What can a god do...

[Suezoled]

...that mankind cannot?
what use is god to man? what use is man to god?*





I of course include women in this question, as well as transexuals, etc. Basically, humans.

[triadboy]

Originally posted by Suezoled
...that mankind cannot?
what use is god to man? what use is man to god?*


He can instantly turn water into wine. This livens up any party.

[Marquis de Carabas]

Gods can practice widespread genocide and still be taken seriously when they claim the moral highground. Now that's a trick I'd like to learn.

[sparklecat]

Well, God's use to man could be emotional. Makes a lovely coping mechanism.


Of course, if one wanted to claim that man was somehow useful to God (taking God as omnipotent though), one would be forced to conclude that God was rather sadistic I think.

[Suezoled]

Originally posted by triadboy


He can instantly turn water into wine. This livens up any party.

Yes, he can instantly. Supposedly. Given time, men can also make water into wine. (and later turn wine into vomit... but that's another creation altogether)

[Suezoled]

Originally posted by Marquis de Carabas
Gods can practice widespread genocide and still be taken seriously when they claim the moral highground. Now that's a trick I'd like to learn.

Men themselves can also practive widespread genocide. They have. They do. God has competition, even if they do it in his/her name.

[Marquis de Carabas]

It's not the genocide itself that impresses, it's the ability to retain the moral highground while doing so. Men have probably surpassed the gods in genocidal skill, but they typically get denounced as monsters by most of the rest of humanity.

[Suezoled]

Someone once said: well, god can create life.

So can men; human babies, altered viruses, cloned sheep, cross-bred species like Ligers. It can take a while, but life comes about.

Someone once said: god can make miracles.

Men can obscure facts until they seem unexplainable. There can be things that are unexplainable, but they are just as likely to be attributed to the fairies as to the gods. Such a thing as spontaneous remission of tumours is not a god-given proven miracle; it might be the province of the human body. Such an event as "feelings" and precognitive dreams could be the province of an evil spirit, or simply coincence, or survival instinct manifesting.

Etc.

[T'ai Chi]

Originally posted by Suezoled
...that mankind cannot?


Well create a universe for one, if god(s) is real and what is said about them is true.

When was the last time mankind created a universe? :)

[Skeptical Greg]

Originally posted by T'ai Chi


Well create a universe for one, if god(s) is real and what is said about them is true.

When was the last time mankind created a universe? :)

You seemed to have created a pretty good one...;)

[triadboy]

Originally posted by T'ai Chi

...if god(s) is real and what is said about them is true.


This seems to be the crux of religion.

I don't think god is real.

And why would I believe a nomadic tribal tale thousands of years old about what god has done?

[Interesting Ian]

Many of you will know that I do not favour the hypothesis that the brain generates the mind or consciousness. This of course is not to deny that brain states may not in an appropriate sense "cause" particular mind states, it's just that mind states do not originate from brain states. As I have put it before:

The fact that states of "A" may be correlated with "particular states of "B", means neither that "A" and "B" are one and the same thing, nor does it entail that "B" originates from "A", or indeed "A" from "B". It could be that both "A" and "B" both independently are generated by "C". Or it could be the case that although states of "B" are modified by states of "A", "B" ultimately originates from "C".

However, if the brain only modifies consciousness or minds, rather than being the progenitor of the mind, the question then arises as to why we need brains at all.

The first thing to recognise here is that processes within the brain are akin to any information processing system. As with any such information processing system there are architectural constraints and these serve to limit the mind so we only have access to those perceptions that follow the familiar and regular patterns that we associate with the physical world. This then allows us to function proficiently whilst we subsist in this empirical reality.

Now when the mind operates in detachment from the brain, when it is temporarily or permanently disembodied, then its processing is released from the constraining influence of the arrays of primitive processing units (essentially the brain). It will then have access to all other perceptions apart from our everyday perceptions. Those other perceptions will be driven by some other "engine", and the person may seem to be passing through other worlds. This would be broadly consistent with the anecdotal experiences of some out-of-body experiences, especially near-death experiences - and indeed with reportedly channeled descriptions from the dead, as well as with traditional accounts such as those found in the "Tibetan Book of the Dead.

