No, God Doesn’t Own Us Because He Made Us
And God knows, it’s time for the claim to die
“I get to do unto you because I created you and therefore I own you.”
Folks may have been putting this claim into the mouth of heaven for thousands of years. Now it’s time for it to die. It’s about to die in real time, and here’s why.
The central premise behind this claim is:
Creating something means you own the creation and therefore get to do what you like with it.
Paint a painting, then put your fist through it. Write a book and delete it from your hard drive before anybody sees it. Build a chair, then smash it to smithereens. Do any of these and the folks who love you might get angry, feel cheated, mourn, or worry for your well-being and sanity, but few will claim you have no “right” to do what you’ve done, especially in a society that holds a distinction between inanimate objects and abstractions, and beings.
When everyone agrees that your creation is merely an inanimate object or abstraction, few will claim that you don’t get to do what you will with it.
We know there are exceptions to “Creating something inanimate means you own it and therefore get to do what you like with it” though.