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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/5/2008 12:22:04 PM |
Monotheistic religions do NOT believe in proselytising. Only SOME monotheistic religions believe in proselytising. It would also be naive of me to assume that ALL non-monotheistic religions do not believe in proselytising. Please stop generalising.
Two of the three desert monotheistic faiths do. I could have said - except Judaism but I thought it pretty obviously common knowledge and hardly a generalization. Christianity and Islam DO embrace and promote prosletyzing as key elements of their faith. That's not a generalisation that's a simple fact.
Why would you assume that all religious gatherings that are non of an Odinist persuasion would have no food. Besides, would you really eat raw wild boar?
I'm not. You're putting words in my mouth man. And thirdly...raw??? What are you going on about??? RAW??? What on earth makes you assume they would eat it raw??? Are you off your chump?  Honestly where did you get this from?
There is a MASSIVE difference between the belief in the monotheistic G-d and the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the Invisible Pink Unicorn, Zeus and Odin. All of the latter are finite beings. They are things, and are therefore limited in size, and therefore in capacity and in intelligence. As an example, Odin wasn't born with his all-seeing eye. A common view of the monotheistic G-d is that G-d is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient, in a way that is only comparable with a Universal Consciousness. So you cannot consider them in the same boat, especially when some physicists believe that quantum physics is intimately linked to consciousness, and some people are of the opinion that the universe requires a universal consciousness in order for some parts of quantum physics to work in the first place.
No there is no difference at all. The only difference exists because you want to split semantic hairs and play a game of exclusivity of truth but the simple fact is gods are gods are gods. They are all expressions of the unknowable, be they imaginary examples like the second two used to set an example, or pagan gods of yesteryear no longer in mass popularity. An attempt to link one pseudo-scientifically to "universal consciousness" does not make one more praiseworthy than another.
As I already pointed out, it is not unusual to take the view that multiple gods are simple expressions of a single divine force personified in areas of influence. This is very likely part of the natural socio-religious evolution of mankind.
I'm sorry but this air of prejudice towards polytheistic religion and the somehow innate superiority of monotheism doesn't sit well with me as either sensible or tenable. I see no persuasive argument that puts one above the other. | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/5/2008 2:40:06 PM | RE msg 399 by seattlerain1:
Mind you if you got invited to an Odinist gathering at least there would likely be mead and wild boar.
Why would you make such an assumption? Why would you assume that all religious gatherings that are non of an Odinist persuasion would have no food. Besides, would you really eat raw wild boar? He said their would be alcohol and wild boar... He didn't say other people don't eat.
And he NEVER said raw boar. I imagine it would be roasted on a spit.... Mmmmmmmmmmm It does sound tasty, and I wouldn't serve raw boar. But why make any more assumptions?
here is simply no good reason to believe in the reality of one god over another, be they YHWH, Flying Spaghetti Monster, Invisible Pink Unicorn, Zeus, Odin, what have you.
There is a MASSIVE difference between the belief in the monotheistic God and the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the Invisible Pink Unicorn, Zeus and Odin. All of the latter are finite beings. They are things, and are therefore limited in size, and therefore in capacity and in intelligence.
{and}
You cannot compare a being that is much more powerful than you, but nevertheless, not all-powerful, to an omnipotent G-d. So basically you're saying "My god can beat up your god". How nice.
Your god used to require blood sacrifices and other pagan-like rituals... So my G-d requires the death of animals for a higher purpose, and you eat lobster, which is boiled alive, for fun, and you kill animals for sport, and you claim that you are in some way morally superior? Even if you don't do these things, you live in a society that does allow these things to be done. At least I'm not hypocritical enough to claim that I am in some way morally above the idea of killing an animal, and at least, when I eat meat, I think about how the animal felt, and consider its feelings. Do you?
Your god even screwed up the creation of man a few times (and some would argue never did get it right). Who told you that? Someone who doesn't believe in G-d in the first place? Quote your source and your facts, or admit it is biased in the first place.
