Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
As soon as someone says, "God is love, THAT'S ALL FOLKS ..." speaks the covert message from the father of hate ... "Did God really say?"
When you can show how the OTHER characteristics are expressed in the love that God IS you will have something to say. While ANY of those characteristics is NOT consistent with love you indicate conflict within the character of God.
I suspect it can, but it took me 18+ years of dedicated effort eventually using biofeedback to attain deeper altered states under conscious control ensuring that I could trust my experiences as legitimate. I was seeking a very different outcome than the one I ultimately experienced and it was life-changing, to say the least. The original experience was not the only time I experienced the other consciousness so completely, but it was not reliably consistent for each meditation. It also became more and more difficult to replicate as my body aged and my control over my autonomic system deteriorated. But the presence of the consciousness I encountered has remained with me to this very day whether or not I meditate.
Fair comment, and I suspect your experience is mirrored by Sam Harris's discussion of spirituality, and that meditation was a significant part of his experience (along with some psychotropic drugs in his early 20's), even though he is an atheist. So, it seems the same methodology, with a different end result.
The discussion of consciousness is such an interesting topic, and there is no one who can clearly define what it is, do non-humans experience it (I think yes), and when does it end.
None of the above though need to end in a god as an entity. Can one suggest the universe (or multiverses, which is a hypothesis I subscribe to) be viewed as a god? Maybe, but certainly not an anthropomorphic entity that is focused only on humans on this tiny part of this inconsequential and not unusual galaxy in a small part of this universe.
Why would you end with, ''Fire away haters''? Geeze,
That's your opinion...many will disagree. So?
That doesn't make anyone a 'hater?
I disagree on a few things. So?
Even my atheist friends don't poo-poo the Bible because of any
confrontation of lifestyle or convictions of 'their sins'...my gosh, do you not have any atheist friends?
Mine are so much better all around giving the shirts off their backs to people, etc...they don't 'sin'
anymore that a Christian would...they're regular people, happy and kind, mowing the elderly neighbor's lawn, as anyone would.
The folks I know that pick and chose verses in the Bible do simply cuz some make no sense or are contradictory to other 2 other verses.
Your take on people that 'pick and chose' seems to be based on people I sure do not know.
You are probably right and that was probably uncalled for. -- I left the Christianity forum because so many non-Bible-believers use it as a forum to attack and denigrate Scripture and those who believe the Bible. -
Just happened to catch this thread while passing-through - Based on past experience here, I expected more of the same from those who 'pick and choose' which Scripture to believe and which to reject. (Surely, you have been on this forum long enough to recognize that tendency???)
Yes, He does. But nowhere does Scripture say God IS mercy or God IS justice; nor God IS righteousness or holiness. It only says God IS Love.
Think about that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmiej
I’m glad we agree.
* Hey Pleroo, here’s ^^^ one of those “buts” you were concerned about.
No, it's not. What Warden said does not imply that God has dissociative identity disorder, but rather that he believes that God's attributes are all fully integrated with what God is: love.
And if it were true that you agreed with that, I'd be happy, for your sake, to hear it. Much of what you have said in the past has indicated otherwise.
You are probably right and that was probably uncalled for. -- I left the Christianity forum because so many non-Bible-believers use it as a forum to attack and denigrate Scripture and those who believe the Bible. -
Just happened to catch this thread while passing-through - Based on past experience here, I expected more of the same from those who 'pick and choose' which Scripture to believe and which to reject. (Surely, you have been on this forum long enough to recognize that tendency???)
Disagreement with your beliefs about the bible is not an attack, nor is it denigration.
This would be true if the standard of truth were the Bible instead of the Guide Jesus promised. Since you don't believe in that guide you are stuck with the inconsistencies and barbarities that are part of the Bible
Of course I believe in God's indwelling Holy Spirit in believers. But, the Holy Spirit is not the author of confusion and does not contradict the revealed and recorded teachings of God and Christ ... with the vain philosophies and private thoughts of men. One does as the Bereans and other Christians down through history have always done: Compare their thoughts and what people say and believe with Bible truth.
How else does one know the Words of God and Christ, except through the Bible? --- which records truths such as, "The Word that I have spoken will judge you on the last day" (John 12:48); "The Word of God divides Spirit and flesh and joint and marrow ...." (Heb. 4:12); “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. (Prov. 30:5); "But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water." (2 Pet. 3:5), etc., etc.
Of course I believe in God's indwelling Holy Spirit in believers. But, the Holy Spirit is not the author of confusion and does not contradict the revealed and recorded teachings of God and Christ ... with the vain philosophies and private thoughts of men. One does as the Bereans and other Christians down through history have always done: Compare their thoughts and what people say and believe with Bible truth.
How else does one know the Words of God and Christ, except through the Bible? --- which records truths such as, "The Word that I have spoken will judge you on the last day" (John 12:48); "The Word of God divides Spirit and flesh and joint and marrow ...." (Heb. 4:12); “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. (Prov. 30:5); "But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water." (2 Pet. 3:5), etc., etc.
Of course I believe in God's indwelling Holy Spirit in believers. But, the Holy Spirit is not the author of confusion and does not contradict the revealed and recorded teachings of God and Christ ... with the vain philosophies and private thoughts of men. One does as the Bereans and other Christians down through history have always done: Compare their thoughts and what people say and believe with Bible truth.
How else does one know the Words of God and Christ, except through the Bible? --- which records truths such as, "The Word that I have spoken will judge you on the last day" (John 12:48); "The Word of God divides Spirit and flesh and joint and marrow ...." (Heb. 4:12); “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. (Prov. 30:5); "But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water." (2 Pet. 3:5), etc., etc.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
