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i agree with Kathryn. everything that exists is continent on God.
but God is not contingent on anything existing.
God exists whether anything else does. it is not the sum of everything. it is the Source of everything.
big difference
when all the universes and multiverses and everything in them cease to exist, the Source from which they came still exists.
i can bake lots of cookies. but when the cookies are gone, i still exist. just like i existed before any cookies were baked. cookies are contingent on me. but i am not contingent on cookies. that's the difference.
But, unlike your belief relating to God, you, the cookie maker, will eventually die. You will cease to exist. Another cookie maker will take your place. A plethora of cookie makers, because you're not the only cookie maker in our world.
But, though the analogy doesn't quite work, I get your point. Thx for sharing.
Well, according to many of the Near Death Experience reports, God is a giant ball of loving light.
I've never been into theism, but there have been so many reports at this point, by people who went to "the other side" and back, and lived to tell the tale, all (of those who got through "the tunnel"--not everyone did) describing a Light with extraordinary qualities, that .... well, let's just say they've got my attention. I'm re-thinking my non-theistic position.
And no, in case anyone's wondering, I don't need a Book to help me rethink my position.
I've really wrestled with the credibility so many people lend to the most oxygen deprived brain in the room in these NDEs, and the willingness to overlook ulterior motives, like fame and the associated money, in retelling a story similar to other previous stories. Not to mention how some have been shown to be patently fabricated or manipulated, like the one with the little boy that left everyone wooing.
To try and define God in some simplistic paragraph would be as foolish as trying to explain the universe in a few sentences.
Even if he could be described to some degree in print, that would never capture his true essence, which can only come from one-on-one personal sensing and communication. An analogy would be reading about the ocean vs. actually visiting it and taking in information with one's senses.
Last edited by Thoreau424; 11-15-2021 at 11:10 AM..
To try and define God in some simplistic paragraph would be as foolish as trying to explain the universe in a few sentences.
Even if he could be described to some degree in print, that would never capture his true essence, which can only come from one-on-one personal sensing and communication. An analogy would be reading about the ocean vs. actually visiting it and taking in information with one's senses.
I've really wrestled with the credibility so many people lend to the most oxygen deprived brain in the room in these NDEs, and the willingness to overlook ulterior motives, like fame and the associated money, in retelling a story similar to other previous stories. Not to mention how some have been shown to be patently fabricated or manipulated, like the one with the little boy that left everyone wooing.
There are a lot of people whose stories are catalogued on an NDE website, who remain anonymous. They get neither fame nor money for sharing their stories. And their stories are consistent with the general trajectory typical of the genre, even though some are from other cultures and other parts of the world. I've also known two people, who had this experience.
There have also been people, who contributed their stories to people doing a formal study of the phenomenon. And again, the contributors remained anonymous. One author was a heart surgeon, who heard enough stories from his patients, that he decided to look into the matter. He wrote a book on the possibility that consciousness survives death.
I don't know what little boy you're talking about. I'm not talking about reincarnation stories, but NDE accounts (just clarifying).
Well, according to many of the Near Death Experience reports, God is a giant ball of loving light.
I've never been into theism, but there have been so many reports at this point, by people who went to "the other side" and back, and lived to tell the tale, all (of those who got through "the tunnel"--not everyone did) describing a Light with extraordinary qualities, that .... well, let's just say they've got my attention. I'm re-thinking my non-theistic position.
And no, in case anyone's wondering, I don't need a Book to help me rethink my position.
Trust the reports. Controversial phenomena tend to attract copycats and even those who seek to make the phenomenon seem bogus by making extreme claims. The UFO phenomenon has been subject to that kind of deliberate association with true wackos. The quickest way to discredit a phenomenon is to pretend to have experienced it and present extreme even outrageous claims about it.
As a mystic, I am convinced they are in an altered state of consciousness disconnected from their body and sensory system by their physical condition. I suspect it resembles the disconnect that will happen upon our actual death. Based on my joyous experiences in a similar altered state, I certainly hope so.
There are a lot of people whose stories are catalogued on an NDE website, who remain anonymous. They get neither fame nor money for sharing their stories. And their stories are consistent with the general trajectory typical of the genre, even though some are from other cultures and other parts of the world. I've also known two people, who had this experience.
There have also been people, who contributed their stories to people doing a formal study of the phenomenon. And again, the contributors remained anonymous. One author was a heart surgeon, who heard enough stories from his patients, that he decided to look into the matter. He wrote a book on the possibility that consciousness survives death.
I don't know what little boy you're talking about. I'm not talking about reincarnation stories, but NDE accounts (just clarifying).
The truth is, I'm less concerned about what motivates someone to provide a NDE story than how much credibility is assigned to it.
You have an oxygen deprived brain, experiencing the dying process. How do we know what they claim to have in common is not simply a shared electro/chemical experience related to a starving brain. Couple that with the fact so many people have been 'primed' with how to interpret those sensations, it's not hard to realize there are reasonable natural explanations that should be explored prior to moving the discussion, 'it's proof of god, the unknowable, the unproveable'.
Until all reasonable tangible considerations have been discounted, it's not good sense to start considering the fantastical explanations.
God is an essence. He can hear every word spoken from the entire earth, but He will not listen to faithless prayer or prayers out of the will of God ..... God is love, mercy, peace, long-suffering, justice, and everlasting.... Through God's son Jesus is all the power For His victory, through His Holy Spirit is the one who answers God's Grace ........ God's plan for climate change is He knows the earth , and there is nothing wrong with the earth as the climate change is just temporary as the earth has different elements going on ...... God's plan for the pandemic, the answer is the devil, and the power over the devil is through Jesus ...... God's promise is 3 and one half years for the church of Christ and the pandemic will be gone when faith is exercised
That's your belief, not fact. There are plenty of people, who believe that Jesus was a prophet, but not Divine or semi-Divine. There were branches of early Christianity that believed that, as well. There are still other religions that don't include a figure named "Jesus" at all.
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