That's not the conclusion I arrived at. We'll need to agree to disagree. The
advanced aliens are created beings. They are not necessary beings, but God is. God is more plausible. The thought experiment is simply for thinking about higher intellectual beings of the benevolent type and how they might react to our ignorance and other forms of suffering.
I would like to apologize for the misunderstanding, I was simply trying to find a middle ground in which we could leave this conversation at, but you are persistent. First we are not in a physics class, we can not set our undefined variables to zero this is the universe all things must be considered, regarding your benevolent race and god.
I do not know why the universe started yet, only that it started. I have been toying with the idea that our universe might be a bubble that formed within an ocean of dark matter, or a collision of matter within a faster then light environment causing this matter to slow down creating alternate realities as it slowed down. The more we understand how things work the better we see that the universe is functioning with in the rules and not divine(godly) intervention. What if a cure for cancer and all disease was already found but held back from the people for reasons of greed, what if the synthesis of these drugs were direct higher benevolent intervention? Are you sure we are not being helped by these Benevolent races already?
There are other advanced races many at vibrational levels above us, they are unable to see us anymore then we can see them, the only difference is they know we are here. A race that has evolved far enough to travel throughout space has already advanced to a vibrational level above ours. Those races on the same level as us are trapped by the same physics that trap us, mostly the mind.
By magic I simply meant tech that is indistinguishable from magic. Your idea that the vast distance between the stars prevents an advanced civ from helping kills the thought experiment. But I did learn you think they would help us. To continue the thought experiment, I proposed alternate ways for
advanced civs to intervene. One example is for them to seed the galaxy with nanotech millions of years ahead of our appearance on Earth. The question still lingers: Assuming they exist in our galaxy, where are they? Death has reigned on this planet for millions of years. They have plenty of time to think about intervening in human affairs.
Time really is not an issue it is our evolution that is hindering us we are on a down hill spiral that will kill the planet prior to us achieving this enlightenment and evolving, making it imposable to receive help from any benevolent race, for they can not control those not so benevolent races, and mans greed. The nano-tech thing is a small wrench in the gears as it proposes a plausible scenario, but most improbable, I don't believe that this is the case, for communication throughout the universe is much simpler then nano-tech. I have recently read some articles were tools and pottery have been found in coal mines dating back millions of years prior to man. There are many unexplained phenomenon that have occurred throughout time that may have been signals for change. Hitler had a passion for the mysterious what happened to all the things that he collected throughout his reign. You and I have only seen 1% of the actual evidence out there the rest is held by those who wish to gain. I do not like conspiracies but find it hard to believe that I am not being corralled or guided by a society of institutions that only seeks profits. How can anyone make an informed decision when you have so few facts at our disposal. Some people are followers and some of us ask questions to no end, who is right? I just for some reason refuse to put on that dirty little sheep skin.
You have made discovering truth our own responsibility, so now it isn't the responsibility of an advanced civ to impart half of their intelligence on us, right? I think such a scenario , in which they bestow half of their intelligence on us, is a problem. Everybody wouldn't want that. Some may opt for remaining human, because such an intelligence would surely render us into some post-human form. And, if the advanced civ gives the humans a choice in the matter, then that partly resolves this problem. The disappearance of others who have opted for a post-human form would merely create new problems. Human society would be forced to change in some radical way because of the advanced civs intervention.
We all should be on a path of truth, were you born christian or was it a later choice there are thousands of choices, are these not individual paths sought for fulfillment. How does one hide the true path, well lets see, a thousand possibilities and only one truth, a cross in a pile of crosses. The ego is the rational part of the mind you must learn to ascend your ego with in you this will make the path less problematic for the individual. There is only 1 in 13 that have the ability to ascend so most of those people will not need to worry how they will react with the information presented by these
benevolent races. The solution is those that are unable to ascend will not ascend there will be no choice this is your so called judgment ,it is as simple as that.
Similarly, in an evolutionary universe a God that intervenes and magically gives a part of creation a heap of intelligence would raise all kinds of restrictions, no? The evolutionary law wouldn't apply to us. It seems to me the universe would have to be redesigned into some static thing. Kind of like those sunday school conceptions of heaven as an eternal place of streets of gold, where you'll live with your unchanging family and friends for an eternity. While it does take away suffering, it also takes away change, growth, and mystery.
