Why did we invent God?

[Sunstone]

Not quite. Our concepts of the deity are not man made, however our analogies of explaining Him are. Our concepts come from what God shows us of Himself.

All concepts are creations of the human brain. Are you saying there is such a thing as a concept that exists apart from the brain that conceives of it? That sounds pretty Platonic.

 

[jewscout]

Even if there is deity, all of our concepts of deity are manmade. The question, therefore, is why did we invent those concepts?

G-d is infinite. We are small and finite. In an effort to identify with and connect with the Divine we must place finite labels upon It. In this way we can begin to grasp the very basic conept of what G-d is though we may never fully understand Him.

 

[pratik]

Hi Everyone !

This is my first post at this place. So kindly forgive me for any mistakes that I make.

About the thread here, first of all I agree with the fact that Man created God and reverse may not be true ( Evolution vs. Creation is out of scope here ).

There are several types of people in the world :

1. Those who seek answers to questions that can't be answered.
2. Those who accept answers of such questions without any explaination/logic. They just belive what they are told to belive.

I belive that 95-98% of world's population belongs to category 2. Now to control that 98% people, the smart people could have created something called "GOD". That would not be only way to control others, but probably that would be the best way. Even if you read this thread carefully, you will find people preaching christianity - islam , etc. We all ( 99.99% ) belong to some sepcific religion because we were born to be of that religion. They belive in allah-jesus because from the very beginning, they were told to believe in them. Creation of GOD also helps in preventing crime. Because, people were told that GOD will punish them if they commit crime.

So basically, smart people created "GOD" in order to control others and for better cause of society, because majority of people fear the most of what is unseen.

-Pratik

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Welcome Pratik, and may all your posts be well received.

To be honest, I don't think I've ever thought of that angle. Up until now, we've all been addressing the question from the standpoint of "what did man gain from inventing God" in regards to man's quest for direction on this earth.
The idea of the brighter people inventing religion to control the "less gifted" actually never occured to me. Perhaps some of the others will have some thoughts on this.

TVOR

 

[Pah]

Welcome Pratik, and may all your posts be well received.

To be honest, I don't think I've ever thought of that angle. Up until now, we've all been addressing the question from the standpoint of "what did man gain from inventing God" in regards to man's quest for direction on this earth.
The idea of the brighter people inventing religion to control the "less gifted" actually never occured to me. Perhaps some of the others will have some thoughts on this.

TVOR

It is absolutely true for religion in many, many cases but not necessarily true of the reason for creating God/gods

-pah-

 

[The Voice of Reason]

It is absolutely true for religion in many, many cases but not necessarily true of the reason for creating God/gods
-pah-

We agree, Pah - for religion, it is beyond debate. That is exactly why the likes of Falwell, Robertson, Swaggart, Bakker, Farakhan, Jackson, Arafat, Sharpton, etc. can afford to make a living - leading those that do not have the ability to think for themselves.

TVOR

 

[Trinity]

We agree, Pah - for religion, it is beyond debate. That is exactly why the likes of Falwell, Robertson, Swaggart, Bakker, Farakhan, Jackson, Arafat, Sharpton, etc. can afford to make a living - leading those that do not have the ability to think for themselves.

TVOR

I think you are on to something here, but may be missing the larger picture.

Yes some people distort the message for their own purposes, what ever that may be, however that says more about the perons than about the message.

 

[Trinity]

Hi Everyone !

There are several types of people in the world :

1. Those who seek answers to questions that can't be answered.
2. Those who accept answers of such questions without any explaination/logic. They just belive what they are told to belive.
-Pratik

Welcome to the site Pratik,

For all that science is worth, it does very little to explain anything. It does, on the other hand, do a great deal to describe what has happened.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Trinity -

The fact that people use the "message" for selfish purposes is obvious. The "message" itself takes many forms - hence the diversity of religions and sects that are preyed upon.

TVOR

 

[Trinity]

Trinity -

The fact that people use the "message" for selfish purposes is obvious. The "message" itself takes many forms - hence the diversity of religions and sects that are preyed upon.

TVOR

huuuhhhhhh?