Your god is angry, and vengeful, YOUR god is angry, and vengeful. MY G-d appears to be angry, at times, and vengeful, at times, because humans seem to me to be far too petty to keep their personal feelings and interests out of situations. It seems that you have get angry at people sometimes, just to get them to sit up and take notice.
and keeps changing his rules with the times. YOUR beliefs might "change with the times". Mine don't. I merely reanalyse the current situation according to the same principles I learned, and apply that information accordingly. My beliefs are unchanging, because very little of my beliefs have anything to do with current fashion, or what "changes with the times". As Proverbs says, "The beginning of wisdom is reverence for the unchanging aspect of G-d." So I consider as much as possible, that which never changes, not that which does.
In my opinion, all of that make him as limited as the rest of the gods. But the definition of the monotheistic G-d, is that He doesn't have any limitations at all. Even the term He is only an anthropomorphism, a way of expressing G-d in our limited language, because any description is a limitation by definition, and therefore it is impossible for us to truly describe G-d in all His fullness, only aspects of G-d.
Even the Jesus-into-God story required that this god be born of a human woman... just like many of the other mythological gods. He had to live life as a mortal until, upon his death, he would rise to his rightful throne in Heaven and become a god. I don't hold by that story.
Some see the currently believed in gods in the same light that YOU see all of those "ancient gods"... simply as myth. No-one is questioning your beliefs. I am merely questioning how you can compare a G-d with infinite space, knowledge and power, to finite ones. It is like trying to use infinity in arithmetic, and expecting to get the same comparative results, as if you would use a finite number, like a billion. A billion plus a billion is 2 billion. Infinite plus infinity is still infinity. The two don't work the same.
I'm sure you would agree that in their days, worshipers believed in THOSE GODS as fervently as you now believe in yours. From what I understand, worshippers in ancient times were far more fervent than I am. I wouldn't consider sacrificing people. The Mayans did. Or was it the Incas? One of the South American groups. But that doesn't make the concepts equal either.
James, Seattle, Washington, USA, Earth Earth is a very small place. I am a citizen of the infinitely many multiverses. Therefore, it is incumbent on me to consider ALL possibilities.
RE msg 401 by themadfiddler:
Two of the three desert monotheistic faiths do. I could have said - except Judaism but I thought it pretty obviously common knowledge and hardly a generalization. Christianity and Islam DO embrace and promote prosletyzing as key elements of their faith. That's not a generalisation that's a simple fact. This is true. Thanks for that. However, Christianity and Islam both claim to be true derivatives of the Children of Israel. So they all claim to be the inheritors of the same traditions. However, Christianity and Islam both embraced mass prosletysation as the main method of the progression of their religion. Judaism embraced only a continuation of the original group that were supposed to have witnessed G-d's miracles. So prosletysation is not a factor of monotheistic religions. It is how Christianity and Islam came about. Kind of like saying that cells function as unicellular organisms, ignoring their fellow cells, when human cells are multicellular and work with their fellow cells, just because bacteria are unicellular, and there are lots more bacteria than cells, 10 times as many bacteria as human cells in each and every human body. It's just not fair.
Why would you assume that all religious gatherings that are non of an Odinist persuasion would have no food. Besides, would you really eat raw wild boar? I'm not. You're putting words in my mouth man.
And thirdly...raw??? What are you going on about??? RAW??? What on earth makes you assume they would eat it raw??? Are you off your chump? Honestly where did you get this from? If we are going to avoid assumptions, then we cannot assume anything, and many people have eaten meat raw before, and some still do.
There is a MASSIVE difference between the belief in the monotheistic G-d and the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the Invisible Pink Unicorn, Zeus and Odin. All of the latter are finite beings. They are things, and are therefore limited in size, and therefore in capacity and in intelligence. As an example, Odin wasn't born with his all-seeing eye. A common view of the monotheistic G-d is that G-d is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient, in a way that is only comparable with a Universal Consciousness. So you cannot consider them in the same boat, especially when some physicists believe that quantum physics is intimately linked to consciousness, and some people are of the opinion that the universe requires a universal consciousness in order for some parts of quantum physics to work in the first place. No there is no difference at all. The only difference exists because you want to split semantic hairs and play a game of exclusivity of truth but the simple fact is gods are gods are gods.
