Difference between a god (including God) and...

[nobspeople]

Most believe gods (including your God) are immortal 'beings' that have existed 'forever' (even though that isn't a concept humanity can fully grasp, which I find amusing but that's something for another time), created most, if not, everything, and is in control (in a sense) of everything (even things humanity doesn't know about - again: amusing ). Some gods have the power to grant immortality in a special, good place (ie heaven) or punish in a bad place (ie hell), etc (though this isn't a complete list as what gods are and can do can (and does often) vary from culture to culture, location to location, time to time and even person to person).

For discussion:
So what's the difference between a god and a superior, mortal being (or society of beings) that is more advanced than humanity to you?
How does this play into your belief (or non-belief) in your life? Or does it not matter?

[1213]

...
So what's the difference between a god and a superior, mortal being (or society of beings) that is more advanced than humanity to you?
...

To me the difference is that the one and only true God is greater than anyone else.

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.
John 10:29

[bjs1]

Most believe gods (including your God) are immortal 'beings' that have existed 'forever' (even though that isn't a concept humanity can fully grasp, which I find amusing but that's something for another time), created most, if not, everything, and is in control (in a sense) of everything (even things humanity doesn't know about - again: amusing ). Some gods have the power to grant immortality in a special, good place (ie heaven) or punish in a bad place (ie hell), etc (though this isn't a complete list as what gods are and can do can (and does often) vary from culture to culture, location to location, time to time and even person to person).

For discussion:
So what's the difference between a god and a superior, mortal being (or society of beings) that is more advanced than humanity to you?

Well, one immortal and the other is mortal.
One existed forever, and the other had a point when it began to exist.
One is the Creator and the other is part of the creation.

How does this play into your belief (or non-belief) in your life? Or does it not matter?

This is like comparing a artist to his painting. These are fundamentally different concepts.

Now the Mona Lisa is a better painting than a 2-year-old's scribbling, but they are both still paintings. Neither of them is the painter.

[benchwarmer]

Now the Mona Lisa is a better painting than a 2-year-old's scribbling, but they are both still paintings.

Sorry for being wildly off topic, but I completely disagree about the Mona Lisa being 'better' than a 2 year old's scribbling. This is obviously subjective.

Now back to our regularly scheduled debate:

I don't think we as humans would be able to tell the difference between a sufficiently advanced species and a god assuming this species had learned how to fully manipulate matter, space, and time. I guess the only real difference would be that we might be able to actually see and interact with the advanced species, unless it too decided to play hide and seek while making obscure rules to follow and then blame us for not figuring it all out...

[Diagoras]

For discussion:
So what's the difference between a god and a superior, mortal being (or society of beings) that is more advanced than humanity to you?
How does this play into your belief (or non-belief) in your life? Or does it not matter?

Focusing on the 'more advanced than humanity' aspect, there's an argument to be made that sufficiently advanced civilisations (at least 3 on the Kardashev Scale) would be so far more advanced than humans here on Earth as to be indistinguishable from 'gods'.

As the video states, if such a civilisation did exist, we could only hope (or pray) that they were 'nice gods', and wouldn't just destroy the Earth or our Sun for their own purposes.

And if in fact an Omega Civilisation existed, then the difference between them and what we think of as a god would be zero.

We have no evidence currently for any other life (let alone civilisation) existing outside Earth, and the chances of finding (or being approached by) alien life seems very low. But the universe could well surprise us - we've only started looking very recently, and are only looking in a microscopically small area relative to the universe.

How does this play into my own life? The Kardashev Scale is a useful concept for putting our modern-day achievements into perspective and it inspires me to believe that I'll be fortunate to see some truly transformative advancement in my lifetime: fusion power being the most likely, or perhaps a true cure for cancer. I think the attribute of curiosity that has driven humanity so far has plenty of potential to change our lives for the better, and to rely on a god or gods in any form to come along and 'save us' goes against our most 'human' quality.

[nobspeople]

Now the Mona Lisa is a better painting than a 2-year-old's scribbling, but they are both still paintings.

Sorry for being wildly off topic, but I completely disagree about the Mona Lisa being 'better' than a 2 year old's scribbling. This is obviously subjective.

Now back to our regularly scheduled debate:

I don't think we as humans would be able to tell the difference between a sufficiently advanced species and a god assuming this species had learned how to fully manipulate matter, space, and time. I guess the only real difference would be that we might be able to actually see and interact with the advanced species, unless it too decided to play hide and seek while making obscure rules to follow and then blame us for not figuring it all out...

