General Discussions > Religion / Philosophy Talk
Question - Philosophers on God's Judgement
Desert Fox:
I think I remember reading a philosopher who suggests the idea that (assuming God exists) because he is so far over us in abilities that he has no real ability to judge us.
Anybody familiar with that idea and who I might have heard it from?
MikeHz:
In the Book of Job, God allows all sorts of awful things to happen to his fanboy, Job. When Job asks why, God replies (I'm paraphrasing here) "Fuck off. I'm God. I made you, and I can destroy you if it suits me, with or without a reason."
Citizen Skeptic:
Now that's a god - and we're made in it's image. No wonder people suck.
TalkingBook:
I've never heard this argument made, and I don't really understand what it's supposed to mean. What do you mean by saying God has "no real ability to judge us"? Assuming we're anthropomorphizing the concept of God to the extent that the Abrahamic religions typically do, surely God would be just as 'able' to judge us as I am able to judge 'lesser' animals - which is surely what I'm doing when I decide that the mosquito's behavior is offensive to me, whereas the spider's is not.
Neon Genesis:
--- Quote from: MikeHz on Jun 03, 2012, 09:47:38 AM ---In the Book of Job, God allows all sorts of awful things to happen to his fanboy, Job. When Job asks why, God replies (I'm paraphrasing here) "Fuck off. I'm God. I made you, and I can destroy you if it suits me, with or without a reason."
--- End quote ---
I think that's a bit of a simplistic view of the book of Job. The book of Job was actually quite radical the time it was written. The book of Job was written in response to a theological belief that when bad things happen to you it's because you're being punished for your sins. Job's author thought that view was repugnant so they created this fictional poem where Job argues with his friends that are blaming all his sufferings on Job's supposed sins. Job doesn't like that idea and so the best explanation it came up with at the time was a "God's ways are mysterious" explanation. That explanation would seem inadequate to us in modern times but in Job's time it would have been considered a more moderate position on theodicy.
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