The Qualities of a God

[SalixIncendium]

I'm pretty sure this is a remix of a thread I created a few years back, but for the life of me cannot find it (not that I spent much time looking).

So here it is...

In another thread, a member asked if one can be a god, or if one can know one is a god.

To answer such a question, one would have to know what qualities or attributes a god would have.

So what are the qualities of a god? What qualifications would one have to have to be considered a god?

 

[Secret Chief]

The Egyptians knew a thing or two....

 

[Secret Chief]

Gods can be manifestations of qualities.

 

[stvdv]

In another thread, a member asked if one can be a god, or if one can know one is a god.

To answer such a question, one would have to know what qualities or attributes a god would have.

So what are the qualities of a god? What qualifications would one have to have to be considered a god?

God is said to be beyond qualities, some even say

 

[PureX]

By nearly every definition of a god ever devised, a human cannot be a god. There have been many that presumed themselves to be gods and made others play along with it on pain of death. But in the end no one ever really believed them.

On the ether hand, we humans tend to endow people, places, and things with god-like powers even though they don't and shouldn't have them. We are programmed to establish and follow heirarchy, and will tend to do so blindly and automatically. Making whomever sits at the top of the heirarchy the equivalent of a god.

 

[SalixIncendium]

God is said to be beyond qualities, some even say

So what would make that being a god?

 

[SalixIncendium]

By nearly every definition of a god ever devised, a human cannot be a god. There have been many that presumed themselves to be gods and made others play along with it on pain of death. But in the end no one ever really believed them.

On the ether hand, we humans tend to endow people, places, and things with god-like powers even though they don't and shouldn't have them. We are programmed to establish and follow heirarchy, and will tend to do so blindly and automatically. Making whomever sits at the top of the heirarchy the equivalent of a god.

I think you may have posted in the wrong thread. This reads like a response to that one and doesn't address the question asked in this one.

 

[Aštra’el]

The primary quality of a god or goddess is that they embody some inherent aspect(s) of human nature, or nature.

 

[SalixIncendium]

The primary quality of a god or goddess is that they embody some inherent aspect(s) of human nature, or nature.

By this suggestion, every human is a god or goddess. Is that your perspective?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

So what are the qualities of a god? What qualifications would one have to have to be considered a god?

The one that sticks out to me as a necessary (but not sufficient) qualification for a god:

A god is an object of worship by humans.

 

[SalixIncendium]

The one that sticks out to me as a necessary (but not sufficient) qualification for a god:

A god is an object of worship by humans.

Interesting qualification. I'm sure many would agree.

I acknowledge many gods, but worship none. So the qualification doesn't quite fit into my own worldview.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Interesting qualification. I'm sure many would agree.

I acknowledge many gods, but worship none. So the qualification doesn't quite fit into my own worldview.

The gods you acknowledge... are they the objects of worship for other people?

 

[SalixIncendium]

The gods you acknowledge... are they the objects of worship for other people?

I would say most, if not all, are, yes.

 

[ppp]

The one that sticks out to me as a necessary (but not sufficient) qualification for a god:

A god is an object of worship by humans.

Why is "an object of worship by humans" not sufficient? I am not arguing that it is sufficient. Just curious why you say it is not? Agency?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I would say most, if not all, are, yes.

Right... then that still fits what I'm trying to describe. Those other gods are still objects of human worship, even if the worship isn't being done by you.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Why is "an object of worship by humans" not sufficient? I am not arguing that it is sufficient. Just curious why you say it is not? Agency?

Money comes to mind. Money has no agency, yet it is worshipped by atheists and theists alike.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Why is "an object of worship by humans" not sufficient? I am not arguing that it is sufficient. Just curious why you say it is not? Agency?

Just that I can think of things that are worshipped but considered fairly definitively not to be gods... e.g. certain holy relics.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Right... then that still fits what I'm trying to describe. Those other gods are still objects of human worship, even if the worship isn't being done by you.

I don't disagree.

Would money, as mentioned above, qualify as a god?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I don't disagree.

Would money, as mentioned above, qualify as a god?

I'm not sure.

You say that money is "worshipped," but I generally disagree. I think that sort of usage of the term is more metaphor than literal.

 

[ppp]

Just that I can think of things that are worshipped but considered fairly definitively not to be gods... e.g. certain holy relics.

Ah True. And ancestor worship.