Would you be god

[Chronictank]

Saw a few people say they wanted to be god in the other thread, I been thinking about it, and tbh i dont think i would want to

If you HAD to do all the crap bits, and listen to all the whining as a pre-requisite for your powers.
I mean your acts would have to be selfless when you use your powers, you would have to be the model person would mean you couldn't do any of the sin's either (so no pre-marital sex for example)

7 deadly sins for those who don't know

Spoiler

* 1 Lust
* 2 Gluttony
* 3 Greed
* 4 Sloth
* 5 Wrath
* 6 Envy
* 7 Pride

So, would you want to be the all mighty if you had to assume the role?

Dont turn this into a moronic "there is no god" thread, this is just philosophizing

 

[old.Tohtori]

We're talking in the, morgan freeman in bruce almighty kinda god? Bible god that is.

Your description is a bit vague, no offence.

'cause according to "the book", god ain't all smiles and ahppy giggles always.

Also, wouldn't being that powerful mean that sex was a bit dull compared to say, sticking your "omni potent" willy in a black hole?

 

[Chronictank]

the whole kanoodle, the common representation of god in the major religions as the self-less being
Not bruce almighty god, as he wasnt god he just had god powers and was very selfish with them breaking greed, wrath, envy and pride if i remember correctly

 

[old.Tohtori]

Meant the morgan freeman representation, but yeah, that bruce part wouldn't work.

I guess i could. Surely wouldn't have a problem staying away from those sins. Or sex. Not too sure what it would include, and what the concept of time is with an almight being. You kow, answering a million prayers in a nanosecond, i think, wouldn't be a problem. Would be sure as heck fun to try.

 

[chipper]

id still be god you get to ignore all your creations (hey just going on current events) sit back and watch the world unfold with the added benefits of been omnipotent and all knowing also wouldnt all those emotions be pretty trivial i mena if you REALLY wanted sex bang click ya fingers women of ya dreams at ya side

id say the biggest test of been a god is not to interfere not commit any sins

 

[Thorwyn]

If you HAD to do all the crap bits, and listen to all the whining as a pre-requisite for your powers.
I mean your acts would have to be selfless when you use your powers, you would have to be the model person would mean you couldn't do any of the sin's either (so no pre-marital sex for example)

I never understood where the "selfless" part comes in. In my books, god (as described in the bible) is far from selfless. I mean... he decided to create mankind to his likeness and expect his creation to adore and praise him, otherwise he will punish them. "You all have a free will, but if you chose the wrong "will", you´re doomed." To me, this is pretty selfish and a display of pride, in which case god should have sentenced himself to purgatory for violating the seven deadly sins.

That aside, no, I don´t think I´d want to be god. The only reason to change my mind would be the opportunity to get some answers to questions I (we all) don´t understand. But I doubt that would be worth the hassle.

 

[Chronictank]

I never understood where the "selfless" part comes in. In my books, god (as described in the bible) is far from selfless. I mean... he decided to create mankind to his likeness and expect his creation to adore and praise him, otherwise he will punish them. "You all have a free will, but if you chose the wrong "will", you´re doomed." To me, this is pretty selfish and a display of pride, in which case god should have sentenced himself to purgatory for violating the seven deadly sins.

That aside, no, I don´t think I´d want to be god. The only reason to change my mind would be the opportunity to get some answers to questions I (we all) don´t understand. But I doubt that would be worth the hassle.

not really taking about any religion in particular, just the concept

chipper hit the nail on the head, you make your little civilisation and watch it/elements in it slowly kill itself despite your best efforts
Perhaps the better question would be how would you get people with free will to maintain themselves to realise the utopia you intended for them?

Duno, being god just seems rather dull to me

 

[Thorwyn]

not really taking about any religion in particular, just the concept

I think chipper hit the nail on the head, you make your little civilisation and watch it/elements in it slowly kill itself despite your best efforts
Would take some major willpower to stop yourself interfering

OK but you quoted the seven deadly sins, which are - at least to my knowledge - a christian (TM), hence my reply.
Also, I didn´t mean to "diss" any religion, I just find the mechanisms pretty interesting.

You say it takes willpower to refrain from interefering when your creation messes up. But maybe there is another good reason not to? Maybe god doesn´t care or he simply can´t interfere. That´s what I mean by "get some answers".

