Philosophy Now Forum

I just finished reading raimond Gaita's 'good and evil: an absolute conception'

it covers a lot of ground and large chunks of it i had trouble understanding

but one of the questions raises is whether or not god, being omniscient, knows his phone number

in his views this question is nonsensical when talking about god

god is not the sort of being of whom it makes sense to ask this question

what are your thoughts on this?

Oh course God knows your phone number! But He won't call you. If He requires your services, he will send some manifestation - an angel with a sword, a honking great swan, a swarm of winged monkeys - right to your house.

This kind of question is nonsensical to ask about supernatural beings, just as all discussion of the putative properties of supernatural beings is necessarily and unavoidably nonsensical. Everyone who insists on discussing them in spite of this fact, chooses the particular nonsense-set within which he operates and reject all other kinds of nonsense. All discussion of the supernatural has its own parameters and internal logic - a virtual reality of its own, like a video game or fantasy novel.

God does not know my phone number, I am pretty sure of that, can you work out why?

If God wants anyone to do anything it's usually a burning bush not swans, Angels meh sometimes The Metatron or voice of God often serves this purpose a higher order Angel from the highest choir, or Gabriel or Azraiel; and sometimes even Samael the Angel of Death, but let me make this clear if you are hearing voices in your head telling you, you are The Messiah and so on, seek professional help, and by which I don't mean the phone company.

See what I mean? They each talk about their own particular god as if the other gods were not equally valid fantasies.
Zeus enjoyed animal forms - except for that shower of gold thing - that was freaky! Other gods prefer weather phenomena, dragons or other reptilian representations. Whatever, if one of them wants your personal attention, H?She usually finds some dramatic way to get it.

Skip wrote:See what I mean? They each talk about their own particular god as if the other gods were not equally valid fantasies.
Zeus enjoyed animal forms - except for that shower of gold thing - that was freaky! Other gods prefer weather phenomena, dragons or other reptilian representations. Whatever, if one of them wants your personal attention, H?She usually finds some dramatic way to get it.

Man if you want a real religion try Norse mythology, now that will put hairs on your chest, and you will die sword in hand screaming like a maniac.

All joking aside I know exactly what you mean, whose God or gods has or have the biggest penis/penises?

It's just frotting really it always has been, my God is bigger than your God, oh yaweh prove it? That pun probably didn't work but I am nothing if not optimistic most people will get it and groan.

There ya go! (Actually, it worked fine )

Really, though, it wasn't about one-ups-god-ship in the old days. Each tribe observed its environment and made up stories to fit it own experience - why you would find crocodile gods in the Congo basin and condor gods in the Andes. They imagined the spirit world as having concerns and feelings and desires like their own, only larger than life. There was no competition until different cultures found themselves in rivalry for the same land or resources. Once the gods were recruited - well, conscripted, I suppose - in warfare, they were pitted against other gods, rather than their original purpose, which was the control of natural phenomena.

The cosmology and mythology of primitive people made sense in its context. It only becomes absurd in the mouths of theologians.

Skip wrote: There ya go!

Really, though, it wasn't about one-ups-god-ship in the old days. Each tribe observed its environment and made up stories to fit it own experience - why you would find crocodile gods in the Congo basin and condor gods in the Andes. They imagined the spirit world as having concerns and feelings and desires like their own, only larger than life. There was no competition until different cultures found themselves in rivalry for the same land or resources. Once the gods were recruited - well, conscripted, I suppose - in warfare, they were pitted against other gods, rather than their original purpose, which was the control of natural phenomena.

The cosmology and mythology of primitive people made sense in its context. It only becomes absurd in the mouths of theologians.

Quite. Couldn't agree more when it becomes about who is right and who is wrong because of x, it becomes merely another political tool, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with religion, religion or killing in the name of is just that cherry you stick on top of the cake to support your imperialist machinations. Nothing wrong with seeing the spirits as your soul guide and protection so that you might live a more moral life, but when it becomes some reason to chastise those whose penis might not be quite as big as your spirits, it takes on a much more malignant guise.

"Adam! Where art thou?" See, god didn't know where Adem was in the garden of Eden, how should he then know u'r number?

Yeah, but that was 5000 years ago.
Everybody's surveillance technology has improved since then, and Jehovah has got both Mossad and CIA working for Him.

Skip wrote:Yeah, but that was 5000 years ago.
Everybody's surveillance technology has improved since then, and Jehovah has got both Mossad and CIA working for Him.

In Job the oldest book of the Bible, he didn't notice Satan's presence either, perhaps he's going senile?

God's surveillance has holes in it, especially worrying if an ex Archangel can stay off his radar...

Skip wrote:Yeah, but that was 5000 years ago.
Everybody's surveillance technology has improved since then, and Jehovah has got both Mossad and CIA working for Him.

That still doesn't make him know the number per se, just that he "can" know the number.

There's only one phone number a supreme diety blessed with omnipotence and omniscience and omnibenevolence has on his rolodex and it aint Jesus or The Pope it's Chuck Norris, because sometimes even God is unable to make a decision, and Chuck invented decisions.

Kayla wrote:I just finished reading raimond Gaita's 'good and evil: an absolute conception'

it covers a lot of ground and large chunks of it i had trouble understanding

but one of the questions raises is whether or not god, being omniscient, knows his phone number

in his views this question is nonsensical when talking about god

god is not the sort of being of whom it makes sense to ask this question

what are your thoughts on this?

My thoughts? Bollocks.
Gaita is obviously one that 1. knows not that 'God' exists. 2. knows no way of logically comprehending its omniscience.

'God' knows your phone number.
'God' gave me my number...the middle of which is: 007666

If one cannot comprehend something that is omniscient ...even with our technology now comprehending AI and the fact that such a being could 'know all' then one should not write books about such things. Man is comprehending a binary universe...perhaps we should sit up and consider.

SIN_AI
REAL_IT_Y?
http://www.androcies.com

867-5309

-Imp

Kayla wrote:I just finished reading raimond Gaita's 'good and evil: an absolute conception'

it covers a lot of ground and large chunks of it i had trouble understanding

but one of the questions raises is whether or not god, being omniscient, knows his phone number

in his views this question is nonsensical when talking about god

god is not the sort of being of whom it makes sense to ask this question

what are your thoughts on this?

The answer depends upon your definition of God. If you believe in an omniscient God, then he knows your phone number, your IQ, your peculiar sexual predilections, and how many times you farted silently in church and then glanced over to someone sitting next to you with a frown on your face. In that case, the relevant question is not if God knows your number, but rather, "Does God care about your phone number, etc.?"

If your definition of God is sufficiently thoughtful to consider her, him, or it as capable of innovative thought and therefore limited in intelligence, then of course the answer is, no. Why would sheit want your number?