 

[The Voice of Reason]

For all that science is worth, it does very little to explain anything. It does, on the other hand, do a great deal to describe what has happened.

Can you tell me what this means, Trinity? On the surface, it appears to be self-contradictory.

It "explains little" and "describes a great deal". In the context of this sentence, the words "explain" and "describes" are interchangeable. Try switching those two words in the sentence, and it still reads the same.

Thanks,
TVOR

 

[Trinity]

Trinity -

The fact that people use the "message" for selfish purposes is obvious. The "message" itself takes many forms - hence the diversity of religions and sects that are preyed upon.

TVOR

Man's vulnerability to sin and selfishness has little to do with God's word.

The fact the secular/sensible society has been sold as this wonderful gift, and any sort of personal restraint is conservative and old fashion, just goes to show how far this philosophy has permeated our thought process.

 

[Trinity]

Can you tell me what this means, Trinity? On the surface, it appears to be self-contradictory.

It "explains little" and "describes a great deal". In the context of this sentence, the words "explain" and "describes" are interchangeable. Try switching those two words in the sentence, and it still reads the same.

Thanks,
TVOR

I will take the former challenge and leave the latter.

Description has to do with saying what has happened. Like a sports announcer who calls the play by play. "The ball is a grounder to the pitcher, the pitcher throws, the batter is out".

Explanation has to do with the reasons behind each event. Does the have little hitting skill. Was he trying to advance the runner on second? Was he thinking about his pregnant wife at home? Did he take a bribe?

 

[Rex]

I will take the former challenge and leave the latter.

Description has to do with saying what has happened. Like a sports announcer who calls the play by play. "The ball is a grounder to the pitcher, the pitcher throws, the batter is out".

Explanation has to do with the reasons behind each event. Does the have little hitting skill. Was he trying to advance the runner on second? Was he thinking about his pregnant wife at home? Did he take a bribe?

Explanation:

How did the team get 1st down?

The prior play the qb threw the ball 10 yards to the receiver.

^You could call that a description^

 

[Trinity]

Explanation:

How did the team get 1st down?

The prior play the qb threw the ball 10 yards to the receiver.

^You could call that a description^

I would call that a description

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Yea - me too! C'mon Rex, you're just trying to confuse the issue.

TVOR

 

[chuck010342]

we did not invent God. I am telling you the truth God does exsist and he loves you

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Chuck,

I have been getting on you pretty hard in a couple of threads, and I'd like to bury the hatchet. Let's just say that you and I don't agree on a good many things, especially when it comes to God and Religion. That doesn't mean that I don't like you, or that I wish you any harm or ill will. I hope that whatever belief system you have, you can find it in you to allow others their belief system as well.

Thanks,
TVOR

 

[Sunstone]

we did not invent God. I am telling you the truth God does exsist and he loves you

You cannot think unless you have a functioning brain. You cannot even think of God without a functioning brain. Another way of looking at this question, "Why did we invent God" is to ask "How does our brain work in such a way that we can conceive of notions such as 'God'?" For no matter how much you think of "God" as being something out there and apart from your thoughts of "God", everything you think of when you think of "God" is by definition a thought of your brain, rather than a reality apart from thought.

 

[pratik]

It is absolutely true for religion in many, many cases but not necessarily true of the reason for creating God/gods

I firmly believe that we can't differentiate between GOD and Religion. They are like the different side of the same coin. They co-exist. GOD is needed in order to have people follow the religion. Here I am not talking about GOD as in "The SuperPower", but as in Jesus, Mohammed, Shiva..And I don't think it's possible to have a large follower base without a GOD for any religion.

We believe certain acts to be ethical. We don't need any GOD/Religion to do those things. Conscience is enough. But there are things, that has nothing to with being ethical. Here the combination of Religion-GOD comes into the picture. Religion basically says that "GOD wants us to do it." Religion can't say "You should do it.". So I think whatever reasons are there for creation of Religion, holds true for creation of GOD as well.

For all that science is worth, it does very little to explain anything. It does, on the other hand, do a great deal to describe what has happened.

I really don't get this. We have many hypothesis. But I am in doubt wether to call it science or not. I don't think science either explains or describes. But I am not really clear about the context here.

-Pratik