I had a thought on god and wondered what everyone else thought. I am an atheist, but that does not mean I cannot wonder things, So I am sure I will get the usual “You can’t understand god” argument from the literalists, but here is my thought nonetheless. No correct answers here, just some philosophical speculation.


As far as I am aware god’s first creations are angels, beings without freewill and more or less servants to their creators. God then decides to create this universe along with man, who he gives free will.

I guess the first interesting point is why would god create us? I think in this regard god seems rather like a scientists testing the limit of his own ability. And if this were the case, one has to wonder what happens to a science experiment once it gets old?

If you were a god, would not the ultimate test of your ability be to create an equal to yourself? Creating a man with freewill is all and dandy, but for an all-powerful being it is hardly impressive.

So if god, is only testing his ability, do any of you believers ever think he may have abandon us, like a scientist shelves an old experiment?

One last thought as to why we may not be the finished product of gods design. If a person is lonely and suffers from hallucinations, do they imagine (or mentally create) a being that is “less than themselves”? Do they imagine an ant for a friend? Or do they imagine an equal?

*spelling

Angels do have free will, that's why they fall and become demons. Satan is an angle too, and god wouldn't be battling him if Satan didn't have free will.

I think catholicism had created a pretty distorted image of what angels used to mean in those days.
Today we see them as half naked people with r******ed faces that look up in the sky and have wings.

Angels are not lower beings to humans, but much higher, god-like beings of vast power.

You might say they have often been worshiped as gods on earth.

now, I don't speak for general christianity, so this is off the record, but
I would argue that what is called gods in polytheism are angels in Judaism and christianity.
These beings ruled many nations both on the will of god, or their own will , and fought endless wars
between each other on earth in ancient times.

if we are some sort of science type experiment, we are definatly a failure or a throwback of some sort.
swept under the rug (earth)
gods naughtly little mistake.
but we will show him!!!! **waves pathetic fist**

Why do we play computer games like "the Sims"???? All we're doing is taking control of a world that we created and exercising our control over those people. The beings inside the computer are not equal to us, yet we created it still.

Of course, this line of reasoning tends to put humanity in the position of a side-creation, as a "bit of fun" for God on the side while he goes about his real work. Which of course I don't believe. I was making this analogy not as an actual example of how God works, but as an example that there is more than one way to look at God. The concept that God is a scientist and somehow trying to "prove his powers" is interesting, but at least in Christianity, you will find no passage in the Bible to back that up......... *correction, you probably could find a passage or two if you really searched, but they wouldn't be contextually accurate and would fly in the face of everything else in the Bible.

I like to think there is more than one way to look at all beings, religions, and higher beings. In my line of thinking, I can't help but believe, ...........

That we are all a bunch of flukes of nature. That goes for my higher being as well. Just got fluked into a higher plane of existence.

I wonder though, what if it is all a matter of a power trip. We all like to play and create and to dally with our creations. I use to play Sims too!

who knows what we have been created for, certainly us having this misterious "knowledge of good and evil" was not a part of the plan. We could simply have been made for carrying stone blocks around and gardening before the naughty snake handed us some kind of LSD fruit and made us hosts of souls

Zombie...Im diggin the MPC in the profile....do you produce?

lol of course you could and who is really concerned how contextually accurate it is? nobody knows what the bible actually saying, the christians cant even all figure it out. As long as everyone falls back on the same old "oh i know this for god told ME" you can not claim to know what the bible contexually means, but hey if you do... your the first.. ever.

I would have to say PA, that it is only due to the limit of our current technology. The goal in gaming, at least first person shooters (Used to be a gamer! ) is to increase AI. One day games will be played against counter-parts that are truly intelligent. I agree as of now we are just taking control, but that does not mean that is our ideal situation.

And this further stress the point that I am talking about as well, what happens to your old games with outdated AI and graphics? You shelve them. Hmm, that is a nice comparison, thank you for that.



