Even a God who know everything could forget, right? What would stop God from forgetting? God would never lose the power to remember, but could God temporarily forget?
Could God watch the play, that God has seen a countless numbers of times before and choose to forget the outcome? Just as we who watch a play of which we know the outcome, can momentarily forget the outcome try to experience it anew.
Or Is God forced to always remember both the future and the past?
Can God ignore? Or is God limited to always pay attention to everything?
If truly omnipotent, then the power to ignore must be possible for God. So too the power to forget.
God forgets the future and ignores what God knows. Then God watches it all unfold so that God can experience surprise.
So your saying it wouldn’t make sense for God to create a “play” he already knew the outcome to? So you ask if God can choose to forget the ending and sit back and watch?
Is’nt this quite absurd? Wouldn’t it be more logical to say that life isnt a “play” or a “test” for God’s amusement?
I guess I post these because I am curious. I want to see if anyone else’s thought here have gone in similar directions before. To see if they have seen something further along that path.
Consider this: If you’re going to be a philosopher, then you should realize that sometimes to answer a question, you’re going to have to assume something that you don’t believe is true. Even if you don’t believe in God, you can still speculate on his characteristics without endangering your beliefs.
Now to answer the question. I would say that you’re limiting God. You’re saying that God exists in one spot in space and time, and therefore remembers the past and knows the future. But if God is truly omnipotent and omniscient, then he wold exist at all points in time. C.S. Lewis put it this way: “If Time is a line, the God is the paper that it is drawn on.” Thus God exists everywhere in time.
The outcome of this play is not in the future for God, it’s in the present, the ending is the same as the beginning, he sees it at the same time. Therefore, no, he can’t forget, because there is nothing to forget, he simply knows everything.
well, dear burning, this raises the question if he simply knows everything what the hell are we doing here? he already know what we are going to do, he already know who will believe in him and who will not.
The simple answer? either there is no god, or god doesn’t know those things. otherwise living life is fruitless.
I don’t see a point in humanizing the definition of God.
What is the definition of God that you propose we engage this question with? I ask, because the only label that can somewhat describe my view is that of pantheism. It’s difficult for me to attribute simple human traits to this mysterious being, especially forgetfulness.
(I should really avoid these types of questions, they only get my into trouble.)
I think we humanize God, to have an easier relationship with God. This leads to the apt criticism that such thinking can result in portraying God as a big imaginary friend in the sky.
But how do you relate to that which has no body, no face and no name?
Humans anthopomorphize. I suspect that as long as there are humans then they will anthrmopomorphize. We will attribute human characteristics to everything. Our values will always be human-centric.
I for one love questions like these. Rather than viewing it as humanization, I see it as a question of whether or not God is capable of error?
If God is perfect it would lead one to make assumptions about the world. About creation, life everything. If God was capable of error, it would change the way we look at the world. Not better, not worse but certainly different.
it’s complete humanization of god, see my thread, “a question about god” (which has veered way off course now but it’s still a good course.)
I stated the humanization a little differently to make the point that it’s ridiculous to think of god in human terms.
Rule #1
you can’t change the way someone thinks about the world
Rule #2
when you present different ideas of the world they will not accept them, and will kick and scream if you try pulling them into these new ideas of the world.
so it’s best to present the ideas, deal with people calling you an idiot for having such stupid ideas about the nature of god and the universe.
I mean god couldn’t have possibly abandoned us for another creation could’ve he?
