• TheObviousSolution@lemm.ee
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    6 days ago

    A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return. He summoned ten of his slaves, and gave them ten pounds, and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’ But the citizens of his country hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’ When he returned, having received royal power, he ordered these slaves, to whom he had given the money, to be summoned so that he might find out what they had gained by trading.

    The first came forward and said, ‘Lord, your pound has made ten more pounds.’ He said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small thing, take charge of ten cities.’

    Then the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your pound has made five pounds.’ He said to him, ‘And you, rule over five cities.’

    Then the third came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your pound. I wrapped it up in a piece of cloth, for I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man; you take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ He said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! You knew, did you, that I was a harsh man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money into the bank? Then when I returned, I could have collected it with interest.’ He said to the bystanders, ‘Take the pound from him and give it to the one who has ten pounds.’

    Then the fourth came, saying, ‘Lord, I killed the rest of your slaves and used the pounds to make myself a cushy house, saying I did so in your name, and in this house, I formed a cult where I told my followers I was totally an expert and a legitimate authority on your will, and now dedicate that cult to ask you for even more handouts while I and my council of zealots get rich and live cushy lives off of their backs’ He did not say anything to him, but left quickly, wondering how far his engineer’s catapults were effective from.

  • Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
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    7 days ago

    The way I figure it, one of a few possibilities is true:

    1 there is a god. He lets all the bad shit happen, and therefore isn’t worthy of dedication.

    B: there is no god. Shit happens. Nobody is there to be worthy of dedication.

    III- there is a god. It kicked off the big bang and sat back to watch. Either it has the ability to affect positive change and doesn’t, or it can’t. In which case, it’s still not worthy of dedication.

    The end result is the same for me

    • someacnt@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      But what if good & evil does not exist in an objective sense, and it depends on individual circumstances? Then the god obv need not conform to the standards. They can be both good and evil.

      Idk about worshipping part, people seem to worship powerful beings.

    • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      A few more:

      Delta, there is a god and he’s good because nothing in this reality really matters, it’s just a test (for us) or experiment (that we are a part of).

      Five) after being more hands on in the old times, and trying many different things, god decided to try again elsewhere and just lets shit play out as it will here.

      六> We are god experiencing a reality as lesser beings because it gets boring being all powerful and knowing. Any godly effects are done for entertainment purposes rather than making things better or worse.

      • idunnololz@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        nit: if you are just going to use another language then you can just enumerate every language and then remove languages that have duplicate names for numbers. It’s less impressive then different notations.

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          Yeah, though I’d argue using kanji is different notation. Unless you meant delta and five both being spelled out in English. Should have used Δ lol.

      • Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
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        7 days ago

        Five) is a good one. Like “oh shit… I fucked this one up too much, I guess I’ll see how it turns out but I’m gonna start over with a new batch”

        I’d love to see someone more creative with writing than me do some writing prompts with that premise. Maybe have someone from this universe ascend or something and actually confronts god as they’re spending time with their new family creation.

        六> is also a good one, it reminds me of the idea that every single person is God. And when all of humanity has finally lived and died, god will become a single consciousness and join the rest of their kind. It kind of pairs poetically with Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot.

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          Yeah, that last one is my preferred one. Who knows if it’s true or not, but if I could pick which one was true, I’d pick that one. I think it would have the best combination of getting all questions answered while also being able to keep existence interesting. It’s a way to be immortal without regretting it, if mortality even applies to whatever we really are that is experiencing all of this.

          I wonder if there were eons of boredom before the possibly even occurred and if there will be eons more of boredom after the one ends. Or if there’s simultaneously a multitude of planets with life that we can experience. Maybe even a multitude of universes to experience life on.

          Going really far with the idea, there’s a possibility that all fiction and creative storytelling is actually a part of us just recounting something that happened to other parts of us in places with similar rules or very different ones.

          Like infinite monkeys in infinite universes with infinite laws of physics and infinite definitions of “monkey” playing out every possible permutation of every possible existence.