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Atheists: What attributes could a god character have that would not result in coercion?
There's this common line of reasoning amongst believers in Yahweh, that we have "free-will" to choose him. They often say that direct evidence of his existence would restrict that choice. But if evidence would restrict choice, why are the stories, and attributes put forth for Yahweh, riddled with coercion and threats that hinder choice(less free)?
3 things that come to mind that would hinder one's choice in believing in Yahweh or not.
1) Belief in Hell(choose Yahweh or it's eternal torture for you).
2) Belief in Sin(avoid all things that Yahweh is purported as disliking or be punished).
3) Belief that Yahweh is omnipotent(the super powered strength of an overseer acts to coerce believers into choosing him, or face the consequences)
I'd say that if a god cared about honest choice, wanting to avoid any coercion being involved in conviction in itself, it would not put itself forth as a powerful being. It would put itself forth in a way that no one would interpret there as being any negative results from not following it. It would put forth its positions, without stating any consequences. And allow people to consider its positions based on their merits alone. Then all followers would have chosen it due to agreement with its positions.
After all, conviction develops through a process. A threat of hell put forth along with a god claim can develop into conviction in a god character that can later be perceived as being accepted for separate reasons. But the initial seeding of that conviction was still influenced by coercion. And no believer in Yahweh could avoid that in hindsight.
@PIKACHU:
I suggest looking into your Yahweh character a little more...
@Simple Jack:
If you meet a random friendly child on the street and they tell you doing Y on a rainy day is wrong. Is it a sin to go against that? No. It's not going against any sociocultural standard, and no "divine" law is being infringed. I don't agree that the term sin is synonymous with wrong. And I think there are situations where a god could say that something is wrong without coercion(but would have to put itself forth as one who is of no possible threat).
@modol: "how about if i ask you whether a non existing character is good or bad?"
It's easy enough to consider a hypothetical. You can ask me if fictional characters are good or bad as long as I have enough information about said character(like some understanding of its mentality, and attributes).
@FactCheckr: "The only attributes a god character could have that would not involve coercion would be... desertion.&q
@FactCheckr: "The only attributes a god character could have that would not involve coercion would be... desertion."
I think a god could run a game/test of "choose me freely." Like I mentioned, by not putting itself forth with any omni-attribute. Then spreading its positions and allowing people to choose him without them perceiving any consequences. As it sits the "test" would certainly involve coercion. If Yahweh existed and really wanted us to choose him without other factors skewing our decision, he wouldn't have done it the way that he supposedly has.
9 Answers
- Anonymous8 years agoFavorite Answer
The only attributes a god character could have that would not involve coercion would be... desertion.
If a god created us and gave us its wisdom in whatever form, and then simply abandoned us, it would obviously no longer be able to coerce us. Of course, it also would not be able to punish us for sinning or reward us for doing good works... unless it returned.
And I guess that's possible. The problem I see with that, though, is that our religions have no indication that God would do this, or has done this. They tell us to pray to God, that He is watching everything we do, judging us, and even interceding for us. So either they are wrong, or they are lying to us, or even worse, God Himself lied to us.
I also have a problem with the idea that God is telling us to be good,because He will either reward us if we do good or punish us if we don't. Is doing the right thing because of an ulterior motive really being good?
- Matthew TLv 78 years ago
You are free to choose because you are free to believe or not. Atheists put God in the category of fairy tales. Do you fear the Tooth Fairy? Is there any attribute of the Tooth Fairy that I could attest to that would scare you?
You get what you truly want. What could be more fair than that?
- RichardLv 58 years ago
If Yahweh was like a normal loving parent that does not coerce their child to love them, then I would say that people love him out of free-will
- ?Lv 78 years ago
"Belief in sin"
So, no sin means nothing is wrong. No wrong means all things would have equal merit. How would you choose something by merit, when the merit of all things would be equal?
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- zasekLv 58 years ago
"allow people to consider its positions based on their merits alone."
Because I don't believe in hell or sin or god the merits are all I have to work with when considering my position on the issue.
Source(s): Atheist - PIKACHULv 48 years ago
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, meekness, gentleness, and self control are attributes that God has in which gives us Free Will.
- Anonymous8 years ago
The Flying Spaghetti Monster would kick any God's butt.
Source(s): That includes you pink unicorn fanatics too! - 8 years ago
,,,god is non existent.so goes along with it any attributes.you should not expect anything from the negative.neither good nor bad.how about if i ask you whether a non existing character is good or bad?
- Anonymous8 years ago
I think not being jealous would be near the top of my list.
Not proclaiming it would be even higher.
