Convince me that God is loving

[YoursTrue]

Is the point that God doesn't love everybody in you estimation?

Here are two points: one is that God has standards and He has let us know what they are, inherently (by conscience) and overtly (by letting people know in the Bible more specifically what His standards are. So it is written that murderers, adulterers, and certain others will not inherit God's kingdom. 1 Corinthians 6:9 spells it out in part for us: "Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men

So lots of people are going to die in the upheaval?

Here's something to think about -- "Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men" 1 Corinthians 6:9.

 

[Trailblazer]

Here are two points: one is that God has standards and He has let us know what they are, inherently (by conscience) and overtly (by letting people know in the Bible more specifically what His standards are. So it is written that murderers, adulterers, and certain others will not inherit God's kingdom. 1 Corinthians 6:9 spells it out in part for us: "Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men

Here's something to think about -- "Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men" 1 Corinthians 6:9.

What do you think it means to inherit the kingdom of God? I think it means to go to heaven. I don't think that sexual immorality alone is enough to bar a person from heaven. Remember that Jesus said there is only one unforgivable sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

All sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin” (Mark 3:28-29)

 

[Truthseeker]

Here are two points: one is that God has standards and He has let us know what they are, inherently (by conscience) and overtly (by letting people know in the Bible more specifically what His standards are. So it is written that murderers, adulterers, and certain others will not inherit God's kingdom. 1 Corinthians 6:9 spells it out in part for us: "Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men

Okay, so I take it you believe as I do that will not reward bad behavior and will punish it. You didn't say that God wouldn't love such people, so I take that as a hint that you believe that God loves everyone as I do.

 

[chinu]

What does it mean to say God is Love? It makes no sense at all which is why I cannot believe it.

Like.. Fire is Burning.
Similarly.. God is Love.

Like.. Burning and Fire are one with each other.
Similary.. God and love are one with each other.

 

[Trailblazer]

Like.. Fire is Burning.
Similarly.. God is Love.

Like.. Burning and Fire are one with each other.
Similary.. God and love are one with each other.

*OPTIMISTIC*

 

[Muffled]

God isn't loving. God is Love.
There's a big difference between someone being loving VS someone itself is Love.

I define God's love as goodness in action and only God is good.

 

[Trailblazer]

I define God's love as goodness in action and only God is good.

What action? What are the 'good' actions of God, allowing myriad humans and animals to suffer every day?

 

[chinu]

I define God's love as goodness in action and only God is good.

What action? What are the 'good' actions of God, allowing myriad humans and animals to suffer every day?

God is inside everything/everyone. Relatively God is inside every action.

God does NOT perform love. God itself is Love/energy. And that love/energy is blind.

Because love is blind possibly an action/actions may appear, or NOT appear good.

 

[Trailblazer]

God is inside everything/everyone. Relatively God is inside every action.

God does NOT perform love. God itself is Love/energy. And that love/energy is blind.

Because love is blind possibly an action/actions may appear, or NOT appear good.

*** OPTIMISTIC ***

 

[PureX]

Convince me that God is loving without referring to scriptures that say that.

You are a loving being. Your ability to love is a reflection of the divine spirit within you.

A person who loves someone does things to show that they love that person, and they make sacrifices for the other person. If a man tells me he loves me but does nothing to show it, why would I believe him?

It is a common condition among we humans that we only see what we look for, and that we do not see what we are not looking for, even when it's all around us. If you see no love in the world, being given to you and to others, then you are simply not looking.

What does God do to show He loves us?

He put you in the world with billions of other people, all both willing and able to love you. All of then reflections of that divine spirit within them.

What sacrifices does God make?

Why are you seeking a sacrifice?

I see no evidence that God is loving, so I have to write that off as a faith-based belief.

You see what you look for. You don't see what you don't look for. Seeing requires an oen mind. A closed mind sees nothing but itself.

P.S. Whether we should love God or not is another discussion. In principle, I think we should love God and other people without expectation of getting anything in return. I do not need God’s love in order to love God. I do not need love from anyone in order to love that person because I consider that selfish.

The lover and the beloved are just reflections of each other. And reflections of God.

