Curious as to how people might would claim a God. I am God one said. The pen on the table is a God. Saved by the pen?

@BestWithoutGods if you notice his simple answer in comment above, it is asking would you, by what ever option, renounce atheism/agnosticism if faced with a certain death situation for not answering or for holding to being atheist/agnostic.

@Word The list of options is incomplete. I would opt for living as an atheist. There is no god that would kill me for doing so.

@BestWithoutGods The scenario is if a terrorist was threatening your life to denounce atheism %agnosticism or die immediately. I am not trying to list any specific style of god. You could choose or call anything God so long as you denounce. Or would you stand on the label that you are atheist/agnostic and allow a terrorist to kill you immediately.

@Word Okay, that makes more sense. I would lie to a terrorist if it would save my life. But that lie would not determine how I think. I would still choose reality over mythology, even if I lied to a terrorist to keep him from killing me.

@BestWithoutGods I'm reminded of the end to "1984" when Winston is forced to betray his lover. He tells himself he does it only to save himself and ultimately can never live it down. Secretly he realises at the moment he really meant it and that destroys him.

Not an unusual answer considering it is already written that people are gods by legal standards. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? John 10:34

@Word

And I answered him, written laws are false. I am your God and there are no others. Be afraid, for I am a jealous and wrathful god and I am only satisfied by unconditional faithfulness and worship. Julia 11:19

@Zoltans_Queen Yes, I think "God" would be a female word, where as "goddess " to designate female is erroneous. Like saying wowoman. Or fefemale. Maybe have God (female) and Goddard(male).

A 4th person I know on here, If I have kept my count right, that related gods to being an object of worship not just a thing that exists wheither or not worshipped.

@Word It was actually me hedging on the deal. I was using a word close to god but not god, using the word worship because all dogs do deserve to be worshipped. So what I said was factual, no lying, playing with the concept, using semantics to seem like I was saying what was wanted when I was not, just stating the fact that I love dogs. If they work it out then I die if they don't (and I am hedging that they won't) then I have not lied and get to live.

@Budgie might work if it went with premise that something worshipped is presumed to be a God.

@Word It strikes me as significant what the word "Worship" adds to a thing's luster. Maybe the admonishment to worship no other Gods was because worshipping anything other than your one true love (whatever that is) becomes destructive. Golden Calves abound, especially in a world as accessible and ownable as ours, so obsessions run high. Obsession is just another word for worship and envy is a waste product of both. To quote Jackson Browne, "People got the envy and they got it bad." Maybe many humans get the idea that worshipping things is a good idea and, over time, one's life just acquires obsessions which lead us astray from our one true love (whatever that is). There's some serious Zen.

Please explain this truth you assert of atheism.

they're not supposed to make sense. the situation is like the inquisition. kiss the cross, so to speak, or be burned at the stake. but you get to create your own cross. lying isn't optional; it's de rigeur. note the category: yes it's silly!

g

@Word Religion is a scam, scaring people with hell and telling them that if they contribute money to the church, they will go to heaven. Atheism knows that the scam is based on mythology, not reality. Atheists find their truth through the sciences and the scientific method. Therefore, the atheists are more aligned with truth than the theists are.

@BestWithoutGods what you call religion is a form of government. Science is a form of observation and documentation. You are comparing apples and oranges.

@Word It is true that mythology and reality are "apples and oranges." Mythology is based on falsehood, and reality is based on truth. As for me, I choose truth over falsehood.

@BestWithoutGods do you believe in the big bang scientific creation myth?

@Word I'm not sure the Big Bang Theory is accurate, but it makes more sense than a mythological god magically creating the universe in six days.

@BestWithoutGods I haven't heard of magical 6 day creation myth

@Word It's in Genesis, chapter 1.

@BestWithoutGods You just know the English language version. In original language, ruach is a force. Hovering over waters. Kinetic energy.
Metaphor that forces created things.

You would have to understand higher intellectual concepts of things like metaphor, analogy, alegory to understand the genius of the original language.

It is a fact that kinetic energy is everywhere and cause for things being created.

It is not specifically about worship. It is about labeling something in existence as a God, or saying that something god exists wheither worshipped or not.

@Word It's an exercise in futility. In real life many people have intellectually confounded their accusers.

@Petter confound with this, god is what kills me. Would they then kill you being your labelled god because they killed you. Or would they wait for you to die naturally because you have labelled your death causation as a god?

Thanks. I'll keep it in mind. In christianity and related martyrdom because people would not renounce their god they got killed. I was curious if the opposite could be true if atheist/agnostic would claim anything God to save their life.

And trying to make options but that a choice would have to be given.

There is not an option on your profile to private message you

@Word Galileo famously stated "If you say so", and was imprisoned rather than executed for heresy.

@Word In atheism do we not make the decisions with the greatest respect for all life including our own. I sometimes wonder if Jesus had not died on the cross [ I believe it was in his power], would he have gone on do a lot more good with" love thy neighbour? , but then we will never know.

@Mcflewster ever see the movie stranger than fiction (2006) with actor Will Ferrell ? Jesus character was controlled like actor in movie. The author controlled the character. Jesus character was the words of old testiment. As written, Jesus character could only do as prophesied and written in old testiment.

@Word Amazing how some people think manipulation of actors playing supposedly factual roles can do anything but entertain.

Maybe antiGod is worth dying for?

Hay-la-loo-la. (Playing on hallelujah. ) Praises to the Hay!

I don't think capital letters was an issue as part of the scenario, so it should be good enough that you would live.

@Word My point is that this word should not be capitalized.

@skeptic70 to my knowledge God would be a title not specifically a proper name. It's like God is not my name, but I really do exist, my name is Shannon. Nice to meet you.

@skeptic70 you can find reference that god, human, homo sapien, person, people are interchangeable labels. Homo sapian is like science use, human is like politics non-gender use, gods are secular movie stars, rockstars, popular people and those consider very good for public or very powerful like banking people are rich powerful gods. people comes from referring to the population of general people.-populus