If you were a god, would you care if people worshipped you?

Akrasia · 02-05-2008 10:24am #1

This is one particular aspect of religion that I find especially silly. Religious people make this incredible leap from stating 'Something had to have created everything' to 'he demands that we worship him' with very little justification in between.

Now that we are in this technological age, it could soon be possible for us to create virtual worlds populated with artificial intelligent beings (most likely created in our own image).

If I design an entire virtual universe, I create the planets, I code the laws of physics, I design the people and their life cycle or an evolutionary process, their decision making process and then I let the program play with an element of 'free will' (where the program makes real time choices between different options available to him) I am a God to them. I have the power to change anything in the world.

Now, I have gone to all of this work, the last thing I want to see is all the little people spending their whole time in churches or convents constantly seeking my approval.

I would have created the little people, but I wouldn't have, or want a personal relationship with all of them (I might take an interest in a few remarkable individuals, the rambos, the hitlers, the che guevaras etc but there is absolutely no way I would be bothered with the day to day trials of joe six pack, regardless of how much they wanted to be close to me.)
__________________

Zombrex · 02-05-2008 10:39am

No, and its one of the major flaws in most religions.

It makes perfect sense that religious followers would believe that their god requires that they worship him, its hard to frame a religion without such a requirement. Without such a requirement the religion looses a lot of its control and ability to manipulate

But it make absolutely no sense from the point of view of the actual god.

So really it is a strong indicator about the purpose behind religion, why people would create it in the first place.

Red Hand · 02-05-2008 11:33am

Well, maybe God(s) needs worship like a drug...like in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Those Gods that don't have any believers and worshipers fade out.:)

Pompey Magnus · 02-05-2008 11:40am

I wouldn't but If I did demand worship I would not be a reclusive god who hides away from his creation yet at the same time insist that they acknowledge and praise my existence, punishing them harshly if they did not.

I would need to be a particularly cruel and petty god to do something like that because I am automatically putting my creation at a significant disadvantage. To punish a creature which is infinitely less intellegent than you for falling for a trap that you as a god have set is cruel and sadistic. It is far worse than a man beating a dog to death for not being house trained.

Thinking about it again, I would actually be pretty disappointed if any of my creation worshipped me as the jealous, wrathful god of the Bible.

Dades · 02-05-2008 11:40am

It's a human trait projected onto their deities.

Men seek power, control, adoration, but also to be feared. Therefore an omnipotent deity created by man suffers from these flaws too.

My 2 cents anyway.

Akrasia · 02-05-2008 12:54pm

To add to this slightly, If you were decent a laissez faire creator omnipotent god who didn't demand to be worshipped and just wanted people to live their lives as best they could, would you be insulted if your creations invented wrathful deities and then persecuted people who didn't agree with them?

Zombrex · 02-05-2008 1:02pm

Akrasia wrote: »

To add to this slightly, If you were decent a laissez faire creator omnipotent god who didn't demand to be worshipped and just wanted people to live their lives as best they could, would you be insulted if your creations invented wrathful deities and then persecuted people who didn't agree with them?

Probably not. I don't think a omnipotent deity would get insulted.

The way humans model the emotions of their gods on human emotions is another tell tale sign that we are just making this stuff up. It is our limited imaginations and the need to model agents in the natural world within the frame work of humans, that gives "gods" their emotions.

If an alien deity existed I would find it very difficult to believe it would have anything like our emotional systems, that evolved in humans for particular evolutionary reasons.

Tigrrrr · 02-05-2008 1:15pm

Yes I would, I would absolutely demand it in fact. I don't even think that weekly worship would be enough, after all, I created those Goddam critters. I'd also like confusing the hell out of people, changing my mind constantly and demanding complete and utter devotion to me, and me alone.

Strangely like the deity that most of the faithful believe in then.

Oh my God... I am teh God!:pac:

Red Hand · 02-05-2008 1:16pm

Tigrrrr wrote: »

Oh my God... I am teh God!:pac:

Or,

"Oh, my Me!"

death1234567 · 02-05-2008 1:23pm

Wicknight wrote: »

Without such a requirement the religion looses a lot of its control and ability to manipulate

Sums it up nicely.

Galvasean · 02-05-2008 1:44pm

If I were a God I'd demand worship. Of course Id make myself known and inhabit a giant gold palace in Hawaii.

LaVidaLoca · 02-05-2008 2:03pm

that, as someone with a troubled relationship with his parents, God is a little insecure.

