Well, I'm a philosopher at heart, despite my love of science, religion, fantasy and much more. I think deep thoughts in my spare time more than anything, (other than reading) and I just usually don't take the time to write them down. This blog however is useful for recording things as I come across them when they are sufficiently deep to share. (Provided I remember to post it, working on that!) So here we go. God, should one exist, makes humans not only irrelevant, but also not even real beings.
There's another interesting thing about religious interpretation when you think about it. At least in the sense of any religion that says God created time and space, which is where Christianity, Islam and Judaism have run to. Not the ones where the universe was simply an empty thing until God filled it, like many of the ancient religions of old (aka Pagan religions) but ones that proclaim that God is outside the universe, and moreover, created it.
It means that we aren't really real.
Think about it - it is literally the "we are a video game or otherwise simulated universe theory.
In Ocarina of Time you have time (in a limited sense of course). People have schedules they follow throughout the day. They have space, obviously as well.
In Skyrim you also have time. It is even more detailed. They have days of the week, and people will do different things on different days. Not just a day/night schedule. They even have months and years, and people can age over enough in game years.
The point is that if God created time and space as we know them, then we aren't in the true reality. Because he can't have created true time, that had to exist for him to have time to do anything. He could only have created our experience of time. A "lesser" time that exists only in our non-real universe. Non-real in the sense that we are "real" just like the Zelda game is "real" but we don't actually interact with true reality, just as Saria, Link, Zelda and Gannondorf don't actually interact with the player.
Religions that claim God created time and space themselves say that we don't matter, because we aren't real. They then give us the rules of the "game" and claim that we are the players. But how can we be, if we only exist in the game? In that sense we are the NPCs who seem to have free will to act, but don't.
In a game everything about a character is scripted. The better the code, the more it seems not to be so, but that doesn't change the fact that it is. We only have "free will" in the game because we aren't part of the game, our characters aren't controlled by the game's logic (choosing their actions, not the limitations of their actions, meaning I can make Mario jump, but I choose whether he jumps down that pit or not) because we are outside of it controlling the character. However, we don't have that luxury. We are inside of our reality. Our brains are physical and control everything we do. How can we have free will in a system where our physical brains operate in a system that is outside of our control?
Now some will say "But this isn't a game! This is a test to see who goes to heaven/hell!" It is important to note that the limit of not being "real" isn't only because it is a game, but also a result of the limits of the characters being imposed upon them by the system itself. Meaning that even in a simulated universe where the NPCs have a true AI and can evolve and learn and have "free will" they still cannot truly act. At least, not on reality. Them having free choice in no way makes them any more real. They are still merely characters and nothing more.
To put it simply, God and the Devil would be the MVPs, with the angels and fallen angels as their teams, and we humans are the game. The universe is deterministic, and our brains are just like the code in Skyrim, only better. We seem to have free will, but since our brains are physical, and every decision we make comes from them, we seem to make choices, when in fact we are not, the choices are being made by the "code" in our reality. We are NPCs.
If anyone has ever played the Star Ocean series? That's us. It's the story of our reality - at least if the God claims are true. Religion literally makes the "simulation universe" claim without even knowing it whenever it claims that God created time and space itself.
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