to the God believers

deadnothingbetter

... and if atheists want to jump along, go ahead.

but this isn't to start another debate about science vs faith topics. i just wanna have one of those deep conceptual discussions about God and your ideas of him.... or as an atheist put it, her.

anyways... i was thinking at work today. i thought about how we as humans are wired to react in certain ways. meaning, our emotions are simply connected to chemicals that process inside of us. so i asked myself... does God have emotions? not necessarily the biblical God in that aspect. if God has emotions are his emotions programmed like ours, chemically manufactured? if he doesn't, then what kind of God is it? what does it function on, or how would we understand this other emotionless kind of God?

i asked this same question to a social worker if he believed God has emotions. he supposed he did. i then asked if his emotions function like ours do. he replied that it might be that maybe it's our emotions that cause our chemicals to function in certain ways. what do you think?

catefrances

deadnothingbetter wrote:

... and if atheists want to jump along, go ahead.

but this isn't to start another debate about science vs faith topics. i just wanna have one of those deep conceptual discussions about God and your ideas of him.... or as an atheist put it, her.

the person who said this could not possibly be an atheist, unless of course it was an if statement. a non existent entity has no gender.

deadnothingbetter

catefrances wrote:

the person who said this could not possibly be an atheist. a non existent entity has no gender.

no, they meant it in a rather sarcastic way.

hippiemom

deadnothingbetter wrote:

... and if atheists want to jump along, go ahead.

but this isn't to start another debate about science vs faith topics. i just wanna have one of those deep conceptual discussions about God and your ideas of him.... or as an atheist put it, her.

anyways... i was thinking at work today. i thought about how we as humans are wired to react in certain ways. meaning, our emotions are simply connected to chemicals that process inside of us. so i asked myself... does God have emotions? not necessarily the biblical God in that aspect. if God has emotions are his emotions programmed like ours, chemically manufactured? if he doesn't, then what kind of God is it? what does it function on, or how would we understand this other emotionless kind of God?

i asked this same question to a social worker if he believed God has emotions. he supposed he did. i then asked if his emotions function like ours do. he replied that it might be that maybe it's our emotions that cause our chemicals to function in certain ways. what do you think?

I'm an atheist and don't plan to get too involved in this discussion, but a couple of thoughts popped into my head upon reading your post.

First, why on earth would an atheist refer to god as "her"? Something that doesn't exist can't have a gender. Just curious.

As to whether god has emotions ... if you're talking about the biblical god, and assuming that the biblical creation is essentially true, then we were created in god's image. If god doesn't have emotions, why would we? Also, I recall repeatedly hearing about a "jealous" god, and jealousy is an emotion. There are also many descriptions of god being pleased, saddened, joyful, angry, etc., so it seems clear that the biblical god does have emotions.

catefrances

deadnothingbetter wrote:

no, they meant it in a rather sarcastic way.

so i gathered. i editted but not quick enough.

catefrances

hippiemom wrote:

I'm an atheist and don't plan to get too involved in this discussion, but a couple of thoughts popped into my head upon reading your post.

First, why on earth would an atheist refer to god as "her"? Something that doesn't exist can't have a gender. Just curious.

seems we're on the same level.

catefrances

hippiemom wrote:

As to whether god has emotions ... if you're talking about the biblical god, and assuming that the biblical creation is essentially true, then we were created in god's image. If god doesn't have emotions, why would we? Also, I recall repeatedly hearing about a "jealous" god, and jealousy is an emotion. There are also many descriptions of god being pleased, saddened, joyful, angry, etc., so it seems clear that the biblical god does have emotions.

depends upon whether by image you mean anthropomorphic or otherwise.

deadnothingbetter

hippiemom wrote:

I'm an atheist and don't plan to get too involved in this discussion, but a couple of thoughts popped into my head upon reading your post.

First, why on earth would an atheist refer to god as "her"? Something that doesn't exist can't have a gender. Just curious.

