There have been multiple threads about “God” and how we would react if there was one, but getting the OPs of these threads to pin down exactly what they mean by “God” can be like pulling teeth. What are the minimum requirements for you to consider an entity to be a “god” or “God”? What is the dividing line between “alien” and “god”? If you could please stick to what you believe and not what you think others believe I would greatly appreciate it-no “Those atheists think science is their god!” snipes, please.
Intriguing question. It’s tough to express the inexpressible.
Some words pop to mind. Purposeful Creator. Infinitely wise. Perfection. Loving Parent.
Not sure that helps. But at least it’s not “science is the atheist’s God”.
I’m not really looking for random and/or vague qualities, though. At the very least, what does an entity have to have or do to go from “powerful” to “god”?
Atheist here, not sure if that violates the “what you believe” edict, but what follows is my personal bare minimum for a god, should one appear, to be called god, so I think it qualifies.
At a minimum, any god worth its salt should be able to:
- Violate or change the laws of physics at will
- Create life
- Communicate with humans
- Be immortal
- Have a conscious will of some kind
I’d be comfortable calling an entity with those five traits “god”.
I don’t think there is one that is perceivable by humans.
Similarly, I don’t think such a being would be able to prove that it was the creator of the universe, short of affecting our minds so that we accept it.
The buck stops There. Not answerable to anyone, more powerful than anyone.
So the “top dog”(so to speak) is a god in your eyes, no matter what it can or cannot do?
It would indeed be a pretty tough call, but there may be some helpful clues. For example, if there were two similar beings, at least one of them must be less than infinitely powerful.
So-top dog and infinitely powerful.
Anything else?
Say there’s just one powerful being, who reveals itself on earth. How would we ever know if it was God, a god, or just a powerful alien being? My money’s on “no way to tell”.
My feeling is that the Creator Of The Universe should be able to change the laws of physics at will, but NOT the rules of logic.
Example: There’s an old conundrum: “Can God create a rock so heavy that He can’t lift it?” My answer is that He cannot, but it’s not because He is incapable of making it, but because the rock is incapable of existing. The challenge itself is unfair; it constitutes changing the rules in the middle of the game. One might as well ask God to create a four-sided triangle - the question itself is meaningless.
Can something be a small “g” god, or does your worldview demand that there only be one “GOD” and that it be all powerful in every aspect?
Infinitely powerful suffices. There can’t be two top dogs.
Granted that it is difficult or impossible for us to distinguish between “infinitely powerful” and “extremely powerful”. But theoretically, that’s a workable definition. If someone’s power were shown to be merely extreme and not infinite, then he must be a mere creation of an even greater Creator (presuming that there is indeed a Creator).
I know that many humans believed in quite a few gods, some of which were supreme over the others and in some cases actually generated the Earth and Sky by their actions. During the Egyptian pharaonic dynasties and the Greco-Roman era, many deities of both sexes were worshiped.
And there we come to that interesting word, worshiped. Perhaps we have defined the word ‘god’ as ‘that which should be worshiped’.
So, what qualities in a deity deserve to be worshiped, if any?
Excellent point. I did notice the lower-case “g” in the OP, but I chose to ignore it. Can’t do that anymore.
I have been expressing my views about the one and only God. As for lower-case gods, I don’t care how anyone else defines them. Dictators, gods, police, they’re all more powerful than me, and anyone more powerful than me is someone who I better be careful not to offend in a practical sense, because the ramifications of upsetting them could be pretty bad.
That’s true of God also, but in addition He has my allegiance, and in any dispute between Him and anyone else - no matter how minor - I’m going to be on God’s side (i.e., the “top dog”) every time. (Or at least, I’ll try to; I admit I’m human and not always as strong as I wish I was.)
I’ll note that many religious apologists use the laws of logic as proof of God’s existence - that if there are laws, there must be a lawgiver. But in your view, God didn’t create them, God is subject to them.
But I’m not asking what it takes to be The God-I’m asking what it takes to be a “god”. In your worldview, can there exist entities that might qualify to be gods yet not be the Creator Of All?
Historically, this is pretty accurate. But I’ve never understood why one would bother worshiping the lower gods, if there’s an option of worshiping their Boss.
Wouldn’t that be a demigod?
Were all the gods below Zeus “demigods”?
Apparently I misunderstood the OP. I didn’t anticipate it as a “my god can beat up your god” type question.