[Yahweh]

Originally posted by Suezoled
...that mankind cannot?
Plenty, but conversely, does God have the ability to kill himself?

what use is god to man?
It seems regardless of the existence of deities, humans get along pretty well godly interference.

what use is man to god?
We are fantasticly amusing game and delicious chew toy to the gods, man can give god a good laugh...

[pupdog]

Probably about the same as a Barbie doll or a Teddy Bear.

[T'ai Chi]

Originally posted by Diogenes

You seemed to have created a pretty good one...;)

Nope, I haven't created any universe.

[fishbob]

What use is god to man? [old, old, old] Like a fish needs a bicycle.

[epepke]

Originally posted by T'ai Chi


Well create a universe for one, if god(s) is real and what is said about them is true.

When was the last time mankind created a universe? :)

Some days I get the impression that this universe is a weekend project by a grad student with a C average.

[epepke]

Originally posted by Marquis de Carabas
It's not the genocide itself that impresses, it's the ability to retain the moral highground while doing so.

Even that can be pulled off for a time. Also, we get to pull of genocide of the smallpox virus without much judgement.

What gets me is believers in books chock full o' God-initiated human genocide who still insist that their God is by definition good.

[LuxFerum]

Originally posted by Suezoled
Someone once said: well, god can create life.

So can men; human babies, altered viruses, cloned sheep, cross-bred species like Ligers. It can take a while, but life comes about.

Someone once said: god can make miracles.

Men can obscure facts until they seem unexplainable. There can be things that are unexplainable, but they are just as likely to be attributed to the fairies as to the gods.
yeah, but god made men do that.:D

[Lothian]

Man can also commit genocide. One thing Gods can do is control the weather. The multiple Ark stories testify to that.

So Gods can send droughts starving millions of people to a slow painful death.
Send floods destroying property and taking lives.
Send cold weather freezing to death the old and infirm.

Oh, before I forget, I think they do a good line in plagues as well.

[Skeptical Greg]

Originally posted by T'ai Chi


Nope, I haven't created any universe.

I'm surprised you didn't get it...

[T'ai Chi]

Originally posted by epepke

Some days I get the impression that this universe is a weekend project by a grad student with a C average.

Then it should be easy for many many people to easily create a universe... but yet... no one has eh?

Seems like A+++++++++++ work to me in that case.

[EdipisReks]

Originally posted by Diogenes


I'm surprised you didn't get it...

i'm not surprised at all.

[Yahweh]

God can do anything man can do, except write allegory...

[EdipisReks]

from what i've seen of the religious, god also has a mighty donkey punch.

[T'ai Chi]

Originally posted by EdipisReks

i'm not surprised at all.

I got it, it just wasn't funny to me.

If there is/are god/s, which there may or may not be, and if he/she/they did create the universe, I'd say that is something that a god(s) can do than man cannot.

Sure, make fun of me for something 100% correct, sheesh.

[CFLarsen]

Originally posted by T'ai Chi
Then it should be easy for many many people to easily create a universe... but yet... no one has eh?

Sure they have. (http://www.skepticreport.com/funnies/krazykat.htm)

Originally posted by T'ai Chi
I got it, it just wasn't funny to me.

Then the joke worked.

Originally posted by T'ai Chi
If there is/are god/s, which there may or may not be, and if he/she/they did create the universe, I'd say that is something that a god(s) can do than man cannot.

Sure, make fun of me for something 100% correct, sheesh.

But you are not correct. People do create universes, all the time. Shirl says so.

[Skeptical Greg]

Originally posted by T'ai Chi


I got it, it just wasn't funny to me.



My faith is restored..

[triadboy]

Originally posted by T'ai Chi
If there is/are god/s, which there may or may not be, and if he/she/they did create the universe, I'd say that is something that a god(s) can do than man cannot.


...and Santa Claus can squeeze down chimneys...if he exists.

[sorgoth]

Originally posted by Suezoled
...that mankind cannot?
what use is god to man? what use is man to god?*





I of course include women in this question, as well as transexuals, etc. Basically, humans.


what can god do that man cannot? Break the second law of thermodynamics, that's what. Eternal life = infinite energy.