As to whether god has emotions ... if you're talking about the biblical god, and assuming that the biblical creation is essentially true, then we were created in god's image. If god doesn't have emotions, why would we? Also, I recall repeatedly hearing about a "jealous" god, and jealousy is an emotion. There are also many descriptions of god being pleased, saddened, joyful, angry, etc., so it seems clear that the biblical god does have emotions.

they meant "her" as a sarcastic way of describing God.

anyways, yes, you're right... the bible describes God as having emotions. but my question is not necessarily limited to the biblical God... or yet still if God has emotions do these emotions function like we do? are there chemicals in his brain that caused him to feel jealous? or are our perceptions of our emotions totally wrong... like the social worker told me, it might be that the chemicals in our brain might be driven to react in certain ways by our emotions instead of the chemicals driving our own emotions.

this is quite an extensive question that i have here... but good for discussion

hippiemom

deadnothingbetter wrote:

they meant "her" as a sarcastic way of describing God.

anyways, yes, you're right... the bible describes God as having emotions. but my question is not necessarily limited to the biblical God... or yet still if God has emotions do these emotions function like we do? are there chemicals in his brain that caused him to feel jealous? or are our perceptions of our emotions totally wrong... like the social worker told me, it might be that the chemicals in our brain might be driven to react in certain ways by our emotions instead of the chemicals driving our own emotions.

this is quite an extensive question that i have here... but good for discussion

This is the main reason I've decided not to get involved in any more god threads ... there are too many different conceptions of "god" for it to ever make any sense, people end up talking past one another. I will say this though ... I have never heard anyone express a belief in a god with an actual physical brain, so we can probably take chemical reactions off the table right from the start.

deadnothingbetter

hippiemom wrote:

I have never heard anyone express a belief in a god with an actual physical brain, so we can probably take chemical reactions off the table right from the start.

probably... if so he does have emotions, but not functioning on chemicals, what kind? or you never know... he might have a brain... afterall, like you mentioned, we're created in his image.

but, if emotionless, what is this God consisted of?

deadnothingbetter

i must've asked a really dumbass question.... the only two that have responded were atheists :rolleyes: god believers suck! except me

nickcat0

catefrances wrote:

seems we're on the same level.

I think it was Jeanie ....nuff said

nickcat0

Okay , I do believe in the Christian message .

As for God's brain and "his" emotions .

I suspect , we humans try to understand God by relating to "him" in human terms . I suspect the form of God is something we can't possibly understand , and to try to paint God as an old man with a big beard , in flowing white robes , with a brain , and emotions , is as realistic as a blade of grass trying to understand Albert Einstein .

catefrances

nickcat0 wrote:

I think it was Jeanie ....nuff said

Something that doesn't exist can't have a gender. Just curious.

i was responding to this.^^ not the fact that someone he/she'd God.

nickcat0

catefrances wrote:

Something that doesn't exist can't have a gender. Just curious.

i was responding to this.^^ not the fact that someone he/she'd God.

And I'm an idiot ..... I quoted the wrong post ......Doh !

Kann

deadnothingbetter wrote:

i asked this same question to a social worker if he believed God has emotions. he supposed he did. i then asked if his emotions function like ours do. he replied that it might be that maybe it's our emotions that cause our chemicals to function in certain ways. what do you think?

I think if we are talking about an all-knowing, ever-present, omnipotent god we can't reduce him to our logic and understanding. Such a God could not obey to the same laws that we obey to, simply because he doesn't have to. So basically to an omnipotent god, logic, emotions and chemicals mean nothing. Well that's what I think, if you are all powerful you do not need to obey any laws.

Now if you're talking about a non omnipotent god, just a supernatural being (supernatural in the sence that we never have seen such a being in the nature surrounding us)... why not? But that god could just as well be an alien or a specie we have not yet discovered. So that's not very exciting.

Juberoo

If one believes in God, and they believe in the teachings of the Bible, then they know that God is a spirit creature with no gender but referred to in a male sense to show authority. They also know that God does feel emotions such as love, joy, sadness, satisfaction, pity, sympathy, disappointment, anger and hate etc. It's all in there.

If you don't believe in God, or the bible, it doesn't really matter anyways.

Collin

If god has emotions, he's a sociopath or a psychopath.

catefrances wrote:

the person who said this could not possibly be an atheist. a non existent entity has no gender.