Well, while Christianity does not say god is not a scientist, testing his creative ability, it certainly does not exclude the possibility. And the argument of "How could you know god's reasoning" works as a double edged sword here.

I don't claim to know EVERYTHING in the Bible. No one knows the whole lot. But I do claim to have a good idea at what the majority of the Bible is saying. But I don't think I'm the first person to ever know this.

Very good point. I said in another thread, as soon as one has the ability to read the bible, the entire experience is subjective. Why do you think it was, for a significant portion of history, the bible was kept written in languages that the commoners could not understand? Because the clergy damn sure knew that once the average Joe read the bible on their own it was going to open up a whole new can of worms on interpretations, that may or may not support the clergy members in power.

That is the double edged sword of the bible being disseminated to the masses, yes it opens it up to scholarly debate as to the true meanings, but it also allows the crazies to come out and play mean games with the other children in our sandbox we call earth.

Regardless of accuracy the bible is written without much objectivity in mind. It is impossible to not know the bible in your own way, unless you are willing to submit to the teachings of others, in which you are only taking their subjective interpretations as your own.

Isn't that what evolution is for? Upgrading our technology, so to speak??????

As I said, I wasn't using this analogy to say how things were, I was just offering that the scientist is only one analogy, which I later expanded on (a little). If God is a scientist and we are an experiment, then the God who exists is not the God of the Bible. Which of course you might say is a possibility, but I would not say that

Maybe not "god" in the generic sense, but if we are talking about the God of the Bible, it does not fit that God is a scientist. What scientist desires to have a relationship with their experiment? What scientist loves their experiment so much that they sent their son to teach their experiment and die for their experiment so that the experiment might live forever.

If you are seeing "god" beyond the constraints of Christianity, then so be it. But for me, arguing from my point of view, I am speaking of the God that I believe in.

~ Regards, PA

Yes that is what evolution is for, to upgrade our "hardware", however I was referring to a literal translation of creation.




Maybe god is a bad scientist? Look at Jane Goodall or any of the scientist that cant help but interact with their experiment. No one is saying that because he is a god, does not mean he can suck at things. There is all kinds of Ph.D.'s that interact with animals they observe, and once you interact you unintentionally change their behavior.

Edit: Hmm, this could be a interesting argument as well from the "god as a scientist". You could make the argument that gods interaction with his creations change their behavior maybe, and that is what caused original sin!

Also, many scientists have lost their lives for their "experiments", Dian Fossey is a perfect example of a loving, interacting scientists who paid with her life, had she had children with her I am sure the poachers would have martyred them as well.

I understand this is something you do not believe, because you have that the biblical statements on god are correct (though as I said, the bible makes no comment on why we are created, at least that I am aware of, and because god loved and interacted with us does not exclude him being a "scientist"). I of course, have no belief in a god or gods but thought it an interesting argument nonetheless.

Well, as a Christian, I've wondered the same thing. God being God, why would He want to create humans of all things. I've often wondered if Adam and Eve hadn't messed up would any of us be around?
It doesn't hurt to question...no matter your belief. That's how we gain knowledge.
Actually, in one of our Bible classes we talked about this. I don't know if there is anything but speculation. One theory was for companionship. Imagine. I guess even God could get lonely. If that's the case, the human race has certainly kept Him busy.

Hmm, but I think question still stands. If God were lonely why not create an equal? I could see creating a few life forms as practice runs, make sure you have that whole creation thing down first, but I guess my point would be: If god, is the all-powerful Judeo-Christian god, why create something so much less than yourself to keep you busy?

How much in common could you find with an ant mound? How much time could you invest in the ant mound before you got bored and needed to create something more complex? Would you be satisfied in the company of ants for the rest of eternity, or would you make a real companion, who can experience the universe and think like you?

I would much rather have the latter if we are talking about eternity. Of course I suppose we could assume God is a kid on a power trip and likes to delegate over his creations like a child over toys, I guess that is not very Judeo-Christian Godly though (well I suppose it could be, especially when taking the OT into account).