Would it matter?

[Robbie_James_Francis]

I don't think the knowledge of there being a Creator is all that important. None of us have that knowledge anyway, but if there is no loving Creator that created us for the very purpose of being loving to each other, then we have the same significance as the ants you talk about which is essentially no significance. If we were however created for a reason and we fulfill that reason, we may have a great deal of significance to our Creator.

I see what you're saying, but I don't think the lack of a Creator means that we have essentially no significance. I think our significance lies within ourselves, other people and our relationships with them.

Which is one of the ways in which I don't think God's existence really 'matters'. If She does exist (and I don't necessarily believe She doesn't), then it seems to me we are created for each other and for ourselves.

God, I would argue, much like the sabbath, was created for humanity, and not humanity for God.

peace

 

[elman]

I see what you're saying, but I don't think the lack of a Creator means that we have essentially no significance. I think our significance lies within ourselves, other people and our relationships with them.

Which is one of the ways in which I don't think God's existence really 'matters'. If She does exist (and I don't necessarily believe She doesn't), then it seems to me we are created for each other and for ourselves.

God, I would argue, much like the sabbath, was created for humanity, and not humanity for God.

peace

If we created God, God does not exist. Our significance that we can create that llies within ourselves, other people and our relationships with them is meaningless in the long term if there is no God. After a hundred years or so it will have the same meaning as the ant-none.

 

[meebs]

Interesting question. It seems to me that it depends on what we mean when we say that God's existence or non-existence 'matters'. In terms of this life, I don't think it matters in the slightest. As far as 'salvation' is concerned, if God is good, there's no hell. If God is bad, then hell is the absence of Her so it must be good, or at least better than heaven.

Beyond that, I think it is more important to live this life than to worry about the next. Though I think all genuine searches for important knowledge and truth are beautiful, we cannot let them stop us actually living.

peace

Hell and heaven - do you think that depends on the nature of the god?

May i ask (OT for a second) why you think God is a her? (im nosey because i dont really know your views on god and im curious )

 

[meebs]

If we created God, God does not exist. Our significance that we can create that llies within ourselves, other people and our relationships with them is meaningless in the long term if there is no God. After a hundred years or so it will have the same meaning as the ant-none.

We can always create our own meaning. And we do!

 

[Eudaimonist]

If we created God, God does not exist. Our significance that we can create that llies within ourselves, other people and our relationships with them is meaningless in the long term if there is no God. After a hundred years or so it will have the same meaning as the ant-none.

Meaning for me is only important in the short term -- while I exist.

After I cease to exist in death, meaninglessness won't inconvenience me in the slightest.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[elman]

We can always create our own meaning. And we do!

Yes we can but if there is no God it is a temporary meaning and if there is a God and we create meaning some way other than in loving others, we create a false or bad meaning.

 

[elman]

Meaning for me is only important in the short term -- while I exist.

After I cease to exist in death, meaninglessness won't inconvenience me in the slightest.


eudaimonia,

Mark

I agree. My hope is that I don't cease to exist and thus the meaning I created will continue.

 

[meebs]

Yes we can but if there is no God it is a temporary meaning and if there is a God and we create meaning some way other than in loving others, we create a false or bad meaning.

Why is this other meaning bad or false?

 

[elman]

Why is this other meaning bad or false?

Because being unloving to others is bad.

 

[meebs]

Because being unloving to others is bad.

While i personaly think being loving toward others is a good thing, why is it necassarily a bad thing for another person?

Isnt it all a matter of point of view?

 

[elman]

While i personaly think being loving toward others is a good thing, why is it necassarily a bad thing for another person?

Isnt it all a matter of point of view?

No torturing someone is not bad because it is a subjective point of view. It is bad because all mentally healthy people know it is bad. Murdering innocent people is bad and it is not subject to someone's point of view.

 

[Eudaimonist]

No torturing someone is not bad because it is a subjective point of view. It is bad because all mentally healthy people know it is bad. Murdering innocent people is bad and it is not subject to someone's point of view.

I have to agree. While it may be the "point of view" of a flat-Earther that the Earth is flat, the Earth isn't flat.

While a morally confused individual may think that torturing others is moral, that doesn't mean it is moral.

If morality is a subject that is grounded in some aspect of reality, not merely a pure opinion or whim floating in mid-air, then a moral view can be either correct or incorrect -- either it is in accord with reality, or a misunderstanding of reality.

So torturing someone really can be morally evil, even when the torturer believes it to be otherwise.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[elman]

I have to agree. While it may be the "point of view" of a flat-Earther that the Earth is flat, the Earth isn't flat.

While a morally confused individual may think that torturing others is moral, that doesn't mean it is moral.

If morality is a subject that is grounded in some aspect of reality, not merely a pure opinion or whim floating in mid-air, then a moral view can be either correct or incorrect -- either it is in accord with reality, or a misunderstanding of reality.

So torturing someone really can be morally evil, even when the torturer believes it to be otherwise.


eudaimonia,

Mark

Thank you!!