Aggrad08 said:
It seems you've finally reached the point. It's fundamentally arbitrary if god could have been different.
Ha! I knew that would be the opening sentence. In all seriousness though, no, I don't really think it is fundamentally arbitrary. As I said, I can logically comprehend the idea of different gods, but I don't buy that it is an actual possibility. How do we begin to talk about an eternal and unchanging being somehow being different than he is?
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Now the follow up question of given that it's arbitrary does it matter is a fair one.
The answer to that is maybe. I think if the god of the universe revealed himself to you and asked you to rape a baby you'd probably not do it. But you could also argue that god would write baby raping is good on your heart.
Assuming the type of arbitrary we are discussing though, I'm not sure how you make any arguments about specifics. With a different type of god, maybe there are no humans. Maybe rape doesn't exist. There is no reason at all to think that gods of varying natures would produce universes that look anything alike.
Regarding arbitrariness, it would seem there would be various degrees. For instance, consider two different sets of numbers. In the first set, the size of the set is determined randomly, and every number is randomly generated. This set would be maximally arbitrary. For the second set, only the first number is randomly generated, and it is determined that every subsequent number will be the previous number multiplied by 2. This set is arbitrary in the sense that none of the numbers are specifically determined, and the first number is random; however, it is much less arbitrary than the first set, since after the first number, every other number now has a specifically assigned value.
With gods of varying nature, I would imagine it would be much closer to the second type of arbitrary. The only thing really left to chance is the nature of the god. That nature then determines everything else about the universe including what, if anything, is deemed "right". It is this type of arbitrariness that makes me wonder if it actually matters. Once the god of whatever particular nature creates the reality, he is the grounding of that reality and of all truth in that reality. Whatever he determines as right, is truly right within that reality. Who cares if is arbitrary back at the level of what his nature is? Of what consequence is the second horn?
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At this point we acknowledge that might doesn't make right it just makes might
What is right?