is there a god?

[Muffled]

That is your choice. But I'd label such a belief 'idolatry': elevating the work of men to the level of deity.

I believe I would label what you said, blasphemy: attributing to men the words of God.

 

[PureX]

I believe I would label what you said, blasphemy: attributing to men the words of God.

You'd have a tough time proving that, though, since men clearly DID write the text, edit it, and assemble it. Not God.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

God is the modern spelling for Gad, the ancient deity which represented luck, fortune, fate
it has been a very clever ruse to substitute the titles....so people crying out OMG are saying oh my luck[fate]
people suck at spells.

Nonsense.

In case anyone's curious about the actual origins of the term:

god | Origin and meaning of god by Online Etymology Dictionary

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I believe one can't love or be loved without freedom of choice.

It's counterproductive, though. If we want all love in the world, why make an ultimatum to choose sin?

Why can't love be love for its own sake and not dependent on ego in order to choose/have the right experience it?

 

[PureX]

It's counterproductive, though. If we want all love in the world, why make an ultimatum to choose sin?

Why can't love be love for its own sake and not dependent on ego in order to choose/have the right experience it?

There is no love without choice. Love IS our choosing to consider the well-being of another as, or more, important than our own. Choosing to do so, freely, is what makes love, love.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

There is no love without choice. Love IS our choosing to consider the well-being of another as, or more, important than our own. Choosing to do so, freely, is what makes love, love.

If you're in the presence of love, then why would one go against it just because he or she wants the "choice" to love? Why is freedom of choice (between bad and good options) more important than being in a state of love where no one chooses bad because love exists on its own accord?

If I gave you the choice to give Sara food or water, that would be fine. You still have freedom of choice. If I tell you you have the choice to give Sara food or poison, you would choose food. If you took the poison out, you still have the choice to give food but that choice does not depend on sin but your willing to give love that you experience yourself or not). Not because of fear or opposition to suffering, but love as a choice in and of itself.

 

[PureX]

If you're in the presence of love, then why would one go against it just because he or she wants the "choice" to love?

We go against it because we choose to put our own well-being before that of others.

Why is freedom of choice (between bad and good options) more important than being in a state of love where no one chooses bad because love exists on its own accord?

denying others the ability to choose is NOT love. It's just control. For love to be love, it must be freely given.

If I gave you the choice to give Sara food or water, that would be fine. You still have freedom of choice. If I tell you you have the choice to give Sara food or poison, you would choose food. If you took the poison out, you still have the choice to give food but that choice does not depend on sin but your willing to give love that you experience yourself or not). Not because of fear or opposition to suffering, but love as a choice in and of itself.

Love IS a choice in and of, itself. If we only love those who love us back,

 

[Unveiled Artist]

We go against it because we choose to put our own well-being before that of others.
denying others the ability to choose is NOT love. It's just control. For love to be love, it must be freely given.
Love IS a choice in and of, itself. If we only love those who love us back,

(I read). If I placed you in a loving god environment, the only choice you have is to love. Do you want this type of choice or the choice between love and sin?

 

[Zaha Torte]

Why did God allows Satan to tempt Adam and Eve knowing that they would fail? I mean everything was going so well! They loved God and God loved them. Then Why? Why? did God allows this temptation to happen, which ultimately caused the downfall of man? And then of course God send the flood that killed thousands of men, women and children. After that, well we know what happened to the Egyptians. How many plagues did they have to go through? five ? six? even more? And then of course the killing of the first born of Egypt? was all this necessary? infanticide is what it was. And then somewhere down the line - Hitler. Who killed how many Jews? 6 million I believe? why? what possible reason could there be for allowing 6 million people to be killed?
of course then there are the horrible things that happen day to day. But then we are told that Jesus came to die for our sins. But is that not similar to burning a house, setting it on fire and then rushing in to rescue the people inside? I don't understand.

Adam and Eve needed to gain knowledge and experience and they could not get any of that if they did not first Fall.

 

[MonkeyFire]

Sorry to disagree with one. The natural word "temptation", I understand, has got nothing to do with knowledge of good and evil:
"temptation (n.)
c. 1200, "act of enticing someone to sin," also "an experience or state of being tempted," from Old French temptacion (12c., Modern French tentation), from Latin temptationem (nominative temptatio), noun of action from past participle stem of temptare "to feel, try out" (see tempt). Meaning "that which tempts a person (to sin)" is from c. 1500."
temptation | Origin and meaning of temptation by Online Etymology Dictionary
And its synonyms/antonyms are also not near to as one has stated:
Synonyms of temptation | Thesaurus.com
Right, please?
There is no harm, therefore, if one likes to revise one's understanding of it. Right, please?

