How would God, if He exists, be rated by Human Resources on His managerial skills?

[evangelical1]

Jews, Muslims and Christians all accept the Hebrew Bible as originally given as God's word. For those outside the faith there is conscience. Stealing, murder, rape, etc is known to be wrong by persons of all faiths. So you are simply mistaken when you say that it is not clear what God expects of us.

[ToddAllenGates]

@evangelical1

1 of 5:

Hi Evangelical1,

I agree that 'conscience' tells all people (independently of which religion they follow) that community-destroying acts like "stealing, murder, rape, etc." are wrong and need to be outlawed. But this is compatible with atheism too, as morality can easily be explained as a by-product of evolution...but, well, that topic is a big tangent!

[ToddAllenGates]

2 of 5:

So for the sake of saving us both time, let's stick with the fantasy foundation of this video of imagining that there IS a God, and imagining Him as a Mighty Manger. You say He's put forth "His Holy Word" in the Hebrew Bible. And I presume you would add the New Testament as well.

[ToddAllenGates]

3 of 5:

I also presume that you would NOT add the Holy Scriptures of the Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Muslims, etc. Yet billions of sincere believers throughout history have followed these texts, and accordingly, have a wide range of contradictory ideas on what the Divine expects from us:

[ToddAllenGates]

4 of 5:

- Should Jesus be recognized as the Savior?

- Does God prohibit alcohol?

- Forbid homosexuality?

- Want us to pray 5x a day facing Mecca?

- Do we need to recognize cows as sacred?

Needless to say, it depends on which believers you ask!

Now, picture a parallel situation in a large corporation: millions of employees thinking they're following official policy, but the rules are decentralized and contradictory.

[ToddAllenGates]

5 of 5:

Okay, there are cross-religion parallels when it comes to no-brainers like stealing & murder, but not for other fundamental issues, such as whether Jesus is Savior. This is why I say *if* there were a god and if Human Resources were to rate His managerial skills as setting clear objectives for all His reports, God would score low. (Or would you say the Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. all just have themselves to blame?)

[Largo64]

As always, I appreciate you clear thinking approach. And I love the choice of "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" for the music at the end! How appropriate!

[ToddAllenGates]

@Largo64

> As always, I appreciate you clear thinking approach. And I love the choice of "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" for the music at the end!

Thank you!

[shawandrew]

Your rating god as a middle manager who has to answer to HR? I think the paralell would be more like that of the company president, chairman, or CEO who can give himself a raise even if he drives the company into the ground, and the company can't fire him without giving him a multi-million dollar severance.

[ToddAllenGates]

@shawandrew

> the paralell would be more like that of the company president, chairman, or CEO who can give himself a raise even if he drives the company into the ground

Good point!

[8WholeThing]

Which is worse: God as a heartless CEO or God with the vindictiveness of middle-management?

[ToddAllenGates]

@8WholeThing

> Which is worse: God as a heartless CEO or God with the vindictiveness of middle-management?

Having experienced both, I much prefer a heartless CEO! Because at least with them, you can slip by unnoticed -- but there's no escaping a vindictive middle-manager.

[philonous09]

@8WholeThing

Meh, false dilemma; there are far worse things than a heartless CEO and vindictiveness of middle management, for example: A CEO who has little or no management skill is the worst.

[MinervaInTheBrain]

Ha, 0:56 I still make a mental note when people talk about "the Bible," not nearly enough different than calling a beach, "the grain of sand." That's a side issue to the inordinate number of xtian denominations. Plus the changing of word meanings over time, etc.

Which reminds me that I have too many Bart Ehrman, Hitchens, Betrand Russell, Carl Sagan, etc books that I haven't read yet.

At least the Koran has one of the best flying horsies ever.

[ToddAllenGates]

@MinervaInTheBrain

> I still make a mental note when people talk about "the Bible," not nearly enough different than calling a beach, "the grain of sand."

Well said!

[MrVisions]

Aside from all the free will rhetoric, scriptural reference, or religious dogma that would commonly be used to counter this type of reasoning, (from a Christians point of view anyway). I would say that beyond the menial tasks that tally up the points on a managers review. Key points that keep a business viable are, knowing the market and knowing the playing field. You cite a one sided observance and outcome, to a dual natured element. then fail it based on that. Rate that performance?

