If you were God…
1) How would you make salvation work? (assuming you'd make this necessary)
2) How would you reveal yourself to humankind? If at all?
3) How would you end the world? (assuming you want to at some point)
My answers:
For me I’d do salvation by audit - as opposed to purely by faith or by good works. I’d add all the person’t bad deeds up and all their good ones and would grant them salvation (or damnation) according to how they balanced out. I would forensically examine every aspect of their life’s conduct, looking at their motivations and courage etc., considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances of their sins so as to judge their true character - which is what I would judge them on.
When it comes to revealing myself I’d make some big interventions early on in humanity’s history so they would be aware that I exist and would then go quiet. But would perhaps engineer the odd miracle here and there to give faith a boost as I’d like people to have faith in me but would also want them to use their critical faculties. But what with psychosis and human madness being things this probably wouldn’t be necessary, people would probably be able to have religious experiences of me without me being involved!
How would I end the world? Like the account given in the Book of Revelation. I'd want the end of the world to be spectacular and shocking and I think it would add to the spectacle and shock if the events in the Book of Revelation actually happened, as people would be familiar with what happened so would try to guess what would happen next. If you're going to end the world you may as well make it an interesting and memorable experience for everyone and I think making it happen Revelation style would do this. Especially if events are drawn out over a number of years.
1) How would you make salvation work? (assuming you'd make this necessary)
2) How would you reveal yourself to humankind? If at all?
3) How would you end the world? (assuming you want to at some point)
My answers:
For me I’d do salvation by audit - as opposed to purely by faith or by good works. I’d add all the person’t bad deeds up and all their good ones and would grant them salvation (or damnation) according to how they balanced out. I would forensically examine every aspect of their life’s conduct, looking at their motivations and courage etc., considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances of their sins so as to judge their true character - which is what I would judge them on.
When it comes to revealing myself I’d make some big interventions early on in humanity’s history so they would be aware that I exist and would then go quiet. But would perhaps engineer the odd miracle here and there to give faith a boost as I’d like people to have faith in me but would also want them to use their critical faculties. But what with psychosis and human madness being things this probably wouldn’t be necessary, people would probably be able to have religious experiences of me without me being involved!
How would I end the world? Like the account given in the Book of Revelation. I'd want the end of the world to be spectacular and shocking and I think it would add to the spectacle and shock if the events in the Book of Revelation actually happened, as people would be familiar with what happened so would try to guess what would happen next. If you're going to end the world you may as well make it an interesting and memorable experience for everyone and I think making it happen Revelation style would do this. Especially if events are drawn out over a number of years.