He is neither black nor white, neither man nor woman, , needs offerings to be made to him all the time and a constant stream of public affection to keep him feeling good.

***

Holy ****, I've just realised that God is Michael Jackson.

Mena · 02-05-2008 2:55pm

I'd be far too busy causing chaos and havoc in the universe(s) to worry about what a bunch of barely developed monkeys were getting up to.

Popinjay · 02-05-2008 3:15pm

I probably would. But then, I'm supposed to have human failings so it's ok. If that lot I created tried to deny I had these personality traits, I, or others, could merely point to my behaviour as evidence of these traits..... Oh wait! Something just occurred to me.

Need a suspicious smiley.

rowlandbrowner · 02-05-2008 4:02pm

the judeo-christian concept of god is a bit too totalitarian for me, for a start id probably hold elections....

Akrasia · 02-05-2008 7:36pm

Jeremiah 16:1 wrote: »

Or,

"Oh, my Me!"

Bill hicks, the absolute legend.

Hagar · 02-05-2008 7:41pm

I am, they do, it's cool.

gramlab · 03-05-2008 10:59am

If I was a god, the by mans definitions I would demand complete worship. If I was a supreme omniscient being then maybe, maybe not.

I am going to give most of the posters on this forum a nice room overlooking the burning lakes of hell for what they have said about me though.

Dog;)

Zillah · 03-05-2008 11:27am

God is the ultimate alpha male, and the religious; the ultimate sycophants.

PDN · 03-05-2008 8:02pm

Dades wrote: »

It's a human trait projected onto their deities.

Somewhat ironic since the very thread title asks every poster to project their traits onto a deity.

Zombrex · 04-05-2008 12:57am

PDN wrote: »

Somewhat ironic since the very thread title asks every poster to project their traits onto a deity.

I think that is the point.

I some how doubt Akrasia really thinks there is a god.

Galvasean · 04-05-2008 1:00pm

rowlandbrowner wrote: »

the judeo-christian concept of god is a bit too totalitarian for me, for a start id probably hold elections....

Sounds good to me.

StormWarrior · 04-05-2008 1:06pm

I would be like the god of the old testament. How I treat the people would depend on my modd. Sometimes I would torment them and cast them into fire and brimstone for not believing me, other times I would bless and praise them. It would be fun.:pac:

JimiTime · 04-05-2008 1:48pm

Another upbuilding thread guys. Cheers.

stereoroid · 04-05-2008 1:49pm

Billions of whining maggots, all of who want Me to do something for them, usually to give them an advantage over someone less whiny... like everything else in life, I would want quality worshippers, and fewer of them, so I would start by fixing human reproductive ethics. As things stand at the moment, breeding requires less brain power than most other things we do as humans. Ploughing a field or cooking food requires more brain power than sex. :mad:

Dades · 04-05-2008 2:10pm

JimiTime wrote: »

Another upbuilding thread guys. Cheers.

Any bit in particular you've issue with?

JimiTime · 04-05-2008 3:19pm

Dades wrote: »

Any bit in particular you've issue with?

I've no issue with it. i wasn't being sarcastic. I do find threads like this upbuilding as a Christian.

Zillah · 04-05-2008 7:49pm

Upbuilding?

That...odd...choice of word aside, care to tell us how that is possible for a sane human being?

Dades · 04-05-2008 9:49pm

JimiTime wrote: »

I've no issue with it. i wasn't being sarcastic. I do find threads like this upbuilding as a Christian.

Sorry! I assumed you were being sarcastic.
Then again I'm not sure what upbuilding means either!

Galvasean · 04-05-2008 9:58pm

I couldn't find 'upbuilding' on Dictionary.com so I put it through the thesaurus and got 'embolden' which means "To impart courage, inspiration, and resolution to."

Or maybe he's just horny.

PDN · 04-05-2008 10:15pm

Dades wrote: »

Sorry! I assumed you were being sarcastic.
Then again I'm not sure what upbuilding means either!

up·build (p-bld)
tr.v. up·built (-blt), up·build·ing, up·builds
To build up; increase or enlarge: sand dunes that were upbuilt by the wind.
up·builder n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Soren Kierkegaard's book, Upbuilding Discourses, would indicate that the word was not unknown in the mid-Nineteenth Century philosophical and theological arena.

Always happy to help.

If you were a god, would you care if people worshipped you?

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