An alien with Vast Powers and Intelligence came to Earth

[Diogenes]

[Miles]

[Diogenes]

He would first need to answer a few challenges:

"Prove you guided the development of the world for our benefit"
"Why us? and what's in it for you?"
"Why do you need to be worshiped?"
"Just what is it I need to be protected and saved from, and how do I know you can do it?"

In what ways would this alien be effectively different from the god of Abraham?

His existence would not be in doubt.

.

Let us suppose this alien's claims were validated absolutely... that, unlike the God of Abraham, there was no question that what he claimed was true. Would you then bow to him? Be subservient? Acknowledge him as God? Worship him? Love him?

Millions have done the same, bowed and pledged fealty with much less evidence.

[Miles]

He would first need to answer a few challenges:

"Prove you guided the development of the world for our benefit"
"Why us? and what's in it for you?"
"Why do you need to be worshiped?"
"Just what is it I need to be protected and saved from, and how do I know you can do it?"

In what ways would this alien be effectively different from the god of Abraham?

His existence would not be in doubt.

.

Let us suppose this alien's claims were validated absolutely... that, unlike the God of Abraham, there was no question that what he claimed was true. Would you then bow to him? Be subservient? Acknowledge him as God? Worship him? Love him?

Why? I see no reason to acknowledge him as god. After all he's just an alien from some other world isn't he. And be subservient? Gotta have a good reason to unquestioningly obey others, and so far I don't see any. As far as worshiping him, what has he done to deserve reverence and adoration? Nothing I've seen. And loving him? How can anyone love someone who kills innocent women and children. He's no less a beast than the god of Abraham.

Millions have done the same, bowed and pledged fealty with much less evidence.

Millions also love, adore, and pledged fealty to Donald J. Trump as well. So, so much for following crowds.

.

[Difflugia]

He offered peace, prosperity and health to all. He had but one condition, that the people of Earth would recognize him, love and worship him as their protector and benefactor.

Gardens flourished, poverty vanished, major disease and birth defects were cured. His power, wisdom, and kindness were almost universally acknowledged. He promised an eternal life of bliss after physical death.

Questions for debate:
Would you join the billions who acknowledged him as their sole lord and savior?

All of the reasons I can think of for "not" come down to some "To Serve Man" scenario. Your question seems to be that if someone seems to be everything a benevolent god ought to be, do we treat him or her as God? Sure, I do.

In what ways would this alien be effectively different from the god of Abraham?

He probably wouldn't have any problem with iron chariots, for one thing.

[TRANSPONDER]

He would first need to answer a few challenges:

"Prove you guided the development of the world for our benefit"
"Why us? and what's in it for you?"
"Why do you need to be worshiped?"
"Just what is it I need to be protected and saved from, and how do I know you can do it?"

In what ways would this alien be effectively different from the god of Abraham?

His existence would not be in doubt.

.

Let us suppose this alien's claims were validated absolutely... that, unlike the God of Abraham, there was no question that what he claimed was true. Would you then bow to him? Be subservient? Acknowledge him as God? Worship him? Love him?

Why? I see no reason to acknowledge him as god. After all he's just an alien from some other world isn't he. And be subservient? Gotta have a good reason to unquestioningly obey others, and so far I don't see any. As far as worshiping him, what has he done to deserve reverence and adoration? Nothing I've seen. And loving him? How can anyone love someone who kills innocent women and children. He's no less a beast than the god of Abraham.

Millions have done the same, bowed and pledged fealty with much less evidence.

Millions also love, adore, and pledged fealty to Donald J. Trump as well. So, so much for following crowds.

.

Well, that's the point. Why is God as per the Bible a god and not an alien? That's if it existed, which I don't believe, but the claim has been made that 'God' was an ET flying saucer -pilot with advanced, pyramid -building technology. Of course it would apply more to the erlier events where it was a solid being that did not know the future in advance, and was not the cause of the Flood that drowned Atlantis (gotta get Atlantis and Aztec pyramid building in there) and he or they genetically jiggered the animals they saved into all species in less than 1000 years, waving alien technology around, rather than a magic wand. I don't wonder the tale appeals to many, and has even been co - opted into Christian Creationism.

And of course this is counter to the rather recent attempt at a "Gocha, Atheists!' from both the Muslims and Christians, though I'm not sure which used it first: "Even if God (Allah) himself came down, atheists would find a way to doubt and question it was God". The debunk is that if it claimed to be Allah, Christians would deny it and if it didn't claim to be Allah, Muslims would deny it; and, as we see in the post I quoted, if it was an advanced being and claimed to have been the original God of the Bible, The Abrahamics would all deny it because it wasn't what they imagined God to be.

But it reflects nicely on the Gotcha of all the religions - "Which god?" Which they all ignore after saying "There is only One God." I swear they never answer the response "Which god is that only one?" (never mind which denomination) And we know the answer anyway: "Why, the one I have Faith in, of course."

[1213]

... love and worship him ...

Why would he demand that?

[Diogenes]

... love and worship him ...

Why would he demand that?

Exactly. Why would a God demand to be loved and worshiped?

What I find most interesting is that those who profess to love their God on the basis of faith, have trouble loving exactly the same being if he has a different name or slightly different origin. This is not surprising. It has long been my contention that mere tradition, an accident of birth, determines the god one follows.

[1213]

[TRANSPONDER]

[Replying to 1213 in post #9]
Psalm 81:9
You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not worship any god other than me.

It is instructive to check all the Bible entries about worshipping Gid - which is undeniably what the Faithful are enjoined to do, though it isn't so often God who says to do it, but those who claim to speak for him and thereby give themselves power.

It is remarkable how much it's about a jealous God - He is obsessed that nobody worship any other gods, Not Baal or the god of the Sidonians, not Asherah. The Bible is all about worshipping and serving the one god and no others, even as well as YHWH.