When is something a god?

Such as...?

Time period, technological advancement, general knowledge, education, wealth, et cetera.

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Proudly attempting to Google-Bomb Kent "The Lying Dumbass" Hovind's website

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Lying Dumbass

So there should be a ratio or something right?I think it should have something to do with understanding how the god operates. For example my govenrment is many millions of times more powerful than I am, yet I am not mystified by it, I know how it works.A god, on the other hand, might be only a few times more powerful than I am but be able to preform apparent miracles.One might see a problem with this when it comes to, say magicians. I have no idea how David Copperfeild preforms some of his illutions but, having been a magicain myself, I feel no need to whorship him because I believe he does not posess actual power beyond the power to create illutions. So though I do not understand a praticular illution I understand the principle and am not mystified.Some, however, do not understand illutions and choose to worship charlatins like James van Pragh, Jon Edward, and Uri Geller, what a shame.

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In short, I think we create god(s) to explain that which we don't understand.

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Yep, and that seems to be the overriding characteristic in the definition of a 'god' -- how it's used.For example, Storm of the X-Men trumps most gods in ability; however, she isn't considered a goddess. (We'll ignore the question of Halle Berry for the moment)
Same goes for Q.
Neither is used as a psychological pacifier, though -- neither is used to form any 'placeholder' answers. This difference in human usage seems to be the only thing that differentiates them from gods.

But if we take the Christian god, that god defines itself as the only one. And every other concept that is told about this god within the bible must therefore be requirements for "godhood". So the three O's, and liking to smell burnt offerings and so on comes with it. (At least if you belive the bible literally).Any other powerful beeing within chistianity cannot be a god, how powerful it now ever migh be. The plural of god is something that cannot be. Which imho makes the term "god" a pretty useless construct within christianity. So even if we met Thor or Odin we could not call them gods.But i dont belive in the christian god, so , I would define a God as a sentient beeing that has some power(s) which cannot ever be obtained through human technology. Now or ever.
That put gods in a different slot than "very poverful beeings" and "star-trek"-aliens

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But if we take the Christian god, that god defines itself as the only one. And every other concept that is told about this god within the bible must therefore be requirements for "godhood". So the three O's, and liking to smell burnt offerings and so on comes with it. (At least if you belive the bible literally).

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Any other powerful beeing within chistianity cannot be a god, how powerful it now ever migh be. The plural of god is something that cannot be. Which imho makes the term "god" a pretty useless construct within christianity. So even if we met Thor or Odin we could not call them gods.

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That would make Commandment numero uno absolutely stupid, as it would be a command to refrain from doing the impossible.
It's also completely unbiblical. I found 215 verses that reference 'gods'.

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But i dont belive in the christian god, so , I would define a God as a sentient beeing that has some power(s) which cannot ever be obtained through human technology. Now or ever.
That put gods in a different slot than "very poverful beeings" and "star-trek"-aliens

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What a mess.
You should straighten your thoughts out before you attempt to communicate them to others.

I love that question.I figure that since the farther we look, the more we see, the smaller we look, the more we see. How can we comprehend something that may not even exsist in our demension?

Interesting point of view. And raises a question.In the light of Mr Clarke’s well quoted statement is there a point where the equation stops?
Is there a point where, no matter how advanced the more advanced party is, the less able party reaches a level where they automatically expect any apparent powers to be the result of highly advanced technology rather than actual ‘powers’?Is there a point where you assume ‘orbital laser cannon’ over ‘control of lightning’?At what point do we stop assuming ‘telepathy’ and start expecting ‘wet-ware telecommunication systems’ (brain implants and such)?

Simple. we keep advancing our technology until we can build a machine or genetically engineer a person who can see into the other dimension and learn to fully understand it, conquer it etc.Does that then put our machine inteligence/genetically enhanced Human on a par with God? Maybe.What if we don't stop there but keep going until we surpass God?PYThis message has been edited by PurpleYouko, 01-31-2005 16:19 AM

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That would make Commandment numero uno absolutely stupid, as it would be a command to refrain from doing the impossible.
It's also completely unbiblical. I found 215 verses that reference 'gods'.

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Well, guess you are right... appologies for my beer-consumption before writing this post.

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I would define a God as a sentient beeing that has some power(s) which cannot ever be obtained through human technology. Now or ever.
That put gods in a different slot than "very poverful beeings" and "star-trek"-aliens

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What a mess.
You should straighten your thoughts out before you attempt to communicate them to others.

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Whats hard to understand about my last definition of a "god" ?
It only defines a "god" as a beeing with a property, that cannot be obtained through technology. In other words, the definition of a fairy-tale god.Otherwise there would be no way do differentiate between an ancient alien race, with millions of years of technology and a random human god.

God created technology. I heard it said once, that God could exist in like the 29th demension. If that's true, we got a long way to go. I highly doubt that will happen.
1st off, Jesus will probably come back before then, and allow us into the next demension. or
2nd God has designed the universe to not allow it no matter what.It's just common sense that "if" God exists, and he created all this, we would not be able to "surpass" it.

Yes that makes sense I guess. From a hypothetical position, (I'm glad you highlighted the "if" ) God "could" have created our universe as a limited space with no way out.
I guess it would be like a computer life simulation. There is no way that the creatures who live and evolve in the simulation could ever step out of the computer and surpass the programmer who made them. They are inherantly limited by the program of the system in which they live while the programmer (God) exists outside of it and can change the physical laws of their world at will. (or by clicking his cosmic mouse button)I just keep coming back to that analogy for some reason.PY

It's like the Matrix reloaded.I have always felt that if we can imagine it, it can someday be done.
But like I said in another thread, Jesus might come back before we can figure it out. Then we would have some more answers I suppose.

that's a little complicated. they weren't simply thought of as gods, but were mistaken to be the return of a god that had shown up previously.

eh. zoroastrianism is clearly a previous translation of christianity. funny thing those sun gods.