Christians and Baha’s believe that God is loving, and I think there is a reason for that, other than what their scriptures say. Imo, they have to believe God is loving because they need to feel loved by God in order to love God. I have no idea why since I do not need God’s love in order to love God. The reason I want to know if God is loving is because I am tired of religious people saying that God is loving with nothing but scriptures to back that up.

It's sad that you let your religion cause you to turn your nose up and not see the love of others like that.

 

[Trailblazer]

You are a loving being. Your ability to love is a reflection of the divine spirit within you.

How do you know that I am a loving being?
You believe that my ability to love is a reflection of the divine spirit within me.
I believe is that since I was made in the image of God, if God is a loving being, then I have the ability to be a loving being.

It is a common condition among we humans that we only see what we look for, and that we do not see what we are not looking for, even when it's all around us. If you see no love in the world, being given to you and to others, then you are simply not looking.

I did not say I do not see love in the world being given to me and to others, I do see that, but I don't see God being loving since God is not even here.

He put you in the world with billions of other people, all both willing and able to love you. All of then reflections of that divine spirit within them.

Why give God the credit for what loving people do? What does God do to show He loves us?

Why are you seeking a sacrifice?

I did not say I was seeking a sacrifice. I was only pointing out that God is not sacrificing anything of Himself for humans, unless you are a Christian who believes that God sacrificed His only son. I don't believe that since I don't believe God had a son. Only humans have offspring.

You see what you look for.

You see what you are looking for, which is what you already believe, anything that confirms your belief that God is loving.
In other words, you want to believe that God is loving so you interpret what you see in the world to mean that God is loving.

You don't see what you don't look for.

Quite the contrary, I have looked and looked for any evidence that indicates that God is loving but I just don't see any.
I could imagine that things that happen, people who come my way to help me and other people were sent by God, but in reality those loving people are acting of their own free will, they are not preprogrammed robots of God. Why give God the credit for what people do?

Seeing requires an open mind. A closed mind sees nothing but itself.

I could say the same thing to you, that since you don't see what I see you have a closed mind.
People who have an open mind do not all see the same things. That is not logical. We all see things differently, according to what is in our own minds, which is a product of our learning and life experiences.

The lover and the beloved are just reflections of each other. And reflections of God.

That is only a faith-based belief, a personal opinion.

It's sad that you let your religion cause you to turn your nose up and not see the love of others like that.

It is certainly not my religion that causes me to think as I do. I am going against what my religion teaches if I say that God is not Loving.
I do see the love of others, I just don't see the love of God. Thus I believe 'God is loving' is a faith-based belief, based solely upon scriptures.

 

[idea]

There are many types of love.

I "love" carrots - love to rip them out of the ground, love to eat them . The carrot might have a different definition of love?

 

[Trailblazer]

There are many types of love.

I "love" carrots - love to rip them out of the ground, love to eat them . The carrot might have a different definition of love?

Good point. Maybe God loves to rip us to shreds so we can barely function, and then call that love.
The shredded humans might have a different definition of love.

 

[PureX]

How do you know that I am a loving being?

We all are.

You believe that my ability to love is a reflection of the divine spirit within me.
I believe is that since I was made in the image of God, if God is a loving being, then I have the ability to be a loving being.

Didn't we just say the same thing?

I did not say I do not see love in the world being given to me and to others, I do see that, but I don't see God being loving since God is not even here.

So, basically, you just defined God out of existence for yourself. The good news is that you can just as easily define God back into existence if you want to.

Why give God the credit for what loving people do?

You unfortunately aren't seeing that God and us are one and the same because you have defined God out of our existence. But God exists within us. So when we love, God loves. And when we love each other, we are loving God in each other. This was the whole revelation (and promise) of Christ. It's what makes Christianity different from other religious ideologies. It awakens us to God within.

What does God do to show He loves us?

Wrong question. What do we do to express the God-spirit within us? We love, and forgive, and we are kind, generous, honest, caring, and wise.

I did not say I was seeking a sacrifice. I was only pointing out that God is not sacrificing anything of Himself for humans,...

So what? Why should God be sacrificing for us? God has already given us the gift of being. Isn't that enough? I don't know about you, but I am very grateful to be alive and to be a human and to be 'here' every day! Truly! Why would I want to see God 'sacrifice'?

