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Could we do a better job with the world than God did?

psionl0

Skeptical about skeptics
psionl0
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Lukraak_Sisser said:
That's the thing.
We *could* do better.Our morality now is better than that of the supposedly morally superior god.
If that is not a sign that the various holy texts are anything but holy, then what is?
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psionl0 said:
Could we?

War, poverty, hunger, disease, crime, injustice etc seem to be just as prevalent as they have always been and I see little evidence that any real solutions are on the way.

Some of us might have more time to chew the fat on various issues than in the past but that doesn't make us more moral than our ancestors.
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Lukraak_Sisser said:
Assuming the powers of a god, yes we could.
I'm not saying we are perfect, but we'd dp better than the abrahamic god.
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Rather than derail the other thread, I thought that this topic deserved its own thread.

Normally the existence of all of the evil in this world is taken as evidence that there is no god or that if God exists then he must be a pretty unsavoury character.

But assuming that God made the world the way it is today, what would be the strategy that we could employ if we had God-like powers? Would we do away with free will and make it impossible for people to do evil things? Would we remove evil people from the world? How would we decide when somebody has lost the right to exist in this world? Is it ok if the occasional good person has to be eradicated for the "greater good" (the needs of the many etc etc)?
 
yes, undoubtedly we could do better than God.

For Starters, the Bible claims that humanity started out from a PERFECT state of Paradise, and that things can only get worse from there, to a point of Final Judgement.

In other words, according to the Word of God, we can only decelerate the Downfall, and not make any actual Progress. But more fundamentally, Belief in God is based on the assumption that there is a concrete Start and End for Humanity, and that we should prepare for our own Afterlife instead of working for continued improvement of Humanity for centuries and millennia to come.

By pure logic, if Humanity has an Eternity to "do better", but God only has a limited window to let things not get much worse, humanity will always outperform God.
 
Well, with God like powers, I'd start a little further out with practical matters. How about I eliminate starvation across the planet that I made by making it temperate and fertile throughout.

As a mortal I know that's not do-able but as a God it's a simple, "and so it shall be".

Or are we just discussing moral issues here?
 
I am God, the Perfect Being. I have no unfulfilled wants or needs. Why would I create anything?
 
psionl0 said:
So what is Lukraak_Sisser complaiing about?
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I was not complaining, I was pointing out that if we designed the world at the moment we'd do a better job than the imaginary god(s) of the world's religions, especially the so-called omnipotent, all-knowing, benevolent god of the Abrahamic religions.

Just a few things.
1: Make a body/immune system that can recognize and defeat cancer.
2: Distribute resources equally
3: Do not create biological cravings I find forbidden.
4: If giving holy texts, make them actually clear and explain things like steam power, immunology, electricity etc etc while at the same time ensuring all people can access the guidelines at all times rather than a single obscure prophet in a remote part of the world.
5: Give women active control over their own fertility.
etc etc.
 
psionl0 said:
Rather than derail the other thread, I thought that this topic deserved its own thread.

Normally the existence of all of the evil in this world is taken as evidence that there is no god or that if God exists then he must be a pretty unsavoury character.

But assuming that God made the world the way it is today, what would be the strategy that we could employ if we had God-like powers? Would we do away with free will and make it impossible for people to do evil things? Would we remove evil people from the world? How would we decide when somebody has lost the right to exist in this world? Is it ok if the occasional good person has to be eradicated for the "greater good" (the needs of the many etc etc)?
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Which definition of god are we to use to answer your post?
 
psionl0 said:
No, any strategy can be up for discussion.

Re-creating a perfect death-free environment seems a no brainer. The problem is what to do about people who would foul things up?
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Wouldn't that cause its own problems? Such as leading to an over-populated planet?
 
I can make exactly the same world as ours, but get rid of all congenital diseases. BAM! Already better than God.

I could fine tune some other stuff, but you aren't asking for a perfect world. You're asking for one that's better.
 
The "World", ie the planet, is exactly as created by physics. The particularly trivial human aspects currently contained on this planet are exactly as created by humans. There is no "job" here that involved any human invented gods.

So the question should be either "Can humans do a better job than physics?", or, "Can humans do a better job than humans?". In both cases the answer is no.
 
RolandRat said:
Wouldn't that cause its own problems? Such as leading to an over-populated planet?
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That won't matter because I have created a soul within you and I'll dispense with your earthly body when you reach 33 years old upon which your soul will join me in Heaven (provided you meet my criteria). I have **** loads of room up here and souls are ethereal anyway.
 
Steve said:
The "World", ie the planet, is exactly as created by physics. The particularly trivial human aspects currently contained on this planet are exactly as created by humans. There is no "job" here that involved any human invented gods.

So the question should be either "Can humans do a better job than physics?", or, "Can humans do a better job than humans?". In both cases the answer is no.
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Yeah, but we're havin' fun with the God thing...
 
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