Do you wish God was real?

[lifeskyblue]

No I don't wish god existed. Just think of the wars, the bigotry and the misery that would lead as different individuals and groups fought to explain how they knew God best. Just like now but with more certainty 'I'm right and your wrong'

[Alex K]

No I don't wish god existed. Just think of the wars, the bigotry and the misery that would lead as different individuals and groups fought to explain how they knew God best. Just like now but with more certainty 'I'm right and your wrong'

It could be argued that a bit of certainty might even reduce the zealous rage to silence dissenters.

Welcome to the forum by the way!

[lifeskyblue]

Thanks.
It might reduce zealous rage only if God was visible, interactive on a daily basis and seen to be doing good for all. Otherwise minutiae would picked over and entrenched ideas blossom. So no a real God would on balance I think be worse than a non-existent one.

[paulpablo]

Hello everyone, I have another question for all you fine folks of AF.

Do you wish there was a God?

It doesn't have to be the God of Abraham. But just A God. Some supernatural supreme being out there who created us and loves us.... Do you wish that was real or do you prefer the idea of nothing like that existing?

Please explain why or why not.

There's no middle ground that satisfies me in in relation to explanation for a god.

I can't wish the god of the bible exists because that's just undeniable straight forward dopey talk.  It's so primitive.
There's this being who was up there forever who can do everything then he all of a sudden decides to say let their be light, why does he say let their be light why didn't he just think it?  Why are there angels?  Why is god sending angels to find out things and do things for him when he can do anything anyway?  The list, of what in my opinion is dopey shit, that is in the bible is endless.  The bible pretty much depicts god as an angry dad who can turn a bit psychotic sometimes, you might aswell ask do I wish homer simpson created the universe.

On the other hand a complex/vague definition of god is just too overcomplicated for my brain to worry about.  it's in the same area as time, space, nothingness, infinity. 
Just stuff that if I focus on too much it's likely to drive me insane and make me end up living as a toothless hermit in a cave somewhere with diagrams drawn on the wall using my own bodily fluids.

I can't wish for a dopey character in a primitive book to have created the universe because....it's just dopey.
I can't wish for something I have no hope of understanding existing either because I just don't understand it.
 I don't prefer the idea of nothing, the concept of this god is equal to the concept of nothing to me.
I've never seen nothing, I don't know what it is, I can't imagine it, the same applies with a god.

[Longhorn]

Hmm, looks like I had my righteous angry day yesterday.

Every day is a righteous angry day for me if there are catholics around ._.

And if it makes you feel better, I didn't notice you being angrier than your usual hamster loving self

[Alex K]

My dad spent many of his childhood nights being terrified of hell. He was never quite sure whether he had accidentally committed a deadly sin.

Bastards.

[Longhorn]

(Nevermind I'm an idiot)

[Mr.wizard]

I think I would like a genie in a bottle.

[abaris]

My dad spent many of his childhood nights being terrified of hell. He was never quite sure whether he had accidentally committed a deadly sin.

Bastards.

In what kind of environment was he growing up?

I'm asking because it took me a very long time to shake the guilt complex they gave me. Even today I can't stop my subconscious from producing these feelings off and on. I took therapy because of that among other issues. It was especially hard when my parents died, since that kind of triggered that old story I shared in the other thread NEIM opened.

[Tonus]

It seems as if you are saying that free will is our ability to make decisions and think for ourselves.  It's what drives one person to decide he will be a journalist, and another to decide that she will learn to play the guitar.  It's what makes chocolate chip ice cream your favorite dessert, but strawberry cheesecake your husband's preference.  It's why you love to wear blue jeans instead of a skirt, or a big floppy hat instead of a baseball cap.  Does that sound right?  Those are the things that differentiate us from one another.  Is that what free will does for us?

I'd say it's part of it, yes. Is there something else you had in mind?

I wanted to be sure I understood how you define it. My own view of free will is a bit more nuanced, but it's not fair or useful to ask you to defend your beliefs using my definitions. One more question, if I may: if, at the end of your earthly life, god grants you the gift of life in heaven, what happens to your free will? Do you keep it? If you do, does it work the way it did on earth, or does it change in any way?