Are we slaves to god?

[Treedbear]

... I mean entire spans of human history consist chiefly of a privileged few dominating and exploiting the masses to their personal benefits.

I think it's very likely that (excluding sociopaths perhaps) even the acts of the most selfish individuals can be attributed to a desire to fulfill a perceived obligation to someone other than themselves. That's where we derive purpose, no matter how abstract or distorted the reasoning might be.

 

[Bronzeage]

No man is an island, however introverted or reclusive. It's one of those, "If all people acted this way," things. There is enough elasticity in modern human society that you can withdraw from from the rest of us, and no one will suffer any great harm.

I was going to say that obviously there is a pragmatic imperative to continue the species. But upon further reflection I can't really say that.

Again, not a misanthrope, but if we all died tomorrow and there were no people left on the planet it's not as if there would be anyone left to mourn the loss of human civilization. The only real tragedy is the billions of lives that were abruptly cut short, which even then, is a matter of who you ask.

Back to the point at hand: People want to breed because if nobody did then that would be the end of humanity. That doesn't make you any less capable of celibacy however.

You have confused inevitable results with intended results. The choice of whether or not to have children is a fairly modern development. People have sex and babies are born. Before our present time, there was never a lot of thought put into it.

No one is having sex because they are worried about propagating our species.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I was going to say that obviously there is a pragmatic imperative to continue the species. But upon further reflection I can't really say that.

Again, not a misanthrope, but if we all died tomorrow and there were no people left on the planet it's not as if there would be anyone left to mourn the loss of human civilization. The only real tragedy is the billions of lives that were abruptly cut short, which even then, is a matter of who you ask.

Back to the point at hand: People want to breed because if nobody did then that would be the end of humanity. That doesn't make you any less capable of celibacy however.

You have confused inevitable results with intended results. The choice of whether or not to have children is a fairly modern development. People have sex and babies are born. Before our present time, there was never a lot of thought put into it.

No one is having sex because they are worried about propagating our species.

Not so fast. I remember a pope recently talking about plunging birth rates.

It's illuminating that those who have sworn off sex for their demigod are telling others to have more kids.

 

[Bronzeage]

You have confused inevitable results with intended results. The choice of whether or not to have children is a fairly modern development. People have sex and babies are born. Before our present time, there was never a lot of thought put into it.

No one is having sex because they are worried about propagating our species.

Not so fast. I remember a pope recently talking about plunging birth rates.

It's illuminating that those who have sworn off sex for their demigod are telling others to have more kids.

As I said, not having children is a modern choice. The results of our choices affect different people in different ways and we can't expect everyone to be happy about it.

 

[Draconis]

By talking about us being slaves to God you're implying that there's something that God can't do himself, or if he can do it, we can do it better or quicker. We allegedly have a god that can create heaven, universes, planets etc on demand, yet he needs a bunch of microbes to perform some relatively minor task within that creation? It doesn't make any sense to me; as far as I'm concerned such a god could do whatever he wants with a snap of his fingers without the slightest assistance from us (either forced or voluntarily).

With that in mind, I don't understand how "God" gives us a reason for our existence. We're playthings, unnecessary to him. Why would he need us? I could set up an ant colony or buy a cat, but neither of those things would help with my job or fix my health problems. Training my cat not to crap outside the litter tray is good, but it won't get me a pay rise. When the ant colony dies I won't lose my job. These things are irrelevant to my survival and prosperity.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

Purpose depends entirely on point of view. It is purely subjective. The purpose of a tree is housing to a squirrel, food to a termite, fuel or building material to a human. It doesn't matter who planted it or or why the tree was planted or how it evolved.

If God made you; even if God made you with a purpose in his mind, your purpose for yourself could be completely different.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

By talking about us being slaves to God you're implying that there's something that God can't do himself, or if he can do it, we can do it better or quicker. We allegedly have a god that can create heaven, universes, planets etc on demand, yet he needs a bunch of microbes to perform some relatively minor task within that creation? It doesn't make any sense to me; as far as I'm concerned such a god could do whatever he wants with a snap of his fingers without the slightest assistance from us (either forced or voluntarily).

God can't appreciate himself. God needs an audience.

 

[Elixir]

God can't appreciate himself. God needs an audience.

So... God is Donald Trump?

 

[ideologyhunter]

The only Bible personage Trump is like is Nimrod.