The God Thread - Page 5

I believe in my God, just not anyone elses. Maybe some others see it my way, but most do not I'm sure. My god is undefinable, yet definable paradoxically..He is no gender, per se, but also abstract and allegorical/metephor and symbolic, yet in an artsy way, real.

He is the light, energy, the force, life, etc. Whatever that is, my god is. I like to call him Zeus, Thor, Donnar, Jupitor and the whole gambut of Pagon sun/thunder gods from south to north and east to west, and these visions are only still held by a few holdouts from the JudeoXian invasion. Borg.

Savanthar out. Not totally, just for a bit. Shazam!!!

Looks like we have two new people here - Welcome

I think Curiousity is in our nature. We were created that way. We will always be curious. Always searching for the whole truth and never finding it - for it is more than we can comprehend. However, it can make for a very interesting adventure.

You have your God, I have my God. My God may be different than your God. But I bet it's the same God.

Your God sounds interesting. I want to hear more.

Roger

The gods worshipped by man were all created by man, not the other way around. If there were a god omniscient, man wouldn't be able to understand the entity's essence and would hence be incapable of explaining it to other (wo)men. If there were a god who was omnipresent and omnipotent then this universe is an utter perversity of cruelty and evil; it has little to do with compassion and love. Personally I don't feel troubled (not at all bothered by some weird sense of guilt) for having this opinion - a god with aforementioned qualities would not have given me the opportunity to do so if (s)he would get upset by it and would not have given me reason nor the ability to come to these conclusions. The vast majority of the world's population exists in abhorring circumstance while a small minority is wallowing in decandent affluence. This would be the first thing true followers of a true god would try to change, yet hardly anyone bothers to make a significant effort. Living in prosperity implies having responsibility, yet all I see happening around me is people trying to defend the riches they have against those who have less and they call themselves believers. These are the ones who run the world: http://www.vaticanassassins.org (read the 'Kolvenbach' link at the left) and this guy gives all the believers plenty to re-consider: http://www.skolnicksreport.com but all most worry about is their second or third car, their home cinema systems, digital cameras etc. Of course no one should feel personally addressed by this opinion. Especially those who have sound arguments against it. Have a nice day!

Rage - the only part I can understand that you're talking about is that you shouldn't feel guilty. No - you shouldn't feel guility. As far as the rest of your post and the links. All I can say is, "those black helicopters are watching you."

I guess the general assessment one could make about black helicopters is that they are somewhere between fiction and reality. But there is an abundance of hard to obtain information available on the web that contains argument to be taken seriously and by it's nature makes it rather difficult to justify the involvement of a good god with this space and time.

Sorry I don't have anything poignant to say, but I just had to say I like Rage's answer to the god question. Very thoughtful and with deep understanding and a very human, humane, philosophy. Many ackolades. I do have to say though that even though humans do spend a lot of time liking 'things' and the external world in all of its beauty and spectacle, we are often reminded of what is really important on the inside (like when we experience health crisis and sickness) and how prescious life itself is without all the external hype and really pointless items.

It is said that when a man has nothing to lose, like family, friends, loved ones and a house/home, etc. dogs/pets, whatever, then he isn't afraid to die. This is true. We are afraid to die because there is so much to live for, even life itself, but when all is lost, we are alone and ready as we ever will be to go (hopefully in sleep after living a full and happy life, as good as it gets awyway). Peace and love all, on this inside as much as anything on the outside.

God? I think if there is a god, then maybe we can't comprehend him and perhaps this is all part of his joke on us? Maybe he is playing a joke, however sick I don't know or even if he is there or playing a joke, but whatever his sense of humor is depends on how you philosophize it or are affected by it in this world of joy and tears. Too much. Got to go.

I fully agree that there is a God far above our understanding. But why so negative? If you personaly are in suffering (sickness/hunger/homeless) I feel for you. But if you have access to make a post I would rather think that you're not too bad off. I feel myself that I have much to be thankful. Possibly even a little spoiled being an American.

