Ben Goren wrote:
> Mike wrote:
>
> > But where we differ is that you would allow someone else to walk
> > up and say "oh, yes, that stone is a god simply because I
> > believe it did create the universe" or "oh, yes, that stone is a
> > god simply because I believe it represents/symbolizes that
> > creator" and then you'd say "see? Gods do exist and that rock is
> > a god, even if I wouldn't wor****p it." But there's no logical
> > connection between this rock and such creation/creator as
> > opposed to any other rock and such creation/creator.
>
> Erm...Mike...you /do/realize that, in the vast roll-call of gods
> whom academics have identified over the millennia, only the most
> minuscule fraction -- so few as to equate to zero with rounding
> -- are creator gods? And that in most religions with creator gods,
> those gods don't tend to get a lot of attention?
I just used that as an example of an attribute that we might say a god
has. Just like we could say "if it flies, we'd consider the idea that
it's a bird" but yet realizing that not all birds fly and that many
insects and some mammals do.
> I'm not aware of even a single idol that anybody has ever
> suggested is a creator god. They're overwhelmingly small local
> gods -- the protector of a tribe, the agent responsible for a
> successful harvest, that which cures s****bites, that sort of
> thing. If any emperors were credited with having created the
> universe, that'd be huge news to me, as well.
They still (supposedly) do something more than the stone itself that
they're made from can do.
> Most words have multiple definitions. I don't want to put
> words in your...fingers...but you really are coming across as
> suggesting that the only valid definition for the word, ``god,''
> is ``The omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent creator of all
> existence.'' Surely I'm misunderstanding you, no?
No, I was just using a creator god as an example of something that, if
it existed, many (most?) people would agree "that's a god" as opposed to
"well, yeah, it's strong/smart/wise/loving/whatever but I wouldn't call
it a GOD, as such." I realize most gods aren't creator gods but was
simply trying to get something that would, if it did exist, not have as
much controversy to it as to what it was or what it should be called.
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