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I think God is a fictional character.

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@badradger said
I think God is a fictional character.
This would mean that "God" is a made-up figure in a description of imaginary events and people ~ with the implication that the fictionalization is deliberate.

In view of how central competing conceptions of a creator being are to the human condition and almost all cultures that have ever existed, I don't think that describing "Him" as a "fictional character" gets to the heart of it.

I think God figures are the product of conjecture and speculation and essentially offer theories to explain the nature of things.

I don't think this can be aptly described as "fiction" unless one is simply determined to be rather ostentatious about signalling one's lack of belief.

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@fmf said
This would mean that "God" is a made-up figure in a description of imaginary events and people ~ with the implication that the fictionalization is deliberate.

In view of how central competing conceptions of a creator being are to the human condition and almost all cultures that have ever existed, I don't think that describing "Him" as a "fictional character" gets to the heart ...[text shortened]... on" unless one is simply determined to be rather ostentatious about signalling one's lack of belief.
It does make me wonder, however, if the writers of the stories created SOME non-fictional "legends" about God, and others whom they believed to be real beings. Sort of like "alternate history" novels.

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@badradger said
I think God is a fictional character.
Every time I hear that sort of thing I imagine that the one saying it must know everything there is to know. Like they think they are God.

Thing is though, one doesn't have to know everything to know God exists. They just have to know what's real and what's not.

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@bigdoggproblem said
It does make me wonder, however, if the writers of the stories created SOME non-fictional "legends" about God, and others whom they believed to be real beings. Sort of like "alternate history" novels.
Of course. Just because I don't think it's appropriate to describe people's God figures as "fictional" characters in their various circumstances, it doesn't mean I think all the mythologies [as I see them as being] are true.

In the case of Christian New Testament literature, for example, you may have had decades of stories, in different versions, being passed on by all manner of people and groups, and sub-groups, all in many respects in competition with each other; dozens of other supposedly 'eye witness accounts' rejected; nothing actually finalized until literally hundreds of years later, when corporate Christianity had finally finessed its fastidiously assembled text.

Furthermore, I have no doubt that all manner of emotions and elements were in play: earnestness, euphoria, hysteria, ambition, good-intentions, fervour, imagination, conjecture, melodrama, faulty memory, errors, omissions, assumptions, embellishments, fascination, zealotry, creativity and, yes, most likely some deceit as well.

I have no way of being sure that the Book of Revelation was, for example, the product of religious fervour or whether it was calculated deceit. All I know is that I do not find it credible. I find myself unable to allow anything real in my life to hinge upon it in any way. I ended up realizing the same thing about the reams of stuff attributed to "Paul". But I don't feel the need to describe the God figure referenced by it or depicted in it as a "fictional character".

The Christian gospels undoubtedly passed through the hands of countless unknown [and now unknowable] people, over a period of many, many years. And what's left - and what endures - is the upshot of a 'survival of the fittest' process after accounts of magical things had been competing for the hearts and minds of potential subscribers.

What is "real" and not "real" boils down to being a matter of faith. Having said that, I don't personally think that ~ in the case of the Christian God figure ~ that "God is a fictional character" frames it in a sophisticated enough way!

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@secondson said
Every time I hear that sort of thing I imagine that the one saying it must know everything there is to know. Like they think they are God.
In response to an atheist saying "I think God is a fictional character", you say "Every time I hear that sort of thing I imagine that the one saying it must know everything there is to know. Like they think they are God."

Surely, you don't mean that you think atheists "think they are God", do you?

Perhaps you should clear it up.

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@badradger said
I think God is a fictional character.
Take it up with him.

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@suzianne said
Take it up with him.
I try not to have conversations with imaginary characters, although my daughter did have 2 imaginary friends called stonker and stoner but she has not mentioned either since she was 5.

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@badradger said
I try not to have conversations with imaginary characters, although my daughter did have 2 imaginary friends called stonker and stoner but she has not mentioned either since she was 5.
I'm imaginary sir and we frequently have conversations.

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@fmf said
Of course. Just because I don't think it's appropriate to describe people's God figures as "fictional" characters in their various circumstances, it doesn't mean I think all the mythologies [as I see them as being] are true.

In the case of Christian New Testament literature, for example, you may have had decades of stories, in different versions, being passed on by all manner ...[text shortened]... Christian God figure ~ that "God is a fictional character" frames it in a sophisticated enough way!
What you think you know about the origins and the veracity of the Bible is a fiction.

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@secondson said
What you think you know about the origins and the veracity of the Bible is a fiction.
As a believer, it's perfectly understandable that you think this.

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@fmf said
In response to an atheist saying "I think God is a fictional character", you say "Every time I hear that sort of thing I imagine that the one saying it must know everything there is to know. Like they think they are God."

Surely, you don't mean that you think atheists "think they are God", do you?

Perhaps you should clear it up.
You're the one who is confused. You clear it up.

"I think God is a fictional character" is just another way of saying "there is no God".

For one to make such a claim infers omniscience. In contrast, knowing that an omniscient creator exists doesn't require omniscience.

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@fmf said
As a believer, it's perfectly understandable that you think this.
I don't think it. I know it.

What you think you know, about the origins and veracity of the Bible, is a fiction.

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@secondson said
You're the one who is confused. You clear it up.

"I think God is a fictional character" is just another way of saying "there is no God".

For one to make such a claim infers omniscience. In contrast, knowing that an omniscient creator exists doesn't require omniscience.
If you can 'know' God exists without possessing omniscience yourself, why am I unable to 'know' God doesn't exist while similarly lacking omniscience?

I don't think you thought that through.

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