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Omnipotent demon

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greenblue
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19 Jul 2010, 4:53 pm

Awesomelyglorious wrote:
Ok, given that the problem of evil and questions of how an all-good God would act has emerged, how would an all-powerful demon behave with the world?

He would command all living creatures to worship him and punish with floods and plagues, the ones who don't and throw them at dungeons filled with lakes of fire.


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sartresue
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22 Jul 2010, 8:54 am

Demonotheism topic

S/He would probably use guilt to ensnare believers, like the other Omniimpotent Being. :roll:


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22 Jul 2010, 1:57 pm

ruveyn wrote:
Awesomelyglorious wrote:
Ok, given that the problem of evil and questions of how an all-good God would act has emerged, how would an all-powerful demon behave with the world?


Any way he wanted to.

ruveyn


That would be Q from Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry's caricature of God.



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22 Jul 2010, 10:19 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
That would be Q from Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry's caricature of God.

"The universe is not so badly designed" is probably a case against the idea of a designer.

Not sure if the character was intended as you claim, and I don't understand why you keep watching that godless show anyway.


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iamnotaparakeet
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22 Jul 2010, 10:41 pm

greenblue wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
That would be Q from Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry's caricature of God.

"The universe is not so badly designed" is probably a case against the idea of a designer.

Not sure if the character was intended as you claim, and I don't understand why you keep watching that godless show anyway.


"The universe is not so badly designed" is nothing that I have said.

Tapestry would seem to indicate that it was, although in the ending of that episode the script was made ambiguous intentionally so as to reduce offense.

You don't understand why I keep watching that godless show? Practically all shows and movies are godless anyway, with the exception of very few Christian films which are about as good in quality as a telenovela. Star Trek The Next Generation is about the best science fiction space opera that exists, they had good actors, good special effects, good usage of music, and often good plots and execution of plots, many of which even seemed somewhat original.



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22 Jul 2010, 11:00 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
You don't understand why I keep watching that godless show? Practically all shows and movies are godless anyway, with the exception of very few Christian films which are about as good in quality as a telenovela. Star Trek The Next Generation is about the best science fiction space opera that exists, they had good actors, good special effects, good usage of music, and often good plots and execution of plots, many of which even seemed somewhat original.

well, perhaps I didn't addressed that correctly, what I wonder is though, how come you enjoy that show, given that the message that portrays, at least TNG, is anti-christian? as it shows Rodenberry's humanistic anti-religious positions. BTW, I think he would have hated DS9, a lot!

I mean, some christians, in my experience, have rejected things from TV that "glorify" what they have considered anti-christian ideas. Usually labeling them as satanic, so in my christian days, Star Trek was satanic.


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22 Jul 2010, 11:08 pm

greenblue wrote:
iamnotaparakeet wrote:
You don't understand why I keep watching that godless show? Practically all shows and movies are godless anyway, with the exception of very few Christian films which are about as good in quality as a telenovela. Star Trek The Next Generation is about the best science fiction space opera that exists, they had good actors, good special effects, good usage of music, and often good plots and execution of plots, many of which even seemed somewhat original.

well, Perhaps I didn't addressed that correctly, what I wonder is though, how come you enjoy that show, given that the message that portrays, at least TNG, is anti-christian? as it shows Rodenberry's humanistic anti-religious positions. BTW, I think he would have hated DS9, a lot!

I mean, some christians, in my experience, have rejected things from TV that "glorify" what they have considered anti-christian ideas. Usually labeling them as satanic, so in my christian days, Star Trek was satanic.


Neither of my parents nor anyone at the churches I attended had anything against Star Trek (Assembly of God and a non-denominational church prior to when my dad died of lung cancer, and then loads of others after my stepfather came into the picture.) Roddenberry may have certainly portrayed disdain for religion in general and perhaps against Christianity in particular, in a few of the episodes, but to say "this is completely evil with no redeeming qualities" would be to throw the bathtub out with both the baby and the bath water.



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23 Jul 2010, 8:14 am

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
Neither of my parents nor anyone at the churches I attended had anything against Star Trek (Assembly of God and a non-denominational church prior to when my dad died of lung cancer, and then loads of others after my stepfather came into the picture.) Roddenberry may have certainly portrayed disdain for religion in general and perhaps against Christianity in particular, in a few of the episodes, but to say "this is completely evil with no redeeming qualities" would be to throw the bathtub out with both the baby and the bath water.


Right. Despite not being a fan of TNG in any sort of way, it presents a moral story line. I have no doubt the keet appreciates that. It is no different than an atheist enjoying star wars.


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23 Jul 2010, 3:31 pm

Awesomelyglorious wrote:
Is the notion of the problem of good unbelievable?

Do notions of divinity expressed by say, the Bible, fit an evil God hypothesis?


In other words, you're talking about dystheism which is the notion that God is either not completely good or wholly evil. Some proponents of dystheism would say that there would not be a problem of good as there is a problem of evil if God was wholly good. The reason for this is that they argue that evil eventually destroys itself and a world that is completely evil without any good in it cannot function. So such a scenario would be impossible. Think about it, how can any sort of society exist if there were no rules and everyone just raped, murdered and stole from everyone else. So if good existed at all, it would be merely out of necessity.



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23 Jul 2010, 4:34 pm

Jono wrote:
Awesomelyglorious wrote:
Is the notion of the problem of good unbelievable?

Do notions of divinity expressed by say, the Bible, fit an evil God hypothesis?


In other words, you're talking about dystheism which is the notion that God is either not completely good or wholly evil. Some proponents of dystheism would say that there would not be a problem of good as there is a problem of evil if God was wholly good. The reason for this is that they argue that evil eventually destroys itself and a world that is completely evil without any good in it cannot function. So such a scenario would be impossible. Think about it, how can any sort of society exist if there were no rules and everyone just raped, murdered and stole from everyone else. So if good existed at all, it would be merely out of necessity.

Well, right, I am basically trying to get people to think about the notion that future evil demands toleration of some goods, and to take the question somewhat seriously, even if it is to later regard it as silly.

Notions of "Greater evils" are not even completely silly. They are logically possible, and even presented in some media, such as with Order of the Stick's Belkar having an immoral dilemma:
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0435.html

Now, in the past, people have put forward the idea of an evil God so as to test the notion of a good God(such as with Stephen Law's God of Eth), because if an argument is equally valid either way, then neither position must be that valid at all based upon our present knowledge. However, I do think that the question should be taken with some degree of seriousness, if only to compare it to the notion of the wholly good God.