How would the existence of a god confer meaning on our lives?
or...
How would loyalty in acknowledging one god over another matter to that god?
Maybe the out of favour god would be pretty pissed off by the whole thing and punish us for our preferences with earthquakes, plagues, cancers, politics etc. The popular choice would perhaps respond to this perceived insult by invoking more of the same, only bigger, deadlier and orangier. Whoever is the real one, he certainly created man in his own image
The inference is, a good meaning to our lives. In actuality, too often it turns people arrogant, narrow minded, bigots and misogynistic people prone to violence. Loyalty is not a virtue in that it takes away a persons ability to think for themselves and using critical thinking as a way to see the real world.
i notice a lot of discussion about the "existence" of God, when "existence" (usually) assumes "objective evidence" right? So no offense but i suggest that that is not the best frame of ref, as Yah does not "exist" at all, as the holy of holies being empty demonstrates. Also YHWH--their vowels--kind of embodies the same concept, being "unpronounceable." Iow as soon as you have "properly" identified God, you are lost
Reducing Yah to "existence" becomes an attempt to describe or even label i think, which may be part of why acknowledging any lesser god is also contraindicated; the whole is then by definition not being honored? Contrary to believers' beliefs on the matter, Yah is not a Baal ("Lord" ), is not swayed by prayers of supplication, etc, at least according to the Bible
Ummmm, what? This is what you think will lead to "witty banter"? Alrighty then......I got nothin'
My question is, what is the point of these hypothetical questions ?
Fishing for witty banter.
@Moravian Perfect example of witty banter, well done. You see it works..
The Greeks and other pagans of their time believed, that all gods were expressions of an all prevading holyness, therefore envy, of one god for another would be silly. But that changes with Abraham and a god of ultra-nationalism, then things get really nasty.
It would be nice to ask the supposed Supreme Being at some point... WTF were you thinking? A slow 6 year old could envision a better, more equitable world. The counterargument is often something like they'd make it ok to eat candy and ice cream all the time. Well, why not? Make it a super food that makes your teeth stronger.
I was once on a panel for a Harvard Veritas forum on the discussion of religion as the atheist representative. I said that there are some occurances in our reality that are so horrific (go ahead, pick one) that for a God that supposedly created a universe from nothing, that as a caring compassionate human being, you could envision going from nothing to that instance, and imagine that God would have a rationale where you would go, "Oh, now I see why that had to happen that way."
What I am trying to get at here is that even if a god did exist, that would not confer meaning in and of itself. Also, one cannot describe a god where the loyalty that is apparently demanded has any conceivable purpose - It does not, cannot, benefit either party.
I guess because it give them comfort in the fact that someone watches over them and has a plan for them. Other than it, it is subjective
A God who knows everything, can do anything, and is everywhere all at once has already conferred any intended meaning on our lives. What God wanted from this world has and is happening. For this God to be angry, or jealous, or blaming humanity for anything is inconsistent with an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent deity.
I do not need the existence of any god or gods to give meaning to my life; I give meaning to my own life.
I couldn't give a rat's arse about offending one god by preferring another god.
I know in the Bible it says God wonโt put more of a burden on you than you can bear.
Obviously if the MF is there heโs under the delusion Iโm Supergirl.