The first thing that I was going to say as well.

even flow?

deadnothingbetter wrote:

... and if atheists want to jump along, go ahead.

but this isn't to start another debate about science vs faith topics. i just wanna have one of those deep conceptual discussions about God and your ideas of him.... or as an atheist put it, her.

anyways... i was thinking at work today. i thought about how we as humans are wired to react in certain ways. meaning, our emotions are simply connected to chemicals that process inside of us. so i asked myself... does God have emotions? not necessarily the biblical God in that aspect. if God has emotions are his emotions programmed like ours, chemically manufactured? if he doesn't, then what kind of God is it? what does it function on, or how would we understand this other emotionless kind of God?

i asked this same question to a social worker if he believed God has emotions. he supposed he did. i then asked if his emotions function like ours do. he replied that it might be that maybe it's our emotions that cause our chemicals to function in certain ways. what do you think?

If you believe that god made us in it's image then why wouldn't it be just like us?

And if you believe that god made the entire universe then god must look like a big black object as there was nothing around when god when have been the first thing created. If god was created first.

CorporateWhore

I believe that God has what we might call emotions, but pegging them down to chemical reactions seems a bit trivial for an entity that created chemicals in the first place.

God created man in his image so I believe God has emotions. If we do good, it makes him happy etc.

What interests me most about God is how happy it makes me to think about the good things He's done for those around me.

One of my uncles had just been born to my grandmother and he was diagnosed with Chylous Ascites, a rare birth problem with the baby's lymphatic system. Anyway, the doctors attempted to drain the build up in the baby's lymphatic system but told my grandmother he really had no chance - all the other babies that had that at that hospital died. So my grandfather started praying intensely for the next few days. He prayed for help for the baby, but then prayed thanks to God that His will be done.

My uncle was released a few days later with no problems. The doctors claimed it was a miracle because they admitted that they really didn't do anything.

I find no other explanation for that successful outcome besides my grandfather's prayers.

Collin

CorporateWhore wrote:

What interests me most about God is how happy it makes me to think about the good things He's done for those around me.

What about all the horrible, vile and scurvy things he does?

I find no other explanation for that successful outcome besides my grandfather's prayers.

That's great that your uncle was released with no problems, but millions of people pray everyday and millions of prayers aren't answered. Sometimes whole groups of people pray for the same thing, like a bit of rain? Yet god doesn't answer them, he lets the crops die, and lets the people starve to death.

CorporateWhore

Collin wrote:

What about all the horrible, vile and scurvy things he does?



That's great that your uncle was released with no problems, but millions of people pray everyday and millions of prayers aren't answered. Sometimes whole groups of people pray for the same thing, like a bit of rain? Yet god doesn't answer them, he lets the crops die, and lets the people starve to death.

Your perception of evil things that are allowed to happen is arbitrary. It could be a lot worse, but God does not allow it to be worse.

know1

deadnothingbetter wrote:

... and if atheists want to jump along, go ahead.

but this isn't to start another debate about science vs faith topics. i just wanna have one of those deep conceptual discussions about God and your ideas of him.... or as an atheist put it, her.

anyways... i was thinking at work today. i thought about how we as humans are wired to react in certain ways. meaning, our emotions are simply connected to chemicals that process inside of us. so i asked myself... does God have emotions? not necessarily the biblical God in that aspect. if God has emotions are his emotions programmed like ours, chemically manufactured? if he doesn't, then what kind of God is it? what does it function on, or how would we understand this other emotionless kind of God?

i asked this same question to a social worker if he believed God has emotions. he supposed he did. i then asked if his emotions function like ours do. he replied that it might be that maybe it's our emotions that cause our chemicals to function in certain ways. what do you think?

I believe God has emotions, but I'm not sure how they function. I don't know the exact passage, but somewhere in the bible God claims to be a jealous God.

know1

nickcat0 wrote:

Okay , I do believe in the Christian message .

As for God's brain and "his" emotions .

I suspect , we humans try to understand God by relating to "him" in human terms . I suspect the form of God is something we can't possibly understand , and to try to paint God as an old man with a big beard , in flowing white robes , with a brain , and emotions , is as realistic as a blade of grass trying to understand Albert Einstein .

