So, I don't have any pets, right now. It would complicate my simple life beyond my capacity to cope. But as a child, we had a dog (Miranda) and a cat (Rufus). And I loved them both. We fed them, and bought them treats, and toys to keep them occupied and exercised.
I can't help wondering though, if God's relationship to us is not all that different to our relationship to pets. We love them, as He loves us; not as equals, but as subordinates to be pandered to and cared for and indulged, to keep them occupied and 'happy'.
If this is right, the cosmic battle between Good and Evil has no significance beyond a situation set up to engage us, like a pet toy, and provide us opportunity to develop virtue and forego vice. It is an amusing passtime, for those who accept the mission against evil, but maybe does not really matter in the long run of things, at all.
Best wishes, 2RM.
Are We God's Pets?
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Re: Are We God's Pets?
Post #11That a Warden of a prison treats the inmates harsher than he does family doesn't make him guilty of any crime. Nor is it a symptom of crime if he treats death row's heinous criminals harsher than the other inmates.marco wrote:If we are God's pets there's a case for reporting him to some organisation that deals with cruel owners.
PCE Theology as I see it...
We had an existence with a free will in Sheol before the creation of the physical universe. Here we chose to be able to become holy or to be eternally evil in YHWH's sight. Then the physical universe was created and all sinners were sent to earth.
This theology debunks the need to base Christianity upon the blasphemy of creating us in Adam's sin.
We had an existence with a free will in Sheol before the creation of the physical universe. Here we chose to be able to become holy or to be eternally evil in YHWH's sight. Then the physical universe was created and all sinners were sent to earth.
This theology debunks the need to base Christianity upon the blasphemy of creating us in Adam's sin.
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Re: Are We God's Pets?
Post #12And that relates to the topic under discussion, just how?ttruscott wrote:That a Warden of a prison treats the inmates harsher than he does family doesn't make him guilty of any crime. Nor is it a symptom of crime if he treats death row's heinous criminals harsher than the other inmates.marco wrote:If we are God's pets there's a case for reporting him to some organisation that deals with cruel owners.
Best wishes, 2RM.
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Re: Are We God's Pets?
Post #13Which organization would you suggest we report Him to and what would you presume that organization would do? You are aware that rules regarding animal treatment vary quite dramatically from culture ot culture around the world, right? If we humans can no even argee on the standards regarding how animals are to be treated by humans, why would you expect agreement regarding how humans should be treated by a deity?marco wrote:
If we are God's pets there's a case for reporting him to some organisation that deals with cruel owners.
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Re: Are We God's Pets?
Post #14For me, it is necessary that God be morally perfect. Or He is not God. If He (or our conception of Him) is not morally perfect, then it is clear we need another God, or another conception of God. And neither of these, in the Supreme Court of Free Human Debate, is without precedent. There are many Gods gone obsolete, or transformed, either with no adherents to the initial understanding of Him, or only among the conservatively minded, as human moralities have progressed.bluethread wrote:Which organization would you suggest we report Him to and what would you presume that organization would do?marco wrote:
If we are God's pets there's a case for reporting him to some organisation that deals with cruel owners.
Best wishes, 2RM.
Re: Are We God's Pets?
Post #15bluethread wrote:
Which organization would you suggest we report Him to and what would you presume that organization would do?
If God exists we can assume, under the same supposition, that we have recourse to those who would curtail his excesses. After all, in mythology, powerful gods can be thwarted. Take Cronus, duped into swallowing a stone, instead of eating Zeus, as he did his other offspring.
Rubens and Goya would give us some ideas for our imaginative exercise.
https://classicalartsuniverse.com/wp-co ... saturn.jpg
http://www.19thcenturyart-facos.com/sit ... .4.11s.jpg
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Re: Are We God's Pets?
Post #16My own feeling is that for mortals to pitch their puny powers against an omnipotent God would be futile. But no matter how futile, if God is not perfect, it would be moral. It would be the right thing to do.marco wrote:bluethread wrote:
Which organization would you suggest we report Him to and what would you presume that organization would do?
If God exists we can assume, under the same supposition, that we have recourse to those who would curtail his excesses. After all, in mythology, powerful gods can be thwarted. Take Cronus, duped into swallowing a stone, instead of eating Zeus, as he did his other offspring.
My weaselly get-out-clause is to suppose that God is perfect, even if I cannot wholly appreciate that perfection.
Best wishes, 2RM.
Re: Are We God's Pets?
Post #17Yes I believe that was the position taken by past peoples who regarded their gods as frighteningly powerful. They sacrificed their children to appease their deities. Effectively this is clothing IF in beautiful vestments and serving an invisible nothingness. It appears that His Omnipotence is painfully shy.2ndRateMind wrote:
My own feeling is that for mortals to pitch their puny powers against an omnipotent God would be futile. But no matter how futile, if God is not perfect, it would be moral. It would be the right thing to do.
My weaselly get-out-clause is to suppose that God is perfect, even if I cannot wholly appreciate that perfection.
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Re: Are We God's Pets?
Post #18Believe me, if I thought God wanted the sacrifice of innocents, I would be the first to denounce Him, here, there, and wherever. And I think most Christians would so rally. However futile that rally might be.marco wrote:Yes I believe that was the position taken by past peoples who regarded their gods as frighteningly powerful. They sacrificed their children to appease their deities.2ndRateMind wrote:
My own feeling is that for mortals to pitch their puny powers against an omnipotent God would be futile. But no matter how futile, if God is not perfect, it would be moral. It would be the right thing to do.
My weaselly get-out-clause is to suppose that God is perfect, even if I cannot wholly appreciate that perfection.
Best wishes, 2RM.
Re: Are We God's Pets?
Post #192ndRateMind wrote:
Believe me, if I thought God wanted the sacrifice of innocents, I would be the first to denounce Him, here, there, and wherever. And I think most Christians would so rally. However futile that rally might be.
Best wishes, 2RM.
According to Christian theoogy God sanctioned the sacrifice of his innocent "son." As for "most Christians", I think it depends on the times we are living in. Most decent people, Christian or not, would abhor killing children. and yet we hear in Deut. 20, "However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. " I think that's fairly clear.
In 1 Sam 15 we get the Lord's message: "Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’ Again this doesn't seem to be a slip of the tongue.
So the working rule is, when God says something with which we disagree, we ignore him? If we are prepared to do only those things that have our support, then there is no need of God, surely?
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Re: Are We God's Pets?
Post #20Yup. If our sole evidence is scripture,marco wrote:
So the working rule is, when God says something with which we disagree, we ignore him?
God is the perfection we work towards, if we want to think of ourselves as 'good'. It cannot be so surprising that over the last 6000 years or so, since scripture was first written, we have made at least some moral progress.marco wrote:If we are prepared to do only those things that have our support, then there is no need of God, surely?
Best wishes, 2RM.