Is God a good bowler?

[PacificPandeist]

Here's the question, basically....

God goes bowling one day, and on his first roll he makes a perfect strike....

So did God (a) roll the ball all the way down the lane from behind the line and manage to knock down all ten pins without tweaking the path of the ball? Or did God (b) secretly and invisibly guide the ball to the pins, or perhaps even secretly run down there and knock over those pins by hand?

Bear in mind, the lane is unusually long -- it takes billions of years for the ball to roll down it -- but also that God made the ball and the lane and the throw....

 

[Mystman]

I must say, nice analogy.

 

[PacificPandeist]

I must say, nice analogy.

Thanks!! Perhaps I can sway you from atheism towards Pandeism, then?

 

[Mystman]

Nah.

I dislike bowling altogether.

 

[Skaloop]

Nah.

I dislike bowling altogether.

Blasphemer! In terms of the analogy and real life.

 

[PacificPandeist]

Blasphemer! In terms of the analogy and real life.

There is no blasphemy in Pandeism, since it proposes a God who has no conception of such things....

 

[Blayz]

There is no blasphemy in Pandeism, since it proposes a God who has no conception of such things....

Is there any evidence for this uncaring diety/ies ? any? at all?

I'm sticking with the FSM, who had holes drilled in the lane so his noodly appendage can slither down to the business end of the lane and do as He will with the pins.

Yarrgghh Be Upon Thy.

 

[PacificPandeist]

Is there any evidence for this uncaring diety/ies ? any? at all?

I'm sticking with the FSM, who had holes drilled in the lane so his noodly appendage can slither down to the business end of the lane and do as He will with the pins.

Yarrgghh Be Upon Thy.

The evidence is simply this: the laws of physics are too fortuitous!!

 

[lemmings]

God knew the outcome of the game before he played it. When the outcome was unfavoriable, he modified his swing to create the desired outcome.

 

[GettinInTune]

The evidence is simply this: the laws of physics are too fortuitous!!

I do agree that the laws of physics are fortuitious and conducive to life, but we really do not know the origins of these laws and if they are consitent in other universes.

The 'multiverse' concept, though speculative, is a natural extension of current cosmological theories, which gains credence because they account for things that we do observe. The physical laws and geometry could be different in other universes...

 

[PacificPandeist]

God knew the outcome of the game before he played it. When the outcome was unfavoriable, he modified his swing to create the desired outcome.

I'd like to think that, like any bowler, "he modified his swing" to maximize the probability of the desired outcome, and ceased to exercise any control over the ball once it hit the hardwood.... on the other hand, while the bowler is just aiming to knock down a particular set of ten pins, God is aiming to create a Universe in which intelligent life pops up -- anywhere, and at any time.... So I think God has an easier task of it!!

 

[PacificPandeist]

I do agree that the laws of physics are fortuitious and conducive to life, but we really do not know the origins of these laws and if they are consitent in other universes.

The 'multiverse' concept, though speculative, is a natural extension of current cosmological theories, which gains credence because they account for things that we do observe. The physical laws and geometry could be different in other universes...

If there are other Universes, it would make sense that God created all of them for the same purpose!!

 

[GettinInTune]

If there are other Universes, it would make sense that God created all of them for the same purpose!!

Many of them would be life-less if the physical laws took on different parameters.

What is God purpose?

 

[lemmings]

Many of them would be life-less if the physical laws took on different parameters.

What is God purpose?

Lots and lots of packing foam?

 

[PacificPandeist]

Many of them would be life-less if the physical laws took on different parameters.

What is God purpose?

There is only one rational purpose for which a being properly described as "God" would create anything -- to learn something that it can not learn in any other manner.... and what other knowledge could God attain from creating the Universe than the knowledge of limitation, uncertainty, and failure? Hence, Pandeism proposes, God becomes the Universe (or, as you suggest, a collection of Universes), and nothing exists of God outside this Universe (or these Universes).... supposing there is just one, it is designed with physical characteristics that maximize the possibility that complexity will arise, and that life will arise from that complexity will arise, and that intelligent life will ultimately evolve, capable of experiencing and reflecting on its own limitation, thus providing these knowledge-completing experiences to God!!

 

[DisgruntledPostalEmployee]

There is only one rational purpose for which a being properly described as "God" would create anything -- to learn something that it can not learn in any other manner....

Or to show off to his divine friends what a sweet universe he could totally create without even trying.

 

[PacificPandeist]

Or to show off to his divine friends what a sweet universe he could totally create without even trying.

Does polytheism adequately explain anything? A single God that encompasses seems a more likely explanation than multiple competing Gods, especially if you reject the concept of God's (or Gods') continued interference in the Universe after its creation.... unless you believe in polydeism, and think many Gods worked on creation, and then all of them left because none cared enough to stick around....

 

[Blayz]

There is only one rational purpose for which a being properly described as "God" would create anything -- to learn something that it can not learn in any other manner

This is only rational within the constraints of being human. You are ascribing to your uncaring god a sense of curiosity. Why would a being capable of a feat such as universe creation have such a human trait?


Oh yes, and who made it, exactly?

Finally, please explain how having faith in it serves any human purpose, fictional or otherwise.

 

[Bakin]

Here's the question, basically....

God goes bowling one day, and on his first roll he makes a perfect strike....

So did God (a) roll the ball all the way down the lane from behind the line and manage to knock down all ten pins without tweaking the path of the ball? Or did God (b) secretly and invisibly guide the ball to the pins, or perhaps even secretly run down there and knock over those pins by hand?

Bear in mind, the lane is unusually long -- it takes billions of years for the ball to roll down it -- but also that God made the ball and the lane and the throw....

Here's something you might find interesting...

The Moon is very valuable to life on Earth because it stablizes the axal tilt of the Earth. Without the Moon, the Earth's "North Pole" would be changing all the time, and we wouldn't have stable seasons. Some scientists think that without the Moon the Earth would not be hospitable to complex (eukaryotic) life.

The Giant Impact hypothesis states the Moon was formed when a Mars-sized object collided into the side of the early Earth. It's the most widely accepted explaination.

So if God was guiding the events of the universe then yes, he was quite a good bowler.

 

[PacificPandeist]

This is only rational within the constraints of being human. You are ascribing to your uncaring god a sense of curiosity. Why would a being capable of a feat such as universe creation have such a human trait?


Oh yes, and who made it, exactly?

Finally, please explain how having faith in it serves any human purpose, fictional or otherwise.

Curiosity is a rational trait, and I would presume God to be rational (as any intelligent being with complete or substantially complete information would be)....

And since God would have preceded time (which is a function of the Universe) there is no need for it to have been "made", it only had to exist -- and if such an entity existed at any point, then by its nature it would have always existed!!

As to the human purpose served, what human purpose is served by knowing how black holes work? We can't make them or harness their energy for anything.... but we strive to know what's out there.... if a God exists, it is something that's "out there"; and if it's a rational being, as is the pandeistic conception of God, then we should eventually be able to discern either its actual existence, or at least the probability of it.