Omnipotent Beings
Has it occurred to any of you that there really is no reason to assume that the God and the Goddess are omnipotent or omniscient?
Look at how smooth that was. In one sentence I have probably outraged my religious readers and led my non-religious readers to realize this is one of the posts they are going to want to ignore. Just in case anyone is still reading thi, though, I will continue.
In the above statement I first presume a belief in some such deity. Obviously an atheist can say yes and launch into the argument of the existence of God, but that isn't the goal of this particular article. Second, I will say that I refer in the first sentence of this post to a somewhat pure interpretation of those two words. An assumption that the God and Goddess are all powerful and all knowing. That there is nothing that they can't do, nothing that they don't know.
Some would say that this belief is required in order for us to have faith in a higher power. How could we trust our lives and our souls to a fallible being? A tough one to answer for people who require a scenario in which there is no room for error, no room for things to go astray of a divine master plan. Still, consider this. To continue your faith in your cosmic parents, one can use the same basic words with a slightly modified concept in terminology.
You see, I don't understand why any of the basic religious tenets of most religious wouldn't survive just fine under the concept that God was capable of doing everything we could and a whole lot more. That God knew everything that we did and a whole lot more. In relevance to us, then, we can apply the labels of omnipotence and omniscience even though they don't precisely apply.
Why would we want to believe that there were things that God couldn't do? Things that God didn't know? Frankly, I think it makes our ability to justify our faith a lot easier. It helps remove some of the crises that we face in our spiritual quests.
Think about it. Which is easier to handle and accept? The fact that in some cases there are things that God doesn't know/can't do, or that he is fully capable of making it better but chooses not to?
In the Charge of the Goddess (Disclaimers: 1) I don't take everything said there as gospel, but I do believe in the basic tenets as being a fairly accurate interpretation of the true Charge. 2) I have nothing to do with the site linked, it just happens to be one that I found so you could easily link and read what I referred to if unfamiliar.) it is said that what you do not find without, you will not find within. I have heard many say that we live within God. I have heard many say that the earth is our mother. The bottom line? There are many things we can accomplish using the laws of nature. There are many things now that we accomplish that would seem "magical" to our ancestors. Is it unreasonable to assume that these laws might define the confines of the God and Goddess themselves?
Of course this brings up an argument. If we continue to learn, and manage not to destroy ourselves, is it possible that we might one day grow to be equals, or at least close to the level of our creator? I find it unlikely, but then, I don't understand why people thing this is horrible and blasphemous either.
Many religions have concepts of heaven or the summer lands or some equivalent. Where we spend eternity with God and/or Goddess in loving grace in the picnic to end all picnics. Think about this. If this is the goal of the deity, don't you think our growth to such proportions would be the design? After all, would you want to spend your eternity hanging around with nothing but preschoolers? I don't think God would either.
So, am I suggesting that we should jump up and water down our vision of what the God/dess is? Of course not. Ultimately, all of the above is pointless philosophy. There is nothing we can do with either side. But since what God knows or doesn't is such a frequent topic of conversation lately, I thought I would throw that out there to chew on. If God is the highest order, that makes him perfect by default, he is the standard. It doesn't make him incapable of being hampered by himself. Look at the various texts considered sacred in this light. The perception of God changes and expands. Did the writers mature with their societies over the ages, or did God continue to expand? Has God finished the race, or is he just so far ahead of us that it doesn't matter? Finally, in the grand scheme of things, does it pay for us to dwell on these questions? Are there answers, or is it the questions that define life, or something close to it?
Look at how smooth that was. In one sentence I have probably outraged my religious readers and led my non-religious readers to realize this is one of the posts they are going to want to ignore. Just in case anyone is still reading thi, though, I will continue.
In the above statement I first presume a belief in some such deity. Obviously an atheist can say yes and launch into the argument of the existence of God, but that isn't the goal of this particular article. Second, I will say that I refer in the first sentence of this post to a somewhat pure interpretation of those two words. An assumption that the God and Goddess are all powerful and all knowing. That there is nothing that they can't do, nothing that they don't know.
Some would say that this belief is required in order for us to have faith in a higher power. How could we trust our lives and our souls to a fallible being? A tough one to answer for people who require a scenario in which there is no room for error, no room for things to go astray of a divine master plan. Still, consider this. To continue your faith in your cosmic parents, one can use the same basic words with a slightly modified concept in terminology.
You see, I don't understand why any of the basic religious tenets of most religious wouldn't survive just fine under the concept that God was capable of doing everything we could and a whole lot more. That God knew everything that we did and a whole lot more. In relevance to us, then, we can apply the labels of omnipotence and omniscience even though they don't precisely apply.
