What is a god?

[CoxRox]

What is this branch of Christianity you're looking into? I was just reading the bible and came across the line, "God will not save the guilty" (or something similar) and cannot help but feel that the particular branch you're talking about could be selectively interpreting the bible.

The 'force' allows the universe to evolve and adapt, and for us to learn. You may call that unbenevolent. The fact that pain and suffering exist does throw a big spanner in the works, I admit. I don't think their existence throw's doubt in the force/creator's existence. This 'being' if it exists, must be what it must be- in that the laws must be what they are for all of this to exist. The potential for evil exists and must be a necessary part of the equation. Let's hope it gets cancelled out at some point?

If this force exists, and allows the universe to evolve and adapt, and in a sense "self-police," then what exactly is the force doing? Pain and suffering are an important part of life, because as you say they allow us to grow and learn and appreciate the true beauty (subjective) of life. But what do you mean about this "being" being what it must be? Why must it be anything, if the basic physical laws of the universe potentially could have led to where we are now?

If the potential for evil exists, so must the potential for goodness, and I believe both of these things are part of humanity. As you say, they are not forces in and of themselves, and I don't think it's possible to cancel them out. It is only by working together as humans, and not by appealing to a higher power to save us, that we can move towards a better world.

It's called Universal Reconciliation and it could well be way off the mark. I'm still looking into it. None of us are saved yet. We all die.

The self-policing is a factor but many 'religious' people, or people with some kind of belief in a personal God would say that we are being invited (through say the bible for example, or a mystical experience) to not self-police completely but to lead our lives in a certain way prescribed by that deity.

I am speculating somewhat about this being remember so when I say it must be what it must be, I'm assuming it does indeed exist, and therefore just as the laws of physics exist and are what they are, so too is this being. If gravity for instance was somewhat stronger or weaker, then we could not exist so it must be what it is, for life to exist.

I agree somewhat with your last point about 'goodness' and 'evil' both being parts of humanity. If I didn't know about Christianity, then I would conclude that 'evil' will always be part of life, along with the goodness. There's not much 'goodness' to look forward to in the greater scheme of things, we will all die, the earth will struggle to provide fuels, there's pollution etc. and then of course the sun will burn up so we're only temporary residents here. We can try to make a better world in the mean time, but unfair stuff (murders, sickness, natural disasters) befall many people so they lose out on the better world anyway. It's still all shit.