(June 25, 2015 at 3:50 am)Alex K Wrote: - Can you quickly tell what you mean by God? (and don't say "the Christian God", because that's way too vague).
- Do you mean whether we wish God were real and the world would be as it is now, or do you tacitly admit that a world with a benevolent creator would indeed look very differently from our current one? Because it "sure as heck" doesn't look like a world which has a benevolent God.
In general, I hate the thought of having to die and being completely gone, so I would very much look forward to some form of afterlife if it is set up in any way that isn't mind-numbing.
There is a downside though - the universe is a very wondrous and awe-inspiring place. Having it reduced to the playground of some petty cosmic tyrant would really taint its perceived glory.
Yes, it really does depend on what is meant. If there really were a good god who made everything right, that would be a good thing. But that is not the way the universe is. People and other animals suffer greatly, and this world just isn't compatible with an omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly benevolent being. But it would be nice to live in world that would be compatible with such a being rather than this one.
Any god that would want the suffering that we have would be evil, and it would be better for there to be no such god.
So, it really depends on what is meant; the question is not clear enough to enable a proper answer.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
