Well , what do you reckon?
More importantly: Is Bigfoot a Libra?
When come back, bring pie!
Define “egotist.”
Which god?
First of all, I’m assuming you mean the Christian/Jewish God.
This is the defintion of “egoist” that I got from dictionary.com: 1: a conceited and self-centered person. 2: a self-centered person with little regard for others.
Now, on those assumptions:
First of all, I don’t really believe in God. Ignoring that, however, if there IS a god, he wouldn’t quite fit the defintion because he is not a “person.” 
As to the rest of it, however, I would think that he would be an egoist. I mean, think about it for a minute. One being creates all? Wouldn’t that get to his head at least a little bit? Being omnipotent and omnipresent? Having power over everything?
Or do you mean an egoist, as in, someone who believes morality is founded in his own self-interest? There’s a question very similar to that being asked in robertliguori’s thread, “Are morals God’s will, or absolutes that He describes to us?” It’s kind of like asking, does morality exist because God says so, or does He say so because it exists?
Maybe in a way, but I guess if your a God you have the right to have a big ego.
—mean, think about it for a minute. One being creates all? Wouldn’t that get to his head at least a little bit?—
Does god have a head? Feet? How many penises does he have on each hand? If you created the universe and are omnipotent, aren’t you justified by definition no matter how high an opinion you have of yourself?
Back to my original question, which I think is a lot easier to answer: does the invisible unknowable Zergon of Blorkplex 6 speak German?
My point being: aren’t these questions without any sort of basis or standard to measure against? A God could be really egotistical… or not, but how could we tell?
Although I do not believe God is an egotist, there is a case to be made for what monica is saying in the last chapters of the Book of Job
One having an exaggerated sense of self-worth.
Assuming God existed…he’s supposed to be all-powerful, right? So he’d certainly be justified in having a very high opinion of himself.
Anyway, if he’s omniscient, he’d know exactly how worthy he was, and it would be impossible for him to have an “inflated sense of self-worth”. Both because his worth is infinite, and also his self-knowledge is perfect.
So no, if there were a God, he couldn’t possibly be an egotist.
If someone tells me i must worship him, sacrifice and live for him, put him in front of all others including myself- and i have to do all of this on a blind faith that he actually exists, that he is my one true savior and creator, with no proof of such existence, or i’ll spend the rest of eternity in absolute pain and suffering… yeah, i think i’d call that entity an egotist
Not necessarily. An entity who acts as if He does not exist should be ignored, and rightly so.
Um…I’m not sure what that has to do with the topic at hand…
But I’d have to say that yes, my conclusion does necessarily follow from the premises.
egotist=someone with an inflated sense of self-worth
god=an entity with perfect knowledge of the universe
Therefore, it is, by definition, impossible for god to be an egotist, since he has perfectly accurate knowledge of is self-worth.
Whether or not he should be ignored is not relevant to the question.
(I’m an atheist, by the way, if you didn’t know. I’m not sticking up for the Big Guy, just doing a logical exercise.)
As if this is not heavy enough , I am now told by my friend -
an insomniac , agnostic , dyslexic - that he lies awake wondering if there really is a doG.
I disagree. Just because God says that he is omniscent, doesn’t make it so. Based on his actions, he certainly seems to demand a lot for a very little. And most of what He does expect us to be thankful for is when he fixes His old mistakes.
I have issues with any god that would demand I praise and worship him or her, else I suffer.
—egotist=someone with an inflated sense of self-worth
god=an entity with perfect knowledge of the universe —
Same mistake Michael Behe makes. Arguing from something that is true by definition to a specific case that may or may not fit that definition and any way is not quite the same issue as the definition.
—Therefore, it is, by definition, impossible for god to be an egotist, since he has perfectly accurate knowledge of is self-worth.—
I don’t think you are even right on this. Omniscience would not guarantee that anyone would agree with god on subjective criteria such as god’s worth as a being. God could be a real jerk in our estimation, and thus his own sense of moral rightness would be offensive and egotistical to us. He might think it best if he was worshiped: this isn’t a piece of knowledge: it’s an opinion. And we might disagree with that opinion, thinking he’s a real bully with a very wrong and inflated moral opinion of himself.
I don’t think the question of whether or not God should be worshipped is relevant to the issue. Maybe he is an asshole, but he would have to know that. Maybe he demands that we worship him with little justification, but that doesn’t imply that he has a mistaken estimation of his own worth. If in fact he can and will send you to hell for disobeying him, he’s perfectly right that you should do as he says, whether you like it or not.
robertliguori:
It’s not that God says he’s omniscient, it’s that omniscience is simply part of the definition of God. (Assuming we’re talking about the Judeo-Christian conception here.)
And just because he seems to be kind of demanding doesn’t imply that he doesn’t know he is.
Apos
I don’t think so. If God exists (and I don’t think he does) then he pretty much gets to decide what’s moral. If we disagree with him, we’re wrong.
ElwoodCuse
Yeah, me too. But we’re arguing the specific question of whether or not God can be mistaken in evaluating himself, not whether he’s nice or praiseworthy.
I find it odd, as an atheist, to find myself in the position of defending God. I would agree that you could rightly apply quite a few negative adjectives to some people’s conception of him. Jerk, bully, tyrant…those could certainly apply. But not egotist.
And I now feel I’ve put way too much time and effort into this rather pointless and silly question. So, having said my say, I probably won’t be responding to this one any more, though I will be reading responses.
Cheers.