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Actually it does have something to do with pleasing G-d. All those things you listed, have FAITH as their root, and without faith it is impossible to please Him. <snip>
Sure, I can see that. It is through exercising faith that the goodness of God is always flowing toward us, in us and through us, that we experience that good, and that pleases God because that is God's desire for us.
Of course, God is not displeased with people when they do NOT have faith in that, and God isn't cursing anyone for that. Nor does God need anyone to believe any specific religious ideas about God. I would further say that no one even needs to believe in God, per se, but it may be harder to believe that what the Universe is offering us is good if one doesn't have a belief in a good God.
<snipped>. I would further say that no one even needs to believe in God, per se, but it may be harder to believe that what the Universe is offering us is good if one doesn't have a belief in a good God.
I'm already rethinking this. All a person needs to know for certain is that they have the capacity to look at life in a positive rather than in a negative way. It just plain FEELS better to do that, no matter what. But, in the process of doing that, things begin to change in how they experience their reality.
I'm already rethinking this. All a person needs to know for certain is that they have the capacity to look at life in a positive rather than in a negative way. It just plain FEELS better to do that, no matter what. But, in the process of doing that, things begin to change in how they experience their reality.
Which means you've arrived at not needing G-d at all. Funny, I thought paths led TO G-d. Peace
Which means you've arrived at not needing G-d at all. Funny, I thought paths led TO G-d. Peace
No, that's not what I meant at all. God is the very source of all that is good, but a person doesn't need to know the word "God" or to agree with your or my understanding of God, in order to experience God.
What we don't need at all, is dogma.
I have no doubt at all that you and I will not see eye to eye on the importance of this bible passage, but I'll post it anyway.
His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him--though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring".
No, that's not what I meant at all. God is the very source of all that is good, but a person doesn't need to know the word "God" or to agree with your or my understanding of God, in order to experience God.
What we don't need at all, is dogma.
I have no doubt at all that you and I will not see eye to eye on the importance of this bible passage, but I'll post it anyway.
His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him--though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring".
You do understand that the reference to "feeling" for Him has to do with blindness, right? Peace
"God is the Supreme Intelligence-First Cause of all things."
God is eternal. If He had a beginning, He must either have sprung from nothing, or have been created by some being anterior to Himself. It Is thus mat, step by step, we arrive at the idea of infinity and eternity.
God is unchangeable. If He were subject to change, the laws which rule the universe would have no stability.
God is immaterial, that is to say, that His nature differs from every-thing that we call matter, or otherwise. He would not be unchangeable, for He would be subject to the transformations of matter.
God is unique. If there were several Gods, there would be neither unity of plan nor unity of power in the ordaining of the universe.
God is all-powerful because He is unique. If He did not possess sovereign power, there would be something more powerful, or no less powerful, than Himself. He would not have created all things and those which He had not created would be the work of another God.
God is sovereignty just and good. The providential wisdom of the divine laws Is revealed as clearly In the smallest things as In the greatest and this wisdom renders it impossible to doubt either His justice or His goodness.
OR ... God is entirely a figment of the imagination of humans. Which is fully described as being an invisible Being dwelling in an invisible realm. All of which can only be imagined.
We could resort to what is observed to be true as opposed to what has been imagined to be true. It has been observed through all experimentation that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed from form to form. It is therefore eternal. It is also observed that matter is one of the forms that energy takes. Which, being composed of matter ourselves, leads to where we came from. We came from energy interacting with itself according to the principles of quantum mechanics. As opposed to imagining anything.
Last edited by Tired of the Nonsense; 08-26-2017 at 01:51 PM..
The first thing that popped into my head was a scene from the movie "Dead Poets Society."
It was the scene in the classroom after Robin Williams (his character) was ousted from the school and a more traditional, straight-laced, and infernally boring replacement teacher was brought in.
When it was discovered that Robin Williams had had his students rip a bunch of pages out of the textbook, the replacement teacher decided to start the course all over again ... and thus he began with those words that exuded boredom, yawns, and intellectual misery:
"What is poetry ..."
But to answer the OP's question, God could be anything anyone wants it to be. Of course, that doesn't make it true ... but people believe in the weirdest things with no thought whatever to whether it actually makes sense.
It's actually easier to answer what God is NOT -- which poses a bit of snarky irony.
Because it's damn near a certitude that what the vast majority of people call "God" is NOT God.
If God exists, he (I'm using male pronouns just for comprehension ease so don't throw any rotten eggs) would be far more than the primitive, one-dimensional "gods" found in the world's major holy books.
God would not be vain, narcissistic, jealous, and perpetually angry -- God would not be driven by ego, issuing such demands as "worship me" and "love me" and "put me first."
God would not play mind games with Abraham, allow Satan to torture Job for the sake of a bet, send bears to rip apart half a hundred children, accept the blood sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter, flood the earth in an act of genocidal rage, murder the first born of Egypt just to coerse "Pharaoh" to let the Hebrews go, or tell his followers like Joshua to wage an aggressive war just to grab land -- and to butcher every last man, woman, child, baby, and animal in over a dozen different cities.