However - If we would have maintained the natural order of things like the indians. Been a friend to nature rather its enemy. We might be in a better disposition of ourselves, our world and our god. All things were not by chance. Choices were made

"Negative because an international conscience IS negative. The world is a cesspool of capitalism and exploitation. "
What's the alternative? Communism is pretty nifty but we all know how that turned out. And I don't think there is a problem with capitalism itself (when there is a want, let companies fight to fulfil it the cheapest) but with advertising. We are swamped by huge amounts of pointless advertising who do nothing except CONVINCE us that we need something.
After we stopped living with so much pointless luxury, the demands of the 3rd world might be more important, and the companies would go there.

Advetising is nescessary but not under the form we know it. Advertising should be used to communicate meaningful, useful information which can convince you that something available is better then what was previously available (either quality or price).
As it is now, because of the way advertising works, the quality/price of the product is no longer the sole major thing which determines whether or not people buy it. On the contrary, the way advertising has been perfected over the years, is your skill at advertising not your skill at making a good product, which determines whether or not you can sell.
For example, I just recently saw a GAP commercial where Madonna sang with some other singer. That commercial told me nothing, except two singers were paid by a jean company. Despite this, GAP's sales are likely to go up. Its just feels so wrong to me.

Life is suffering and joy. We try to increase joy and decrease suffering, hopefully for others as well as ourselves. If you could chose between pain and pleasure, you would likely always chose pleasure, even if pain was a pleasure as it is for some (addicts and such).

We increase happiness and all that is in this pursuit. What we percieve that makes us happy is a personal choice or attitude, or ability. Simple things? Complex things? All depends on how you feel about it at the time, right?

Even in poor countries, as in the whole of the animal kingdom, happiness and joy are primely sought out, like when your dog is happy to see you, but of course I go on too much. The trouble begins, as you have all pointed out, that when your happiness is causing, or causes, others pain (which is why we shouldn't trespass on basic human rights of anyone, whether in the country or the world at large), we are doing all a disservice and injustice, ourselves included.

What goes around, comes around, like Karma, or cause and effect. If you want joy, give it. If you want love, you have to love. You get what you sow as it were. All we can do is learn the situation and be as helpful as we can and hope we have a high sense of altruism doing it (and responsibility to all living beings in the world). This is where the problem lays mostly, people simply are not as altruistic as they as they think, or like to be, or their religions claim they should be.

I saw where a study that was done once pointed this very thing out, that even people who thought they were altruistic (a trait we start learning by age 3 from our parents), find out they aren't. This isn't surprising, most white folk don't think they are racists, but psychological studies were done that show that most are in day to day living even though they didn't personally think so of themselves.

Saw on Discovery schools once. It is that deeply ingrained. If you aren't actively seeking or part of the solution, you are blindly part of the problem, right? You don't have to tell me, I'm just the messenger.

Savanthar.

"What goes around, comes around, like Karma, or cause and effect. If you want joy, give it. If you want love, you have to love. You get what you sow as it were."
Evil people can be happy and good people can suffer. I've never really understood this philosophy.

"This is where the problem lays mostly, people simply are not as altruistic as they as they think, or like to be, or their religions claim they should be."
I agree completely! People are never in practice as good as they're religion (or ethics) claim they are. I've had a lot of trouble in the past coming to terms with the fact that people don't like to think they're jerks, but that doesn't mean they can't act like jerks.

Is it true that the glass is half empty - yes, absolutely

Is it true that the glass is half full - yes absolutely

In choosing to see the glass half full I might turn my head to some negatives

In choosing to see the glass half empty, I might not notice the flowers.

There is no right or wrong here. However if you click on the links provided, it aint all right. And general statements about us, them and they and even believers isn't correct either.

It is written that if a man has no hope, he will die. So why take away his hope?

This is my first post here, and I don't surprise myself at all that I chose this as the first thread to reply to for the simple fact that God is probably one of the only absolute Truths I believe in.
After years of studying philosophy and analyzing several ontological theories (including the major theistic traditions), my belief, or rather my knowledge of God is absolute.
I am bit of a Kantian philosopher in regard to my beliefs about His existence; that is, He exists for me because I did not receive any knowledge of Him "a priori." In other words, I can pose the question of His existence to myself even though my senses have never allowed me to realize or experience--in any manner whatsoever--that He exists.

Not sure I got that Rosseti.
You believe in God even though you've had no experiences to show he exists?
Sounds a bit odd

what is: a Kantian