What is God and does it exist?

[andy06shake]

Start with the book of Genesis. God actually has several names, the earliest is in Exodus and it’s Yahweh.  He also told Moses that he is, I Am.

The human mind can’t fully understand eternity.  He was, is and will always be.

we live in a fallen world and Jesus even told his closest followers that they would have sorrows and pain in this realm.

The original earth was paradise until the fall of Adam and Eve.  We originally were not supposed to die so that’s why it is so difficult and distressing to go through.  We still have a part of that trait which death is unnatural.  It’s not natural but is a result of sin and the world being spiritually and biologically changed after God was rejected by Adam and Eve.

Even with the beauty in the world, it’s only a remnant of the original design.

Well, chances are that the big fella does not turn up soon.

And take charge, or responsibility for his creation.

We are apt to build our own.

[fiveandtwo]

Well, chances are that the big fella does not turn up soon.

And take charge, or responsibility for his creation.

We are apt to build our own.

Malachi 4 is a sobering example for people who say, Come quickly, Lord.  The verse calls his return as The great AND terrible day.  I don’t follow end times predictors.  I do believe that He will return when he has appointed the time.  Nothing humans can do will delay or hasten it.

if one does want to study end times, I highly suggest that they keep up with events concerning Isreal and compare current events with Old Testament prophecy as well as New Testament prophecy. Love em or hate em, God chose them for his purpose.  Most don’t accept Jesus as the Messiah but don’t realize that last names and heritage won’t matter in the end.

 I read recently that Jewish people accepting Christ or having more of an interest in learning more has increased 30% in the past couple of decades.  BTW once you accept Jesus, you are grafted/adopted into the Chosen family.  

[andy06shake]

Malachi 4 is a sobering example for people who say, Come quickly, Lord.  The verse calls his return as The great AND terrible day.  I don’t follow end times predictors.  I do believe that He will return when he has appointed the time.  Nothing humans can do will delay or hasten it.

if one does want to study end times, I highly suggest that they keep up with events concerning Isreal and compare current events with Old Testament prophecy as well as New Testament prophecy. Love em or hate em, God chose them for his purpose.  Most don’t accept Jesus as the Messiah but don’t realize that last names and heritage won’t matter in the end.

 I read recently that Jewish people accepting Christ or having more of an interest in learning more has increased 30% in the past couple of decades.  BTW once you accept Jesus, you are grafted/adopted into the Chosen family.  

Mate, im already saved and christened a protestant, so................................

Not quite sure how much help that bestows, all the same, imagined or otherwise. 

As to the end times, we dont need God to bring about our destruction as a species.

We are perfectly capable of doing so all by ourselves if truth be told.

[Bootless]

There is almost certainly more than one universe. ...But I think it makes sense to consider whatever created our universe to be "God".

...There is good reason to believe it's a simulated universe running on some alien supercomputer ...

If we are ever able to develop a supercomputer that can simulate a universe (it would have to be smaller and less complex than ours, obviously), then the chance we are living in a simulation would be effectively 100%. So, will we be able to develop it? Maybe. It's always been hard to estimate the limits of technology.

I don't see any reason to accept a multiverse idea as a viable theory.

Some physicists have argued that the multiverse is a philosophical notion rather than a scientific hypothesis, as it cannot be empirically falsified. In recent years, there have been proponents and skeptics of multiverse theories within the physics community. Although some scientists have analyzed data in search of evidence for other universes, no statistically significant evidence has been found. Critics argue that the multiverse concept lacks testability and falsifiability, which are essential for scientific inquiry, and that it raises unresolved metaphysical issues.

-Wikipedia: Multiverse

Simulation hypothesis

In 2003, philosopher Nick Bostrom proposed the simulation argument, which suggested that if a civilization became capable of creating conscious simulations, it could generate so many simulated beings that a randomly chosen conscious entity would almost certainly be in a simulation. This argument presents a trilemma: either such simulations are not created because of technological limitations or self-destruction; or advanced civilizations choose not to create them; or if advanced civilizations do create them, the number of simulations would far exceed base reality and we would therefore almost certainly be living in one. This assumes that consciousness is not uniquely tied to biological brains but can arise from any system that implements the right computational structures and processes.

