Comments

  • Ok, God exists. So what?
    All this says is that you did not understand the question even a little bit.tim wood

    If that is so, would you please be so kind as to explain to me what I didn't understand - maybe a bit more respectfully?

    For an imagined apple! The question is, what properties do you say an apple has. It is not a trick question, but you may care to read it carefully and think about it before answering.tim wood
    So what you're saying is you're content with the properties I proposed for an apple - an imaginary apple opposed to a "real" apple that is - but when I argue that a real apple is the same as an imaginary apple when it comes to their overall properties
    I did think about it before answering, it is just that I don't believe that there is any difference between an "imagined" apple with all the properties that a "real" apple has (except for one, that one being empirical detectability) and a "real" apple.purple-reindeer
    suddenly you don't approve of the properties?
  • Ok, God exists. So what?
    I did think about it before answering, it is just that I don't believe that there is any difference between an "imagined" apple with all the properties that a "real" apple has (except for one, that one being empirical detectability) and a "real" apple.
    As this problem doesn't even arise in question to God (unless someone believes he is empirically detectable, but in that case he'd be either "real" or have at least one property and ergo he'd be relevant already), the "imagined" God is the "real" God.
  • Ok, God exists. So what?
    Just for the heck of it, what properties does an apple have?tim wood

    Whenever I imagine an apple, I see something red, fairly round, delicious, etc.purple-reindeer
    These, for instance.
  • Ok, God exists. So what?
    The only rule here is that whatever you wish to attribute to God must be derived from his existence only.tim wood

    For me, the essential question here is "what is existence?". I think that an objects (or a Gods for that matter) existence is its properties. In that case, your exercise would not change if you replaced God with, say, an apple. Whenever I imagine an apple, I see something red, fairly round, delicious, etc. Those qualities are what makes it an apple. In fact, I bet anyone of us would have major difficulties imagining an apple without imagining any of its properties, and the same is true for God. Existence without property is non-existence. Therefore, alone the fact that God exists means that he has properties, and the fact that he has properties (e.g. omnipresence, omnibenevolence, omniscience, etc.) lead to the conclusion that he is relevant to human beings, for instance:

    - takes the pressure off life a bit if there is some kind of afterlife (could also be seen as a negative thing)
    - helps with finding value in suffering - good for mental health in adversity
    - good for mental health to believe that one's innermost centre is indestructible
    - helpful in cultivating a sense of oneness with the natural world
    - helpful in developing creatively to believe in an inner spontaneous source of newness, and the imperative to create and express
    - helpful to believe that death is not the ultimate evil - avoidance of death can result in inauthentic living
    - helps in understanding the world as panpsychic
    bert1

purple-reindeer

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