Monday, April 15, 2013

Anthropomorphizing God



In many discussions about God, those who consider it possible that God exists are accused of anthropomorphizing nature, even if those proponents don't claim any human attributes for God except conscious will.  In fact, attributing any supernatural powers and/or the ability to create the universe would be non-anthropomorphic, and even reasonable, if those supernatural powers weren't exercised in this universe where, so far, there exists no evidence for it.  The only possible evidence is the universe.

On the other hand, when I say that God mustn't intervene without destroying our free will, many who make the first argument also argue that if God exists, how can It not help people in danger or trouble?  But wouldn't thinking that God should intervene be to anthropomorphize It?

This is not to argue for or against the existence of God, only against the supposed necessity that belief anthropomorphizes It.

I have reluctantly resorted to using the impersonal (but capitalized) pronoun, It, when referring to God.  Using a gender pronoun leaves one open to the argument of anthropomorphizing God.  And as just stated, the only human quality we can attribute to God, if It exists, is conscious will.  That says nothing pro or con about whether God cares about us.  But, since a God with supernatural powers could ostensibly create anything instantaneously, except sentient creatures with free will, that would imply divine interest and caring.

Abandoning the use of any pronouns for God altogether, becomes tedious and distracting.

Defining the supernatural:  One possibility is that the supernatural is a total lack of natural law or even a physical universe or cosmos, in which our universe could be suspended as a mere bubble.  Another possibility is that our universe is just an extrusion, if you will, of our four dimensions within a broader (infinite?) cosmos composed of many more, even an infinite number of dimensions, which could be governed by natural law as well.  The supernatural could then exist even if there were no God.

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