[ToddAllenGates]

@MrVisions

> You cite a one sided observance and outcome, to a dual natured element. then fail it based on that.

Good point ... maybe God fails in the "element" we *can* observe, but is doing a kick-ass job in the "element" we can't!

[mykegoh]

U don get it do u Todd?Who Ru2rate god?whatever he does he has undisclosed reasons. He kills,HeHasReasonsWeDonKnow-HH­RWDK.He condone rapes,HHRWDK. When he commits genocides,HHRWDK.He gav u a brain n but can't ask questions, HHRWDK.When he screwed up & decided 2drown d whole world,HHRWDK.

Eat this!

prov3:5 trust in d lord wit all ur heart & lean not on ur own understding

Ps 119:160 Everythig god says is true & forever.

Now go get some blood to honour ur god as exodus 29 lays out.

[ToddAllenGates]

@mykegoh

> Now go get some blood to honour ur god as exodus 29 lays out

When filling out His Year-End Performance Review, that must be what Yahweh writes in the "COMMENTS" section!

[skinnyjohnsen]

In answer to your last question; In the beginning man created gods, and in their image he/ she was made! If it were not for all the booze I've had already, I could have made one right now...

Fuck Christmas my friend, but have a very good new year ;-)

[ToddAllenGates]

@skinnyjohnsen

> Fuck Christmas my friend

I actually don't mind Christmas & all its trappings ... there are religious roots behind it all (the lights symbolic of the sun god coming back to life, etc.), but the same can be said of the names of the days of the week (Wednesday = Woden's Day; Thursday = Thor's Day), and that doesn't bother me either! So I see today's Christmas as a secular holiday, and a good one.

> have a very good new year ;-)

You too!

[AuntieDiluvian]

The Bible written in buzzwords... I'd love to see that! Jeebus talking about his bottom line! Some profound thoughts there, Todd.

[ToddAllenGates]

@AuntieDiluvian

> The Bible written in buzzwords

Well, it does need an update!

> Some profound thoughts there

Thanks!

[dookiecheez]

Nitpick: referring to Yahweh, Jehovah, or the unnamed god of the bible as merely god, which aids equivocation of a generalized god with the god of Abraham (especially during debate), and the undeserved primacy of the most destructive belief system set upon the world (to the best of my knowledge).

[ToddAllenGates]

@dookiecheez

True, it's undeserved primacy ... ahhh but it's just convenient, at least given my predominantly American audience. Most Americans believe in this Ultimate Manager version of a god, so I feel it's worth limiting the scope here by looking at how this particular version of a god would hold up to a Managerial Performance Review.

[ModernDeism]

'Feels like I`m talking to the wall" ROFL - HAPPY HOLIDAYS !

[ToddAllenGates]

@ModernDeism

> HAPPY HOLIDAYS !

I'll even be so bold as to say "Merry Christmas!" (I don't see Christmas as any more 'Christian' than I see "Thursday" as paying homage to Thor for it being "Thor's Day.")

[bonnie43uk]

Ah, say the Christians, .. but you're basing him on human standards, .. he's wayyyy beyond that.

[ToddAllenGates]

@bonnie43uk

> but you're basing him on human standards, .. he's wayyyy beyond that.

According to our Human Resource department's guidelines on rating managers, God is wayyyy *below* human standards!

[ministerabdallah]

There is only One source, it's called Truth, but those of religion set aside Truth and replace it with belief, thus making their belief Truth, instead of Truth their belief. That is what then leads to that feeling of disengagement, distance and lack of direct communication for they are unable to see, hear and feel Truth, which is always engaged with us, always with and even capable of being in, us, and of course communicates with us directly and guides us. Hope all is well Todd. Truth bless.

[ToddAllenGates]

@ministerabdallah

> Hope all is well Todd. Truth bless.

Thanks Minister Abdallah--hope all's well with you too!

[virumoz]

The advantages of truth over any deity, ministerabdallah, are that truth doesn't expect me to worship it, nor do I have to fear it. There's no need to pray to truth, and contrary to religious belief, truth can be objectively demonstrated, even to people who don't happen to »feel« it in their heart.

