Is God Happy?

[bore]

Inspired by this short essay by Leszek Kolakowski, here's a sample

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It is Christian doctrine that God created from nothing, that is, with no constraints. So is He happy with himself? Would He create a world without being pleased with it, and why? But if he is happy, then what does that say about the world?  Does it imply, as Kolakowski seems to be hinting at, universalism?

I may or may not have some proper thoughts on this later, but I'm interested in what other people think.

[HillGoose]

i hope not

[RINO Tom]

N/A

[Strudelcutie4427]

I can’t speak for the most high

[Mopsus]

Yes. Not in the emotional sense, but in the Aristotelian sense, that he's pleased by his own character.

[RFayette]

Yes, but the reason I am skeptical of universalism is that God being happy with his creation does not necessarily entail that he is happy with all of the moral agents he has created. 

[Georg Ebner]

Being THE LOVE - the origin and MeetingPoint of THE BONUM, THE VERUM, THE PULCHRUM - HE is perfect and thus entirely happy in SE IPSO.

Of value is only, what is OutFlow of HIS grace and neither makeable nor reachable by us.
In heaven is only, who is intelligent (i.e. who is able to divina pati, who has fallen into visio DEI beatifica).

Individual souls can participate, the human species itself - driven by genetical egoism - is obviously of no greater interest for HIM.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Spiritual realm stays away from sin, and that's enlightenment.  It is peace and happy.

[All Along The Watchtower]

No, but I am.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Really fascinating read. I'd be interested to hear more of our religious posters give their thoughts on it.

[Torie]

Humans tend to get off on anthropomorphizing stuff, including in this case, apparently, an abstraction called "God."

[Small L]

Humans tend to get off on anthropomorphizing stuff, including in this case, apparently, an abstraction called "God."

What is God an abstraction of, in your view?

[DC Al Fine]

Really fascinating read. I'd be interested to hear more of our religious posters give their thoughts on it.

I take issue with two of the author's points

a) The God described, doesn't sound like the God I worship, or the God of any of the Abrahamic faiths for that matter. He seems to be lacking omniscience and omnipotence. That's fine for the author to belt in, but it seems silly to describe the attributes of God without clarifying that your model of God varies considerably from the modern Western conception.

b) There's an implication that God can only be happy if all of his creation loves him, that I don't think logically follows.

As for the OP's question, I would suggest that since God exists outside of time and is documented as being both happy and not happy, the answer from out fallible human perspective is yes and no all at once.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Really fascinating read. I'd be interested to hear more of our religious posters give their thoughts on it.

I take issue with two of the author's points

a) The God described, doesn't sound like the God I worship, or the God of any of the Abrahamic faiths for that matter. He seems to be lacking omniscience and omnipotence. That's fine for the author to belt in, but it seems silly to describe the attributes of God without clarifying that your model of God varies considerably from the modern Western conception.

b) There's an implication that God can only be happy if all of his creation loves him, that I don't think logically follows.

As for the OP's question, I would suggest that since God exists outside of time and is documented as being both happy and not happy, the answer from out fallible human perspective is yes and no all at once.

Those are good points, yeah. It makes sense to me that an omniscient God capable of feeling emotions (which is not a given - Catholicism seems to assert that He doesn't) would necessarily have ample cause for both happiness and sorrow, and would have to experience all of them simultaneously. I would say that it seems to me that an infinitely loving God would still feel sadness for every soul that doesn't love Him, so there is a credible argument to be made that God's complete satisfaction would require universal salvation. I don't think that's necessarily the strongest argument for universal salvation (I find moral arguments more persuasive) but I can see the logic here.

[Torie]

Humans tend to get off on anthropomorphizing stuff, including in this case, apparently, an abstraction called "God."

What is God an abstraction of, in your view?

It varies by person. It is generally some sort of force that is transcendent enough that it inspires some level of deference.