Four Types of God?

[Lestat]

I come up with four anyway. I'm sure there are many more possibilities, but I think these are the important ones.

An accidental god - This would be similar to David's 6th dimensional kid and his chemistry set. I'm not sure such as entity should be referred to as a god, since this entity may or may not even know the implications of his creation. Of course, this doesn't have to be a kid playing with his chemistry set, but any entity from another dimension who unknowingly sparked our universe.

The disinterested god - This creator may or may not be aware we exist. He may or may not be interested if he were. And even if he were interested in us as a species, there's still no reason to think he takes a "personal" interest in any one of us as individuals, either because he is not so inclined, or because he is unable. There's also no reason to think such a god could've performed the miracles of the bible, or give the gift of life after we die.

A loving God - I'm starting to capitalize now, because such a God (whether you believe or you don't), may be deemed worthy of worship by some. He may not only have created the universe, but also specifically had a hand in the creation of Man. If so, He likely cares about us and wants us to be loving and respectful towards one another and all His other creations. There is still no reason to think this God can bring about life after death, however if He can... Then all good people should have no worries as long as they live their live's rightiously.

The onmipotent/omnisient God- This would be more according to the God of the bible. A strict, unyielding God who demands not only unwavering belief, but on very specific terms. He has created an eternal hell to punish all who disobey His wishes.

I wonder why the omnipotent God is the most popular belief of the four? I know some will say, "Because it's the truth!". But it should be obvious that truths are so much harder to discern with the biblical God than any of the other three. Actually I have my own opinions, but I'm curious to what others think.

[chezlaw]

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I wonder why the omnipotent God is the most popular belief of the four? I know some will say, "Because it's the truth!". But it should be obvious that truths are so much harder to discern with the biblical God than any of the other three. Actually I have my own opinions, but I'm curious to what others think.


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That would be because its the one that readily justifies imposing how you want the world to be on others.

chez

[Lestat]

This will likely be my last post for a while until I finish reading the bible. I just wanted to point out that going in, these are my thoughts on the possibilities for the existence of any god IF one exists. I still say the belief in gods is akin to answering one mystical question with yet another even more amazing question. I think any logical person has to ask himself, "Is this necessary?". Perhaps my beliefs will change?

[Lestat]

<font color="blue">That would be because its the one that readily justifies imposing how you want the world to be on others. </font>

Yes, but it's also the one that leaves EVERYONE exposed to sin. I'll bet if I followed most Christians around for a day, even I could find many sins. And not just the "everyone sins and that's why we need God's forgiveness, and that's what Jesus died for", but the type of sins that Christians are undoubtedly aware they are committing AS they are committing them! This leads to hypocrisy. Why choose to believe in a life of a hypocrisy?

[Phil153]

The scale of the universe and the nature of what we've discovered so far makes #2 the only possible answer. Children cling to #3 and #4.

#1 runs into the problem of not being all encompassing.

[chezlaw]

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<font color="blue">That would be because its the one that readily justifies imposing how you want the world to be on others. </font>

Yes, but it's also the one that leaves EVERYONE exposed to sin. I'll bet if I followed BluffThis around for a week, even I could fin many sins of his. And not just the "everyone sins and that's why we need God's forgiveness, or what Jesus dies for", but the type of sins that Christians are undoubtedly aware they are committing AS they are committing them! This leads to hypocrisy. Why choose to believe in a life of a hypocrisy?

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You get to the core of the issue this way which is what it means to believe something. By any serious use of the words belief, these people don't believe in the god they claim to believe in - as you say that leads them into problems. However if you say 'belief' quickly and never read the small print you can get away with claiming any belief that suits your purpose without acceping all the logical consequences that come with a real belief.

chez

[Lestat]

Whoops! You responded before my edit took place! /images/graemlins/blush.gif

I thought better of singling out any one Christian. My intention was basically to point out that every Christian knowingly sins. I thought this point would be made stronger by singling out a very good Christian like BluffThis. But I shouldn't have done that.

[Lestat]

<font color="blue"> #1 runs into the problem of not being all encompassing. </font>

Can you explain this further? I'm not saying you're incorrect, but I don't understand what you mean. It seems to me VERY likely that our universe is somehow interlinked with other dimensions (although this obviously has yet to be proven, string theory is leading us in this direction). I guess my question is, if true, why wouldn't a 7th dimensional creator be all encompassing enough for you?

[Phil153]

As a creator of this universe an accidental God is fine, but to me the term God means a force or presence that has power over everything. Positing a conscious force in another dimension doesn't really solve the problem of what created the kid and the other dimension in the first place.