Godliness is an interesting topic. For obvious reasons, every religion takes a different stance on what it means and takes to be like God. Ultimately it falls back to how each religion views God.
The Christianity a sort of love-hate relationship with the concept of God. On one hand, we get constant reminders to act as Jesus did. On the other hand, we are not supposed to infringe on God's sphere of influence. The Tower of Babel story best illustrates this. From what I've seen, throughout history and today, the concept of Godliness is used as a form of coercion by Christians and as a cover for the fear of progress. Godliness is the excuse Christian leaders use to get us to follow their teachings. They also use at as an excuse for instilling fear of scientific research into topics like Genetic Engineering. While there are legitimate arguments for and against, the most commonly repeated arguments is that it is playing God.
Let's look at ourselves for a moment. How do we view God? The question is hard to ask without making generalizations about Deists (which, due to our incredible capacity for diversity, is something I dislike doing). I will, hopefully safely, assume that we all believe that God was at the very minimum the creative force of the universe. Some view God as an entirely neutral, uninterested being. Others give him a more paternal role to the universe. I personally believe we should at least treat him with respect. Nevertheless, I reason that in order to be like God we should seek to create new things and discover more about the universe.
Where does this leave us when we hear "Playing God?" The negative connotations of the phrase seem rooted in the concept that God is a being to fear. Deists, as I have discussed in previous posts, DO NOT FEAR GOD. We have no reason to be afraid of progress solely on the grounds of fearing God. Deism liberates us from unreasonable barriers to human life and progress. Ultimately, I would argue the in order to be like God, we MUST continue progressing.
The Christianity a sort of love-hate relationship with the concept of God. On one hand, we get constant reminders to act as Jesus did. On the other hand, we are not supposed to infringe on God's sphere of influence. The Tower of Babel story best illustrates this. From what I've seen, throughout history and today, the concept of Godliness is used as a form of coercion by Christians and as a cover for the fear of progress. Godliness is the excuse Christian leaders use to get us to follow their teachings. They also use at as an excuse for instilling fear of scientific research into topics like Genetic Engineering. While there are legitimate arguments for and against, the most commonly repeated arguments is that it is playing God.
Let's look at ourselves for a moment. How do we view God? The question is hard to ask without making generalizations about Deists (which, due to our incredible capacity for diversity, is something I dislike doing). I will, hopefully safely, assume that we all believe that God was at the very minimum the creative force of the universe. Some view God as an entirely neutral, uninterested being. Others give him a more paternal role to the universe. I personally believe we should at least treat him with respect. Nevertheless, I reason that in order to be like God we should seek to create new things and discover more about the universe.
Where does this leave us when we hear "Playing God?" The negative connotations of the phrase seem rooted in the concept that God is a being to fear. Deists, as I have discussed in previous posts, DO NOT FEAR GOD. We have no reason to be afraid of progress solely on the grounds of fearing God. Deism liberates us from unreasonable barriers to human life and progress. Ultimately, I would argue the in order to be like God, we MUST continue progressing.
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