They are all expressions of the unknowable, Something unknowable is something I cannot know. I cannot ever prove gravity exists to 100%. So gravity is unknowable. But we still work with it as a concept. How is god different? Because other people say so? Is logic dictated by what you say? Is logic dictated by Dawkins or Hitchens? Logic is dictated by what can be shown to be true. It doesn't matter what topic you pick.
be they imaginary examples like the second two used to set an example, or pagan gods of yesteryear no longer in mass popularity. Considering that there are people on this site, who post they believe in pagan gods of yesteryear, that are no longer in mass popularity, I cannot claim that any pagan gods are truly forgotten, and since it really doesn't matter how many people believe in a god, whether it is 1 or a million, it is merely a question of numbers, I cannot treat any of these gods as different just because I don't hear about millions of people who believe in them. This is especially true of me, because my brother was dating a Japanese girl in Taiwan for a couple of years, and she kept on at him about converting to her pagan/polytheistic religion. So AFAIK, pagan and polytheistic religions are alive and well.
An attempt to link one pseudo-scientifically to "universal consciousness" does not make one more praiseworthy than another. I don't trust something because it is scientific. I trust something because it makes sense, in the light of logic and reason. I don't count a persuasive argument in this category, as a very good salesman can persuade people to buy something they already own, and I know people who are really that good. I only count cold, hard, logic, that stands up to scrutiny. Experimentation is just a form of evidence.
Besides, I am not claiming that monotheism is more praiseworthy than any other form of belief. I am pointing out that an infinite being with infinite size, knowledge, and power, cannot be compared to a finite being, however big, knowledgeable and powerful, just the same as you cannot use the same principles of arithmetic with infinite numbers as you can with finite numbers.
As I already pointed out, it is not unusual to take the view that multiple gods are simple expressions of a single divine force personified in areas of influence. I am well aware of this, as you can see from my previous post.
This is very likely part of the natural socio-religious evolution of mankind. This is something I can agree with, in that it is very common to believe this. But I also believe that a view that belief in gods, or a monotheistic G-d, is in some way backward, or a previous incarnation of mankind, is also part of mankind's development, one that has occurred again and again, in most advanced civilisations, and has disappeared each time. It is monotheism that is the odd belief out. That is the one that seemed to keep alive, long after all the other civilisations died out.
I'm sorry but this air of prejudice towards polytheistic religion and the somehow innate superiority of monotheism doesn't sit well with me as either sensible or tenable. I see no persuasive argument that puts one above the other. Hey, I'm not prejudiced. I grew up learning about the Greek gods, and the Roman gods, and some of the ancient Babylonian gods, and some of the Persian gods too, and some of the Egyptian gods. I loved reading that stuff. A monotheistic G-d is much harder to grasp, and much more difficult to live with. You can get by polytheism, by just worshipping another god when you have done something to upset one of them. You cannot do that with a monotheistic G-d. You have to sort it out with the same G-d you upset, because there is only one.
It is just that the older I get, the more I integrate everything I have learned, and the more I integrate my knowledge into a cohesive whole, the more that a singular monotheistic universal consciousness makes more and more sense to me. But not an old man with a temper and thunderbolts. Something that is akin to the ideas of a universal Buddha, but something that goes far beyond all that. That is why I called G-d a "universal consciousness". What most people view as G-d isn't even close to that.
Again, I am stating that the 2 views are too different to be treated the same way. | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/12/2008 10:17:14 AM | guyworthgettingtoknowinpa/chrisinpa wrote on Posted: 3/7/2008:
I guess this is a pretty broad question but I would hope that there is a god but how can anyone be so sure when there is not a real evidence of such. Must it all be taken completely by faith? What is the best evidence for and against?
It is a broad question. But really, aren't all the good questions pretty far reaching in their width and scope? The hardest part of the question of God is that we, as an American culture, have grown very far from our spiritual roots and as a result we have begun to fall into the trap of "If I can't meaure it it's not real".
Next, the problem is that people will fall into the categories of: 1. People who are seeking and answer and 2. People who want to fight about their oppinions.
Of these two catagories; 1. People who are seeking and answer, if they are honest with themselves, will ultimately begin to ponder deeply about the nature of their souls in relationship to the universe and may flip quickly into the second category.
2. People who want to fight about their oppinions. These can be people who want to prove the God does exist against the attack of those who will say God does not exist. These can also be people who are totally lacking in any direct experiance which motivates a belief in a God and can often be most vehemently fought by people who merely want to maintain a status quo.
