The Nature of this Conflict (Humans)

by dhw, Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 13:06 (5420 days ago) @ David Turell

"Rabbi David" has admonished me for saying that a watered-down God without attributes doesn't serve much of a purpose. He thinks I want "a soft and fuzzy father figure" to nurture me through life, though he realizes that I personally "don't need such a figure to enjoy life."-Indeed I don't. My life until now has been wonderfully fulfilling, I count myself very lucky, and am happy to use and enjoy whatever abilities Chance or God has given me. Perhaps the time will come when I would appreciate a fuzzy father, but no, that is not what lies behind my remark at all. What I was trying to say was that a God without attributes was irrelevant to our lives. A God without attributes is impersonal. Your "tough-loved God" has attributes; if he expects me to "rise above the challenges", he has attributes; if he is "out there, still watching", he has attributes; and above all if he corresponds to the vision of a loving God that Frank believes in, he has attributes. My remark was made against the deist God and against the concept of a universal intelligence pure and simple. This was what I understood by George's description of a vague, ineffectual, watered-down version. To put it bluntly, if God is not interested in his creations, what is the point in having him there? If he is interested, then he has attributes.