The Idea of a God Is Not So Crazy

[Feral Atheist]

I can appreciate why ancient man might have invented gods, when virtually no science was understood.

Take the sun, travels across the sky every day.  How? Why? Who controls it?

Since the how or why are totally beyond the knowledge of the day, then 'who' controls it, and they must have some magical powers.  Then in the middle of the night, fear creeps into their mind.  What if I displease whoever brings the sun every day.  Just to be safe, I'll build an altar to worship whoever controls the sun and praise him so the sun will come back tomorrow.

Thiests today, cling to the ignorance of ancient man, and cling to it in spite of the vast knowledge that today make it clear that god(s) only purpose was to alleviate the fear caused by ancient man's lack of knowledge.

[Bicod]

Any true atheist or logical thinker cannot deny the possibility of a god, and would certainly have to accept the existence of one if given evidence.

A logical thinker can certainly deny the existence of specific Gods from history's long list of religions since none of them have provided any proof. This would mean that if there is a god/all-knowing being/universal creator, then it would either have to be a different one than any religion has ever worshipped, or said religions have gotten things about this deity completely wrong.

The only other possibility is a deistic creator. The reason I stopped being a deist years ago is that I realized that there's simply no point or reason for the existence of this deistic creator; even if it did exist it would be pointless and unnecessary. I think most deists have come to the conclusion that there is no omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent being in the universe that is obsessed with the human race and that most are just one step away from abandoning the sloppy First Cause argument and becoming atheists.

Atheists and agnostics deny religion and don't focus too much on the possibility of a god, theists usually accept religion because they believe in the possibility of a god, or perhaps are convinced that there has to be a god.

1. All agnostics are atheists by definition.
2. Atheists are actually definited by not believing in any gods, not by denying religion. Nobody denies religion. That is a very real thing.

[Feral Atheist]

1. All agnostics are atheists by definition.
2. Atheists are actually definited by not believing in any gods, not by denying religion. Nobody denies religion. That is a very real thing.

And all theists are atheists, for there are many gods they do not believe in.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

I'll just respond to the argument in the OP with my favorite question that never gets answered:

What the everloving fuck is a god?

[Casparov]

Just like the concurrent thread with Casparov- you can postulate the existence and then come up with a whole host of rationalizing that it/he exists. But that is exactly backward of deductive thinking; you are assuming the outcome and then supplying "evidence" to support it.

Assuming an outcome and then supplying evidence, I agree would be intellectually dishonest, it is therefore why I have painstakingly developed my world view from the ground up instead. Just because someone believes in God does not automatically mean that he had some insatiable desire for this outcome. It is possible that it is the logical outcome of a line of reason that did not begin with the intent to arrive at that conclusion.

A god is supernatural, meaning beyond our understanding of what we can perceive in the natural world.

If you define God as "supernatural" then you simply define God out of existence. Anything that is known or can be known must therefore be natural, "supernatural" must always be that which is beyond our reach, so no matter how large our body of knowledge expands, we can never quite reach what we label as "supernatural" otherwise it would be "natural."

If a God actually exists it is necessarily "Natural", not "supernatural".

If it is eventually understandable, then it is not a god.

Only when you define God as that which can never be understandable. That's like saying, "God is that which does not exist, therefore God does not exist."

[Hijiri Byakuren]

If a God actually exists it is necessarily "Natural", not "supernatural".

What's a god?

[Casparov]

What's a god?

god noun \gäd also gȯd\
   : The supreme or ultimate reality : The ground of all being : Infinite Mind.

http://imaginingthetenthdimension.blogspot.com/2007/11/is-god-in-seventh-dimension.html

Next question?

[Jason78]

Oh well, if we're going to use dictionary definitions, why not use the Collins definition:

god

noun

a supernatural being, who is worshipped as the controller of some part of the universe or some aspect of life in the world or is the personification of some force related adjective divine
an image, idol, or symbolic representation of such a deity
any person or thing to which excessive attention is given   â‡' money was his god
a man who has qualities regarded as making him superior to other men
(in plural) the gallery of a theatre

Under that definition I'm a god :)

[SGOS]

god noun \gäd also gȯd\
The supreme or ultimate reality
The ground of all being
Infinite Mind.

I like these various groups of words.  They sound really cool.  I like "the ground of all being".  It says so much and it's really clear what that means.  "Ultimate reality" is cool because it describes a state that is more ultimate than a less alternate state of reality, and that helps me understand what a god is.  He's more ultimate than the less ultimate parts of reality, which apparently comes in various degrees of ultimateness.   It's probably a good idea to choose the most ultimate one.

Do you know what word salad is?

[SGOS]

God:  An undetectable immaterial fog like neutrality inhabiting the Aether that senses as it permeates the environment.

[SGOS]

god noun \gäd also gȯd\
The ground of all being

This is incomplete.  It should read "positive" ground of all being.

But then it's your god.  You can define him as you like, although he lacks the positive quality of my god.

[josephpalazzo]

I like these various groups of words.  They sound really cool.  I like "the ground of all being".  It says so much and it's really clear what that means.  "Ultimate reality" is cool because it describes a state that is more ultimate than a less alternate state of reality, and that helps me understand what a god is.  He's more ultimate than the less ultimate parts of reality, which apparently comes in various degrees of ultimateness.   It's probably a good idea to choose the most ultimate one.

And what about the word "supreme"? They were a cool band back in the 60's.

Do you know what word salad is?

[lmgtfy]Salad[/lmgtfy]

[GSOgymrat]

I also question whether a god or gods need be supernatural, mystical or personal. If some entity or entities created our universe, even if the entities themselves were subject to physical laws and eventually died, wouldn't they be gods? I think if a group of entities from outside our universe made themselves know when creatures like humans evolved enough to understand the necessary concepts, and were able to explain how they created this universe-- created space, time, matter, energy, consciousness from neural interaction-- then I would say they are gods. I don't think gods need to have direct interaction with humans, they don't even need to exist anymore, to be gods. Gods don't have to be associated with life after death or morality. If something created the universe then I would consider that to be god.

Gods require a definition, and I know when people say God they mean a Christian god or a personal god, but I think "God: that which created the universe" qualifies.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

god noun \gäd also gȯd\
   : The supreme or ultimate reality : The ground of all being : Infinite Mind.

This barely covers any entries on Godchecker. Try again.

[Solitary]

If God is supernatural how could He even be known? And if He is natural wouldn't science have found He exists after 2,000+ years of inquirer? Solitary