You see what you are looking for, which is what you already believe, anything that confirms your belief that God is loving.
In other words, you want to believe that God is loving so you interpret what you see in the world to mean that God is loving.

Yes, I WANT to believe in a loving God. So I look for the evidence of that divine love all around me, and in me, every day. And I see it all around me and in me, every day, as a result.

Faith is amazing that way. So if you aren't seeing God's love all around you, and in you, too, it's because you aren't looking for it, or you've defined it out of existence for yourself. And that's your own doing. Not God's.

Quite the contrary, I have looked and looked for any evidence that indicates that God is loving but I just don't see any.

The evidence is everywhere. If you can't see it, then you need to check your definitions of God and of love. Because the one's you're holding onto are blinding you.

I could imagine that things that happen, people who come my way to help me and other people were sent by God, but in reality those loving people are acting of their own free will, they are not preprogrammed robots of God. Why give God the credit for what people do?

Stop assuming that God is someone else, somewhere else. That would be a good place to start. Try assuming that God is omnipresent, universal, and inexplicable; ... the source, sustenance, and purpose of all that is (in you and around you and everywhere all the time).

I could say the same thing to you, that since you don't see what I see you have a closed mind.

But I am happy and grateful and fully loved by my mind's God. While your mind's God is invisible to you, and inconsequential and apparently is letting you down. And it's your choice. That's the amazing gift of faith. You get to choose the God idea that you want to try and trust in, and if it doesn't work, choose a better one.

People who have an open mind do not all see the same things. That is not logical. We all see things differently, according to what is in our own minds, which is a product of our learning and life experiences.

Mostly, we see what we expect to see, and ignore what we expect not to be there. It's often called "confirmation bias". It's the result of our not being omniscient. But there is a great gift in that unknowing, and it's called faith. We get to decide for ourselves what we hope to see, and in doing that we tend to make it so. We really do live in a world of our own creation, for more-so than we realize.

That is only a faith-based belief, a personal opinion.

Faith is the key to everything.

It is certainly not my religion that causes me to think as I do. I am going against what my religion teaches if I say that God is not Loving.
I do see the love of others, I just don't see the love of God. Thus I believe 'God is loving' is a faith-based belief, based solely upon scriptures.

Well, in my life it has nothing to do with religions or scriptures. I experienced God's love for myself when I was saved and healed by the love of strangers in Alcoholics Anonymous. I witnessed and participated in the power of love to heal the mind and heart and soul by giving and accepting it among strangers without any hope that it would work. But it did work. Lives were saved, people were healed, and I am still sober and pretty happy 30 year later.

Maybe it's time to forget about "God" and just focus on the love in your life. Look for it, develop it, share it with others. Find your joy in it and be grateful for it. Let it heal you and save you from yourself.

Just sayin', it's your choice.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

you just defined God out of existence for yourself.

Haven't you done that? You've just called the things we see and feel God. I experience love, but I don't give it a name. I experience a sense of mystery and awe, but I have no reason to call it God or give it any name at all. I experience gratitude at being alive, but gratitude doesn't require an object to be grateful to. Other people's gods do things like answer prayers and perform miracles, but yours has no role. These other theists would need to modify their metaphysics if they became atheist, but not you. You just need to stop calling everyday life God.

God and us are one and the same

Then we don't need the god concept. It's redundant.

when we love, God loves

Same answer. You're renaming human love God's love. That adds nothing. That explains nothing. Why don't we call God's love evidence of meta-God and His love shining through this sub-God? Why not? What's to stop us?

God has already given us the gift of being.

We don't need to credit to imagined beings for what nature appears to be able to do without help - exist.

Yes, I WANT to believe in a loving God. So I look for the evidence of that divine love all around me, and in me, every day. And I see it all around me and in me, every day, as a result. Faith is amazing that way.

That's a huge red flag to a critical thinker. You've described a faith-based confirmation bias. This was the mistake of the ID people and why what they did was pseudoscience. They went into it wanting and expecting to find God, and guess what happened? They did - or so they claimed - with repeated claims of irreducible complexity found in biological systems all debunked. Like you, they found what they wanted to see. Faith is amazing that way.

 

[Trailblazer]

We all are.

We might all have the 'potential' to be loving but not everyone acts lovingly, that's for sure.