That's sort of in the realm of Science Fiction.

So consider the self-destruction possibility of the trilemma.
The Terminator sky-net scenario. The machines decide that humans are no longer needed.

So we currently have super computers, they need massive amounts of energy and cooling. They use electricity and water for cooling. AI and Crypto currency are super resource users. Energy and water is diverted from human needs to go to machine needs.

Human caused climate change is bad enough with human needs being met. If crazy mad techno bros convince TPTB that needs of AI and Crypto outweigh the needs of the mere human masses then that will pretty much seal the fate of humanity.

Example for contemplation: The Flint Michigan case

The auto parts plants needed good clean water because metal was getting corroded by the filthy Flint River water that humans were stuck with drinking and bathing in. The infrastructure to get water from the lake got put in for the auto parts plants while the humans still got the toxic water.

So AI will convince TPTB that they need hardened, protected, dedicated power plants for the processers and data centers, and the good clean water. More power plants, more clean water diversion. The heck with human needs.

Humans will be the slaves to the super computers and eventually die in an uninhabitable World.

I think that calls for some music.

[Bootless]

Mate, im already saved and christened a protestant, so................................

Not quite sure how much help that bestows, all the same, imagined or otherwise. 

As to the end times, we dont need God to bring about our destruction as a species.

We are perfectly capable of doing so all by ourselves if truth be told.

Good one.

You are bound to win Pascal's wager. It's as good as any other options in the end.

[Maxmars]

I think the first solution towards ascertaining "What is God?" has to be 

coming to accept that our vision is limited to the three dimensions we live in.

Almost as if by definition we have distilled a bunch of ideas into the word "God."

An entity? A ruling set of principles and orders?
A 'harmonious' concept that some humans embrace?
Is it a phenomenon? Is it a "person?"
An eternal presence in reality, meaningless to include 'beginnings' and 'ends'
Omniscience? Omnipotence? Can see and understand all things simultaneously?

It seems reasonable that we might reach to establish an understanding...

And there it becomes a matter of who models what into the concept....
... and why.

Insert monetized, money-tiered, vainglorious virtue signaling, glitzy glamorous performance 'rituals' ...

Viola!.... entertainment!

(But for whom?)

[Ignorant]

I don't see any reason to accept a multiverse idea as a viable theory.

There will never be scientific evidence for it, because we would never be able to observe it from here. But if we reject it we have to assume that this is the only universe. Doesn't that feel wrong, too? To me, it does. It's the same kind of thinking that made us think earth is the only planet, the sun the only star, etcetera. We've been wrong about this stuff before, every single time.
 

Simulation hypothesis
That's sort of in the realm of Science Fiction.

So consider the self-destruction possibility of the trilemma.
The Terminator sky-net scenario. The machines decide that humans are no longer needed.

So we currently have super computers, they need massive amounts of energy and cooling. They use electricity and water for cooling. AI and Crypto currency are super resource users. Energy and water is diverted from human needs to go to machine needs.

In the context of simulating a universe, a supercomputer would be a machine that is harvesting and using (somehow) the energy of many stars, maybe entire galaxies. So we're talking type 2 or 3 on the Kardashev scale. Whether or not this is technologically possible is an open question. If it is, so the theory goes, we almost certainly live in a simulation ourselves. It's extremely hard to guess at the feasibility of such a supercomputer. Of course, we here would want to say it's not possible, but technology has surpassed our expectations so many times already, it starts to feel silly to assume there are any limits at all.
 

Human caused climate change is bad enough with human needs being met. If crazy mad techno bros convince TPTB that needs of AI and Crypto outweigh the needs of the mere human masses then that will pretty much seal the fate of humanity.

