On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 12:35:39 AM UTC-5, Samiya wrote: > > I have just read several messages on various threads in this list about > God. I really don't know which one to answer to, nor do I wish to debate > the subject. It is God to choose and guide whoever He wills; I can only > keep my duty by sharing the ayaat of The Quran and the knowledge I learn > therefrom. This page contains links to various aspects of God, which are > being theorised in your various posts: matter, energy, consciousness, soul, > etc. > https://signsandscience.blogspot.com/p/allah.html >
There are similar ideas in Christianity. God chooses who is to have paradise, which raises a curious conundrum. If there are those not chosen and they die eternally or suffer in flames eternally then it means God has effectively selected them for that fate. If this is the case then ultimately God creates many humans just so they can suffer eternally. Such a God makes Adolf Hitler look benevolent by comparison. I read a translation of the Koran right after the 9/11 attacks. It is heavily marinated with eschatology with flames and suffering. In fact it is far more than what exists in the New Testament, which itself is pretty threatening along these lines. A related issue, say with whether God is good, was discussed between Socrates and Euthyphro 4 centuries before Christianity and 1000 years before Islam. The question is whether God is good because he is inherently so and has no choice in matter, or whether God is good because He chooses that. In the first case this is a limitation on God's free will, which limits his omnipotence. In the second case if God has the choice to be good, then what is good, ethically right or morally pure is something outside of God and thus God is not omnipresent with all things. In fact this sort of thing is the type of paradox that always emerges with the matter of God. God is then an infinite unknowable and anything we try to define as God or to label as His character runs into contradictions. For this reason the topic is not appropriate for science or a related subject where proof, evidence, measurement and empiricism are used. The Torah, Tanach and to a degree as I understand the Christian New Testament are mythic narratives meant to bring meaning to various aspects of inner mental space or psychology. I am not sure about the Koran, maybe there are similar currents. While we can't disprove the existence of God, we can illustrate how certain ideas about God do not match a scientific understanding of the world. Also much of these things involve magical thinking. Jesus turning water into wine is really much the same idea as Cinderella's fairy godmother turning mice and a pumpkin into a carriage drawn by a team of horses. It's magical thinking. LC -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/380546c4-e260-4315-9061-ee07c3f2ec33%40googlegroups.com.
