 pm
(This post was last modified: June 3, 2020 at 8:59 pm by Ryantology.)
There's a lot to reply to and to unpack. I'm forum-rusty, these days.
So, let's all approach what I'm saying with a firm understanding. The term 'god' is obviously super-loaded, and many of us here are seeing those three letters and it's Abraham's God most of our brains are immediately referencing, since that's how most of us encounter 'god' in our actual lives (otherwise, the gods are characters in books or movies, etc.)
But, a god can be something other than the omnipotent bearded sky daddy meme. The Greek gods were essentially magical superhumans. Hell, basically all the 'real world people still actively worship) gods are all magical superhumans, with human qualities and traits and motives. That's what makes them all seem fake to me. The worship element ties into that, some people insist on being worshiped and venerated and obeyed without question, and these are the guys who conquered kingdoms and invented gods who act the same way they do.
When I'm thinking about what a god might actually be if there was one, it necessarily, definitionally, must be an existence of a like I can't comprehend, outside and beyond anything my senses could ever reveal to me. That does not sound all that implausible. We have tetragazillions of bacteria living in our bodies, and not a single one of them has any capacity to be aware its entire universe is my asshole. I exist on a totally different level which has few analogs to the existence of a bacteriium. I'm unfathomably larger than said bacterium, my actions (and very existence) enable its existence. I can't make one exist out of thin air, but I have irresistible power of life or death. I massacre untold numbers of them on purpose all day, every day. Others, I permit to live in peace. The disparity of size and power is much greater, than between humans and lots of human gods.
I cannot argue that it is even unlikely to be true that we can all be like bacteria living in an asshole ourselves. I mean, there's literally no way argue it any which way, no way at all to say it's probably true, or probably not true. That's not a satisfying conclusion, but I didn't promise satisfaction. Interested to know the feelings of other atheists towards a hypothetical god of that description.
fyi I am not saying that I believe any such thing, just that I can't say I don't disbelieve it at all, either. Sure as hell not trying to convince anyone of anything. The whole reason I am curious at all is for curiosity's sake.
So, let's all approach what I'm saying with a firm understanding. The term 'god' is obviously super-loaded, and many of us here are seeing those three letters and it's Abraham's God most of our brains are immediately referencing, since that's how most of us encounter 'god' in our actual lives (otherwise, the gods are characters in books or movies, etc.)
But, a god can be something other than the omnipotent bearded sky daddy meme. The Greek gods were essentially magical superhumans. Hell, basically all the 'real world people still actively worship) gods are all magical superhumans, with human qualities and traits and motives. That's what makes them all seem fake to me. The worship element ties into that, some people insist on being worshiped and venerated and obeyed without question, and these are the guys who conquered kingdoms and invented gods who act the same way they do.
When I'm thinking about what a god might actually be if there was one, it necessarily, definitionally, must be an existence of a like I can't comprehend, outside and beyond anything my senses could ever reveal to me. That does not sound all that implausible. We have tetragazillions of bacteria living in our bodies, and not a single one of them has any capacity to be aware its entire universe is my asshole. I exist on a totally different level which has few analogs to the existence of a bacteriium. I'm unfathomably larger than said bacterium, my actions (and very existence) enable its existence. I can't make one exist out of thin air, but I have irresistible power of life or death. I massacre untold numbers of them on purpose all day, every day. Others, I permit to live in peace. The disparity of size and power is much greater, than between humans and lots of human gods.
I cannot argue that it is even unlikely to be true that we can all be like bacteria living in an asshole ourselves. I mean, there's literally no way argue it any which way, no way at all to say it's probably true, or probably not true. That's not a satisfying conclusion, but I didn't promise satisfaction. Interested to know the feelings of other atheists towards a hypothetical god of that description.
fyi I am not saying that I believe any such thing, just that I can't say I don't disbelieve it at all, either. Sure as hell not trying to convince anyone of anything. The whole reason I am curious at all is for curiosity's sake.
