Is God the Great Gamer?

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/4/10/18275618/simulation-hypothesis-matrix-rizwan-virk

In the Bible when Moses addresses the Burning Bush he says "Who are you?"

The answer is; "Yahweh" which means "I am"

Is that true? Is God the only thing that really exists?

And are all of our lives, all our loves, achievements, failures and sorrows backstory for some pan-dimensional transcendental urchins getting to Level 43 on Grand Creation Universe one lazy summer eon?

I really wish they'd re-do the parental guidelines

 

Maybe if you ask God - sincerely - he will give you an answer.

 

Of course he will but why should I listen to him?

It's not even a fair question, he has an interest in the answer, there's a conflict

 

I've seen that "I am" answer as a claim to all that exists throughout time.

It does seem hard to determine what is, once one postulates that this entire universe is a short term dalliance by some god with an infinite existence.

 

"I am". A description that caused believers to shutter and mockers to mock. No human word description at the time was sufficient to describe God. When the Jewish soldiers discovered Jesus in the Garden they asked him "Are you Jesus the Nazarene?" He answered "I am". One Gospel account says they fell to the ground. Jesus is the word given to us now to describe God. The mockers may continue.

 

("shudder")

That's not the same use of "I am".

The use in that example is equivalent to "yes".

 

Thanks for the correction on "shudder". I do agree with the previous definition as "all eternal" and Jesus used the exact same words! He used it in fact several times. In fact, that is what got him crucified! Of course I disagree with you. The translators got it right. The Jews would be very careful not to say "I am" Just as they would refrain from spelling the whole name of Yahweh. (Y____h) John 8:57-58 "you are not yet fifty years old, "the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham! "I tell you the truth" Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!

 

Which could mean many different things .. Do the Hebrew Scholars believe Jesus said he was "The Father" ? There ya go .. Do Scholars in General .. There ya go .. You sure Jesus was not referring to Melchizedek ... ?

Regardless -- the idea that this is the sacred name of God is kind of ridiculous to begin with given is not even a name .. Moses was Egyptian .. believing that if you knew the sacred name of a God you would have some sway over that God .. We have the same narrative - stemming from the same beliefs when Jacob wrestles with God -- hence why God refuses to tell Jacob his name .. Just as YHWH avoids the same question ..

and then you have the problem of rendering some Aramaic colloquialism in Greek ... as that is the Language Jesus would have spoken .

Then you have the problem that the author of John refers to Jesus as "The Logos" .. and the Logos is Not "The Father" even though the Logos emanates from the Father.

Then you have the problem that every time Jesus refers to "The Father" it is someone other than himself ,, Hallowed be "thy name" not "my name" - take this cup from my hand - "my god my god .. why have you forsaken" ..

against which you have one obscure and vague passage that you hope might mean what you want it to .. that somehow you can fit scripture into dogma .. but this one just doesn't fit ..

The explanation I like best for that passage is that Jesus is saying he is one of the Sons of God - perhaps one cast down onto earth for a short while - to complete a mission ..

who is this Zedek God worshiped along side the Most High by the Canaanite Priest King Melchizedek ? The Patron God of Jerusalem ?

 

Perhaps He meant "I am..." ?
There is two options - either He didn't finish the sentence for whatever reason, or He meant "I am... the One who cannot be named".

Apart from that, yes, God is The Great Gamer.

 

I don't care what you think your god said. However, when you claim that your religious beliefs are my history, your beliefs become my problem. Whatever someone you think of as your god had or hadn't said millennia ago becomes a matter of public debate.

The Jews don't need to be very careful not to say "I am", since this collocation doesn't exist in the original Hebrew text, nor in the Hebrew language. Simply put, nobody, Jewish or not, would be able to say "I am" in Hebrew.

The Hebrew collocation "אהיה אשר אהיה" means, in context, "I'm present as I was present (with your ancestors)", and it can also mean "I'm with you in this (helping)". There are other possible interpretations, none of them "I am".

Accusing Jews of falsifying their own beliefs and their own sacred texts just to spite Christians is akin to accusing Arabs of refusing to pronounce the letter p just to make other languages than their own sound funny. Utterly ridiculous, not to mention presumptuous and hateful.

Bfftt.

 

You might want to read that in context.