Regards

Temptation is a seven headed dragon, or a bull-human/devil.

 

[paarsurrey]

Temptation is a seven headed dragon, or a bull-human/devil.

So, was one talking of fiction, sorry, I did not realize? Right, please?

Regards

 

[MonkeyFire]

So, was one talking of fiction, sorry, I did not realize? Right, please?

Regards

No.

 

[paarsurrey]

No.

MonkeyFire said: ↑
Temptation is a seven headed dragon, or a bull-human/devil.

Then quote from the God-the-Father in support of one's claim and the gist of reason from from Him. Right, please?
Just to mention the book of Revelation of NT is neither written by Jesus nor dictated by him to John, please. Right, please?

Regards

 

[Jedster]

Why did God allows Satan to tempt Adam and Eve knowing that they would fail? I mean everything was going so well! They loved God and God loved them. Then Why? Why? did God allows this temptation to happen, which ultimately caused the downfall of man? And then of course God send the flood that killed thousands of men, women and children. After that, well we know what happened to the Egyptians. How many plagues did they have to go through? five ? six? even more? And then of course the killing of the first born of Egypt? was all this necessary? infanticide is what it was. And then somewhere down the line - Hitler. Who killed how many Jews? 6 million I believe? why? what possible reason could there be for allowing 6 million people to be killed?
of course then there are the horrible things that happen day to day. But then we are told that Jesus came to die for our sins. But is that not similar to burning a house, setting it on fire and then rushing in to rescue the people inside? I don't understand.

The focus of the 'Abrahamic' religions is all about guilt & punishment by this almighty omni being.
It is all based on fear.
People don't seem to have any real experience of this, what they call God. If they did, they would not need to write myriads of long posts quoting their preferred books(called scripture).
This is evident in RF(no offense to Abrahamic). They are worshiping books, rather than seeing them as allegorical.

Better to look within ones self to discover any truth.
One's own life is the only real scripture.

 

[Skywalker]

The focus of the 'Abrahamic' religions is all about guilt & punishment by this almighty omni being.
It is all based on fear.
People don't seem to have any real experience of this, what they call God. If they did, they would not need to write myriads of long posts quoting their preferred books(called scripture).
This is evident in RF(no offense to Abrahamic). They are worshiping books, rather than seeing them as allegorical.

Better to look within ones self to discover any truth.
One's own life is the only real scripture.

Sin is real. Believing is sin is not about fear. In a society, there are laws. The same applies with God and His standards. I dont agree with meditation because it teaches people to believe in themselves, not to trust God.

 

[Jedster]

Sin is real. Believing is sin is not about fear. In a society, there are laws. The same applies with God and His standards. I dont agree with meditation because it teaches people to believe in themselves, not to trust God.

What you say is fair enough for a believer in (the Biblical)God.
Believing in sin presupposes the existence of said God, which comes from the revered books. It is based on here say and literal readings of the literature.
Because you say 'sin is real' does not make it real.
It is a clever concept to control people(by fear), IMO.
'Looking within' does not necessarily mean meditation. It means an honest assessment of one's existence based on one's own experiences, not others' experiences.

 

[Skywalker]

If I may take all of these occurrences in a sum total and explain why God allowed it all to take place.....



He did not set them up to fail.....he allowed them to make a choice, warning in advance what would happen if they disobeyed him. Its called free will and its part of being made in God's image and likeness.

Humans are not the only ones with free will and it needs to be stressed that the first rebel was not human.
A once perfect angel got a carried away with his own magnificence and wanted to be worshipped like his Creator.

Ezekiel 28:12-17 says of this once beautiful creature.......
"You are sealing up a pattern, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 In Eʹden, the garden of God, you proved to be. Every precious stone was your covering. . . .In the day of your being created they were made ready. 14 You are the anointed cherub that is covering, and I have set you. On the holy mountain of God you proved to be. In the midst of fiery stones you walked about. 15 You were faultless in your ways from the day of your being created until unrighteousness was found in you.

