so far I haven´t died yet, I guess that means I should believe that I am immortal
No, you have seen other humans die.
What I meant by “the actual issue” is that faith is terrible epistemology, and excuses to hold on to faith have become more and more lamentable with the passing of time and the growth of human knowledge. That is why, for example, people are less willing to describe their god as a bearded all-seeing man in the sky (which is easy to disprove), and more as a shapeless, impersonal cloud of goodness (which is so vague that nobody bothers to argue against).
people are less willing to describe their god as a bearded all-seeing man in the sky (which is easy to disprove), and more as a shapeless, impersonal cloud of goodness (which is so vague that nobody bothers to argue against).
That is true. For the sake of it, I will give you a definition you can criticize! I believe that a god, a sometimes shapeless, (sometimes, in lack of better description), personal “force” of goodness exists and can alter space-time and create consciousnesses, resurrect dead humans, wipe out all of humanity instantly and create worlds where the concept of linear time seems stupid. This god can do alot more cool stuff too!
I am not sure I want to DISCUSS all of it, but I do feel comfortable reading your comments regarding evidence for and against! Feel free to give me the very best criticism you can come up with! I guess that you are against my crude definition. However, discussing the existense of any deity wasn´t my intention, but since the original post is deleted, I will allow it.
I often meet religious people who don´t feel comfortable discussing their definitions, and even though I try to be very gentle on them, sometimes I hurt them since they don´t want to let go of their mysterious answers. If you asked this out of sincere politeness, my image of you just improved slightly.
The omnipotence paradox:
If a being can perform any action, then it should be able to create a task which this being is unable to perform; hence, this being cannot perform all actions. Yet, on the other hand, if this being cannot create a task that it is unable to perform, then there exists something it cannot do.
A common response from Christian philosophers, such as Norman Geisler or Richard Swinburne is that the paradox assumes a wrong definition of omnipotence. Omnipotence, they say, does not mean that God can do anything at all but, rather, that he can do anything that’s possible according to his nature.
~Wikipedia, see your own link.
Since God is the highest power, he is omnipotent in the meaning that nothing else could be more powerful.
God can limit his actions by choice just like a human can. He can also revoke this limitation, just like a human can.
Note: God is not the only part of the universe. Since he has allowed fee will to other beings, things that he did not plan can happen and then he might “update”.
“It is generally agreed that whatever God wills is good and just. But there remains the question whether it is good and just because God wills it or whether God wills it because it is good and just; in other words, whether justice and goodness are arbitrary or whether they belong to the necessary and eternal truths about the nature of things.”
~Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz version, according to Wikipedia
Intro:
I admit I don´t know where to start here. Hm… Compare it to an old dark art that works as follows: You ask a legit question but you only present two possible answers and make them seem like they are the only possibilities. But both are false, since there is in reality a third (or more) option aswell. Hence, if you try to answer the question using only the first two options, you see a paradox. (And this is only if you think that the question is legit. In our case, note for instance that “justice”, “goodness” and so on are vague concepts.)
The answer section:
I will not write an essay about this, but perhaps if you feel that it is necessary, we can discuss my answer more later on. My answer is that God´s actions in this world is what is good and just.
Notes:
1) Good AND just. Think about it in terms of modal logic. And I adress God´s “actions”, not his “will” (see note 3).
2) Now if we discard terms like “good” and “just” or replace them (try reducing the concept of justice to begin with), do we still have this problem?
3) Note again that we also talk about God´s will. Since God is a god, his “will” is a somewhat problematic concept, probably alot more problematic than will in general! I haven´t made a serious effort to analyze this though.
As Peter Singer said, if God defines goodness, then when you say God is good you’re just saying God approves of God. That leaves goodness (and God) undefined.
Let me start by saying that the following comversation may very well be considered non-rational in some respects, and this conversation is about BELIEFS, not facts that can be proven or disproven. I discuss this because you wanted it. So I will make you a favor and expose my current beliefs. To all who came across this, see more comments above for more info.
I will start with the Epicurean riddle:
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” — ’the Epicurean paradox
God allows evil so that we can grow. In order to grow we need to be able to face evil and make choices on our own. We can´t come up with own conclusions if we already know all the right answers. (This was the statement. There are no easy answers to all questions and part of the growing process is to form your own belief. So note that the following are my own ideas.)
Yes, God wants humans to grow, in many ways. We humans have many flaws if compared to, for instance, angels, if we believe in such creatures. Perhaps God wants us to become angels. My personal hypotheses is that God was omnipotent but gave up that power in the meaning that he gave up his freedom to prevent all evil, so that we can grow. There are many worlds, or dimensions, and God is paying attention to everyone. Our world is a world with an unusual amount of evil, perhaps the only world to even contain evil, but it is necessary for God´s plans. We have to have remember that God loves us, and that whatever happens is tolerable. We would know this if we had God´s perspective. Note that we are not bound to this world forever. There is a heaven aswell.
Yes, a legit question. Here is my answer: Yes, but since my beliefs may differ from yours since we may observe different things and also interpret them differently, I try to separate personal beliefs from science. My observations are my own. If I have dreamt, I can´t prove this to anyone except by telling them that I dreamt. If I have met God, will you believe me if I say so? I can`t figure out an experiment that will prove to you what I dreamt a year ago.
Human minds being what they are, not even you can be sure what you dreamt a year ago.
we may observe different things and also interpret them differently
If we are located in the same place and have healthy and similar sense organs, we must observe the same environment and the same events. The only possible difference is what we call them and what they mean to each of us.
If I have met God, will you believe me if I say so?