Example for contemplation: The Flint Michigan case

The auto parts plants needed good clean water because metal was getting corroded by the filthy Flint River water that humans were stuck with drinking and bathing in. The infrastructure to get water from the lake got put in for the auto parts plants while the humans still got the toxic water.

So AI will convince TPTB that they need hardened, protected, dedicated power plants for the processers and data centers, and the good clean water. More power plants, more clean water diversion. The heck with human needs.

Humans will be the slaves to the super computers and eventually die in an uninhabitable World.

I think that calls for some music.
[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy5T6s25XK4]

We will never be slaves to machines. It's far more efficient for them to build more robots if they need labor. Humans require a lot of resources to run, are emotional, and physically weak. If, no, when machines take over our economy, we'd better hope they were programmed in such a way that they keep working for us. See this article. AI alignment is probably the most important field of research right now. (Does it get a lot of funding? Of course not).

But let's not get distracted by the subject of AI too much. I have a lot to say about it, but I plan to dedicate a thread to it at some point.

[Ignorant]

Good one.

You are bound to win Pascal's wager. It's as good as any other options in the end.

By Pascal's logic, we would have to believe in literally everything. What of the flying spaghetti monster? Better worship it in case it's real. It turns out the likelihood that it exists is so small it's not worth the effort to worship it. The same is true for the biblical guy in the sky who is going to torture us for eternity if we don't worship him. Like, really? He's that insecure? I think I'll take my chances lol.

[Bootless]

...What of the flying spaghetti monster? Better worship it in case it's real. It turns out the likelihood that it exists is so small it's not worth the effort to worship it. The same is true for the biblical guy in the sky who is going to torture us for eternity if we don't worship him. Like, really? I think I'll take my chances lol.

I do have anecdotal evidence for FSM. I had a mylar helium balloon in the shape of a pirate face that followed me around of its own accord (at least for no causal reason detectable by me). It was years later that I happened to learn of the theological connection of pirates and FSM. I laughed and laughed. But still, I do not wear a colander on my head or dress as a pirate. I object to piracy.

The biblical guy in the sky according to my system is merely a hypothetical being who some believe to exist based on mythology. Is it real in the imagination? Depends on the definition of real.

On the human imagination:

I think that the processes of the human brain surpass those of the machine. But human life is mortal. If the main concern of humans in a quest for God is found in the question "but what after death?" Think then of "nunnery scene" of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 1).

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep
No more; and by a sleep, to say we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep,
To sleep, perchance to Dream; aye, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. 

I watched a video on cosmology once, and seems time flows due to gravity. Therefore without mass, no time movement.

So what of a human dream? If at the moment of death, when the bioenergetic processes cease, that last thought, without mass, becomes the timeless eternity that some posit. Will it be a single image like a diorama or can it be a moving scene like a play? If something like that is what happens then wouldn't pleasant thoughts be better to entertain than horrible thoughts?

Just a random thought that came to mind, no scientific rigor, just a fantasy related to a dream I had yesterday. Pay it no mind.

[Bootless]

Here is a wild story:

In 1972 or there abouts, I was at the house of my former neighbor, Scot (for the purposes of this story). He was excitedly showing me some magazine. I think it was a graphic art magazine, maybe a music magazine with an article including proposed album covers. I wasn't particularly interested in it but I looked at it anyway.

Now Scot, when he was my next door neighbor, is the guy who leant me the first fantasy adventure novel I'd ever read, Burroughs, Tanar of Pellucidar .

So back to 1972. He showed me a prototype of that 1977 album cover, I think it featured one man in the hand of the robot.

In 1974, I heard that Scot had died. From second hand accounts and rumors, it seems that he had a brain tumor and decided to take 16 hits of LSD.

1977 rolled around and I was in a mall, walking past a music store and posters of that album were all over the windows. I was stunned for some reason.
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Just something I felt like writing since I hadn't gotten around to writing it before.