 

You cannot read the Gospel of John introspectively and come to the conclusion that Jesus is just "one of the Sons of God". He is the only begotten son of God. You make stuff up just like the Mormons and JW's!

 

I am beginning to enjoy how quoting The Bible enrages progressives - kinda reminds me of the movie The Exorcist...

 

It is the exact same rage the "religious leaders" showed when they sent Jesus to the cross. We can be eye witnesses!

 

And you have the problem either God could preserve His Word or He can't. He did or he didn't. Move on please!

 

Never said "Sons of God" is in John - you are confused once again.

After opening with Strawman fallacy - You accuse me of what you have done .. "Making things up" You took one vague and short sentence and made up a big story about how this means Jesus is "The Father" .. while ignoring the plethora of claims by Jesus stating that the Father is other than him.

You need to stop projecting your failings onto others mate.

 

Clearly that is not the case - mans dirty hands are all over the Bible - and the question is not if God could .. but whether or not God did .. the answer to which is No.

You say there is some problem - but don't state what that problem is .. how is God's word not preserved by the fact that Jesus states the Father is someone other than himself -- many many times ..

It is you contradicting Jesus that does not preserve the word - in your desperate attempt to make Jesus fit into your made up dogma - rather than adjusting your dogma to conform to the word of Jesus.

 

Progressives? Where?

I quoted the Bible. The original. Why no enraged progressives, only enraged Christians? I feel discriminated

 

"Yahweh" does not mean "I am". It means "you are". God, in the passage you're discussing, uses the term '' 'ehweh " which means I am. Another possible translation of the verse would be "I will be who I will be."

What Moses what asking was, "Are you the god of the hills, the river, the plains, the desert, the afterlife, fertility, weather, etc. . .?" God in introducing himself did not want to limit himself to just one area because he had control over all of it. This is why there is a variety of plagues - indicating power over all the realms the Earth instead of just being limited to one. The "deeper" meaning added to the passage was done later by the Greek philosophers.

What you're describing here is the god of Greek philosophy - not the god of the Bible. The god of Greek philosophy lives outside of time and really is the only thing that truly exists. Everything else is just a crude image of the reality of the god of Greek philosophy. So, the god of Greek philosophy may be actually playing us like a video game as you state.

The god you describe is completely different from the god of the Bible. The god of the Bible lives in time and describes himself in relation to to us. If everything is a video game, he would be a part of the video game and not the player.

 

I see no where where he accused Jews of falsifying their beliefs.

The Septuagint - a Jewish translation - for whatever reason uses the Greek idiom "ego eimi" which is used by Jesus and others in the Greek New Testament. This was seized upon by Greek philosophers to equate Jesus saying "ego eimi" with announcing that he was God. I disagree with this interpretation as it makes no sense in the context of the story. Regardless many of those who claim Christianity believe that belief that Jesus is actually God is required for salvation.

 

Then why don't you just abandon the subject and Jesus altogether? Would it be better that you just go about your business and promote your own god or whatever?

 

There is no other reason for his crucifix ion or his resurrection. What you say is correct. Why else would Jesus be of such importance to so many? It is even of importance to the mockers today as it was on the day of his crucifixion. Whatever you believe.....it demands a verdict and the mockers cannot resist leaving it alone. If they could, and the believers are wrong, it would be a belief that would have gone by the wayside long ago!

 

I know your unbelief is unchangeable. However, words like "I and the Father are one" and "if you have seen me you have seen the Father'' go right over your head.
To others who have an earnest interest in the truth, and to my class of children whom I taught this Sunday.....I believe this explains a lot. Phillipians 2:5-8


"Your attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!"

 

How anyone, believer or not, could read or hear the actual words of Jesus himself, and not find all of His words completely rational and intelligent with respect to the betterment of humanity, is beyond incomprehensible.

 

There are few greater discussions than that of God's existence. Believers rely upon faith, non believers look to facts. The fact is that the Bible has been passed down, translated and re written many, many times. Any text that experienced the same path will be changed and altered according to the beliefs or preferences of those doing the translating and re writing. It is also very difficult - if not impossible - to blindly believe that the Bible represents the Word of God. To suggest that people abandon the subject simply because their beliefs are different from yours is akin to you taking your ball and going home.