Atheists: If there had to be a god, what would you want it to be like?

Great Debates
#61

are we talking about a deity in this universe or an entirely new universe?

in this universe I’d prefer a God who is benevolent and full of love but mostly powerless. the question of evil can’t be resolved with a God who is both loving and powerful, God has to fail at least one of these based on the conditions of our universe. with the universe as it is with its pain, decay, death and bad luck I’d prefer God be a creature of pure love who is powerless to do anything about it and who watches helplessly as sentient creatures suffer. I find that vastly superior to an all powerful evil God.

For a novel universe? God should be a mix of pro social agendas (love, kindness, mercy, etc) as well as all knowing and all powerful. it should create universes where suffering and ignorance are literally impossible and all sentient creatures enjoy existence for eternity.

#62

Up to you. You could imagine it as a more preferable version of this Earth, or make it an entirely new universe. But the focus is on the deity.

#63

I vastly prefer a universe with a loving, powerful, all knowing deity who cares about the autonomy and well being of sentient life forms.

#64

If there had to be a God it would be beyond human understanding as, perhaps, it is.

#65

If there was a god of the magnitude usually described it would have the ability to boil it down to something we could understand.

#66

Gods “of the magnitude usually described” are well within the scope of human understanding.

#67

I’d have no expectations from them (goddesses / gods). It’d be appreciated, if they reached down with one of their tentacles and helped a few folks out, though.

#68

Since, so far, all the gods described have been generated by humans.

Dan

#69

That is what this thread is all about, y’know.

#70

it would have to be a deistic, non-intervening type. Set everything in motion and then do nothing. A universe created by such a god would be indistinguishable from one that had no creator, no heaven, no hell, no prayers, no favours, no punishment, and no apparent need for a higher power at all.

As luck would have it that appears to be precisely the universe in which we find ourselves.

#71

Except my God is, by definition, beyond human understanding.

#72

Amen!

#73

That is not a definition-it is an excuse, and for what reason would someone worship something they have no evidence or understanding of? To have no understanding is to say you don’t know anything about your god. Its motivations, its desires, its goals, its ethics etc.

#74

You are correct. I carry the burden of defining and pursuing a righteous life.

For political purposes, God clubs canonize extant social norms as the motivations, desires, goals and ethics of their God. Over time that process has encompassed about anything you can imagine as being righteous.

Worship? For God clubs worship is ultimately measured in cash.

#75

So, a nonsensical god then? One that is incoherent and irrational?

Wait, no, I learned to understand nonsense a while ago. Hmm.

#76

Indeed, the world runs on nonsense. My God is well beyond that.