God's purpose

RogueKitten said:
(Then why are you still going on about it?)
Click to expand...

Curious.... One would think you would ask the selective quotator that, not the selective quotee.

Oh well.

God wants us to live in everlasting glory! That is god's purpose for us.
 
16.5 said:
What is a little "selective quotation" between friends, huh?
Click to expand...
16.5 said:
That was before we had adventures in "selective quotation."
Click to expand...
16.5 said:
I said you "selectively quoted" the ever-loving **** out of my post.
Click to expand...

Geez, obsess much? For all this frenzy and hystera you can't seem to answer the questions that arose out of the allegedly omitted, plagiarized, or misquoted (does it even matter at this point?) passage. You propose a protocol for this thread that you say will make it more inclusive. Yet all I can see from you is efforts to squelch arguments that proceed from a premise that God does not exist. Everyone but you has managed to have a productive discussion without your protocol, and without needing to agree that God exists. I'm asking you to reconcile that. If you can pause from your infatuation with editorial mechanics long enough to struggle back toward the general direction of the topic, that would be nice.
 
"I came so that [you] might have life and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).

/"editorial mechanics" hehehheeeeheeee!!!!
 
Since the Mormon version of the Abrahamic God was brought up, I asked my Mormon wife what God's purpose was, not his purpose for us, but his own purpose.

She had an immediate reply: "To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." She said that's from Moses 1:39. So that's something you won't find in the Bible, Koran or Talmud, at least not stated so succinctly.
 
16.5,

Excellent-you are getting back to your views on God's purpose. Are these mostly going to be quotes from the Bible or do you intend to include value added? Either is fine, of course, but I've read the Bible and, what with all those reruns on TV I was hoping for more novelty.
 
Pup said:
Since the Mormon version of the Abrahamic God was brought up, I asked my Mormon wife what God's purpose was, not his purpose for us, but his own purpose.

She had an immediate reply: "To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." She said that's from Moses 1:39. So that's something you won't find in the Bible, Koran or Talmud, at least not stated so succinctly.
Click to expand...

Sure, that answer leaps to the lips of all the Mormons I know too. It's a good answer from the Mormon perspective, although it hides a lot of detail. But the problem is that it didn't answer your question. It answered the question you specifically asked her not to answer.

Indeed it seems few Abrahamists can answer the question in a way that doesn't put humans at the center, and that seems awfully hubristic. To speak on the one hand of an almighty god and on the other hand of his obsession over humans seems to benefit the humans more than it does the god. Hence the common criticism that humans create god in order to make them feel better about themselves and their place in the universe.
 
Pup said:
Since the Mormon version of the Abrahamic God was brought up, I asked my Mormon wife what God's purpose was, not his purpose for us, but his own purpose.

She had an immediate reply: "To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." She said that's from Moses 1:39. So that's something you won't find in the Bible, Koran or Talmud, at least not stated so succinctly.
Click to expand...

It isn't different than what the bible and Koran say, except being more clear. The idea is for us to all go to heaven or hell. God is looking for us to all die.

This is actually a pretty good bible study of part of revelation that illustrates what Christians are taught.

The idea is for us to stay on the "narrow path" (Matt 7:13) throughout our lives so we can die and go to heaven, instead of dying and go to hell. Lotta death. This life only matters so far as you serve god.
 
Giordano said:
16.5,

Excellent-you are getting back to your views on God's purpose. Are these mostly going to be quotes from the Bible or do you intend to include value added? Either is fine, of course, but I've read the Bible and, what with all those reruns on TV I was hoping for more novelty.
Click to expand...

Value added!

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy!

Attributed to Benjamin Franklin.

/now if you want to run that through the "editorial mechanic-tizer" you just go ahead and substitute "wine" or whatever beverage you want.
 
RogueKitten said:
The idea is for us to stay on the "narrow path" (Matt 7:13) throughout our lives so we can die and go to heaven, instead of dying and go to hell. Lotta death.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's what sticks in so many craws. The great platitudes of life, health, happiness, and all things that the human organism craves are held out as gifts from a benevolent god. Then there's the fine print, which places arbitrary conditions on all that happiness. The platitudes seem less promising and the spectre of eternal punishment rears its ugly head.