I agree with all of this.

deadnothingbetter

know1 wrote:

I believe God has emotions, but I'm not sure how they function. I don't know the exact passage, but somewhere in the bible God claims to be a jealous God.

yes, certainly the biblical God has emotions. but if we're talking about how God isn't subject to the laws of nature and so on, then what kind of emotions does he have?

maybe we have a misconception about our own emotions... maybe our own emotions are not even fused by chemical reactions at all... maybe it's our emotions that cause our chemicals to react the way they do... maybe God's emotions work just like our own emotions... afterall, we were created in God's image.

Collin

CorporateWhore wrote:

Your perception of evil things that are allowed to happen is arbitrary. It could be a lot worse, but God does not allow it to be worse.

So is your perception of good things he does, it could be a whole lot better.

Saying we can't possibly understand god or that he works in mysterious ways is a cop-out.

You'd call me a fool if I followed and worshipped a man who kills dozens of people, who makes them suffer and if I told you you just don't understand, that he saved my life and he saved many other people as well... and he does it for the greater good you'd call me insane and have me locked up.

But when you talk about god, who kills daily, who sends beautiful, good people to hell to rot in eternity daily, it's ok. It's understandable, in fact it's the only true way to happiness and in fact this killing god is love itself.

Talk about arbitrary lines...

markymark550

nickcat0 wrote:

Okay , I do believe in the Christian message .

As for God's brain and "his" emotions .

I suspect , we humans try to understand God by relating to "him" in human terms . I suspect the form of God is something we can't possibly understand , and to try to paint God as an old man with a big beard , in flowing white robes , with a brain , and emotions , is as realistic as a blade of grass trying to understand Albert Einstein .

this is closely in line with what I believe about God

CorporateWhore

Collin wrote:

So is your perception of good things he does, it could be a whole lot better.

Saying we can't possibly understand god or that he works in mysterious ways is a cop-out.

You'd call me a fool if I followed and worshipped a man who kills dozens of people, who makes them suffer and if I told you you just don't understand, that he saved my life and he saved many other people as well... and he does it for the greater good you'd call me insane and have me locked up.

But when you talk about god, who kills daily, who sends beautiful, good people to hell to rot in eternity daily, it's ok. It's understandable, in fact it's the only true way to happiness and in fact this killing god is love itself.

Talk about arbitrary lines...

Well sure you can claim that I too am being arbitrary in my appreciation for God's goodness, but the thrust of your claim was that there is too much pain in the world. If God was truly good, he wouldn't allow all of that pain, according to you.

If I am being arbitrary in pegging the level of goodness, that is inconsequential to most people's lives. People would ALWAYS prefer more good things to happen to them. People NEVER want bad things to happen to themselves, but they happen. They could happen more frequently too.

You seem more pessimistic about God's actions. You assume that He should step in more frequently to help us, if He were real. The problem with that is you can't see as far into the future as God can so you don't know the end result of His choices or decisions. Perhaps when God sends "beautiful, good people" to hell daily, it tells us a lot about how "beautiful and good" we really are. Perhaps we fail to be as good as we think we are because of a corrupted sense of morality. God's morality does not change though.

gue_barium

CorporateWhore wrote:

God's morality does not change though.

Yes it does.

CorporateWhore

gue_barium wrote:

Yes it does.

Nah.

Collin

CorporateWhore wrote:

Well sure you can claim that I too am being arbitrary in my appreciation for God's goodness, but the thrust of your claim was that there is too much pain in the world. If God was truly good, he wouldn't allow all of that pain, according to you.

If I am being arbitrary in pegging the level of goodness, that is inconsequential to most people's lives. People would ALWAYS prefer more good things to happen to them. People NEVER want bad things to happen to themselves, but they happen. They could happen more frequently too.

You seem more pessimistic about God's actions. You assume that He should step in more frequently to help us, if He were real. The problem with that is you can't see as far into the future as God can so you don't know the end result of His choices or decisions. Perhaps when God sends "beautiful, good people" to hell daily, it tells us a lot about how "beautiful and good" we really are. Perhaps we fail to be as good as we think we are because of a corrupted sense of morality. God's morality does not change though.

If that's your view of god, that he sees into the future further than any human can, so that his evil deeds aren't bad, than I think in all fairness that you can't call his good deeds good.