No, a real God would never do those things -- would never act like a corrupted human being with unlimited power.
A real God would find eternal torture as abhorrant as I do and would never even consider that for a punishment -- especially as punishment for failing to worship him. In fact, a real God would almost certainly take himself out of the equation entirely and simply tell the word to be the best person you can, abide by these few simple rules, and treat your fellow human beings well. Worshiping him, praising him, loving him, joining his religion -- none of that would matter to a real God. Only our actions would matter, not whether or not we spend our lives putting him first and obeying hundreds of silly rules.
A real God would never have the concept of sin. There would be right and wrong, but only as it pertains to how we treat each other, not how we treat God.
Yeah, I could go on at length about what God isn't -- because a REAL God would be indescribeable with any human language. A real God would be an experience unique to itself and thus impossible to relate to anyone. Except we wouldn't have to because we would ALL know his existence and we would ALL experience it.
Unlike the "fake" Gods who apparently pick and choose arbitrarily who gets to have an "experience" and who gets left out in the cold.
This is a valid indictment of the primitive God concepts that inexplicably have been retained by the major religions as a sign of faith in God. Every major area of human knowledge and understanding has benefitted from the scientific advances and enlightenment over millennia - except for religions. It is an enigma of human perversity that boggles the mind. The bold is an accurate statement of my experience though I am unable to explain why my efforts were successful. The unconditional love and acceptance are unmistakable but thoroughly puzzling because of the many issues our physical existence poses - theodicy, "red in tooth and claw," etc. I still have not satisfactorily explained those things to my intellect. I am unable to love cruelty, injustice, avarice, and the many evils of every kind, etc. and I seem unable to convince myself that I ever should. It is troubling.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shirina
I posted not long ago about that ...
I really did try this approach in all sincerity.
And, as I said in my post ... NOTHING happened. Not even the slightest tingle.
Obviously I didn't expect a puff of smoke and a genie-god to appear ready to grant my every wish.
BUT ...
Mere days after I had this little "chat" with God, three major things occurred in my life, ALL of them lousy (which is why I wasn't on this forum from the 1st week of July until just a few days ago).
I don't expect instant miracles -- but I don't expect to be kicked when I'm down, either, and that's what happened.
Which made me realize that I was right all along with atheism. There's simply no one up there who cares.
Period.
I have no explanation for you other than that God is NOT "up there." God is "in here" within our consciousness because everything and especially us are of God. Unlike others here, I have had NO success asking for remedy of anything about my physical or material reality, just my inner acceptance of it. Like you, I have had similar adverse results whenever I presumed to ask for some special aid for myself or my loved ones. Given my experiences, it remains inexplicable to me, but my focus on love for all around me has produced a much more positive zeitgeist in my immediate sphere of influence. I still pray, but it is always a general one of love for us all. Pleroo seems to have a similar understanding and experience:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pleroo
This is the explanation that I've heard that makes sense to me, and it has absolutely ZERO to do with anyone being special, or God blessing some and not others, or even God waiting on people to do for others:
God is the constant source of all that is good, and of well-being, and never withholds that from anyone for any reason. In other words, God isn't blessing some people with health because they are doing or believing the "right things", or cursing others with sickness as punishment for not doing or believing. It's not about a person being worthy or not. God doesn't play that game. God (the source of all that is good) simply IS.
If one approaches it from that point of view, then it's a matter of figuring out why one isn't experiencing well-being in any area of one's life. In other words, how are we blocking the flow of all that is good from our experience? If it doesn't have anything to do with "pleasing God", then what is it?
Many, many people in the past, and in the present, have given us keys to the answer... Biblically (because that's what I was raised in and so these things quickly pop into my mind), "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind", 'As a person thinks in their heart, so they are,", "Give thanks in all circumstances," "Whatever is good, etc., think on these things," ... and many, many more.
In other words, cultivating an attitude of grateful expectancy seems to me to be the starting point. What we give our attention to in our lives, and with what attitude, is of utmost importance.
The reason this idea resonates with me, is because I've seen the evidence in my own life.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pleroo
God is the very source of all that is good, but a person doesn't need to know the word "God" or to agree with your or my understanding of God, in order to experience God.
What we don't need at all, is dogma.
I have no doubt at all that you and I will not see eye to eye on the importance of this bible passage, but I'll post it anyway.
His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him--though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring".
Large angry pan dimensional being in the sky.
Refuses to show any evidence of his existence but will sentence you to an
eternity of pain and burning if you do not accept it.
And this ^^ is what it looks like to many people. Any Christians like to say this is not so?
Can you let this go by with no comment?
Is this wrong or correct...this is the God presented in the Bible and seems as tho you all believe. No?
Your faith or love does not need to change if you see that this is quite wacky...it actually increases.
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Peace
Peace
