What would you do if you were God?

[The Happy Humanist]

Imagine one night you're roused out of bed, and swept through time and space to a magnificent room full of angelic-looking beings. You stand before a trio of them behind a golden podium. The one in the center informs you that "You have been chosen by the Council of Deities to create a new universe. You will be given the position of 'God,' and provided with all you need."

With that, you are escorted to a room in which there is a computer terminal and a large 3-D viewscreen. The terminal has a standard QWERTY keyboard, along with a whole array of macro buttons, with labels like "Create universe", "Let There Be Light", "Create sentient race," "Create Hell," "Populate Hell," "Reboot Sentient Race" (which destroys your creation in a flood, or the natural disaster of your choosing)", "Send Saviour," "Initiate Rapture Routine," etc. (There's even one marked "Create Rock So Big You Can't Lift It," but it seems to be stuck. )

You are free to push buttons and/or design code to your liking; the Council has informed you that there are no consequences for "right" or "wrong" actions on your part.

Now, with the example of what Jehovah did with his universe cemented in your mind, what would you do differently in yours - if anything?

For example, would you create your beings with free will, refuse to show your face (there is a macro button labeled "Interact"), and then throw them into the lake of fire for eternity for "rejecting" you? Would your scriptures contain pronouncements against homosexuality? Would there even be homosexuality?

There is probably a temptation on the part of some Christians to answer "no changes, God's world is perfect." The question remains, do you really think its perfect, or are you just mimicking what you've heard? This exercise is to get you to try to think outside that box.

[Bugmaster]

You have been chosen by the Council of Deities to create a new universe. You will be given the position of 'God,' and provided with all you need

Oddly enough, I think the Mormons believe that something like this actually happens to the select few among them after they die. I gotta admit, this is a much cooler idea of Heaven than the usual boring eternal bliss schtick.

For example, would you create your beings with free will, refuse to show your face (there is a macro button labeled "Interact"), and then throw them into the lake of fire for eternity for "rejecting" you?

Stanislaw Lem (among other people), wrote an excellent story just on this topic (in fact, he wrote several). As it turns out, there's not really any ethically sound way to create a sentient race that does what you want. If you give them free will, they will probably choose to do what they want, which would usually include killing each other. If you take away their free will, you might as well be playing with puppets. And, no matter what you do, you are responsible for each and every person in your universe. You have the power, and the responsibility, but no way to wield it without compromising your ethics.

So, if I were in front of the God-o-tron (tm), I don't know what I'd do... I might just walk away.

[OneWay]

What would you do if you were God?

The same thing I always do all the time.

[AquinasForGod]

[Replying to The Happy Humanist in post #1]

If I were God I would do whatever it is that God did in his one eternal act, because if I were God then I would see everything as one whole. I would see all of time as one single moment. I would see the logical consequences of every possible act and what leads to the best possible end for my creation.

I would thus act from eternity and do that which leads to the best possible end.

[wannabe]

[Replying to The Happy Humanist in post #1]

If I were God I would do whatever it is that God did in his one eternal act, because if I were God then I would see everything as one whole. I would see all of time as one single moment. I would see the logical consequences of every possible act and what leads to the best possible end for my creation.

I would thus act from eternity and do that which leads to the best possible end.

Hey just wondering why as a god, why you would end your creation?
When I read your post I tended to agree, with the exception of the word:'end'.
I would have preferred you used the word :'future', or 'outcome'.
Other than that I liked your post.

[AquinasForGod]

[Replying to The Happy Humanist in post #1]

If I were God I would do whatever it is that God did in his one eternal act, because if I were God then I would see everything as one whole. I would see all of time as one single moment. I would see the logical consequences of every possible act and what leads to the best possible end for my creation.

I would thus act from eternity and do that which leads to the best possible end.

Hey just wondering why as a god, why you would end your creation?
When I read your post I tended to agree, with the exception of the word:'end'.
I would have preferred you used the word :'future', or 'outcome'.
Other than that I liked your post.

Good question. End doesn't necessarily mean stop or ceasing to be all together. We could say the end purpose of my pencil is to write, but my pencil doesn't cease to exist because it has been used to write. I am speaking to teleology.

The best possible end here would be when all that make it are existing in the world to come.

For example, if this universe is transformed into a universe that is not corruptible, we could say the universe has come to an end, for in the sense of it being corruptible it ended and now it exists in a new way.