If God is dead, does mankind become God?

In a way, I agree with you. Those who feel a need for a god are lacking something within themselves. Those who are complete have no need for external "gods".

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Your personal favorite philosopher is wrong.The need for an external god is like a need for heroin. Once one acquires the addiction, it is hard to get rid of it. A substitute, such as methadone, can be less harmful.But those who have never had the addiction have no need for a substitute.

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Having no need for an external god is like saying one has no need for external truth. "Truth" is not an absolute. It is only what we internalize. That's what I'm doing. First, you have to decide which route you want to take: the substitute (methadone) or cold turkey.

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Don't confuse yourself.You are assuming that everything is absolute. Adjust your thinking to: nothing is absolute unless shown to be absolute.The first step in releasing your need for an external God is understanding that it is an addiction. You have already done that (almost) by starting this thread.The next step is to release your need for absolutes.

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You're the one who asked me for enlightenment. Your own OP suggests that gods are only a substitute for something we already have. Don't blame me if your own "truth" makes you uncomfortable.

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Another example of the confusion caused by "absolutes".As your own OP says:

quote:

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Their are as many truths that fuel a man as there are cultures.

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Actually, there are as many "truths" as there are men because each man's truth is what is inside him. How then can any of those "truths" be absolute? How can any one man's "god" be absolute?

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It's all perfectly within the context of your OP.Allow me to review:"If God is dead, does mankind become God?"Yes, because every man's god is just his own perception of what God really is. Since every man has his own perception, there can be no absolute "truth" about God - at least, no absolute "truth" that can ever be known to man.You just don't seem to like the clear implications of what you yourself posted.I suppose you were planning on showing that the notion of mankind becoming God is absurd. Instead, you have stumbled on something quite profound.Give your own discovery a chance before you reject it out of hand.

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I think you and I are in the same ballpark - maybe even chasing the same ball. (Do I get points for ruffling his feathers first?)

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Stalin was Hitler's enemy - he helped kill Hitler. Was Stalin obeying God?

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Including Churchill and Rooosevelt. So why do you think Hitler's enemies were "obeying God"? False dichotomy. Maybe He was just a man and spoke the truth, or maybe He didn't exist at all. Maybe he was a liar and there is a completely different god. You're welcome to believe what you believe, but you can't make it the basis of all logic.Your point seems to be that if there is no external God, we have to be our own God. You assume that we have a need for some kind of God.My point (and I suspect that Nietzsche was driving in the same direction) is that we do not need an external God because everything we call "God" is already inside us. My Father doesn't like graven images.

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What do you mean, "accidentally"? I've been saying all along that I agreed with the OP. You're still missing my point, though: it doesn't matter whether you accept or reject an external God. The only God any of us has is our own internal perception of God.

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How can you tell which are real and which are imaginary?I would suggest that if I can discuss my perceptions with another human being - and we seem to perceive the same thing - than that is as close as I can come to "knowing" that my perception is "real".A typical example would be, "I thought I heard something, Did you hear something?" If the other person says, "No," then maybe it was my imagination. If the other person says, "That's just the cat," then maybe I did hear something.Perceptions of God are the same. If a lot of people have the same perception of God, then maybe it's real (but that doesn't mean just parroting dogmas about "God"). Since there are so many fundamentally different perceptions of God, I conclude that the perceptions are mostly imaginary.

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The only universe that exists as far as you "know" is your internal perception of the universe.You have no way of interacting with the universe (or with God) except through your on-board sensors and computers.How do you know that the EvC universe exists? Have you ever met another member face to face? Talked to one on the phone? For all you know, EvC could be a very sophisticated bot. Or Percy could be writing every post but yours by himself. Your only knowledge of EvC is what you see on your screen.-------------The question here is, "Do we need an external God?"Does God push the clouds around so it rains here and storms there? Does God whisper in a Muslim's ear, telling him to bomb New York?Does God whisper in your ear, telling you what's right and what's wrong? Or would you know even without a whisper?

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1. I'm not convinced that the Revelation has anything to do with our salvation.
2. Salvation by grace is a given, but the goats can earn punishment by their own behaviour.
3. The goats' punishment does not necessarily negate their salvation.
4. The goats represent a potential outcome - there don't necessarily have to be any goats.

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Rob,When responding to me, you can save yourself the trouble of all the sermonizing.
I've heard it all before. Let's see if I can find anything in your post that's on topic: You're stuck on absolutes again. I thought you just agreed that we can only "know" what we perceive. If so, it doesn't matter if something is "true" or not - only whether we perceive it to be true. "Something has to be true" is a useless statement. Which misses the point completely. If we can not "know" what is utimately "true", then we can not say that "only one thing can be true" - another useless statement. Yes, it is our hearts that tell us what is right and wrong - not an external God. We can only blame an external entity if there is an external entity. We have done it ourselves - it is our responsibility. We do what we do, we make the mistakes and we are responsible for fixing them."God" is not a crutch for saving us from ourselves.

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