This is the reason I think so many theists want to stay with the platitudes. Once you start talking about the legalisms of salvation, it gets contentious, unhappy, illogical, and without any of the prior authority of scripture. Even if one's belief is predicated on some holy canon, the answers to the interesting questions seem to come instead from human minds.

This life only matters so far as you serve god.
Click to expand...

In some versions, you keep serving god after you die. It's not unlike the fanciful promise of dozens of virgins for dead jihadists. Where did all those virgins come from?

Since Franklin is now an authority: "I cannot conceive otherwise than that He, the Infinite Father, expects or requires no worship or praise from us, but that He is even infinitely above it." Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion, 1728.
 
JayUtah said:
Sure, that answer leaps to the lips of all the Mormons I know too. It's a good answer from the Mormon perspective, although it hides a lot of detail. But the problem is that it didn't answer your question. It answered the question you specifically asked her not to answer.

Indeed it seems few Abrahamists can answer the question in a way that doesn't put humans at the center, and that seems awfully hubristic. To speak on the one hand of an almighty god and on the other hand of his obsession over humans seems to benefit the humans more than it does the god. Hence the common criticism that humans create god in order to make them feel better about themselves and their place in the universe.
Click to expand...

I think it answers the question. The answer puts humans at the center because that's the belief. We may say it's illogical and hubristic, etc., but it's the correct answer if you ask a Mormon what God's purpose is according to the Mormon religion. It wouldn't make sense for a Mormon to make up another, incorrect answer just to suit those who prefer a less human-centered one.

Of course humans make up gods for their own purposes. It's like asking what's Santa Claus's purpose for bringing toys to good children. One can either say it's moot because he doesn't exist, or one can try to answer within his fictional world as if he did exist. But there's still going to be a bias toward him really being into rewarding good children on Christmas, because that's why he was invented.
 
Pup said:
I think it answers the question. The answer puts humans at the center because that's the belief. We may say it's illogical and hubristic, etc., but it's the correct answer if you ask a Mormon what God's purpose is according to the Mormon religion. It wouldn't make sense for a Mormon to make up another, incorrect answer just to suit those who prefer a less human-centered one.

Of course humans make up gods for their own purposes. It's like asking what's Santa Claus's purpose for bringing toys to good children. One can either say it's moot because he doesn't exist, or one can try to answer within his fictional world as if he did exist. But there's still going to be a bias toward him really being into rewarding good children on Christmas, because that's why he was invented.
Click to expand...

Well, it is indeed hubristic to talk about what is god's purpose, he is the alpha and omega, "I am who am."

/I was going to suggest that tonight's drinking game be to drink when ever a selective editor declares something either a platitude or hubristic, but I am afraid we'd get too sloshed!:D
 
Last edited:
Pup said:
I think it answers the question. The answer puts humans at the center because that's the belief.
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree that Mormonism -- and most of its siblings -- put humans at the center. And with that in mind, it's a valid answer.

So to clarify, I think an interesting aspect of the way you posed the question to your wife is the tacet, "So what's in it for god?" This is the logical hole in a lot of the scenarios. The motives make no sense unless told from the perspective of the chosen few.

Of course humans make up gods for their own purposes. It's like asking what's Santa Claus's purpose for bringing toys to good children. One can either say it's moot because he doesn't exist, or one can try to answer within his fictional world as if he did exist.
Click to expand...

Indeed, I lived in Bari where St. Nicholas is the resident saint. I worked on the restoration of the portals on his basilica, as part of a vocational tour. And thus there is the myth of Santa Claus that sprang up from the tales told of him, and there is the separate history of him which has nothing to do with that, and further the secular history of him which is yet a third version.

This is the problem when you try to abstract platitudes from documents. Some people cherry-pick pieces of the Bible and come away with the image of a Christian god as a benevolent father, and others read it and come away with a frightful, disjointed, terrifying image of a capricious, angry child-god who plays favorites. God is love, but he is also leprosy and prenatal pancreatic cancer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom