Weltall, we appear to have different definitions for 'god.' Super-intelligent aliens, with whatever powers, to me, are certainly not gods. Gods, in my definition, are entirely independent from extraterrestrials; the word 'god' or 'deity' cannot apply to an extraterrestrial but in a poetic sense. There certainly could be aliens with mind-boggling powers that would, to us, seem god-like, but this would not make them gods.
My definition of a god is inextricably linked to terrestrial religion: a god is in most sense as I understand it, a creator... a being that created the earth, or man, or both. A god, in my definition, is linked to man by some manner. Any being that has evolved independent of the Solar system, and has in no way influence man or events on this planet, is in my definition, not a god.
There are so many conflicting religions, all of which make claims based on spectral evidence. Virtually all of their claims cannot be proven. One may argue, that they cannot be misproven. But, say there are six people. They represent six different religions with competing theories on cosmology, life, etc. etc. They all gather in a room, and view an apple on a table. The first says it is red, the second green, the third blue., etc. etc. They cannot all be right. At best, one is right, and the rest are wrong... or, they are all wrong. (Barring the hypothetical possibility that they all perceive color differently; for this argument we will say that they do not.) I see the different sects of religions the same way. They all adhere to beliefs because they were indoctrinated at an early age and grew into it... which is the only way religions persist over time, excepting a limited number of natural converts that occur later in life.
In fact, I'll go a step further, and declare that agnosticism is the default human mentality. A man born in the wilds and raised by wolves will either develop his own theology, or not believe in any religion. He will certainly not be Christian, or Muslim, or Buddhist. Similarly, people are born free of bias on religion: they are typically raised under one, and so they accept it and grow into it and live with it... just as they are born into a certain language, grow to learn and use it, and swear by it. All other languages would seem foreign to them... but there is no one, true devout language that is the shining beacon. If we look are religions like languages, and accept them all as equal with unique traits and characteristics, but none fundamentally better than the others, then we see the truer nature of religions. Viewing religions from a third person perspective, free of the biases of any one of them, and seeing that they are all just social constructs, entirely equal on paper, and that none of them hold any higher truth or secret afterlife than the others: that is my view of religion. They are all equal, and in the absence of humanity, none of them would have any bearing. When man dies, his languages die, and so do their religions. When man is gone, there will be no more christianity; there will be nobody left to prolong it. The same with the French language, the same with Buddhism, the same with the Dutch language, the same with Creationism. They are man-made ideas one and all, and nothing more. Mine is a purely academic stance.
I'll grant it that I, as a fallible human being, cannot empirically know, as this moment, that the Christian deity does not exist. Just as the Pope cannot empirically know that Zeus and Thor did not. Just because his deity is chic today doesn't make it any more real than the other deities, though.
My definition of a god is inextricably linked to terrestrial religion: a god is in most sense as I understand it, a creator... a being that created the earth, or man, or both. A god, in my definition, is linked to man by some manner. Any being that has evolved independent of the Solar system, and has in no way influence man or events on this planet, is in my definition, not a god.
There are so many conflicting religions, all of which make claims based on spectral evidence. Virtually all of their claims cannot be proven. One may argue, that they cannot be misproven. But, say there are six people. They represent six different religions with competing theories on cosmology, life, etc. etc. They all gather in a room, and view an apple on a table. The first says it is red, the second green, the third blue., etc. etc. They cannot all be right. At best, one is right, and the rest are wrong... or, they are all wrong. (Barring the hypothetical possibility that they all perceive color differently; for this argument we will say that they do not.) I see the different sects of religions the same way. They all adhere to beliefs because they were indoctrinated at an early age and grew into it... which is the only way religions persist over time, excepting a limited number of natural converts that occur later in life.
In fact, I'll go a step further, and declare that agnosticism is the default human mentality. A man born in the wilds and raised by wolves will either develop his own theology, or not believe in any religion. He will certainly not be Christian, or Muslim, or Buddhist. Similarly, people are born free of bias on religion: they are typically raised under one, and so they accept it and grow into it and live with it... just as they are born into a certain language, grow to learn and use it, and swear by it. All other languages would seem foreign to them... but there is no one, true devout language that is the shining beacon. If we look are religions like languages, and accept them all as equal with unique traits and characteristics, but none fundamentally better than the others, then we see the truer nature of religions. Viewing religions from a third person perspective, free of the biases of any one of them, and seeing that they are all just social constructs, entirely equal on paper, and that none of them hold any higher truth or secret afterlife than the others: that is my view of religion. They are all equal, and in the absence of humanity, none of them would have any bearing. When man dies, his languages die, and so do their religions. When man is gone, there will be no more christianity; there will be nobody left to prolong it. The same with the French language, the same with Buddhism, the same with the Dutch language, the same with Creationism. They are man-made ideas one and all, and nothing more. Mine is a purely academic stance.
I'll grant it that I, as a fallible human being, cannot empirically know, as this moment, that the Christian deity does not exist. Just as the Pope cannot empirically know that Zeus and Thor did not. Just because his deity is chic today doesn't make it any more real than the other deities, though.
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