First let's assume an Abrahamic God exists and behaves as he is described by major religions.
Then let's imagine that in the future almost all humans will be plugged into some virtual reality and live their lives there instead of the real world. It is mostly a playground with robots doing the work irl. How would this God judge people in the virtual world? Would stealing replaceable virtual objects be just as bad as stealing real things? Would PKing be just as bad as murder, even with respawning? Is it possible to be judged as bad or evil when your ability to actually harm someone is greatly diminished? How about being judged as good? Would people be filtered to heaven and hell based on how they played a lifelong video game?
Would people be filtered to heaven and hell based on how they played a lifelong video game?
I'd refer to ephesians 2:8-9.
"God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it."
My interpretation of that even if humans were in a virtual world it is the belief in Christ that will determine filtering to heaven or hell.
THe purpose of a Virtual world is that it isnot fake, in fact virtual worlds are judged by their realness. So, the real-ness of people's ethics and morals transmit into the virtual world, for the virtual world can enforce morals and ethics but it cannot make them. Even though a virtual world is virtual, it is still an extension of this portion of the multiverse. Until the virtual world can open up a space in a parallel reality, it is still under the meta-spiritual forces of this reality. Now, once that hapens, it depends on what you believe. I believe the same creator God rules over the entire multi-verse, but may have different forms in each one (Think of Aslan as the Jesus of Narnia, Etc..) bu tothers have postulated that each arm of the multiverse may have its own deity.
Hmm I think I shouldn't have leaned so much on the virtual aspect of the world. I was imagining a VR world but the virtual nature isn't what's important. What's more interesting to me is, virtual or not, what do you have to say about people living lives where they have very little capacity to be bad? Is it important for bad to be filtered from good? Would you say it hinders God or is an affront to God when people en masse live lives that expose them to very few opportunities to sin?
Getting back to a hypothetical virtual reality world, what if people had no power to kill? What if envy and jealousy were systematically much less frequent than they are in the real world because there is not so much inequality or perhaps no property at all? What if people could not indulge in overeating or abusing substances, because the robots take care of their physical bodies and food and drugs don't exist in the virtual world? Would these kinds of conditions be against God's will, because they remove people's ability to decide to be good or bad? Or would good and bad change to fit the rules of the new world/game, leaving the rules of the old world behind, for example a new commandment being Thou Shalt Not Use Identify Scrolls on Low Level Magic Items (because that is wasteful)?
Also, I'm trying to avoid an answer of "God is all powerful and nothing can thwart his plans" because that's not very descriptive.
"God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it."
My interpretation of that even if humans were in a virtual world it is the belief in Christ that will determine filtering to heaven or hell.
So this answer would mean that the lack of ability for people to do good or bad would not matter for them, as long as they can be faithful to JC. It still makes me wonder, would God "not be cool" with people living what amounts to nonlives where they don't express their good or bad qualities? Or would that mean that faith is the only thing that matters and people's vulnerability to sin, in whatever context it is defined, doesn't matter?
In some ways, that is exactly what monks and nuns do. They seclude themselves in a world free from all the things that could tempt them. They live in a world that is virtually free of temptation. There is not enough of anything to over indulge, no property to be jealous of, etc.. Do you think this is a valid comparison?
I personally believe that spiritual living without challenging your faith and beliefs is kind of shallow. It's like someone saying they never been afraid of anything, but have never gone out and been around potentially dangerous things. Being an active spiritual being means constantly evolving, looking for things that make you think about what you believe and participating in an internal dialogue about your faith. In a world without without the passions and temptations that cause us to falter, living right would not mean very much, it might even be automatic, like breathing. I almost feel like God would have designed a different Rubric for Salvation because that world would not need the same kind of Savior that this world needs. It might have been more simplistic.
Then let's imagine that in the future almost all humans will be plugged into some virtual reality and live their lives there instead of the real world. It is mostly a playground with robots doing the work irl. How would this God judge people in the virtual world? Would stealing replaceable virtual objects be just as bad as stealing real things? Would PKing be just as bad as murder, even with respawning? Is it possible to be judged as bad or evil when your ability to actually harm someone is greatly diminished? How about being judged as good? Would people be filtered to heaven and hell based on how they played a lifelong video game?
"God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it."
My interpretation of that even if humans were in a virtual world it is the belief in Christ that will determine filtering to heaven or hell.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
[Clan Flamingo]
Getting back to a hypothetical virtual reality world, what if people had no power to kill? What if envy and jealousy were systematically much less frequent than they are in the real world because there is not so much inequality or perhaps no property at all? What if people could not indulge in overeating or abusing substances, because the robots take care of their physical bodies and food and drugs don't exist in the virtual world? Would these kinds of conditions be against God's will, because they remove people's ability to decide to be good or bad? Or would good and bad change to fit the rules of the new world/game, leaving the rules of the old world behind, for example a new commandment being Thou Shalt Not Use Identify Scrolls on Low Level Magic Items (because that is wasteful)?
Also, I'm trying to avoid an answer of "God is all powerful and nothing can thwart his plans" because that's not very descriptive.
So this answer would mean that the lack of ability for people to do good or bad would not matter for them, as long as they can be faithful to JC. It still makes me wonder, would God "not be cool" with people living what amounts to nonlives where they don't express their good or bad qualities? Or would that mean that faith is the only thing that matters and people's vulnerability to sin, in whatever context it is defined, doesn't matter?
I personally believe that spiritual living without challenging your faith and beliefs is kind of shallow. It's like someone saying they never been afraid of anything, but have never gone out and been around potentially dangerous things. Being an active spiritual being means constantly evolving, looking for things that make you think about what you believe and participating in an internal dialogue about your faith. In a world without without the passions and temptations that cause us to falter, living right would not mean very much, it might even be automatic, like breathing. I almost feel like God would have designed a different Rubric for Salvation because that world would not need the same kind of Savior that this world needs. It might have been more simplistic.
[Clan Flamingo]