 

[Thorwyn]

Perhaps the better question would be how would you get people with free will to maintain themselves to realise the utopia you intended for them?

Aaah! Not it´s getting clearer!
You´re basically asking yourself the same question as I do, just from a different angle.

 

[Olgaline]

any bets this turns into a pro/anti religiouse thread ?

A few notes tho' Personally I wouldnt mind being Omnipotent, that "godlike" as in power with no limits aka unlimited power" not as in a religiose god
and the major relions ? hmmm... we take you mean the abrahamic god ye ? as in Christian, muslim, jewish. and as in the major relions of today? hinduism, Chinese folk religion, and budism are also major relions, not to mention all the "old religions" much dout they'ed quiet agree on that perception of a god

 

[chipper]

how would you instill a morale code without interfering i suppose in the early days you would have no choice however one thing i wouldnt want ppl to do is to praise me id just tell em get on with it have a good life treat others how you want to be treated there'd be no mention of heaven or hell id just want my creation to live their lives not devote it to mine that would make me a happy deity

 

[Binky the Bomb]

Hmmm, be GOD, and take responcibility for all the crap the human race has done for the last few thousand years.

No. Thats one turd that wont flush.

 

[chipper]

i wouldnt take responsibility for it man is "intelligent" and responsible for his/her own actions anyway id just find a new planet to start from scratch

 

[Chronictank]

any bets this turns into a pro/anti religiouse thread ?

A few notes tho' Personally I wouldnt mind being Omnipotent, that "godlike" as in power with no limits aka unlimited power" not as in a religiose god
and the major relions ? hmmm... we take you mean the abrahamic god ye ? as in Christian, muslim, jewish. and as in the major relions of today? hinduism, Chinese folk religion, and budism are also major relions, not to mention all the "old religions" much dout they'ed quiet agree on that perception of a god

Religion isnt really relevant as we are discussing the concept of a being a god (not omnipotentence), so having the responsbility to that which you create.
The catch being as soon as you ignore your responsbility its game over, no more powers

I only posted the 7 deadly sins as an example to get some focus,

Would you want to be the figuratively speaking man in the sky, who has to be holier than thou and watch his little ant hill develop be it for better or worse

i wouldnt take responsibility for it man is "intelligent" and responsible for his/her own actions anyway id just find a new planet to start from scratch

hehe interesting ethical debate tbh, because it was your choice to give them free will (you could just have easily made them work on instict like most animals, but that wouldnt be nearly as fun to watch). And logically they can go either way, so ultimately it is your fault for the original design "flaw"
But speaking of starting from scratch, would you give them free will again after seeing what they evolve into?

 

[Olgaline]

ah ok,
so the question is: would want to asume the role of the abrahamic god ?

No thanks, too much hassel

 

[Thorwyn]

hehe interesting ethical debate tbh, because it was your choice to give them free will (you could just have easily made them work on instict like most animals, but that wouldnt be nearly as fun to watch). And logically they can go either way, so ultimately it is your fault for the original design "flaw"
But speaking of starting from scratch, would you give them free will again after seeing what they evolve into?

Not without an improvement! There´s no point in repeating a mistake, so giving them a second chance without any changes wouldn´t lead anywhere.
The interesting question here is: what exactly IS the design flaw? Free will alone can´t be "it". The majority of people are able to think rationally and will act in response (or considering) the consequences.
Punishment is a weak driving factor, because a. the punishment happens after you´re dead (which - in itself - is already a hard concept to grasp) and here on earth, there doesn´t seem to be any difference between good and bad people and b. it goes against the free will. People WILL complain that there is no free will if you´re gonna be punished for your choices.

So where´s the flaw?

 

[chipper]

you have a good point with the free will and sorry but im gonna have to drop into a bit of religion here

not too sure where to start tbh total free will = anarchy and thats slowly the way society is going, the more the powers that be tighten their grip the more people want to rebel id say the problem is too much power in the wrong hands but no power = no stable life style we need rules and morales

i think id backtrack and maybe say if you live a good life you will be rewarded and if you dont thats it you cease to be. i dont want to put the fear of god in people but i think its the only way sometimes

how do you inspire people to live well and respect one another short of threating them i know the majority of people are generally good and respect each other im really not sure if id change anything just hope that at some point my race would enter a new period of enlightenment

however you need to have the bad to have the good thats just the way the universe works and i think its a universal constant

 

[svartalf]

Ooh! A chance to post this!