Didn't we just say the same thing?

It amounts to the same thing, but I don't believe that there is literally a divine spirit living inside of our body. Rather, I believe we (our soul) has a spiritual nature that is capable of reflecting the attributes of God. However, our soul also has a material nature, a lower baser nature, that is capable of all sorts of selfishness and evil.

So, basically, you just defined God out of existence for yourself. The good news is that you can just as easily define God back into existence if you want to.

I don't see God being loving since there is no evidence that God is loving. It is only a belief some people hold.

That is not defining God out of existence. I just have a different view of God than you have. I'm sure you have been on this forum long enough to realize that people have different beliefs about God. Why is yours more correct than mine?

God does not have to be loving in order to be God. That is just one view of God that comes from certain religions.

You unfortunately aren't seeing that God and us are one and the same because you have defined God out of our existence. But God exists within us. So when we love, God loves.

I do not believe that God and us are 'one and the same', as that goes completely against my Baha'i beliefs.
I do not believe that God exists 'within us', as that also goes completely against my Baha'i beliefs.

“And now concerning thy reference to the existence of two Gods. Beware, beware, lest thou be led to join partners with the Lord, thy God. He is, and hath from everlasting been, one and alone, without peer or equal, eternal in the past, eternal in the future, detached from all things, ever-abiding, unchangeable, and self-subsisting. He hath assigned no associate unto Himself in His Kingdom, no counsellor to counsel Him, none to compare unto Him, none to rival His glory. To this every atom of the universe beareth witness, and beyond it the inmates of the realms on high, they that occupy the most exalted seats, and whose names are remembered before the Throne of Glory.”
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 192​

When we love, we love. It is not God loving since God remains in his own high place, on His Throne of Glory.

And when we love each other, we are loving God in each other.

Some Baha'is believe that, but I do not hold that belief.

This was the whole revelation (and promise) of Christ. It's what makes Christianity different from other religious ideologies. It awakens us to God within.

I am not a Christian so I do not agree with how Christians interpret what Jesus 'purportedly' said, what we have no way of knowing that He said.
I do not believe that God 'lives inside' of a human body since I consider that ludicrous.

Regarding God's love, Christianity is no different than the Baha'i Faith, and it is not 'special.' Jesus did not invent God's love. Many other religions teach that God is loving. Hinduism is much older than Christianity and it teaches that God is love.

Love in Hinduism is sacrament. It preaches that one gives up selfishness in love, not expecting anything in return. It also believes "God is love". A sacred text named Kanda Guru Kavasa quotes, " Oh holy Great flame, Grant me with love.​

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_on_love​

Religious views on love - Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_on_love​

Wrong question. What do we do to express the God-spirit within us? We love, and forgive, and we are kind, generous, honest, caring, and wise.

Why can't you answer my question? What does God do to show He loves us?
I am not asking what we do, I already know what we do, but I believe that God is a separate being, one and alone (see passage above).

So what? Why should God be sacrificing for us? God has already given us the gift of being. Isn't that enough? I don't know about you, but I am very grateful to be alive and to be a human and to be 'here' every day! Truly! Why would I want to see God 'sacrifice'?

I did not say I think that God should sacrifice anything for humans, that is ludicrous. God cannot be anything less than He is or He would not be God.
Our parents gave us the 'gift of being.' God did not create us.

Wake up and smell the coffee. Life is not a picnic for everyone, so not everyone is grateful to be alive. Take your blinders off and look at all the suffering in the world, individually and collectively.

Yes, I WANT to believe in a loving God. So I look for the evidence of that divine love all around me, and in me, every day. And I see it all around me and in me, every day, as a result.

That's the key. You WANT to believe in a loving God so you imagine that God is loving. There is evidence that 'some' humans are loving, so you attribute what humans do that is loving to God, when God is doing nothing at all. I am with the atheists such as @It Aint Necessarily So and @F1fan on this. The only way my view differs from their views is that I believe that God sent Messengers out of His love for us, but how hard was that for an omnipotent God? And Imo it is not God who deserves the credit for what Jesus or any of the other Messengers did on their missions, they are the ones who deserve the credit for suffering and sacrificing.