I will believe that you had a subjective experience, but without real-time brain imaging (plus someone who knows how to interpret it) I won’t know what to call it.
No, you have seen other humans die.
What I meant by “the actual issue” is that faith is terrible epistemology, and excuses to hold on to faith have become more and more lamentable with the passing of time and the growth of human knowledge. That is why, for example, people are less willing to describe their god as a bearded all-seeing man in the sky (which is easy to disprove), and more as a shapeless, impersonal cloud of goodness (which is so vague that nobody bothers to argue against).
That is true. For the sake of it, I will give you a definition you can criticize! I believe that a god, a sometimes shapeless, (sometimes, in lack of better description), personal “force” of goodness exists and can alter space-time and create consciousnesses, resurrect dead humans, wipe out all of humanity instantly and create worlds where the concept of linear time seems stupid. This god can do alot more cool stuff too!
Do you feel comfortable discussing the evidence for and against that definition of a deity?
I am not sure I want to DISCUSS all of it, but I do feel comfortable reading your comments regarding evidence for and against! Feel free to give me the very best criticism you can come up with! I guess that you are against my crude definition. However, discussing the existense of any deity wasn´t my intention, but since the original post is deleted, I will allow it.
I often meet religious people who don´t feel comfortable discussing their definitions, and even though I try to be very gentle on them, sometimes I hurt them since they don´t want to let go of their mysterious answers. If you asked this out of sincere politeness, my image of you just improved slightly.
Your deity is a shapeless, personal force of goodness that can do a lot of cool stuff. I’m going to need a clearer definition.
How does your concept of a deity address these problems?
The Epicurean riddle.
The Euthyphro dilemma.
The omnipotence paradox.
The omnipotence paradox: If a being can perform any action, then it should be able to create a task which this being is unable to perform; hence, this being cannot perform all actions. Yet, on the other hand, if this being cannot create a task that it is unable to perform, then there exists something it cannot do.
~Wikipedia, see your own link.
Since God is the highest power, he is omnipotent in the meaning that nothing else could be more powerful. God can limit his actions by choice just like a human can. He can also revoke this limitation, just like a human can.
Note: God is not the only part of the universe. Since he has allowed fee will to other beings, things that he did not plan can happen and then he might “update”.
The Euthyphro dilemma is interesting.
~Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz version, according to Wikipedia
Intro:
I admit I don´t know where to start here. Hm… Compare it to an old dark art that works as follows: You ask a legit question but you only present two possible answers and make them seem like they are the only possibilities. But both are false, since there is in reality a third (or more) option aswell. Hence, if you try to answer the question using only the first two options, you see a paradox. (And this is only if you think that the question is legit. In our case, note for instance that “justice”, “goodness” and so on are vague concepts.)
The answer section:
I will not write an essay about this, but perhaps if you feel that it is necessary, we can discuss my answer more later on. My answer is that God´s actions in this world is what is good and just.
Notes: 1) Good AND just. Think about it in terms of modal logic. And I adress God´s “actions”, not his “will” (see note 3). 2) Now if we discard terms like “good” and “just” or replace them (try reducing the concept of justice to begin with), do we still have this problem? 3) Note again that we also talk about God´s will. Since God is a god, his “will” is a somewhat problematic concept, probably alot more problematic than will in general! I haven´t made a serious effort to analyze this though.
As Peter Singer said, if God defines goodness, then when you say God is good you’re just saying God approves of God. That leaves goodness (and God) undefined.
Defining god wasn´t what you asked for here. You wanted to adress The Euthyphro dilemma.
Let me start by saying that the following comversation may very well be considered non-rational in some respects, and this conversation is about BELIEFS, not facts that can be proven or disproven. I discuss this because you wanted it. So I will make you a favor and expose my current beliefs. To all who came across this, see more comments above for more info.
I will start with the Epicurean riddle:
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” — ’the Epicurean paradox
God allows evil so that we can grow. In order to grow we need to be able to face evil and make choices on our own. We can´t come up with own conclusions if we already know all the right answers. (This was the statement. There are no easy answers to all questions and part of the growing process is to form your own belief. So note that the following are my own ideas.)
Yes, God wants humans to grow, in many ways. We humans have many flaws if compared to, for instance, angels, if we believe in such creatures. Perhaps God wants us to become angels. My personal hypotheses is that God was omnipotent but gave up that power in the meaning that he gave up his freedom to prevent all evil, so that we can grow. There are many worlds, or dimensions, and God is paying attention to everyone. Our world is a world with an unusual amount of evil, perhaps the only world to even contain evil, but it is necessary for God´s plans. We have to have remember that God loves us, and that whatever happens is tolerable. We would know this if we had God´s perspective. Note that we are not bound to this world forever. There is a heaven aswell.
EDIT: The premise here is that we have souls.
Why do you disconnect beliefs from facts? Shouldn’t beliefs be caused by observable facts?
Yes, a legit question. Here is my answer: Yes, but since my beliefs may differ from yours since we may observe different things and also interpret them differently, I try to separate personal beliefs from science. My observations are my own. If I have dreamt, I can´t prove this to anyone except by telling them that I dreamt. If I have met God, will you believe me if I say so? I can`t figure out an experiment that will prove to you what I dreamt a year ago.
Human minds being what they are, not even you can be sure what you dreamt a year ago.
If we are located in the same place and have healthy and similar sense organs, we must observe the same environment and the same events. The only possible difference is what we call them and what they mean to each of us.
I will believe that you had a subjective experience, but without real-time brain imaging (plus someone who knows how to interpret it) I won’t know what to call it.
Then you see my point I take it.