Is God a Utilitarian?

[Maimonides]

I wonder if the title would be appropriately read: Is the Christian god a utilitarian?

Is it possible to perceive the moral actions of God (smite the wicked) or the death of Jesus on the cross would be considered acts of utility?

For those not familiar with John Stewart's philosophy Utilitarianism is the belief that moral action is determined by maximizing utility (happiness, pleasure etc) and minimizing negative utility among all other sentient beings. In other words any moral action that maximizes happiness for all and minimizes displeasure is essentially good.

 

[CarlinKnew]

I wonder if the title would be appropriately read: Is the Christian god a utilitarian?

Is it possible to perceive the moral actions of God (smite the wicked) or the death of Jesus on the cross would be considered acts of utility?

For those not familiar with John Stewart's philosophy Utilitarianism is the belief that moral action is determined by maximizing utility (happiness, pleasure etc) and minimizing negative utility among all other sentient beings. In other words any moral action that maximizes happiness for all and minimizes displeasure is essentially good.

Nope. If that were the case, he'd design sentient beings to always be supremely happy.

 

[Wandered Off]

Considering the dire warning about how narrow the path is and how few will find it (often interpreted to mean most of humanity ends up in hell), it seems that what is maximized is eternal suffering. Perhaps anti-utilitarian would be a more apt description, if this interpretation is true.

 

[Maimonides]

Nope. If that were the case, he'd design sentient beings to always be supremely happy.

But if we take the Christian analogy of Jesus suffering on the cross and dying only to alleviate humans of sin and to attain paradise isn't that act of sacrifice true altruism essentially a utilitarian act?

 

[CarlinKnew]

But if we take the Christian analogy of Jesus suffering on the cross and dying only to alleviate humans of sin and to attain paradise isn't that act of sacrifice true altruism essentially a utilitarian act?

Nope. Could've just designed everyone to be in "paradise" to begin with.

 

[Maimonides]

Nope. Could've just designed everyone to be in "paradise" to begin with.

Can you be more detailed. Your comment is rather vague.

 

[King Salmon]

Whenever you ask if anyone is a utilitarian you have to ask what their utility function looks like. Knowing the contents of the bible, I'd be willing to bet that god's utility function would place Being Worshiped as the One True God as a higher good than anything else, including human happiness, and in the old stories he acted fairly consistently for this purpose. (Indeed, the first commandment is about not worshiping others. While they're not necessarily ordered in importance, #1 is still an important spot to hold for humans psychologically.) Currently, however, with more and more people becoming atheists, perhaps God isn't being a very good utilitarian with respect to the above proposed utility function.

 

[Maimonides]

Well for one God is beyond anything pleasurable since pleasure is of the senses and I don't know how God experiences pleasure so I cannot comment on it. However in matters of action if God smites a city full of gays in hopes of teaching us something about moral behavior would this be considered more specifically act Utilitarianism or Rule Utilitarianism?

 

[zenzero]

Friend Maimonides,

Is God a Utilitarian?
I wonder if the title would be appropriately read: Is the Christian god a utilitarian?

Personal understanding is that *god* is nothing but the UNIVERSAL energy which is there in every form and no-form and a human being is just a small small part of that total energy and this part can never manage to utilize that *WHOLE* or TOTAL energy in this universe and so God though utilitarian would remain out of reach for humans unless the part becomes ONE with the *WHOLE* i.e. being a BUDDHA!

Love & rgds

 

[Walkntune]

Friend Maimonides,



Personal understanding is that *god* is nothing but the UNIVERSAL energy which is there in every form and no-form and a human being is just a small small part of that total energy and this part can never manage to utilize that *WHOLE* or TOTAL energy in this universe and so God though utilitarian would remain out of reach for humans unless the part becomes ONE with the *WHOLE* i.e. being a BUDDHA!

Love & rgds

Or become one in Christ.

 

[Gloone]

Or become one in Christ.

One in Christ or one with Christ?

 

[zenzero]

Friend Walkntune,

Or become one in Christ.

Yes dear friend it must be understood by every human that the state of no-mind is when Gautama becomes a Buddha or a Jesus becomes a Christ etc. The are just labels for an understanding and unless the understanding is in tune with the spirit and the mind comes along then differences crop up and one will start saying that Christ and Buddha are separate. The persons Jesus and Gautama were separate in a way but when they realized that they are part of the same energy and they lost their identity of Jesus and Gautama did they become Christ or Buddha.
Each individual though appear separate are in fact the same entity only in different forms of the same energy.

Love & rgds

 

[Penumbra]

Yahweh's character is mostly self-absorbed. It's about being worshiped, glorified, etc.

I don't think utility factors much into it, or if it did, it's arguable about the goal of that utility.

For instance, in the Old Testament, Yahweh commands utter destruction of the enemies of the tribe he selected to be his people. Whether it's a man or an unarmed women or child, it doesn't matter. Kill them. Or if it's a young woman, keep them as a slave/wife. It makes sense from a certain utilitarian viewpoint, as you won't have that tribe going after justice against you because they're all dead.

On the other hand, it certainly doesn't minimize suffering and maximize happiness, because in that case god could have simply given an infinite amount of land and resources and allowed all to have abundance, rather than declaring the land beneath the feet of one tribe as belonging to another tribe, and then encouraging violence. It's simply a case of one tribe creating justification for its self to commit violence.

The more broad of a perspective that is taken, the less justifiable or utilitarian any action becomes. It becomes a game.

 

[Maimonides]

Penumbra interesting.....let me think of a response

 

[Smoke]

Seems to me that John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham were both nicer and more humane than Yahweh. Yahweh's rampages seem to have nothing to do with the greatest good for the greatest number, and everything to do with his offended dignity -- or what, in anybody but a supreme deity, we'd have to call megalomania.

 

[Maimonides]

Perhaps the early jews had a prehistoric and primitive view of God. Perhaps the narration of God's wrath was in conjunction with wars Jews partook in.

 

[Penumbra]

Their god was a reflection of who they were, like any god.