Why would we want to believe that there were things that God couldn't do? Things that God didn't know? Frankly, I think it makes our ability to justify our faith a lot easier. It helps remove some of the crises that we face in our spiritual quests.
Think about it. Which is easier to handle and accept? The fact that in some cases there are things that God doesn't know/can't do, or that he is fully capable of making it better but chooses not to?
In the Charge of the Goddess (Disclaimers: 1) I don't take everything said there as gospel, but I do believe in the basic tenets as being a fairly accurate interpretation of the true Charge. 2) I have nothing to do with the site linked, it just happens to be one that I found so you could easily link and read what I referred to if unfamiliar.) it is said that what you do not find without, you will not find within. I have heard many say that we live within God. I have heard many say that the earth is our mother. The bottom line? There are many things we can accomplish using the laws of nature. There are many things now that we accomplish that would seem "magical" to our ancestors. Is it unreasonable to assume that these laws might define the confines of the God and Goddess themselves?
Of course this brings up an argument. If we continue to learn, and manage not to destroy ourselves, is it possible that we might one day grow to be equals, or at least close to the level of our creator? I find it unlikely, but then, I don't understand why people thing this is horrible and blasphemous either.
Many religions have concepts of heaven or the summer lands or some equivalent. Where we spend eternity with God and/or Goddess in loving grace in the picnic to end all picnics. Think about this. If this is the goal of the deity, don't you think our growth to such proportions would be the design? After all, would you want to spend your eternity hanging around with nothing but preschoolers? I don't think God would either.
So, am I suggesting that we should jump up and water down our vision of what the God/dess is? Of course not. Ultimately, all of the above is pointless philosophy. There is nothing we can do with either side. But since what God knows or doesn't is such a frequent topic of conversation lately, I thought I would throw that out there to chew on. If God is the highest order, that makes him perfect by default, he is the standard. It doesn't make him incapable of being hampered by himself. Look at the various texts considered sacred in this light. The perception of God changes and expands. Did the writers mature with their societies over the ages, or did God continue to expand? Has God finished the race, or is he just so far ahead of us that it doesn't matter? Finally, in the grand scheme of things, does it pay for us to dwell on these questions? Are there answers, or is it the questions that define life, or something close to it?
posted by Wanderer at 4:50 PM
7 Comments:
I reiterate.
mc - at least you're open minded.
You wouldn't call someone who doesn't believe in Santa Clause or time-travelling super-intelligent beetles closed-minded. Why do you call me closed-minded for not buying the invisible superpowered magic guy who wants us to obey and worship but refuses to prove his own existence, or even offer any suggestion of it beyond the word of a desert nomad who hadn't had food or shelter for weeks?
Occam's razor, bitches.
And to frank, recently I've come to the conclusion that I do lose a tremendous amount of respect for someone when I find out they still believe in the fairy tale, and I'm fine with that. Fuck childish minds.
I am attempting to remain mature however I think some may misunderstand my bluntness for a failure in that goal.
I don't sugarcoat; I think those who still buy the god thing are gullible and childish. Kids believe in the tooth fairy; it's supposed to be our job as adults to abandon those ridiculous concepts and realize we don't have a magic guardian's hand to hold. You're on your own; the sooner you accept that and deal with it, the better. We all wish there was some secondary, more important reality, so that when things go wrong in this one we can say to ourselves "Hey, it doesn't matter, cause this isn't the real deal." Just like pressing RESET on your video game console. But you know what, there is no RESET button.
This is your life. This is not a processing kernel. There is no higher shell. There is no baseline. This is it. No one is here to help you. No one is here to save you. You must fend for yourself, and if you come up short, you have failed. This is not an intramural sport; there is no "after the game," there is no tomorrow beyond the today that is your life. Don't resort to that crutch defense mechanism of an afterlife notion to justify your failures and lack of effort in this life. Throw away childish things.
Have you ever seen someone in denial and you found it so sad that their mind could not handle the reality with which they were presented and now the person must look like an ass in front of the stronger-minded people who have grasped, accepted, and dealt with it? This is how you all look to us. This is how you are all acting. You are scared shitless that there's no safety net so you convince yourself there is one. You are grasping for straws, trying desperately to see past the gaps in logic and the abandonment of scientific method to prove to yourself the fallacy of that big fluffy warm hand to hold. Cut it out and deal with things.
mc - just FYI, you misspelled "standard" in your profile where you put: "I believe anyone who believes in a religion was the recipient of a very sub-stabdard education."
Haha that's friggin great.. I love when typos make me the butt of irony.
Seriously thanks though.
Chip - I think you are responsible for the most disturbing quote I ever found on this blog: "While I was driving to work yesterday I had this blog on my mind."
My blog was on your mind. You poor thing. :)
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