Quote:
Originally Posted by dav3
The discussion isn't as simple and as that.
You see, the issue with Atheists and denouncing a higher power, is that Atheists get their definitions of God from the Christians. This is where the 'magic man in the sky' stuff comes into the discussion. So forget the Christian idea of God and just look at the very basic definition of what 'God' is.
Let's not use the word 'God', and let's pretend that 'God' probably isn't so supernatural after all. Then interchange the idea 'God' with a sort of unified energy that holds the Universe together and makes things happen and also destroys those things. What if gravity, or electricity is the almighty energy that creates and destroys and holds the Universe together?
I don't know, you don't know - which is essentially definition of Agnosticism.
|
You are wrong, atheists don't get their definition of god from Christians. There were atheists long before Christianity was around. Also I question the point of redefining God out of significance. What if god is electricity? Electromagnetism is just one out of many forces. Would that make you a pantheist with an electromagnetism god, a gravity god, a weak nuclear god and a strong nuclear god? Pointing to a force and calling it god is exactly the same thought process as pre-historic man pointing to lightning and calling it god. At least the pre-historic man would have worshipped the thunder god and probably felt some sense of order and ease in his world that when he performed certain rituals the thunder god would be satisfied and His favour would appear to shine on him afterwards boosting his immune system with the feeling of control over his environment and helping to ensure he lives long enough to produce offspring.
What is the point of having an electricity god today? So that you may thank Him every time you turn your plasma TV on and pray to his greatness for bringing you Geraldo? Of course not, so it's entirely superfluous, an intellectually lazy game. Like a university student saying "What if.. god was like... heheheh... a bong? hehehehheh"
You've got to ask what the benefit in humans assigning a status to a part of physics is.. (Or a chemical process, or a complex system) How and why would it advance or augment our understanding of the universe to call electromagnetism or gravity god rather than plain old "vanilla" electricity or gravity. Only then can you decide if there is an "issue" with atheism as it relates to this particular god of the gaps. It's called atheism, not agravitism or aelectromagnetism. If what you call god doesn't have any actual godlike attributes then is it anything other than empty thought games?