h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ah makes sense. Thats hardly fair though, what if you were pretty much evil then that part of god would be evil.

Surely that means thered be no point in other religions. People wouldn't like to hear they've wasted their lives.

Well i think you get around the evil thing by saying that there is no good and evil. Something that may be helping someone for example may be hurting someone else.
There are only differences.

Also it doesn't actually make different religions worthless. Religion is an expression of culture like clothing style etc. It gives people meaning. Also while there is some deviation.

If god is how i have suggested in my previous posts, EVERYTHING, then most religions were be pretty much right, they just all have different cultural ways of expressing that same universal truth.

If god is everything is the universe just another way of saying god?

I guess. But that doesn't mean that god can't also be something outside the universe. Basically it is up to him, and of course to make things etc he would need part of himself to be outside the universe.

Well that is my interpretation anyway

Where is evil when god is everything?

We are leaving out a key point to all this: Choice. Why would God, in his omnipotence and infinite wisdom, choose to do these things? Before God does something, He must choose to do it. God must choose to make a rock he cannot lift. "Why would I ever make anything I can't handle?" asks God, "I am God! I am all-powerful! Those bloody humans think they can understand me, hmm? I'll show them by inspiring an unanswerable question. That'll put them in their places!" The fact that none of us can answer this question proves not only the omnipotence of God, but that He is much, much smarter than any of us will ever hope to be. I think Sir Thomas Aquinas once said that, "God is apprehended by imagination, intuition, reason, touch, opinion, sense, and name and so on. But, on quite the other hand, we find we can't begin to understand him so to some it seems a shame to go on." Why would God give us the ability to ask such questions? Does God wish for his creation to question him? I think the mindset of most people of the Christian faith, is that we go to church to feel good rather than to think. God wants us to question him because He will always be right in the end. It is just another way of proving Himself. I'm not at all sure where I was going with that but...anywho...

JeanAlbertConrad

Why would God in his Omnipotent, Omniscient self be bothered?

God can indeed create a stone that he can't lift. He didn't though, so he is still omnipotent, as there is no stone for him to not be able to lift.
Take that!

Good and evil are opposite points of view. Do you think Hitler woke up and said "What evil things should I do today?" No. I wrote a piece about good and evil. Check it out.

I will. Where is it?

If a tree falls over in the woods and no-ones around to hear it does it make a noise?

Answer: If a tree falls over in the woods and no-ones around to hear it how do you know there isnt a) a tree, b) a wood and c) any falling over?

Here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/A4130344

Note that it is one of my first, and is not in the edited, or underguide. I never submitted it. What I'm getting at is that it might not be as good as it can be.

Do you view yourself as a philosopher, a writer or an artist?

Are we assuming that god is physically lifting the stone?

Because if he is god surely he could just tell the stone to hover.

In which case the size of the stone is irrevelent, he could move mountains with his mind.

We are assuming there is a god but thats another story.

Can God create two mountains without a valley in between. The answer is no, because that is too illogical. Omnipotence doesnt mean he can do anything, just that he has the power over all things possible. Can god travel in time however? This is something which is annoying me because if he can its possible that god can create himself.

If god can create himself, who created god in the first place. And don't you think someone so important(assuming he exists) in that without him nothing would be here, would be careful not to use time travel because of the well known hazzards of meeting youself/an ancestor and killing yourself/preventing yourself from coming into being in some way. A theme that is explored well in Back to the Future.(Good film, if you haven't seen it- you should)

Well I'm only playing devils advocate but...


Surely the whole point of faith is not to question god. If you believe in god, why question his existence. If you don't believe in god, why question other peoples beliefs.

No-one said we believed in god. We are philososphising. Even if we did believe we would have to temporarily suspend our beliefs in order to philosophise. Blind faith and logical thought processes do not mix. Although if god is real then I would expect him to live outside the barrier of logic so that no one can possibly prove whether or not he exists logically - as this is fatal to gods.

Which is more important; Blind faith or logical thought?

Logic can help us try to work out solutions to problems such as "How big is the universe"
But faith can help you deal with the small (in comparison with the universe) problems such as "How will I ever love again?"

It depends on whether you are the sort of person who trys to get rid of a problem by finding a bigger one, or if you prefer to achieve inner peace (This often involves ice cream)

I don't like taking blind leaps of faith (or any leap of faith for that matter) normally but then I'm mostly indifferent to either process as a theory. I'm just good old cynical me.

Quoting Major General Of SMP †Job † Boron† - The Dude With The Points!
"Can God create two mountains without a valley in between. The answer is no, because that is too illogical."

What if he turned one mountian upside down? Heheh. I'm just kidding.

So in essence the argument is: Is god so powerful he can make himself less powerful? Or rather Can he make himself less powerful relative to what he used to be?

Well, just because he can, doesn't mean he has. If he doesn't make the stone, he can't not be able to lift it. I wonder though, if he can make mountians in a 4th dimension of space? But that's a big stretch, isn't it?