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This puts me in mind of Harry Potter's Patronus and Bogart.
God is whatever that person perceives it to be. What you are saying is God can be literally anything. And nothing is a wrong answer no matter how good or terrible, or any combination in between.
I mean okay.
To me this renders god a figment of a persons imagination which seems to be more of an atheists argument.
So I don't particularly have an argument with it.
"God" is a title...that can be assigned to anyone/anything one feels merits such.
There is never a "wrong" God...to anyone that perceives that which is God to them.
And, no...it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks about that. That's their issue.
Oh yeah, I have definitely thought about this. It's all a matter of faith. No one knows what's to happen to us after. I was just talking about this last night, to my Heavenly Father. It was a bad night. I said that if I could only know that there was nothing after I would kill myself. I'm still heartbroken over my husband's death and the only thing that keeps me here is knowing (by faith of course) that we will be together in paradise. If I didn't have my faith I would have ended my own life shortly after he passed away unexpectedly.
But, yes, there is a distinct possibility that the God of the Bible is not true. It seems to me that a rational thinking person must acknowledge this. There really is only one reality. No matter what anyone of us believes. And really, the way I see it, the only way for the most part anyone would really be in a bad way off after death is in fact if the God of the Bible is true; I believe someone on here, Clintone if I'm not mistaken, started a thread on this. I never posted on it because yeah, that's pretty much it. Every other form of Christianity not based on the Bible doesn't have a hell, so nothing bad to happen to anyone in that version. Not sure about Islam though, so that might be another possible bad ending for some. I think the Hades in the Greek mythologies was kind of bad too, like that one guy that had to roll a boulder up a hill over and over again or something like that. So there may be a handful out there. But it seems most people believe in a happy ending after death. I do wish it were true! And maybe it is; we don't have that much time left to find out, really.
Basil, I have very strong and certain beliefs about God and what we face from Him in the next life as spirits. You may not believe me or my experiences, so I only offer them for your consideration. Feel free to disregard or reject them.
There is nothing bad to be concerned about from God. Although, not overcoming and enduring your life to the end may have some negative consequences. But any negative consequences will be proportionate to whatever produced them. This means you will only reap whatever you have sowed and not repented of. There is no hell or eternal punishment of any kind.
Your husband is in heaven (that is the only place our spirits CAN reside) and he is probably saddened by your continuing pain over his passing because he can do nothing about it. You could remove his sadness by overcoming your loss of his physical presence by talking to him and engaging with him and Jesus in conversation in prayer or meditation.
The Comforter will help you sense his spiritual presence if you sincerely wish it. My experiences in meditation convince me of the truth of what I am telling you so you needn't be without your husband's presence in your life. Let him spiritually share in yours.
Apparently when God spoke to Joseph Smith He spoke in the vernacular of 17th century England.
I don't know how God communicated to Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith translated the plates into 17-century English because at that time (1830), that was the accepted language of all scripture.
Quote:
For example:
3 Nephi 25:2 reads, "But unto you that fear my name, shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves in the stall." This is identical to Malachi 4:2, except that the word "Son" is used in place of "Sun". https://www.google.com/search?q=exam...hrome&ie=UTF-8
The Book of Mormon quotes from a Bible in a number of places, but when Joseph believed a word in the Bible to be mistranslated, he changed it in the Book of Mormon.
It is entirely possible there are 'lesser gods'...and that some people may decide to worship them, but that doesnt necessarily mean they are the 'God of gods'.
If aliens came down and told us they created us...we would view them as 'lesser gods'.
It is entirely possible there are 'lesser gods'...and that some people may decide to worship them, but that doesnt necessarily mean they are the 'God of gods'.
If aliens came down and told us they created us...we would view them as 'lesser gods'.
No, just because they made us doesn't mean we owe them anything but maybe a "thank you". And even then it would be more out of courtesy than "praising".
That all is god thing applies here ... its all part of the same thing anyway. What is the best descriptors of everything we we see?
Is it? I went back and read again. All I could glean was that creative types, educated types, explorers, those looking for alternatives to fossil fuels... and maybe women(?)... are the source of our problems. I don't want to read too much between the lines, but it appears that your underlying issue is with people who dare to evolve and look beyond the myths and superstitions of bronze age goatherders?
All the dark and scary language is interesting, from a psychological standpoint... but no, I don't see anything to do with the questions posed by OP.
And I also don't see anyone calling you a "sinful fool." That would be a rather odd accusation, from this crowd.
The first parts of what I wrote in that long post was about living in a world where people serve their own image. Which translates to being god's unto themselves.
Oh yeah, I have definitely thought about this. It's all a matter of faith. No one knows what's to happen to us after. I was just talking about this last night, to my Heavenly Father. It was a bad night. I said that if I could only know that there was nothing after I would kill myself. I'm still heartbroken over my husband's death and the only thing that keeps me here is knowing (by faith of course) that we will be together in paradise. If I didn't have my faith I would have ended my own life shortly after he passed away unexpectedly.
Yours is an example of where religion can be helpful. I wish you the best.
Because he is worthy of your praise and worship. That is compelling enough.
Your version of god is a very human centric one, equipped with human emotions and human needs etc.
Setting aside the god issue for a minute, I think you and I have an entirely different grasp on the universe.
It's often said that humans just do not have the capacity to grasp the universe, it's size, it's physical make-up etc. We probably never will have the capacity frankly.
There are a ton of videos that try to demonstrate this. This one is reasonable but still doesn't really fully help us to grasp the size. I do hope you attempt to watch it though.
Suffice to say, humans are extremely insignificant within the scale of the universe.
There are more stars in the visible universe than there are grains of sand on earth.
Each of those stars has it's own solar system, it's own planets.
Here's my view.
Not to be insulting to you, but if I were to believe in a god, it would be a god that I would give more credit to than you do.
A creator of an entire infinite universe would not have any 'need' to be 'worshipped'.
It would not get upset, it would not be jealous, it would not have it's nose put out of joint because humans did not worship it.
That's just my opinion.
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