Could an entity capable of creating a planet through scientific (not supernatural) means be called a "god"?

Question

I first must say that I was asking a similar question on the philosophy subreddit but did not get many answers so I will rephrase it here, because I'm somewhat curious about what would theists say about this particular scenario. So, as the title says, imagine that somewhere in the Universe, an advanced intelligence (be it biological or artificial or both) decides to create a planet from the quantum vacuum that constitutes the empty space which surrounds a lone star. And, also suppose that this intelligence has the knowledge and the scientific/technical means to accomplish this goal (that is, this intelligence has acces to a very advanced and deep knowledge about the workings of the Universe and an equally advanced technology). So, this intelligence creates a planet from "nothing" and decides that it is the divine creator and the sole sovereign of that world. Given this scenario, my question is: on what basis would theists reject these claims of divinity? After all, this intelligence has created a whole world where there were only quantum fluctuations and empty space before, it has seen the first dawn and the first dusk on this planet and it also guided the evolution of the world.

Answer 1

Off the top of my head . . .

SHORT ANSWER: 1) Your question is not exactly coherent; 2) Yes, such a being could be called a “god” 3) Divinity and “creator” are not necessarily the same thing to theists; 4) Some theists actually believe God is a physical being who did in fact create through science. 5) Traditional Christian theists would not call such a being “God” but only because such being does not match what these theists want to believe.

LONG ANSWER: Your question is not coherent because your title asks if a being creates a planet through scientific means, could it be called a “god” (in general). But then the body of your question asks about “divinity” which technically is a question about personal characteristics of a god and not necessarily about raw creative power a god has. The two can be different things.

 In addition, what you really seem to want to know is if “theists” would call such a creature “god” and not merely “if” such a creature could be called a god in general. So I’m guessing your real question is would Christian theists consider such a creature “god” and the answer to that is “it depends” since some theists do in fact believe that this is exactly what God is. (Here, I use big “G” god to stand for the “Christian” concept of god. And little “g” god stands for merely a general definition of god, i.e., powerful being with a degree of mastery and control).

First, you have to define what you mean by a “theist”. I am defining it as someone who believes in “a singular, supreme, ultimate reality who though possessing some human characteristics, still utterly transcends anything we could consider human in the realms or power, knowledge, ability and character”. A big spirit in the sky, so to speak. Of course, there are other forms of theism such as monotheism, polytheism, pantheism, deism, etc.

Next, you have to define “supernatural”. This term is generally defined as methods beyond the physical or scientific. In essence “magic”. However, the problem with the scientific/supernatural divide is that the alleged division may be an artificial one. Meaning, what one person calls supernatural may merely be a high level science in disguise. For example, merely speaking something into existence may in fact be described scientifically since different sound vibrations are known to be able to create different corresponding shapes in matter. So, it is not clear that the God of the Christian Bible did not in fact use science to create through high-tech sound waves. One might ask as well, "How does someone create a solar system in just seven days?" But here is the real question we should be asking . . . if the solar system was created supernaturally, why would it take any time at all? Why not one day? Why not one hour? Why not one minute? Why not instantly? The “fact” that creation took any time at all implies some sort of limitation on God’s ability.

Further, how is a “day” typically measured? By the rotation of the earth around the sun. But . . . if there is no earth and no sun in “the beginning”, how could God measure “a day”? Likewise, a day on Earth is a different time period than a day on Saturn due to Saturn’s distance from the sun. So, what standard of “day” was God using at the “time”?

Likewise, if you look at all the “supernatural” miracles that God did in the Bible, they are not all that impressive per se and can be scientifically explained: the plagues of Egypt, parting the Red sea, crumbling the walls of Jericho, even raising the dead is not necessarily supernatural since the accounts of raising the dead do not usually involve raising actually decomposed bodies, but rather people who have only recently died and thus these resurrections may merely be just resuscitations (high-tech CPR). Jesus’ miracles such as walking on water, turning water into wine, healing the sick, turning 5 loaves of bread and two fishes into a feast for a crowd, etc. though seemingly miraculous could not have been all that special either especially since at the end of his life, no one believed in Jesus or thought he was so special simply due to this magical powers. Moses had similar magical powers but yet the children of Israel still doubted him and complained. Even it took 10 plagues from Moses to convince Pharaoh to release the Israelites as slaves from Egypt, but even after all that, Pharaoh changed his mind and tried to capture the Israelites again. So magical supernatural power is not necessarily the mark of divinity and in the end, doesn’t really impress people to a lasting degree. Also, the priests of Egypt could replicate some of the magical power that Moses had. See Exodus 7:8-12 “And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they [their rods] became serpents [also just like Aaron's rod]: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.”

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