Pick a God, any God.

[Paul of Tarsus]

Consider the three following Gods:

God A: Basically the Same as the Christian God
God B: The Same as God A Plus Universal Salvation and Immediate Cessation of All Suffering
God C: Some Other God You Find Preferable
God D: No God at All

Which God would you pick? Please name the God (A, B, C, or D) and why you prefer that God. For instance, if you choose God D, why do prefer that no God exists?

Note that I'm not asking which God you think exists but which God you prefer would exist. What kind of a God do you think would be good to exist? If you had a choice, which God would that be?

My pick is God C. God C would immediately end all suffering and offer universal salvation from death but has not committed the atrocities of the Christian God or any other cruel act. I prefer such a God because I want all people to be free of suffering now and forever. I don't believe such a God exists, but I would prefer that that God would be real.

[Tcg]

[Replying to Paul of Tarsus in post #1]

Gods don't exist due to our preferences nor do they have certain characteristics based on wishful thinking.


Tcg

[Paul of Tarsus]

Gods don't exist due to our preferences nor do they have certain characteristics based on wishful thinking.

I have edited my former reply to no reply.

[DrNoGods]

[Replying to Paul of Tarsus in post #1]

Which God would you pick? Please name the God (A, B, C, or D) and why you prefer that God. For instance, if you choose God D, why do prefer that no God exists?

I'd choose D ... although the way you've presented the choices "choosing God D" is choosing no god at all. But it is not a preference rather than a position based on the lack of any evidence that such beings exist in the first place. It would indeed be fantastic if such a being existed and offered up chances for eternal life in a heaven-like place with no pain or suffering, etc. (or anything remotely similar) that were realistically attainable by humans. But what reasons are there to believe that such scenarios are actually, truly, genuinely real?

For me it is not a preference that no gods of any kind exist, but the simple lack of any evidence to believe that they actually do. So they exist only in the realms of fantasy and wishful thinking IMO.

[Paul of Tarsus]

[Replying to Paul of Tarsus in post #1]

Which God would you pick? Please name the God (A, B, C, or D) and why you prefer that God. For instance, if you choose God D, why do prefer that no God exists?

I'd choose D ...

Thanks for a (partial) answer! Please complete the answer and explain why you prefer no God at all.

...although the way you've presented the choices "choosing God D" is choosing no god at all. But it is not a preference rather than a position based on the lack of any evidence that such beings exist in the first place.

I'm not asking what your beliefs are about God but what your preferences might be. Beliefs and preferences are different. I don't believe the hot woman at the supermarket wants me, but I'd prefer she did!

It would indeed be fantastic if such a being existed and offered up chances for eternal life in a heaven-like place with no pain or suffering, etc. (or anything remotely similar) that were realistically attainable by humans.

I'm confused. Didn't you choose no Gods at all as your preference? I think you think I'm asking which God you believe in. That isn't what I'm asking. I'm asking which God you would prefer exists.

But what reasons are there to believe that such scenarios are actually, truly, genuinely real?

I don't know of any such reasons, but your question is not relevant to the topic of debate.

For me it is not a preference that no gods of any kind exist...

Then God D from the OP is not the correct answer for you. I explained that I prefer God C who is a good God who would immediately end all suffering. I don't believe such a God exists, of course, but I prefer that that God exists.

Anyway, I think I will edit the OP to try to clarify what I'm asking.

[Diagoras]

Well, my position is D, but if I get to pick something, then Saehrimnir (as my ‘C’) sounds like a very useful god to have around.

Although number eight on this list might make for a very different style of church service...

https://listverse.com/2017/02/09/10-we ... -left-out/

[Tcg]

Well, my position is D, but if I get to pick something, then Saehrimnir (as my ‘C’) sounds like a very useful god to have around.

Although number eight on this list might make for a very different style of church service...

https://listverse.com/2017/02/09/10-we ... -left-out/

It certainly would: “Matshishkapeu’s utterances are usually cryptic,” one Innu hunter said. “You have to concentrate hard in order to understand what is being said.”

I suspect that a stop at Taco Bell on the way to the service may be in order if one expects fruitful messages from Matshishkapeu.


Tcg

[Purple Knight]

Which God would you pick? Please name the God (A, B, C, or D) and why you prefer that God. For instance, if you choose God D, why do prefer that no God exists?

I prefer that no God exists because then we're all morally equal. This is very related to the Knowledge of Good and Evil thread and JW's response to it that struck a chord with me.

Scripture indicates God created humans in his image with free will and the capacity to make moral decisions but the Devil implied to Eve that her disobedience would make her "like God" in a way she had not been previously. Not, as explained above, introducing her to the concept of good and evil, but by taking up on herself the freedom to decide for herself what the standards for both would be. Eve would become a god unto herself with nobody that to tell her what to do.

I want to do what Eve did. I want infinite apples, one for everybody. I don't want anyone beholden to anyone else about what is moral.

JW once linked something that explained that humans are being given a chance to show that their way is better than God's way. I call BS, because I never got any such chance. I'm beholden to other freaking humans as to what morality is and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of being laughed at for presenting alternative, but well-reasoned systems just because they don't agree with moral convention. What being laughed at or talked down to or labeled as evil is tantamount to in this case is that they have this special freedom to decide what is right and wrong and I do not. I'm forever chasing a usually moving goal and I can't even object when it moves, let alone place it where I like.

What is being tested is not my way. It is the way of bullies who really are like God because they impose it on the unwilling.

I want an apple that lets me reject the so-called "human way" and decide for myself what is moral. Perhaps I'll pick something that's close to what God wants, but perhaps I'll pick something that's morally very distant but still minimises suffering almost as much.

If no God exists then we don't need apples to do that, unless morality still exists without one, which might very well be, but I would prefer that didn't exist either. It doesn't mean I want to meaninglessly hurt people; it just means I don't want to be beholden to other people about what morality is.

[Diagoras]

[Replying to Tcg in post #7]

That might just be the equivalent of typing in ALL-CAPS though.

[Tcg]

[Replying to Paul of Tarsus in post #1]

My preference would be God number C.



Of course in the case it's a Goddess. I'm not sure why that wasn't a choice. Perhaps misogyny remains in play even when trying to invent a kinder, nicer god.

Sadly, my preference won't bring this Goddess back to life. As much as I'd prefer differently, this beautiful lady is dead.


Tcg