If you could stand at the front line of a world evolutionary timeline and could watch every scenario play out all the way to the finish on all lines, at what point would you intervene. Some societies will have flawless timelines were they will find a path that is unhindered, this society most likely will not
receive any kind of benevolent help. god is not a measure for me, he is man made along with those so important streets of gold.
Okay. This is a subtle form of intervention. I like it. Much more practical than an abrupt intervention, such as UFOs descending from the skys to enlighten us. How they can intervene is as important as if they can intervene.
I do not believe in other world ufo's, I do not believe there are races close enough in galactic proximity to travel here in a time that is feasible to their species and ours in our dimension. Time is a crucial factor for travel within our dimensional reality, it is the most important factor when traversing the universe so unless time can be manipulated travel by any other means is impractical. Do you think it is possible that the ufos people see are only weak points in the veil? Is this the only timeline being played out on this planet? What of the mass disappearances throughout history where are these people?
Notice how your attitude has changed towards the advanced civ. You don't require them to give us half of their intelligence as you do with God. You see ways for them to help us without such a radical intervention as imparting half their knowledge. From what I'm reading from you, you hold negative feelings towards the concept of a theistic God.
So are you saying that the benevolent races hold as much knowledge as your god. It is you that put god upon a pedestal as the all knowing, with this title he should give us half of his knowledge, if the advanced civ is imagined to have the same intelligence as your god than I ask the same of them as I would expect from your god. we must agree for future debates that these two entities have equal powers so not to confuse my words as being negative. Please tell me how these two measure up and this will set the stage for future talks.
You listed many reasons God doesn't make sense, one of them being that God can create any level of being. You questioned the gap between God and humans. As I stated before, to ask why God didn't create Its own level of being doesn't make sense, because the very action of creating makes the being created a creation and dependent on the Creator. You then said God could at least make us a half-God, giving us 1/2 of Its intelligence. I then asked you to consider a thought experiment involving advanced civs of the benevolent type, and asked how you think they would intervene into human affairs. Would they radically intervene by giving us half of their intelligence? I answered by saying this how brings up problems for those intervened with. You concluded maybe they would guide us in subtle ways:
Do you not feel dependent upon your god since you are it's creation, and is it not in his power to insure that his creations are cared for and not deceived. There are thousands of religions are you sure yours is the right one? The number of Christians is decreasing everyday are these people all going to die a hellish death. The church has done nothing to better it's image to the people and most of the stories it tells are filled with inconsistencies. Man has proven many times that when he is on the precipice of extinction some how the answers seem to present themselves are these answers given under some subtle means.
Perhaps all you have to do is believe in yourself and believe in the path that you are on to end suffering and pain, maybe if your intentions are true (they) will guide you for they can see the strength in your heart.
You see it as a possible, so I guess this reason God can't exist can be ruled out, at least for me. You also have other reasons:
-Different religions exist, meaning religious-minded people can't agree
-From a social standpoint, the concept of God is useless except as a coping mechanism for pain and
suffering
-The Bible isn't trustworthy and is inaccurate
-The design of the universe doesn't indicate God exists
I'm sure this doesn't reflect all of your reasons. Can you sum up each reason you don't believe in God
with one-sentence reasons? I'm not here to convince you God exists. After all, you have touched on very difficult subjects. I just want to understand more about why you don't believe.
The main reason and the thing that keeps me centered is a simple question I keep asking myself "if I were him and I had all the information to the universe at my disposal what would I have done to make things here better". I am a simple mind but can imagine a better world then we currently live in so why is it so difficult for him who has infinite power.
Next I look to reason and block out all things impractical this shortens the bible and all it's teachings down to a few pages of text. I believe there are some lessons to be found in the bible but none that I could have not come up with on my own. I find that all the religions have useful lessons and a simple story why should I not gain as much wisdom from all the lessons other then sticking to one belief.
The other thing that separates my beliefs is that I was never pushed to believe in any one way but to find my own path. I can usually see through things and see there inner workings, I find this helps me to be more critical of things always replaying them over and over again till all the pieces fit.
The above mentioned items that you quoted, are only a few discrepancies found in this thing you call god, there are more but how many faults do you allow before seeking a more reliable solution. Have I amounted enough evidence to seek other possibilities, if a man walked up to you with as many holes in his story as the bible would he stand before you for long?