Thursday, May 1, 2008

God's Mostly A Mummy Now

Reprinting of an essay I've used on several forums, but would like centralized here

First off, mormons, , are immune from this. As mormons specifically state Genesis was refering only to men's bodies (spirits being co-eternal).
1. Genesis is correct, and God created man on the 6th day (through evolution or a handclap is irrelevant)2. God knows all, and sees all, and created the universe before he created man. 3. The universe is determinstic4. God gave man free will.
With these premises, the problem is that God cannot possibly have given man free will (self-determination). He knows all and sees all, and having created the universe from scratch would have known how it all would've played out from its starting positions (universe is deterministic). He understand how each individual atom's placement, in a thousand years time, would shift the minute balances of decision in one neruon of one person's head that made him walk down a street. He therefore is either apathetic and we have no self-determiantion, due to random chance dictating our actions, or he actively cared and he is the orchestrator of life, and therefore, again, the real person in command of our self-determination. Even if premise 3 is wrong, we are no more free as we live in a random, chaotic universe with, in much the same way as an apathetic god, we do not have free will.
I will introduce a new premise now. 5. God has a plan
Given the above considerations that God could not have helped organizing the universe to evnetually play out his plan, the humans simply being complex parts to his machine, we must consider the ineffectuality of will in contempory christian morality (again mormons immune). God's plan and omnipotence inherently require the resignation of will, God's universe will play out as it was intended whether we smash faces or pray fervently. This is why I think in questions of god we should be apatheistic. If he exists or not, is irrelevant. If he does, I'll follow his plan if I want to or not, what I wish is of no consquence. If he dosen't, well he dosen't. Neither option is in effect any different whatsoever.
--Addendum--If the universe is chaotic, God knowing everything allows him to orchestarte the random according to his will, and thus is deterministic to him (though to us lesser creatures appears completely random)
Now, the above logically leads to this concept. Christians should have ZERO inhibitions. If he wanted in his creation serial killers and saints, who are you to condemn one of his decisions while praising another? Mysterious ways, after all.
As morale absolutism is so strong a trend in american theology, I point out that it invariably leads, philosophically, to no morality.
Or philosophical optimism if one goes down the logical limitations to infinite power route."