The bolded section is where my post was intended to take the thinking mind - thank you.
I tend to be purposefully less direct with my wording in hopes it will allow people to think more than regurgitate tripe. Perhaps I should be more direct in the future? After all I have been told I'm an idiot and don't know what I'm talking about here.

[TRANSPONDER]

The point was made the plot line in the star trek film where an alien being pretended to be a god because it needed their assistance. They rumbled the deception because of an inconsistency in the being's story. Which translates into the scenario of the 'Even if God Himself came down atheists wouldn't believe' Which was refuted with 'With enough cumulative evidence they might, whereas if the being said that it was Allah and the Quran, not the Bible, was correct, would the Christians ever believe that it was God?'

This is the advantage with atheists and Science 'which is always changing its' mind'. We are willing to be convinced with the required evidence that a god would know was needed. Whereas the Religious believer relies on Faith in the end and if the evidence does not support the Faith then it is simply dismissed.

So an alien being could probably pretend to be Jesusgod. Indeed, one or two humans have fooled a few people into thinking so, But like defining what is Life or a woman, the idea that springs to mind of 'what is a god' falls apart under examination. Theist apologists have made the argument (at need) that God doesn't need to be omniscient or able to do anything. Does it then need to be the creator of everything to be God? Are gods that themselves were born of Elder gods get to be regarded as gods, or just as a race of alien beings? Don't we have to consider (even like the Hindus so far as I know) that the concept of God has to be the essential creator of everything (Brahma), give or take whether it knows everything which is another discussion entirely.
?
Over to you, noobsperson.

[nobspeople]

The point was made the plot line in the star trek film where an alien being pretended to be a god because it needed their assistance. They rumbled the deception because of an inconsistency in the being's story. Which translates into the scenario of the 'Even if God Himself came down atheists wouldn't believe' Which was refuted with 'With enough cumulative evidence they might, whereas if the being said that it was Allah and the Quran, not the Bible, was correct, would the Christians ever believe that it was God?'

This is the advantage with atheists and Science 'which is always changing its' mind'. We are willing to be convinced with the required evidence that a god would know was needed. Whereas the Religious believer relies on Faith in the end and if the evidence does not support the Faith then it is simply dismissed.

So an alien being could probably pretend to be Jesusgod. Indeed, one or two humans have fooled a few people into thinking so, But like defining what is Life or a woman, the idea that springs to mind of 'what is a god' falls apart under examination. Theist apologists have made the argument (at need) that God doesn't need to be omniscient or able to do anything. Does it then need to be the creator of everything to be God? Are gods that themselves were born of Elder gods get to be regarded as gods, or just as a race of alien beings? Don't we have to consider (even like the Hindus so far as I know) that the concept of God has to be the essential creator of everything (Brahma), give or take whether it knows everything which is another discussion entirely.
?
Over to you, noobsperson.

People have been fooled to think a 'regular Joe' is a god - sometimes even THE god - in modern times. It's relatively easy to do under the right circumstances.
Early European settlers to the new world dazzled indigenous peoples upon first arriving.
Give a Neanderthal a smart phone and think about how blown their mind would be. Or even someone from 1760 - you might be called a witch!
Some people like to think they could tell the difference between 'a real god' and not, but I think they're fooling themselves. But I'm not one to try to convince them otherwise so long as they live their life in their own world. It is interesting to watch, however.

[JehovahsWitness]

FIRSTLY PLEASE NOTE I make no claims here, I am simply expressing what I believe based on the bible. Please take all sentences to be preceeded by the premise "I believe ..."

For discussion:
So what's the difference between a god and a superior, mortal being (or society of beings) that is more advanced than humanity to you?

Nothing much. Biblically speaking anything (or anyone) can be ones god. Money, food, Elvis ...

How does this play into your belief (or non-belief) in your life?

According to the bible * there is only one Almighty Supreme ruler and Creator of the universe : YHWH unequalled by anyone . Since I believe in this One, it means I choose to worship Him and obey His commands.






JEHOVAH'S WITNESS

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GOD, GODS and ...THE TRINITY

[nobspeople]

For discussion:
So what's the difference between a god and a superior, mortal being (or society of beings) that is more advanced than humanity to you?
How does this play into your belief (or non-belief) in your life? Or does it not matter?

Nothing much. Biblically speaking anything (or anyone) can be ones god. Money, food, Elvis ...

There is only one Supreme ruler and Creator of the universe.

I wonder how one would make this differentiation if a supreme lifeform impersonated this creator with all the bells and whistles.
Or maybe that's already been done?
There's no supreme creator around that we can ask and verify outside our own minds, wants, needs and beliefs.