17 “Your heart became haughty because of your beauty You brought your wisdom to ruin on account of your beaming splendor."

This appointed guardian angel who was stationed in the Garden of Eden began to entertain wrong thinking and instead of dismissing these thoughts, he dwelt on them and turned them into action. (James 1:13-15)

There are millions of other magnificent angels in heaven according to the Bible, and all have free will. Whatever God's response was to this rebellion had to be such that another 'satan' could never take humanity, or his fellow angels down this track again.

"Telling" them the folly of disobedience wasn't enough....so God allowed them to 'reap what they had sown'.....to "demonstrate" in real terms what it meant to go against the will of God in order to implement their own will.......so God allowed the one they chose to obey, to rule over them. (1 John 5:19)

Romans 6:16...
"Do you not know that if you keep presenting yourselves to anyone as slaves to obey him, you are slaves of him because you obey him, either of sin with death in view or of obedience with righteousness in view?”

We choose who we will obey.



God told them how to have a wonderful life....and gave them everything they would need to live in paradise conditions forever, filling the earth with their children and extending the boundaries of their garden home until the whole earth resembled Eden......all they had to do was respect God's Sovereign right to set the reasonable limits of their freedom. When someone's free will is abused, the free will of others is compromised. God wanted to teach his children how to drive this wonderful gift, but disobedience turned it into a curse.



All these episodes involved acts of disobedience.....it wasn't like they didn't know better....or that God did not warn them about the consequences of their actions....but they chose to disobey the Creator and he demonstrated that ignoring their rightful Sovereign had consequences.

The one thing that we must not forget, is that God has the power and authority over life and death. What he takes away, he can restore, so there are no lives lost that cannot be returned in a promised resurrection. (John 5:28-29)

This is an object lesson of mammoth proportions, designed to test out every way that humans can think up, to guide their own lives without him. God knew that they would fail...but they had to find out the hard way.

We are in the throes of learning what it means to obey God and to use wisdom in exercising our free will......
King Solomon wrote...
"The conclusion of the matter, everything having been heard, is: Fear the true God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole obligation of man. 14 For the true God will judge every deed, including every hidden thing, as to whether it is good or bad."

It is not just a choice, but an obligation. God will judge between good and bad because humans can't always tell the difference. That is why he wanted to keep that determination to himself. It was never going to benefit them.



God built the house, but the devil used the humans to burn it down. They suffered painful burns in the process. God sent Jesus to repair the damage and to help rehabilitate them and get them back to what God purposed in the beginning.



The Bible explains it all very clearly. God always finishes what he starts (Isaiah 55:11).....and it always turns out right in the end.
In our case, whatever we have tried has failed. We have proven that we cannot rule ourselves successfully without God, and he sent Jesus to pay for our sins so that we will have many precedents set for all eternity to come.......meaning that we will never have to endure anything like this again.....and who would want to?

Some people think that that verse is a reference to the King of Tyre or the spiritual ruler of the region of Tyre.

 

[Deeje]

Some people think that that verse is a reference to the King of Tyre or the spiritual ruler of the region of Tyre.

It is directed to the King of Tyre.....but unless he was a covering cherub in the garden of Eden, it is relating to this King's kinship to satan....he was undone by the same means.....thinking too much of himself.

Ezekiel 28:12-17 says of this once beautiful creature.......
"You are sealing up a pattern, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 In Eʹden, the garden of God, you proved to be. Every precious stone was your covering. . . .In the day of your being created they were made ready. 14 You are the anointed cherub that is covering, and I have set you. On the holy mountain of God you proved to be. In the midst of fiery stones you walked about. 15 You were faultless in your ways from the day of your being created until unrighteousness was found in you.

17 “Your heart became haughty because of your beauty You brought your wisdom to ruin on account of your beaming splendor."

The scripture was speaking about one who was formerly very beautiful.....and this personage was not said to be "born" but "created". Verse 17 says that his magnificence corrupted him.

 

[MonkeyFire]

MonkeyFire said: ↑
Temptation is a seven headed dragon, or a bull-human/devil.

Then quote from the God-the-Father in support of one's claim and the gist of reason from from Him. Right, please?
Just to mention the book of Revelation of NT is neither written by Jesus nor dictated by him to John, please. Right, please?

Regards

Mankind kind was tempted by knowledge of good and evil, that ancient dragon.