Faith is amazing that way. So if you aren't seeing God's love all around you, and in you, too, it's because you aren't looking for it, or you've defined it out of existence for yourself. And that's your own doing. Not God's.

You are so biased by your personal opinions that you cannot see straight, and you state them as if they are facts, when they are only beliefs.
I do not see God's love because I do not see God since God remains forever hidden from humans. It is really as simple as that.

(Continued on next post)

 

[Trailblazer]

The evidence is everywhere. If you can't see it, then you need to check your definitions of God and of love. Because the one's you're holding onto are blinding you.

You are the one who needs to check your definitions. God is undefinable since God is beyond definition. It is humans who decided that God is Love, humans who wrote the Bible. I only believe it is possible that God is loving in some way unbeknownst to me because Baha'u'llah wrote that God is All-Loving. I trust what Baha'u'llah wrote since I believe He was a Manifestation/Messenger of God who was infallible, but I take what is in the Bible with a grain of salt since it was written by unnamed humans who were fallible.

You see what you want to see and you live in a little box. You don't want t look at all the suffering in the world, a world God created knowing how much suffering there would be for humans and animals. Imo, that is not loving.

Stop assuming that God is someone else, somewhere else. That would be a good place to start. Try assuming that God is omnipresent, universal, and inexplicable; ... the source, sustenance, and purpose of all that is (in you and around you and everywhere all the time).

I believe that God is someone else and somewhere else, separate from humanity, although I also believe that God is omnipresent, which is why I pray to God in desperation.

But I am happy and grateful and fully loved by my mind's God. While your mind's God is invisible to you, and inconsequential and apparently is letting you down. And it's your choice. That's the amazing gift of faith. You get to choose the God idea that you want to try and trust in, and if it doesn't work, choose a better one.

Is that all that matters, that you are happy because you feel loved by God? What about all the other people in the world who are not happy?
I suppose you 'believe' that if they could only see what you see all their real life problems would magically disappear.

You are free to believe in any God idea you want to believe in, but that does not mean such a God actually exists. It only exists in your imagination.

Mostly, we see what we expect to see, and ignore what we expect not to be there. It's often called "confirmation bias".

You are an excellent example of confirmation bias. You believe what you expect to see. I don't expect to see anything, although I have hope, so I hope to see my life improve eventually, by the will of God (fate) more than through anyything I can do on my own (free will).

It's the result of our not being omniscient. But there is a great gift in that unknowing, and it's called faith. We get to decide for ourselves what we hope to see, and in doing that we tend to make it so. We really do live in a world of our own creation, for more-so than we realize.

That is not rational. We cannot will something into happening by 'hoping' it will happen. We do not decide what is going to happen, God does, so if it is not the will of God no amount of effort on our parts can make it happen. That is what I believe.

Faith is the key to everything.

Faith without evidence is blind faith. I have faith, but because I have evidence my faith is not blind.

Well, in my life it has nothing to do with religions or scriptures. I experienced God's love for myself when I was saved and healed by the love of strangers in Alcoholics Anonymous. I witnessed and participated in the power of love to heal the mind and heart and soul by giving and accepting it among strangers without any hope that it would work. But it did work. Lives were saved, people were healed, and I am still sober and pretty happy 30 year later.

I don't know why you attribute what those strangers did for you to God's love, maybe because that is a teaching of Alcoholics Anonymous since most of them are Christians? I also had a long-term addiction that nded about 40 years ago. I was healed, but not by God. I was healed because for years and years I sought help from psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors and homeopaths, and also from people in 12 step groups.

If you know anything about psychology you would know that the more you try to force someone to believe something they do not believe the more they will rebel, so it has the opposite effect when people keep trying to convince me that God is loving.

Maybe it's time to forget about "God" and just focus on the love in your life. Look for it, develop it, share it with others. Find your joy in it and be grateful for it. Let it heal you and save you from yourself.

I cannot share what I do not feel because that would be phony. As for finding joy, it is nowhere to be found, except in animals and nature. Humans always have selfish motives. Religious people such as Baha'is can pretend that they love me just because they know that is expected of them, but I don't feel it is genuine. I found love and understanding in a GriefShare group at a church and those Christians are sincere. It doesn't matter to me if I agree with all their beliefs. They genuinely care about each other and that is what matters.

