(March 24, 2015 at 6:49 pm)Smaug Wrote: This issue has been brought up numerous times but I'll reiterate anyway: it's strange why would God even need worship from anyone?
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Such is a way of reasoning if you reason from within the myth. On the other hand, it's a well-known conclusion that people make gods in their image.
Indeed. As I've often thought, if Christians made their god instead of the other way around, there would be nothing to explain. The parallels between the demands of this god and the needs of the clergy are not coincidence but by design. The practitioners of priestcraft need more followers who question their authority less, and so their god conveniently judges us on our willingness to follow them and believe what they tell us without question (a.k.a. "faith").
On the other hand, if Christianity is true, we have the paradox of an insecure narcissist who needs the validation of mortal sycophants and yet, instead of making appearances to bask in their fawning, behavior the OP would predict of such an angry, demanding god, shyly hides off stage. If the Christian god were real, his (and the Christian god is most certainly a "he", complete with impressive genitalia according to the Book of Ezekiel), then his behavior makes no sense.
The OP should also consider the psychological condition that would explain the crippling shyness and deep insecurity that goes into needing the adoration of such comparatively insignificant beings. Their god is a powerful, world-creating being that needs a hug.
Touching, in a strange way.
One explanation, offered by Muslims but some Christians as well, is that life is a "test", one in which their god is staying his hand to see how we will behave. If this is true, and it would be the only logical explanation I can think of, than we must ask what exactly is being tested. If salvation is by faith, than gullibility is the trait being evaluated.
Perhaps their god is seeking more sycophants to occupy his celestial palace but one wonders just how many any god needs. Even Louis XIV would have stopped after acquiring a thousand or so.
Perhaps the test runs in the opposite direction then. Maybe critical thinking is what is being evaluated. Perhaps God only has so much room in Heaven and needs only the best and brightest minds to compete with a nearby Creation. This scenario, while offered in jest, seems far more compelling than the celestial-Versailles-of-billions.
Perhaps when God calls for pencils to be put down and booklets turned in, we will find it is we who passed the test, being unwilling to believe nonsense even under great social pressure and having the integrity to evaluate morality for ourselves instead of going with a simplistic (and frankly amoral) punishment/reward system from on-high.
In advance, let me say "no thanks" to 72 virgins (perpetual virgins, no less, which would be my idea of Hell). I prefer experienced applicants to my extended family of three bisexual wives and one bisexual husband.
Atheist Forums Hall of Shame:
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
