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Trying to understand something... why is wanting to eventually become a God verboten and generally considered downright Satanic in Christianity (minus Mormonism, anyway)?
If God is the father and we are his children, wouldn't it be natural and noble to grow, progress and eventually become a parent (i.e. a God) ourselves?
Asking for a friend with a very sharp goatee...
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoCardinals
More than one God will create Choas.
The very fundamental definition of an entity to become God is that it MUST be one.
If there is more than one of it - then by definition - it cannot be called God.
He is the creator and we are the creation. We cannot be like him because we have a start and an end.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BaptistFundie
If you'd understand the greatness of God, it would be a silly question.
You guys knew I'd show up sooner or later, didn't you?
As I see it, it makes perfect sense to assume that human beings, once fully mature and perfected, would have the potential to become like the Father of their spirits. If we are His offspring, and not merely His creations, why wouldn't we? And why wouldn't He want us to?
Is God so insecure that He is afraid that His sons and daughters will surpass Him in glory and majesty? What kind of parent would actually hope that his children not attain everything the same qualities that he has? Since no one could conceivably become like their Creator if it were not His will, and if all will continue to see Him as supreme, what's the problem?
You guys knew I'd show up sooner or later, didn't you?
As I see it, it makes perfect sense to assume that human beings, once fully mature and perfected, would have the potential to become like the Father of their spirits. If we are His offspring, and not merely His creations, why wouldn't we? And why wouldn't He want us to?
Is God so insecure that He is afraid that His sons and daughters will surpass Him in glory and majesty? What kind of parent would actually hope that his children not attain everything the same qualities that he has? Since no one could conceivably become like their Creator if it were not His will, and if all will continue to see Him as supreme, what's the problem?
Actually Scripture clearly states that he is God and will not share any glory with anyone. To suggest otherwise would go explicitly against what he has already said.
Actually Scripture clearly states that he is God and will not share any glory with anyone. To suggest otherwise would go explicitly against what he has already said.
Well that doesn't make sense if there are no other actual gods. Unless the God of the Bible is afraid of things that don't exist too?
Don't you see how these views of whatever God might be are so unbelievably petty and literally silly (God is threatened by stuff that doesn't exist or by money or rock stars or golden calves or other "glorified" things/people) that it just couldn't have come from an actual divine source? We're talking about God here. Remember? Reportedly the greatest, the largest, most powerful thing. If it can see the future and created all it can't EVER be mad at the way anything turns out, much less punish beings if created for acting in the ways it created them to.
This belief system is just so illogical and so obviously based on petty human jealousies, violence, unwanted desires and just very very fallible human stuff. There's no way this Bronze Age religion mirrors whatever God might be. If so we'd all have been dead long ago and the earth would be a smoking ruin.
Trying to understand something... why is wanting to eventually become a God verboten and generally considered downright Satanic in Christianity (minus Mormonism, anyway)?
If God is the father and we are his children, wouldn't it be natural and noble to grow, progress and eventually become a parent (i.e. a God) ourselves?
Asking for a friend with a very sharp goatee...
Because Christianity is an authoritarian religion.
The idea isn't to get people believing that they are going to ascend to godhood and, perhaps, rule over a little planet of their own where they can drown all of their inhabitants or kill the first born of a major empire, too. And Christianity certainly doesn't want you thinking that you're going to get to pick your favorite tribe and bless them and let them commit two dozen acts of genocide before they finally anger you enough to let them lose, thus scattering them and ... you get the idea.
No, the idea behind Christianity is that God is God, you are you, and you will end in one of only two ways: Eternal suffering and torture because you dared not bow down to the Celestial Dictator OR you end up in eternal servitude and slavery somehow serving an omnipotent God that, quite frankly, doesn't need servants. (Which essentially means you'll serve the only purpose that God himself cannot fulfill - you will be forced to love him, bow to him, praise him, tell him what a good wittle god he is, yes he is, coochi coo, aww, I wuv my god.
The fact is, Christianity is a cult. And Christianity does what all cults do - they take away your pride and dignity to ensure that the doctrines of the cult wrap their tentacles more securely around your mind. If people start thinking that they're actually good enough to be gods themselves, well, imagine the pride and even hubris that would occur among that religion's followers?
Eventually you'd have people coming up with ideas on how to make their planet and their intelligent species better than God's - they'll start thinking they can actually create universes better than God's silly little universe. I'd do this! And then I'd do that! And ...
Of course, when it comes to Christianity, most 10 year-olds would already be on their way to being able to design a better human, that's for damn sure.
I'm sure there might be some verse in scripture that explains it, but who cares. No doubt the intent of the verse is to simply repeat what I just did, but in a more cloying, appealing sort of way. Relgions want to keep their followers and, with the exception of Judaism, the major religions usually want more of them. If people think they're going to be gods when they die, not only will they start believing the can create a better planet, they'll start believing they can make a better religion.
And they might decide to get an early start on forming it, if you know what I mean, and then that religion will have 30,000 different denominations.
A religious paradigm that allows people to become gods themselves isn't always the best way to go about forming a cohesive group of people - the Mormons were able to pull it off to some extent, but then again, look at all the huge numbers of social constraints that that particular religion puts on its membership. Being shunned, I'm sure, is far more terrifying in the "here and now" which puts a damper on scheming to create your own planet and how you're going to torment those dratted little inferior beings when they disobey you.
Neither was Yahweh when he was originally part of a pantheon.
Really it is ALL symbolism in ways people can understand. Religion in general, I mean. It’s too specific religion to religion about the culture in question being chosen, or the gods having had them be the first people, or the gods having their (the people’s) own traditions and so on...what are the odds? If there’s a God of *everybody* why would it favor just one culture...coincidentally, the one from where the specific story came from? Think about it.
No. He's always been the only God that has ever existed. There have been other "gods" that people have worshiped. Romans 1 talks about that. It's obvious by looking at Creation that there is a God, but they chose not to worship him, instead worshiping the created things. So we have false gods like Baal, a pantheon of false gods in other religions.
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