What are the attributes of a worthy God?

[osgart]

God offers a deal. . . "worship Me or burn in the lake of fire of the bottomless pit of hell for eternity."

Hence the phrase "God fearing."

On the off-chance that God exists, some people want to take no chances so they attend church.

Pastors used to do "God's work" of torturing humans. The slightest bit of blasphemy (or perceived blasphemy) and those people (usually scientists) would be tortured to death. "Meteors fell from the sky?" Get tortured until you take back every word. Rocks don't fall from God's perfect heaven.

Look in a telescope. Get your head chopped off (peering at God).

Look at a microscope. Get your head chopped off (looking for the hand of God).

Obey God, and everything that I say that God says (or else.....chop, chop, chop).

Thumb screws. Torture racks. Iron maidens. Cat-O-Nine-Tails. Merry maidens (like the kind mentioned on Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance). There are a host of torture devices, and this is what kept the Dark Ages dark (no science, no advancement), and it kept the powerful religious leaders in power.

The history of religion is a bloody one. Ah.....the good ol' days.

What about other God(s) besides the one that I can't stand and agree with you on.

I will say this people today romanticize that Bible to the point of calling God pure love because of a few poetic books and verses with some interesting thoughts, and notions. That's a long way from priests saying mass with their backs to the congregation.

There's also a lot of violence surrounding Islam obviously. It mirrors Christianity.

I was trying to not go down those roads and see why people would want a God to be real, or if it's even desirable to have any God for anybody.

 

[MonkeyFire]

Fire in love and life, omnipresent omnipotent pacifism, and unconditional true love and free love.

 

[Viker]

Attentiveness
Active involvement
Reasonable reciprocation
Nurturing
Guiding

Just to start.

 

[Clara Tea]

What would make God worthy of admiration and praise?

What would make God worthy of worship?

And if you have no God, or many Gods feel free to answer.

I have nothing to debate myself, but I thought a debate forum would be the best way to explore the reasons people find a God worthy, or unworthy.

The bible is written in code, and now we have modern decoders to find that code.

Bible Decoder. Get the software safely and easily.

Of course the bible is in code. You wouldn't think that someone as intelligent as God would write long boring lists of who is related to whom (Genesis). Rather, those long lists are actually conceiling the real meaning of God that has been concealed from mankind until mankind reached a threshold of understanding.

 

[Altfish]

Best you remain an atheist then.

Think that if a god is proven to exist, I'd struggle to be an atheist.
I'd become an a-worhippist or something

 

[Mock Turtle]

God doesn't need anything from humans, humans need something from God, is what believers believe.

Which perhaps is a problem when so many just see a different version of God, and as to what they might project onto such, and probably was the main reason as to why I initially had suspicions about all religions - and looked elsewhere for answers.

 

[Brian2]

I know next to nothing with certainty. My beliefs are based on the probability of truth based on the evidence.

Sounds subjective, which I guess it needs to be.
What we see as evidence also can be a subjective matter and open to confirmation bias.

 

[Brian2]

As I said before, when you hear things like, "And God said unto .......", you either believe it or you don't. Choice simply doesn't come into it.

You or I might simply believe it or not but that is already after we have made up our mind.

 

[pearl]

Then why does God allow suffering? Is He powerless to stop it?

That would be my guess.

 

[Brian2]

That would be my guess.

Not powerless but unwilling to do that at this time.

 

[joe1776]

Sounds subjective, which I guess it needs to be.
What we see as evidence also can be a subjective matter and open to confirmation bias.

To me, opinions on art, music or architecture are subjective. No one can say you're wrong.

But we're talking about opinions on facts, which are always true. So, our opinions aren't subjective. We're either right or wrong.

 

[Brian2]

To me, opinions on art, music or architecture are subjective. No one can say you're wrong.

But we're talking about opinions on facts, which are always true. So, our opinions aren't subjective. We're either right or wrong.

Facts are facts, but opinions on facts are subjective.