When quoting the words from Scripture, "by their fruit you shall know them" people are referring to either Matthew 7:16 & 20, or to Luke 6:44. These are the only references in the whole of Scripture that tell us "by their fruit you shall know (or recognise) them". Let us read Matthew 7:13-27 in context, to discover who it is that the Bible encourages us to recognise by their fruit and also what the fruit actually is. The account recorded in the Book of Luke is speaking of the same event as that recorded in the Book of Matthew so both should be read to gain a better insight into what Jesus was promoting, however I have only included the Scriptures from Matthew here.
Matthew 7:13-27 (NAB)
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7 8 "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many.
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How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.
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9 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves.
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By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
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Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit.
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A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.
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Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
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So by their fruits you will know them.
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"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, 10 but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
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Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?'
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Then I will declare to them solemnly, 'I never knew you. 11 Depart from me, you evildoers.'
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12 "Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
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The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
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And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
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The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined."
Watch Out For False Prophets
As we have just discovered above, Matthew 7:15 tells us to "beware of false prophets. They will come to us looking and sounding like sheep but in actual fact they will be ravening or ferocious wolves." Verse 16 continues on to warn us that "we shall know them by their fruits."
So, by reading the passage of Scripture in context, we find that the Bible clearly warns us that it is false prophets and false teachers that we will recognise, or know, by their fruit and not Christians who are walking in the light of God's Word. This is the exact opposite of what is consistently and erroneously taught in the churches today. These people who will look like sheep to the undiscerning will actually be wolves in among the flock of God's pasture. Wolves unmercifully kill sheep targeting especially little lambs and older ones that display some weakness or are not walking strong. They prey upon them and rip them to pieces and devour them.
What is the 'fruit' by which we will discern these wolves, these false prophets? What instruction do we get from God's Word as to how we shall identify them? It is by what they teach - it is their doctrine! It is not by their deeds, either good or bad, that we will recognize them, but as always with those who profess to be called as teachers and prophets to the body of Christ, it is by checking to see that what they preach agrees absolutely with the written Word of God. It will not be by how they look, but rather, by how they sound. Listen to the bleating. The above Scriptures warn that people who profess to be teachers to the body of Christ will be leading undiscerning members of the church to certain death by false prophecies and false teachings. It will be the things that they say! Wolves among the sheep! Sheep being led to the slaughter following after false shepherds.
So then, let any man or woman pronounce that God exists and let them sacrifice their lives to the devout worhip of God - or let them say that God does not exist and let them do likewise in the absence thereof.
Lumen gentium #16 says: "For they who without their own fault do not
know of the Gospel of Christ and His Church, but yet seek God with sincere
heart, and try, under the influence of grace, to carry out His will in
practice, known to them through the dictate of conscience, can attain
eternal salvation."
John Paul II in his Encyclical on the Missions in #10
says the same: "For such people those who do not formally enter the Church, as in LG 16] salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church."
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/13/2008 2:56:21 PM | I just read a killer book called "The Phenomenon of Man" written by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a scientist who also believed in God.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a French philosopher and Jesuit priest who trained as a paleontologist and geologist and took part in the discovery of Peking Man. Teilhard conceived the idea of the Omega Point and developed Vladimir Vernadsky's concept of Noosphere.
Teilhard's primary book, The Phenomenon of Man, discussed a sweeping account of the unfolding of the cosmos. He abandoned traditional interpretations of creation in the Book of Genesis in favor of a less strict interpretation. This displeased certain officials in the Roman Curia, who thought that it undermined the doctrine of original sin developed by Saint Augustine.
Teilhard's position was not favored by his church superiors, who refrained from publication by the Roman Holy Office.
Thank goodness - Pope John XXIII rehabilitated him posthumously, and, since then, his works have been considered an important influence on the contemporary church's stance on evolution.
Who new the The Holy Roman Catholic Church would embrace a progressive stance on evolution that every other Protestant and even Evolutionist sect cannot bring themselves to explore.
Perhaps God, being the author of all creation used The Big Bang as an instrument of Creation. | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/13/2008 7:17:42 PM | I am a strong believer in evolution, please don't be offended...