Truth doesn't command not to have other truths before it. Truth would never test my belief by commanding me to kill as a sacrifice my child or nonbelievers.

[PiskieBenWa]

Good video by the way, ... nice variation of approach : )

[ToddAllenGates]

@PiskieBenWa

> Good video by the way, ... nice variation of approach : )

Thanks!

[PiskieBenWa]

I would set a time / date for a meeting / to have a discussion as to his whereabouts for the last say 10,000 years.

And then can his frigging ass when he fails to show up.

[ToddAllenGates]

@PiskieBenWa

> I would set a time / date for a meeting / to have a discussion as to his whereabouts for the last say 10,000 years.

I think most Human Resources departments would say that kind of attendance record calls for immediate dismissal -- no meeting / no review necessary!

[kaduisaui]

God never shows up for work. We call him day and night including on his day off, yet he never shows up. We should simply stop paying him.

[ToddAllenGates]

@kaduisaui

> God never shows up for work. We call him day and night including on his day off, yet he never shows up. We should simply stop paying him.

Maybe all the free pay (worship) w/o work on His part is just encouraging His laziness ... cut Him off, and He may snap out of His Stupor.

[Armando7654]

God did give you the guidelines u r asking for- the commandments (and moral conscience, & the spirit which discriminates between truth & falsehood, good & evil - the Spirit of truth) and you said "it's not God who wrote them but men". How much more so you will say the same thing about everything else: "a website created by God"? how would you validate anything of the phenomenal world as God created?

[Armando7654]

the chaos and disagreement among man is not an evidence of lack of awareness of proper human conduct but an evidence of lack proper human conduct despite of having the awareness of propriety. chaos & discord is an evidence not necessarily of ignorance (lack of knowledge) but inaction(lack of human action). in which case you can't blame God for your own improper human conduct. so if anyone, it is we who are incompetent, not God.

[Armando7654]

did God fail to speak to you? Maybe He succeeds at speaking but you just failed at hearing? not possible? it must always be the other guy who's responsible for my failures, right?

there is no correlation between performance & payment? how do you know when should be the pay day?

[unamaxify]

@Armando7654

Your first point is invalid because if you hear god speaking, how do you know that it is god and not a neurological disorder. Are all the people in mental-facilities who hear god speaking, for real and should be released immediately so we can learn god's will from them ?

-

your second point is valid, since an afterlife however unlikely could hold the payment However it is invisible & that's not very motivating - which was the initial point of criticism in the video

[Armando7654]

@unamaxify it's not motivating? so you saying there's no point of doing what's good because there is no reward for it?

[unamaxify]

@Armando7654

NO -> please don't straw-man me, i clearly stated that heaven is a week motivator

because their is no visible confirmation that doing good will be rewarded.

-> my point was about the level of motivation, &

not whether doing good is useful or not.

There probably is no god nor any afterlife, so doing good could be utterly pointless.

However i wish for me and my descendants to live in a pleasant world,

& since doing good is indispensable for that world...

[hellshade2]

@Armando7654 before anyone can claim that any god,be it yoour god,the god of islam,the jews or the hindus or any other god that has been worshipped one must be able to see proof of that gods existence. and before you hand me the tripe about how you can see god created the world and everything by design remember this. many other races of people with thier own gods believed the same and many are long dead and buried. forgotten just like thier gods.

[ToddAllenGates]

@Armando7654

> God gave guidelines-the commandments

It would be SO easy for an Omnipotent Omniscient Power to reveal Himself more efficiently! How about appear in the sky and speak in a language that everybody throughout the world could understand? Maybe not perfect, but certainly better than the chaos that surrounds us: especially given that 1.5 billion Muslims, and hundreds of millions of Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, etc. recognize alternative "Holy Texts." Time for Upper Management to step in.

[Armando7654]

@ToddAllenGates so you saying that only if you would see God in the sky telling you to say follow the bible, only then it would make sense to follow the commandments but not before right?

[ToddAllenGates]

@Armando7654

> make sense to follow the commandments but not before?

