Would you assign that being any of the traits normally connected to being a deity? For example, if the 11 dimensional undergrad say not to eat shellfish, or to wear special undergarments, would you listen?
Yes, I would listen if was confident that was where it was coming from. This 11-dimensional undergrad is much more powerful and almost certainly smarter than me, and knowingly rebelling would not be a good idea. If this undergrad just has a really sick sense of humor, then, well, we’re all screwed in any case.
Clearly, then I need to make awfully sure it’s actually God and not a hallucination. I would probably not do it because in that case I know that the undergrad does have a sick sense of humor and I shouldn’t listen to him because we’re all screwed anyway.
Now, if you’re going to bring up Abraham and Isaac or something like that, remember that in this case Abraham was pretty darn sure it was actually God talking.
So this sort of response indicates that you are distinguishing between “God” and the 11-dimensional undergrad as distinct ideas. In that case, a generic creator argument isn’t very strong evidence since there are a lot of options for entities that created the universe that aren’t God.
This is confusing because we’re simultaneously talking about a deity in general and my God, the one we’re all familiar with.
Of course there are lots of options other than my specific God; the 11-dimensional undergrad is one of those. I’m not using a generic creator argument to convince you of my God, I’m using the generic creator argument to suggest that you take into account the possibility of a generic creator, whether or not it’s my God. I’m keeping my God mostly out of this—I think an atheist ought to be able to argue my position while keeping his/her own conclusions.
Would you assign that being any of the traits normally connected to being a deity? For example, if the 11 dimensional undergrad say not to eat shellfish, or to wear special undergarments, would you listen?
Yes, I would listen if was confident that was where it was coming from. This 11-dimensional undergrad is much more powerful and almost certainly smarter than me, and knowingly rebelling would not be a good idea. If this undergrad just has a really sick sense of humor, then, well, we’re all screwed in any case.
And if the 11-dimensional undergrad says you should torture a baby?
Clearly, then I need to make awfully sure it’s actually God and not a hallucination. I would probably not do it because in that case I know that the undergrad does have a sick sense of humor and I shouldn’t listen to him because we’re all screwed anyway.
Now, if you’re going to bring up Abraham and Isaac or something like that, remember that in this case Abraham was pretty darn sure it was actually God talking.
So this sort of response indicates that you are distinguishing between “God” and the 11-dimensional undergrad as distinct ideas. In that case, a generic creator argument isn’t very strong evidence since there are a lot of options for entities that created the universe that aren’t God.
This is confusing because we’re simultaneously talking about a deity in general and my God, the one we’re all familiar with.
Of course there are lots of options other than my specific God; the 11-dimensional undergrad is one of those. I’m not using a generic creator argument to convince you of my God, I’m using the generic creator argument to suggest that you take into account the possibility of a generic creator, whether or not it’s my God. I’m keeping my God mostly out of this—I think an atheist ought to be able to argue my position while keeping his/her own conclusions.