TO ME -> Religion is just a thing to keep the modern day people (cattle) hoping for something better after all this... Keep people busy and worried (seems like everything is more expensive now? Seem like the quality of things is going down?) and they don't have time to think... If people don't think, they dont' act, and if people don't act soon, our world is going to go to hell... lol yes, it will become hell.. hehe
'God will help you' , 'you will go to heaven ect... If you believe that, i have an imaginary friend that i could sell to ya, he'll protect u and he'll get u into heaven... (just makin a point).
And specifically 'God'... well, say there was some guy named 'god'... he's dead now anyway, so stop reading and studying him and start realizing your own life and how YOU are in charge of it... not some dude that could or could not have existed however many centuries ago... | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/13/2008 7:26:05 PM |
i have an imaginary friend that i could sell to ya, he'll protect u and he'll get u into heaven
how much? does it come with a guarantee or warranty?
have you ever wondered why it was the human race started respecting the dead, burying the dead? some 50-60,000 years ago, one day we left the corpses to rot where they fell then the next we were burying them. | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/13/2008 8:13:29 PM | | yes there is a god and he or she or it is a real ***hole because he gave us free will but bad judgement. | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/14/2008 4:23:56 AM |
yes there is a god and he or she or it is a real ***hole because he gave us free will but bad judgement. 
I'll kneel before no god that doesn't accept me for who I was created to be.
Having said that I do believe in something very specific but seeing as how my beliefs are not generally accepted I tend to keep them to myself and accept other people's beliefs as all beliefs should be accepted. | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/14/2008 6:17:04 AM | Yes. There is a God. I submit my body, mind and spirit to the will of God. I want Him to use me in this life - which is not my own, but His. And in the end, having sacrificed everything to Him, I hope to see Him and reside with Him forever.
I also hope, in this lifetime, to meet a man who embodies devotion and humility and strength such as I find in God. That man will win my heart.
As for the other discussions of God where an awesome reverence is not present... We are all like fractious children raging against the sublime authority of our heavenly heritage.
God is the Creator and Kind forever... Keter ("Crown" in Hebrew: כתר) also known as Kether in the Kabbalah of Judaism, is the topmost of the Sephirot, of the "Tree of life (Kabbalah)." Since its meaning is "crown" so in this sense it is interpreted as both the "topmost" of the Sephirot and the "regal crown" of the Sephirot...Keter is so sublime, it is called in the Zohar "the most hidden of all hidden things", and is completely incomprehensible to man. It is also described as absolute compassion, and Rabbi Moshe Cordovero describes it as the source of the 13 Supernal Attributes of Mercy.
The name of God given to it is Eheieh, the archangel that presides over it is Metatron, the order of angels that resides in it are the Holy Living Creatures (the Chaioth ha Qadesh), and its mundane chakra is said to be the First Swirlings of the cosmos (Primum Mobile, Rashith ha Gilgalin).
As pure formless consciousness, it is often compared with the Sahasrara chakra, in Indian Shakta Tantra.
Efforts of lovers
Left in my mind
I sing in the reaches
We'll see what we find
People they come together
People they fall apart
No one can stop us now
'Cause we are all made of stars --- Moby | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/14/2008 8:04:03 AM | | i think the most difficult thing to fathem without giving yourself to god is forgivness.the lord gives you the ability to forgive those that have did you harm.amazingly i have found this to be the most powerfull tool .my lifes confusion was remedied by forgivness.vengence will destroy humanity.faith will prevent you from going down in flames.the other thing i have found that the lord has blessed me with is selfleness.when you realize that this life is not about you,you find the beauty in everything. | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/15/2008 9:36:52 AM | passionandsong wriote:
i think the most difficult thing to fathem without giving yourself to god is forgivness.the lord gives you the ability to forgive those that have did you harm.amazingly i have found this to be the most powerfull tool .my lifes confusion was remedied by forgivness.vengence will destroy humanity.faith will prevent you from going down in flames.the other thing i have found that the lord has blessed me with is selfleness.when you realize that this life is not about you,you find the beauty in everything.
From my period of apostacy I can agree wholeheartedly that, the humilty that accompanies a belief in God and our place in that God's plan does, indeed, alter how we conduct ourselves one with the other.
I have never found myself so forgiving of others and prone to embrace from self-less love as when I relfect on how much The Creator loves me, a worthless sinner.
