It recently occurred to me that, even if I were to express doubt in the existence of the Catholic interpretation of God, I would be doing so without the knowledge or understanding of any scripture. I’ve never read through the Bible. Not a single verse, which makes me uneducated by definition and at worst, ignorant, depending on how I choose to communicate with those who believe.
So I’ve decided to read through the Bible. I don’t know for how long I’ll do it. I don’t know if these threads will last on this website. But I hope that by at least explaining my mindset while going about this task, that’ll provide an idea of the value I’m hoping to add.
This is what I determined would be my best mindset will reading through the Bible for the first time:
God exists. God does not exist. I want to identify which is more likely to be true. In order to do that, I will study the Bible with an unbiased mind. The preconception that the Bible is untrue does not benefit me. Likewise, the preconception that the Bible is true does not benefit me either. I will do my best to question and not assume, to study and not assert.
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- Was there a time when God did not exist?
- Was God created?
- Why did God create the Heavens and the earth?
- The Bible doesn’t yet specify if God created the cosmos. Am I to assume that “the Heavens” means the extended scope of reality itself? If so, why is that an accurate assumption? And if not, is it safe to assume that another agent created everything else? Could there be more than one god? And if not, why is it more accurate to say that there is only one god?
- If God created the Heavens and the earth, then God can manipulate the laws of physics according to its will on an unfathomable scale. How powerful is God, and is there a limit to its abilities? Are there things that God cannot do?
- When the earth was dark, the spirit of God is described to hover over the waters of the planet. What does God look like? If God is uberpowerful on a metaphysical level, then can God look like or become anything?
- In verse 26, God said, “Let us make mankind in OUR image, in OUR likeness, so that they may (rule over all creatures on earth).” But verse 27 then states, “So God created mankind in HIS own image, in the image of GOD he created them, male and female he created them.”
Why is God described as masculine, despite both male and female having been listed as his image? And if it’s possible for God to be anything, then why must God be a “he”?
In verse 26, God seemed to be speaking to others, possibly other uberpowerful agents? Does that lend any weight to the idea that there could be more than one god? And if so, why did God choose to make mankind in his image alone?
- Verse 28 says, “God blessed his creatures and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it.’”
Why didn’t God simply make that happen? Couldn’t God have made the earth full of men, women, and children and given them perpetually peaceful lives that naturally received the obedience of all creatures?
To choose to wait for a situation to reach a result, and to passively watch it unfold on top of that, implies that God wanted to observe his creations either to gather information, as a form of entertainment, or a combination of both. If either scenario is likely, then it’s possible that God originally created mankind without a care for their best interest, or at least their best interests were not paramount.
The Bible does not yet mention if God is all-knowing. If that’s possible, then it’s also possible that God knows the conclusion of mankind’s conquests on earth will benefit them. However, human history thus far is rife with cases of catastrophe and atrocity. If God is uberpowerful, then why not spare his creations such suffering and build a reality of goodwill and prosperity? How could the incredible suffering of a maker’s creations be anything other than that maker conducting an experiment, being entertained, or both?
Willingly conducting some form of uncontrolled experiment, test, study, or whatever you’d like to call it, or simply watching events unfold from afar separates a maker from the safety of his creations. Their well-being is not most important to him. Why would God make the decision to not only cause his creations to suffer, but also watch them suffer? The Bible says that God blessed his first man and woman. Is it a blessing to cause one’s creations, and the descendants of those creations, to repeatedly experience unspeakable torment?
If God is uberpowerful, then what could possibly be the justifiable point of all their unnecessary agony?