We make great pets.
[sub]pornos for pyros was right[/sub]
Religiously, I consider myself a conscientious objector, mainly because mainstream religions don’t make sense, which is underlined by the question brought up in this thread.
The “experiment” theory is a moot point if you believe believe in either predetermination or an omniscient god.
I believe he created us because he’s a sick f*ck.
Or he’s dreaming us up after a late night Mexican food or seafood binge.
I try to look at it from His perspective. God values goodness above all other aesthetics. If I were such a being, I would delight in goodness being multiplied. I would therefore create beings who, like me, are free moral agents. Since love is the mechanism by which goodness is shared, I would command them to love. But since free moral agency is necessary to differentiate goodness from other aesthetics, I would give them the freedom to choose to reject my commandment and to obstruct the very goodness that I value. I would create for them a mis-en-scene in which they could make their moral decisions. And I would let them judge themselves by the standard I represent. When all is finished, I am left with greater goodness than when I began. And I am sharing it with others who desire it, which is itself good. It doesn’t matter to me if it takes 15 billion years. From my perspective, the beginning, the middle, and the end all occur at once.
How can we hope to understand a god’s perspective. In that sense, I trust some eastern religions far more than I trust the standard monotheisms. All they seek is to achieve a better understanding of the world.
Humility is endless. I don’t presume to understand most of what’s going on in my own life or even in my own head. This question really revolves around how much you believe the standard issue Bible.
One of my other favorite “explains a lot” theories: god is a committee.
Geez, talking about this makes me a bit uncomfortable, considering my username. I’m not a proponent of any religion or supernatural belief. (And I’m not a Satanist / amoralist, either.)
God created man in His likeness, (we are just like Him). He created us to assist Him in learning about Himself. We understand God by understanding ourselves. He sent out trillions of information gathers and learns about Himself collectively as they learn. God doesn’t want nor need worship, or companionship. God needs to fulfill His own curiosity of Himself and what He is doing here. He builds miniature replicas of Himself (us) and watchs them interact, watchs them learn about themselves and others. Physical universes and worlds are built to further this knowledge. We cycle (reincarnation) through these worlds until they have nothing more for us to learn. How far can we go? How much can we create?
As the miniature gods grow into larger gods they learn to become strong enough to create their own worlds. So they do create their own worlds and also create miniature gods of their own to help them satisfy their curiosity.
The whole mass of creation is expanding by creation, and the unique force of love holds the mass together. There was no beginning and there will be no end.
The properties of the mass are awareness (consciousness), curiosity (drive), and love (the force). Tapping into the love force answers all the questions.
(I can’t believe I said that.)
Love
A reading of The Bible suggests otherwise.
Orthodox perspective: God created man in his image, intending for man to grow into the likeness of God. Man’s ultimate goal is to be divinized, or to participate in the divine energies. The means by which man enters into communion with God is Christ, who is the bridge between God and man. God had no need to create man and no craving for worship or companionship; the creation was solely a manifestation of God’s will and love. Therefore, the ultimate reason for the creation that is comprehensible to humans is that God created man because He chose to.
Perhaps it is not that God wants or needs worship, but man needs to worship God. If the ultimate purpose of man is to enter into communion with God, worshipping other things is hardly conducive to that end, and it would only make sense for God to encourage man to focus his efforts towards God.
Humans are supposed to grow up to be gods. Of course this takes multiple lifetimes. God reproduces in a rather complicated manner.
try THE ULTIMATE FRONTIER by Eklal Kueshana
If you can believe that you can believe anything. Next try
OLD SOULS by Tom Shroder
More down to earth but still wierd.
Dal Timgar
d0G is a Sadist and neeeeds strong AI toys to play with.
I’ve always had the feeling that God has a sense of humor and we are the punch line.
</slight hijack>
Quote by RedNaxela " the first “mission statement” is that he should work and guard the Garden of Eden "
From who or what should he guard the garden? He and eve are the only sentient objects on the planet.
<hijack over>
Sorry
Sin
good question!
demons?
That God would create humans and then punish some for eternity doesn’t add up.
One commentary (Ibn Ezra) suggests that he had to guard it against wild animals that might wander in and befoul the place.
But most of the other commentaries (perhaps because of the objection you raised) explain this phrase in a less literal sense: since the Garden of Eden is a place of heightened spirituality (indeed, the same term is used in Judaism for the afterlife where souls receive their reward), then its welfare depended directly on the spiritual state of the people for whom it was created. In short, according to this approach, the “working” and the “guarding” of the Garden of Eden was to be accomplished by performing good deeds and avoiding bad ones.
(Even according to this explanation, though, the Torah phrases it in terms of work - rather than just saying outright that Adam’s job was “to do good and stay away from evil” - in order to teach a lesson about the importance and the dignity of honest labor.)
Would have been nice if God had bothered to write it. Or dictate it. But hey, when you’re omnipotent you can do what you want and call it a mystery. Someone will eventually come along and make a best seller out of it. Just make sure you have the right translation when quoting it word-for-word.
A long time ago, as a Byzantine Catholic child (I know, most of you have never heard of us) this was the first thing I was taught at catechism:
Who made you?
God made me.
Why did God make you?
To know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him.
Everything after that was more or less elaboration on these points.
By RedNaxela
<quote>
…since the Garden of Eden is a place of heightened spirituality (indeed, the same term is used in Judaism for the afterlife where souls receive their reward), then its welfare depended directly on the spiritual state of the people for whom it was created. In short, according to this approach, the “working” and the “guarding” of the Garden of Eden was to be accomplished by performing good deeds and avoiding bad ones. </quote>
Appologies if this is a daft question Red ( i am not good with the bible), but this occured before Eve ate the apple so surely there would be no evil around to alter the perfect “spiritual state”. It was perfect by default. If not then your god made something that was NOT perfect?
As i say, i really dont know my stuff when it come to the bible so if the apple bit is completely un-related then im sorry and will stick to what i know !
sin