The Man of God is drunken without wine
The Man of God is sated without meat
The Man of God is rapturous, amazed
The Man of God has neither food nor sleep
The Man of God is a king beneath a humble cloak
The Man of God is a treasure in a ruin
The Man of God in not of wind and earth
The Man of God is not of fire and water
The Man of God is a sea without a shore
The Man of God rains pearls without a cloud
The Man of God has a hundred moons and skies
The Man of God has hundred sunshines
The Man of God is wise through Truth
The Man of God is not a scholar from a book
The Man of God is beyond faith and disbelief alike
For the Man of God what sin and merit is there?
The Man of God rode away from Non-being
The Man of God has come, sublimely riding
The Man of God Is, Concealed, O Shamsudin!
Search for, and find - The Man of God.
---Jalaluddin Rumi--- | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/15/2008 1:53:01 PM | | I choose to believe that God does exist and that everything in the Bible is true. People laugh and poke fun at Christians and think we're crazy for believing in God.. That's your right to do that, but, if everything in the Bible is the truth, then hell is real and I for one don't want to go there. | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/16/2008 6:12:02 AM | DREAMBOAT333 wrote:
"The Man of God is wise through Truth" | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/16/2008 12:20:09 PM | | nope not here, with the world going to hell in a handbasket, if there is a god, he failed miserably,only god now is greed, capitalism, pollution, poverty, & war also what about cats dogs bugs plants, animals they aint into religion and they die fine | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/16/2008 12:34:45 PM | if there is a god, he failed miserably,only god now is greed, capitalism, pollution, poverty, & war
these things are caused by a lack of belief. | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/16/2008 1:01:09 PM |
but, if everything in the Bible is the truth, then hell is real and I for one don't want to go there.
Sounds like the christian insurance policy to me, "but"... ha! I could be wrong too. | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/16/2008 5:35:07 PM | Well, this falls mostly on your beilief in science or conscence. Scientically based evidence would only prove that there are ans will always be unanswered question about Jesus, God, DNA, Bone Marrow and who came first the chicken or the egg. Knowledge is something that can always be imporoved upon. No one ever knows everything. What we know about DNA can always be improved. Scientifically its seretanty of being singular to one individual is like a million percent but ways to extract it, possibly clone it, ectra remain to be shown. God I think is a institution unto each individual person and what they choose to believe. I can not say with all certainty that I believe in God or that I have faith. I can say that faith in people is bases on a person to person bases and it declines steadly every year for me. So I think the question about is there a God isn't really broad as it is compounded. There are too many ingredients in the singular word God to get a definative answer.
The question might be more like what makes the word God define what it does.  | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/16/2008 6:29:03 PM |
I choose to believe that God does exist and that everything in the Bible is true. People laugh and poke fun at Christians and think we're crazy for believing in God.. That's your right to do that, but, if everything in the Bible is the truth, then hell is real and I for one don't want to go there.
Believing in God won't save your ass, the demons also believe and tremble.
Too bad you don't believe that my God is bigger than your God.... like I do, then you wouldn't worry about your insufficient God who has failed so miserably with His creation, that He is forced to destroy it, as you suggest has happenned with your God's endeavors. | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/16/2008 6:57:27 PM | Message #418
If the existence of god is demonstrated by the assumed winner of some kind of celestial p!ss!ng contest between one's belief that their god is bigger and betterer than someone else's insufficient god merely based on their own belief....it seems to me that all that it demonstrates is that the celestial p!ss!ng competitors have no evidential basis for really claiming anything of consequence, except perhaps their own inanity...or perhaps insanity.
The existence of god...is a matter of speculation.....what makes your speculation any more valid than anyone else's speculation?? At this stage....usually, quotes from the sacred texts get trotted out.......whether they be Moses...or Dawkins or L.Ron Hubbard. | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/16/2008 9:25:33 PM |
If the existence of god is demonstrated by the assumed winner of some kind of celestial p!ss!ng contest between one's belief that their god is bigger and betterer than someone else's insufficient god merely based on their own belief....it seems to me that all that it demonstrates is that the celestial p!ss!ng competitors have no evidential basis for really claiming anything of consequence, except perhaps their own inanity...or perhaps insanity.
