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If you were God, would you give humanity moral free will?
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- ManofEcstasy
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- Movie Nerd
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Re: If you were God, would you give humanity moral free will?
What God are we talking about here? First we have to establish the characteristics of a God figure. Is it the Judeo-Christian God, or Allah? Or even a Hindu or Greek or Norse God? How about none of the above and make a new one?
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Re: If you were God, would you give humanity moral free will?
If I were one of the 13 eternal fire Gods I'd levitate and shoot fire out of my ass. I'd give people free will and then shoot fire on them if they used it. Yes, this is a fun exercise.
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Re: If you were God, would you give humanity moral free will?
Yahweh? Is that you?Chris OConnor wrote:If I were one of the 13 eternal fire Gods I'd levitate and shoot fire out of my ass. I'd give people free will and then shoot fire on them if you used it. Yes, this is a fun exercise.
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Re: If you were God, would you give humanity moral free will?
If Yahweh had not given man moral free will, things might be better, but extremely weird. We would be unable to behave outside of His moral dictates. For example we would be unable to eat shellfish and pork, but we would be fully justified to raid other countries and take their women as slaves as we kill all livestock and every living thing that breathes. We would always honor our parents no matter how horrendous their behavior, but we would be incapable of creating sculpture. (1) We would be physically incapable of working on Saturday (2), but rape would be possible. Economic activity would be extremely low because our desire to "keep up with the Jones' " would disappear as the 10th commandment is hard wired into our hearts. (3) The phrase "God damn" would not exist and we would not be able to conceive of any God other than Yahweh. (4) Clothing material made of wool and linen together would not exist nor would the laws of physics permit us to plow a field by hitching a donkey and an ox together. Kings would be regarded as having a divine right and democracy might not even exist. All of this would feel completely normal and we would not even be able to imagine alternatives.
I'm sure there is lots more weirdness where all that comes from...
(1) You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
(2) Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
(3) You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.
(4) I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.
I'm sure there is lots more weirdness where all that comes from...
(1) You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
(2) Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
(3) You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.
(4) I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.
Last edited by LanDroid on Sat Nov 22, 2014 11:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
- Interbane
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Re: If you were God, would you give humanity moral free will?
How did Adam and Eve have free will? Wasn't the influening desire to eat the apple stronger than the influencing desire to obey god? Their behavior was determined by the comparative strength of various influences. They did not have free will in the story. We do not have libertarian free will. If god exists, he's an evil control freak.
“In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.” - Douglas Adams
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Re: If you were God, would you give humanity moral free will?
I'm with Interbane on this one. The concept of free will is slippery and confusing and defined differently by different people.
Is it really free will when if you eat from the Tree of Knowledge there is a horrible punishment and if you resist the desire to eat from the tree there is eternal reward?
Is it really free will when if you eat from the Tree of Knowledge there is a horrible punishment and if you resist the desire to eat from the tree there is eternal reward?
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Re: If you were God, would you give humanity moral free will?
I hadn't even thought of that. And such controlling even further strains my belief in Christianity, and even moreso influences my current crisis of faith.Interbane wrote:How did Adam and Eve have free will? Wasn't the influening desire to eat the apple stronger than the influencing desire to obey god? Their behavior was determined by the comparative strength of various influences. They did not have free will in the story. We do not have libertarian free will. If god exists, he's an evil control freak.
I am just your typical movie nerd, postcard collector and aspiring writer.
- ManofEcstasy
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Re: If you were God, would you give humanity moral free will?
We're talking about one outside religion or the Christian God if you'd like.Movie Nerd wrote:What God are we talking about here? First we have to establish the characteristics of a God figure. Is it the Judeo-Christian God, or Allah? Or even a Hindu or Greek or Norse God? How about none of the above and make a new one?
- ManofEcstasy
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Re: If you were God, would you give humanity moral free will?
Yeah, that's a good point concerning being the Christian God (horrible laws), but what about being a God outside of a religion?LanDroid wrote:If Yahweh had not given man moral free will, things might be better, but extremely weird. We would be unable to behave outside of His moral dictates.