I have been reading the threads about "God" and why God does not exist.  It appears to me that a great deal of the argument stems from people both believers and atheists wanting to 'proof' to define "god" by human attributes or lack there of.  "the way he thinks and feels" was brought up by both sides.  OF course we have NO proof because we are totally ignorant of what god might be.  We _act and think_ we do though.  We think 'god is like US. That of course can be hubris or tangled in stories of human domination over centuries We really have no idea of what any god would be like.  We have a mirror of our thoughts and actions that shows us us. That is all.  And often it is not a very helpful image.It is tinged with cruelty, selfishness, grandiosity and certitude as well as spurts of mutual recognition of our 'alikeness' dependence on others, and respect. Recognition of fear.   Many of _those_ attributes are based in the idea that we have to keep the species going but they are _rooted_ in instinct .  They have blossomed into emotions of love,hate, joy, sorrow, and we invented language to express all the nuances of those values held in common.  Our fledgling emotions that we battle still.  

So what good is emotional thinking?  Why do we have it?  Is it helpful in any way? Why do some atheists accept the idea of Emotional Intelligence and others do not.   Why is it so important to some believers that 'god' be a god of love ?  Others prefer a more rigid idea, a god that punishes and condemns those who do not meet a standard of justice.  What is so wrong about being selfish, indifferent, cruel,and judgmental except that others(-not us- not part of our tribe) suffer for those actions.   Why should we care about others? Why do we feel a  sense of connectedness to others in the human species.  Is it instinct? Or our drive to survive.  Do we want to pass on what we have discovered in our journey into life.  Why do we value children?  Would it be sad if our offspring simply moved out of the basement and made their own way in life and never saw or thought of us again or would we be pleased about it.  it seems to me it can go both ways. 

Anna

>>>No god has ever demonstrated its love or that it has punished or condemned anyone, All we have are unimpressive stories that other humans are telling us about how their god has done so.<<<

Whenever someone dies of cancer or has a heart attack, I tend to give the christian god credit..

You are sadly mistaken about not knowing anything about God.  He is not hiding and He has given us much information.  its your comprehension that needs adjustment.

By what He has created...it is obvious He is powerful beyond anything we can know. He must love us deeply to give us all that we have including our very lives. Just because people like you take it all for granted does not mean that all this majesty is imaginary.  Just the ability we have to comprehend it al is astounding if you think about it..  (You do have to think thoguh) He has owed us nothing and yet even though we have all this physical "stuff" he has also offered us eternal life with Him...If we can react to all this with gratitude, ask for forgiveness for transgressing  the laws He has given us

YoungGandalf said...

The Christian devil beast god is hard at work, it seems, controlling all the atoms.

Yep!  No doubt!   It IS as the "thumper's" keep saying......that their God IS in control, of EVERYTHING.  I just can't wait for some fundy fanatic to show up proclaiming that the Covid epidemic is God's way of signaling the end times IS at hand......and any time now, J.C. will come galloping out of the clouds on his big white horse.

I even have a meme about that.....I trust it is not crowding the limits of the forum.....It was the obvious HUMOR that caught my attention.

NETIZEN_J said...

Our instinctual morality is based on the 'tribe'.  That which contributes to my tribe's survival odds is 'good', that which detracts from those odds is 'bad'.  Which is why 'stealing from your neighbor' is always 'bad', but 'plundering the assets of the enemy' is always 'good', or even 'heroic'.  Similarly 'murdering' your neighbor is always 'bad', but 'dispatching the enemy' is always 'good', or even 'heroic'.  (note carefully the linguistic tools we use to differentiate the same actions performed upon 'one of us' versus 'not-one of us'.)

Robert H. Thouless wrote a famous book, Straight and Crooked Thinking.  In that book he discusses emotional meanings.  That is, I think what you are posting about.  That is why the same words in different contexts can mean different things.  

Back in the 19 teens and 1920's the single largest ethnic group in America is originally German and it still is.  If we had any true neighbor that neighbor was Germany.  Yet Woodrow Wilson was personally predisposed to favor the British.  As a result we joined the British war effort in WW I and participated in the economic destruction of the country by the Allies.  That led to the rise of Hitler and WW II.  During both wars we were emotionally manipulated by the British.  That has been a significant contribution to today's world problems.