YouTube - BUT HE LOVES YOU (Zeitgeist)
[youtubevid]4lXTRW4z668[/youtubevid]

 

[Thorwyn]

i think id backtrack and maybe say if you live a good life you will be rewarded and if you dont thats it you cease to be. i dont want to put the fear of god in people but i think its the only way sometimes

To an extend, I agree. However, the situation is like this:

1. People aren´t sure that there IS an afterlife, a reward, a god, a responsibility! How could they? Everything is based on belief and trust.There is no god in our every day life, so all the fear is lost, pretty much a dull blade.

..and even worse:

2. People are experiencing pain, losses, injustice, diesease and misery every day. Life just isn´t fair. Some lucky mofos seem to get all the benefits, while other peopel don´t even get a chance to earn their reward, because they die too young or whatever. Doesn´t really support the reward/punishment theory.

The result is: people don´t see any effect. Life seems to be a totally random event. No "good soul" is coming back and there´s no evidence that the "evil bastards" are really suffering for their evilness.

edit, svartalf: George Carlin is great, but this doesn´t contribute to this thread.

 

[Chronictank]

Surely if evil people were punished through physical or mental pain, however you want to implement it they are no longer have free will at all. They simply aren't doing something because it would result in pain, similar to the cause effect dynamic in a dictatorship. You aren't doing as you please because someone else has engineered it that you can't/won't

The alternative would be to have an active participation in the society that has evolved, but then if this is the case it is not evolving of its own accord it is simply doing what you say

We aren't born with morals or a idea of right or wrong (correct me if this is inaccurate) as a child you learn these things as you grow up and have them instilled in you by your parental figures/society as a whole

So how would you teach concepts such as these on people who are essentially children

 

[Thorwyn]

The alternative would be to have an active participation in the society that has evolved, but then if this is the case it is not evolving of its own accord it is simply doing what you say

Correct!
So, the entire concept of punishment doesn´t work in this case.
What we need to look for is reasons to be "good" without the fear of being toasted in hell. Kant made a pretty good attempt. But apparently, it´s still not enough to convince everybody.

 

[Ezteq]

yes...but only if i could go old testiment on folk and smite them if they acted like morons, and clean this damn place up once and for all!


and i'd be sure to make lots of personal appearances and literally put the fear of myself up the people "YES i do exist, stop making threads about it or you will get smited...smote...whatever i'm god dont be correcting my grammatical errors! now stop fighting, your all acting like donuts, i can hear you all no matter what language or how you choose to worship me...and thats another thing stop bloody worshipping me fms (for my sake) i know how powerful i am i dont need to be told every five sodding minutes, just stop waisting your time doing that and start doing stuff that actually matters, you there" *points to a monk* "you spend 5 hours a day just worshipping me, stoppit! do you realise how much good stuff you could be doing in that time? there are seagulls out there that need oil scraping off them, and turtles that need those plastic things that hold six packs together...no i dont mean jean claude van dammes pec implants! less of you lip, any hoo the turtles are choking on those things, which i now insist you humans stop making or i'll smite you, little orpahns that need stuff, old people that need stuff, just do it will you. And another thing, all this war your having in MY name, stop that too, just bloody well knock it off, did you ask me if i wanted a war? did i say i did? no, thats because if i want a my damned war i'll bloody well start one myself!!"


*casts a thunder bolt*

"remember.... I'm watching you!!!"

*points ominous finger out the sky*




yeah i could so do that. but leaving people to their own devices and stuff? nah im too damned nosey.

 

[Bahumat]

I'd be god, then i'd come down and tell everyone to stop fucking about with church and doing all the dumbass things they do....and to just live your life the best you can.

Also would irradicate cancer, diabetes, asthma, brittle bone disease, aids etc.

Oh and sex before marriage, alcohol consumption etc would be lifted

I'd also create lesser gods who would have a field they specialise in (Raymond E Feist lol). God of Luck, god of nature, god of weather and god of Coca Cola cause I love it!