It wouldn't have to be "in the sky"--it would just have to be a credible source. But none of our so-called "Holy Books" are credible. They reveal all the ignorances of the people of their time period (clueless about the solar system, the history of life before man, dinosaurs). Everything about these books make sense from the perspective they were written by ancient people making up stories to try to explain life.

[ModernDeism]

@ToddAllenGates yep - AND we dont even have the original tablets.

[ToddAllenGates]

@ModernDeism

> AND we dont even have the original tablets

We don't have the originals for anything biblical ... but my guess is that the originals weren't any better than what we currently have. All the translations & manual copying probably turned things up a notch.

[tifforo1]

The premise expressed in this video's title interests and amuses me.

[ToddAllenGates]

@tifforo1

> The premise expressed in this video's title interests and amuses me.

Thanks! It just came to me last night while working on my "year-end performance" ... so it was an unusual video for me in this respect. Usually I plan them out weeks in advance, and have to do a bit of research and lots of editing of my script.

[philonous09]

FINALLY YOU UPLOADED A VIDEO!!!!! WELCOME BACK!!!! :D

[ToddAllenGates]

@philonous09

> FINALLY YOU UPLOADED A VIDEO!!!!! WELCOME BACK!!!! :D

Enthusiasm greatly appreciated!

[invisibletime]

thanks for all your vids and your Book

[ToddAllenGates]

@invisibletime

> thanks for all your vids and your Book

Thank you!

[drfoxcourt]

It seems to me that an absentee CEO of confusing, poorly written and self-contradictory memos is best ignored and mankind should get on with the company's business as we see it, according to our own standards of success and without reverence/reference to a boss who's mind we can't read.

It is interesting to note that, according to Christians, when God fires you he really uses fire (and brimstone). ;-)

Love the video.

[ToddAllenGates]

@drfoxcourt

> It seems to me that an absentee CEO of confusing, poorly written and self-contradictory memos is best ignored and mankind should get on with the company's business as we see it, according to our own standards of success and without reverence/reference to a boss who's mind we can't read.

Very well said!

> according to Christians, when God fires you he really uses fire

What a combination---a CEO who's both negligent and sadistic!

> Love the video.

Thanks!

[SuperBspb]

@drfoxcourt It's time for the board of directors to make the corporation public.

[drfoxcourt]

@SuperBspb The corporation has been public since it's inception. Some division heads need to be demoted to pencil marketers and their budgets placed in the hands of more honest people. We still have too many middle managers with delusions of grandeur.

[StormTrek]

"(3) providing a recognizable correlation between performance and rewards."

Completely unrelated to the point of your video, but I hate this criteria. I feel like it breeds laziness and detachment. Do you work for Microsoft?

[ToddAllenGates]

@StormTrek

> I hate this criteria. I feel like it breeds laziness and detachment.

The better you perform, the better you're rewarded, so I don't see how it breeds laziness. That being said, it's not perfect, b/c it can breed negative things like fierce competition among "team" members.

> Do you work for Microsoft?

No, for the pharmaceutical industry -- but I don't know if you consider that better or worse than Microsoft!

[StormTrek]

@ToddAllenGates I think it breeds laziness and detachment on the part of the manager. I wasn't clear about that in the comment.

[ToddAllenGates]

@StormTrek

> I think it breeds laziness and detachment on the part of the manager.

Okay, I see what you mean.

[dewinthemorning]

I know what William Lane Craig says: "We can't judge god's actions through human measures." In essence, he is saying it is forbidden that god be rated by Human Resources on His managerial skills.- Why? - Because I say so! lol

[ToddAllenGates]

@dewinthemorning

> he is saying it is forbidden that god be rated by Human Resources on His managerial skills.- Why?

"Why" is probably because such a god would fail miserably -- so theists have to say "human standards don't count."

[L00NGB00W]

If I were in charge I would fire God based solely on His attendance record. Where the f*** is he?

[hellshade2]

@L00NGB00W Ok this one made me lol ;D

[ToddAllenGates]

@L00NGB00W

> Where the f*** is he?

True ... hasn't punched in for some 2,000 years now (depending on what theist you're speaking to).