The existence of god...is a matter of speculation.....what makes your speculation any more valid than anyone else's speculation?? At this stage....usually, quotes from the sacred texts get trotted out.......whether they be Moses...or Dawkins or L.Ron Hubbard.
At least one can win the p!ss!ng contest.
I was feeling somewhat facetious when I posted previously, and I see you caught the sarcasm in my post of what I was being facetious about. And that point is, that what we believe doesn't necessarily determine who and what God is. If God exists then God is not a creation of man and God is much higher than man, so whatever man may consider God to be, God is always bigger than what we can imagine. If I can think of my definition of love, as being in a higher form than God's love actually is, then I am more advanced in love than God..it is as simple as that..If something can enter my human and limited imagination that is greater than God can express in His nature, then obviously I am greater than God. And imo being greater than God disqualifies God from His title of being God.
Now if you want to discuss what the scriptures reveal, I would be willing to participate in an intellectual debate. But when someone makes a claim as the quote I responded to, and then goes as far as saying that the bible teaches this as truth, when it doesn't......all we have is a p!ss!ng contest. | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/17/2008 8:48:51 AM |
Arrow64 Said:
choose to believe that God does exist and that everything in the Bible is true. People laugh and poke fun at Christians and think we're crazy for believing in God.. That's your right to do that, but, if everything in the Bible is the truth, then hell is real and I for one don't want to go there.
Let's put this particular god's love in perspective...
[husband talking to wife] "I love you very much sweetheart and want to take care of you forever, but if you choose not to love ME in return, I will torture you and make you suffer for all of ETERNITY... dear."
This husband would be deemed psychotic at best and surely locked away, would he not?
You said yourself... you choose to believe in the Christian god because you believe Hell is real are are frighted your god would put you there.
That's sad, isn't it?
James, Seattle, Washington, USA, Earth | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/17/2008 3:07:17 PM | there are 'many' gods
but only ONE true God - He is identified within the Bible - you should read it when you get a chance! | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/17/2008 3:24:58 PM | message #422
Thank you In_________ for your proselytising of an exclusive truth.
I believe the ONE true God is shacked up with the true scotsman, living on a diet of salted porridge (no true scotsman would ever take sugar in his porridge...that's a heathen sassenach practice)
Each religion has its one true god...and sometimes many true gods....each of which is usually supported by various written and/or oral histories. All religions make claims as to the supremacy of their true god(s).....it is a situation that makes Pascal's wager such a risky proposition....personally I'd have better luck with a trifector....but, come to think of it....there's a religion that has that bet covered too!!!!! | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/17/2008 5:09:34 PM | The Rosicrucian Society teaches about how the Egyptian Pharo Aton struggled to institute a monotheistic deity.
Primarily it seems because a variety of political interests adopted a variety of different lesser gods to represent them in the theocratic court.
We who are worhipers of the Semitic deity also struggled in the ancient days with the multiplicity of aspects of the single true deity.
Even in the modern day of the multifarious gods being reconciled in our one true God, our Holy Roman Catholic Church insrtucts in The Mystery of The Holy Trinity of The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost (the three in one and the one in three - the eternal mystery).
Our group mind is coming closer and closer to ascertaining and understanding that duplicity rises toward unity like the many stones at the base of pyramid becoming one stone at the cap of the pyramid. | |
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| Is there a god?
Posted: 5/17/2008 5:40:49 PM |
InJesusName Said:
there are 'many' gods
but only ONE true God - He is identified within the Bible - you should read it when you get a chance!
Don't you see the problem with reading a specific religious document and saying that because IT says it's god is the 'right' god you know the right god?
Dont' you think that EVERY RELIGION believes their god(s) to be the ONE true god(s)? Why would anyone worship a god if they knew it wasn't the right one?
So what if YOUR religious books says your religion is correct. It's meaningless to someone who hasn't bought it, hook, line, and sinker.
I've read your bible. I've even taught Sunday School classes. You're bible isn't correct and it isn't anywhere near flawless. It doesn't take a brilliant person to see that. It's fine that YOU take your book at what a bunch of dead white guys thought should be in there... heck, THEY picked and chose what to put into the bible and now you (and all Christians) pick and choose what you want to believe from it...
James, Seattle, Washington, USA, Earth | |
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