 

[joe1776]

Facts are facts, but opinions on facts are subjective.

I disagree. Opinions on facts are either right or wrong. They are not subjective (meaning that one opinion is as good as another)

MacMillan:
based on your own feelings and ideas and not on facts. Something that is based on facts is objective
more...

 

[loverofhumanity]

Then why does God allow suffering? Is He powerless to stop it?

God commanded us to love one another so what did we go and do? We ignored that law and so suffer. This life though is only a stop over so we all must pass on to another existence. A lot of, if not most of human suffering would be eliminated if we obeyed God’s laws but we choose to go our own way.

 

[loverofhumanity]

Jesus sacrificed nothing. Jesus was murdered. Jesus asked God "why hath thou foresaken me?" So, it wasn't Jesus's idea to die for our sins.

Jesus must have had his power stripped away by God, otherwise he could have used his great power to harm or stop his murderers.

Is God the all-powerful creator of the universe? Or, is God a powerless creature who can't stop a simple crucifixion? I think that any good father would protect his son.

Jesus isn't God in the Christian understanding. He is God in the Catholic (a type of Christian) understanding. That is, He is part of the trinity (father, son, and holy spirit). There are many parts of the bible that make it very clear that only God is God and that there will be no other. There are also parts of the bible that make it very clear that Jesus is the son of God and should, rightfully, be called Lord (but Lord is not God).

Those who worship symbols of Jesus are worshipping a graven image, unless they feel that Jesus is God.

According to the Baha’i Writings Christ’s Words were very different and he cherished giving up His Life.


O My beloved Lord, how long wilt Thou abandon Me to them? Lift Me up unto Thee, shelter Me close to Thee, make Me a dwelling by Thy throne of glory. Verily art Thou the Answerer of prayers, and Thou art the Clement, the Merciful. O My Lord! Verily this world with all its vastness can no longer contain Me, and I love this cross, out of love for Thy beauty, and yearning for Thy realm on high, and because of this fire, fanned by the gusts of Thy holiness, aflame within My heart. Help me, O Lord, to ascend unto Thee, sustain Me that I may reach unto Thy sacred Threshold, O My loving Lord! Verily Thou art the Merciful, the Possessor of great bounty! Verily Thou art the Generous! Verily Thou art the Compassionate! Verily Thou art the All-Knowing! There is none other God save Thee, the Mighty, the Powerful!"

Bahá'í Reference Library - Selections From the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Pages 38-44

 

[loverofhumanity]

Putting in an obvious appearance now and then might be useful, if such a God truly expects to be worshipped, and plenty of religious beliefs apparently see this as a requirement. Lacking such, why would anyone take one religious belief over another? Given that the 'with God on our side' and 'it was God's will' is rather open to interpretation, and where the non-believers are as likely to be correct as to no God influencing or affecting human lives than any particular religion claiming such for themselves.

That’s just it! God does put in an appearance from time to time and age to age. Who do you think Moses, Christ, Buddha, Muhammad, Zoroaster, the Bab and Baha’u’llah were?

 

[Mock Turtle]

That’s just it! God does put in an appearance from time to time and age to age. Who do you think Moses, Christ, Buddha, Muhammad, Zoroaster, the Bab and Baha’u’llah were?

People thought to be prophets (from God) and believed to be such by many - but not being so? Your choice to believe or not, as is mine

 

[loverofhumanity]

People thought to be prophets (from God) and believed to be such by many - but not being so? Your choice to believe or not, as is mine

Yes. Live and let live.

 

[osgart]

Attentiveness
Active involvement
Reasonable reciprocation
Nurturing
Guiding

Just to start.

Sounds like good healthcare!

 

[Heyo]

That’s just it! God does put in an appearance from time to time and age to age. Who do you think Moses, Christ, Buddha, Muhammad, Zoroaster, the Bab and Baha’u’llah were?

And George Lucas, Bobby Henderson, Douglas Adams, ...