I do not need to be 'saved' from myself because I am not 'into' myself. If you knew anything about my life you would understand.
I am not going to share that here on the forum but if you want to know you can always send me a private message. I think you would be surprised, because you have no idea what I have been through in my life, and what I am going through now.

 

[Truthseeker]

You are the one who needs to check your definitions. God is undefinable since God is beyond definition. It is humans who decided that God is Love, humans who wrote the Bible. I only believe it is possible that God is loving in some way unbeknownst to me because Baha'u'llah wrote that God is All-Loving. I trust what Baha'u'llah wrote since I believe He was a Manifestation/Messenger of God who was infallible, but I take what is in the Bible with a grain of salt since it was written by unnamed humans who were fallible.

You see what you want to see and you live in a little box. You don't want t look at all the suffering in the world, a world God created knowing how much suffering there would be for humans and animals. Imo, that is not loving.

I believe that God is someone else and somewhere else, separate from humanity, although I also believe that God is omnipresent, which is why I pray to God in desperation.

Is that all that matters, that you are happy because you feel loved by God? What about all the other people in the world who are not happy?
I suppose you 'believe' that if they could only see what you see all their real life problems would magically disappear.

You are free to believe in any God idea you want to believe in, but that does not mean such a God actually exists. It only exists in your imagination.

You are an excellent example of confirmation bias. You believe what you expect to see. I don't expect to see anything, although I have hope, so I hope to see my life improve eventually, by the will of God (fate) more than through anyything I can do on my own (free will).

That is not rational. We cannot will something into happening by 'hoping' it will happen. We do not decide what is going to happen, God does, so if it is not the will of God no amount of effort on our parts can make it happen. That is what I believe.

Faith without evidence is blind faith. I have faith, but because I have evidence my faith is not blind.

I don't know why you attribute what those strangers did for you to God's love, maybe because that is a teaching of Alcoholics Anonymous since most of them are Christians? I also had a long-term addiction that nded about 40 years ago. I was healed, but not by God. I was healed because for years and years I sought help from psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors and homeopaths, and also from people in 12 step groups.

If you know anything about psychology you would know that the more you try to force someone to believe something they do not believe the more they will rebel, so it has the opposite effect when people keep trying to convince me that God is loving.

I cannot share what I do not feel because that would be phony. As for finding joy, it is nowhere to be found, except in animals and nature. Humans always have selfish motives. Religious people such as Baha'is can pretend that they love me just because they know that is expected of them, but I don't feel it is genuine. I found love and understanding in a GriefShare group at a church and those Christians are sincere. It doesn't matter to me if I agree with all their beliefs. They genuinely care about each other and that is what matters.

I do not need to be 'saved' from myself because I am not 'into' myself. If you knew anything about my life you would understand.
I am not going to share that here on the forum but if you want to know you can always send me a private message. I think you would be surprised, because you have no idea what I have been through in my life, and what I am going through now.

I think @PureX and you just have a different way of looking at things. It's possible you may both have a piece of the truth.

 

[PureX]

I don't see God being loving since there is no evidence that God is loving. It is only a belief some people hold.

And that is a belief that YOU hold, also based on no evidence. One that you can therefor change at any time.

That is not defining God out of existence. I just have a different view of God than you have. I'm sure you have been on this forum long enough to realize that people have different beliefs about God. Why is yours more correct than mine?

There is no "correct belief". In fact, I think belief is nothing more than our ego convincing us that we're right when we have no way of actually knowing that we are.

God does not have to be loving in order to be God. That is just one view of God that comes from certain religions.

God may not exist at all. None of us knows. But this isn't about what God is or isn't. It's about what we choose to tell ourselves God is. And how that choice is effecting us.

I do not believe that God and us are 'one and the same', as that goes completely against my Baha'i beliefs.

That's your choice. So the question then becomes how is that choice effecting you? And do you have the courage to change it if it's not effecting as you'd hoped.

Why can't you answer my question? What does God do to show He loves us?

No one can answer that question for you. You have to SEEK OUT the answers for yourself.

I am not asking what we do, I already know what we do, but I believe that God is a separate being, one and alone (see passage above).

Well, that's your problem. And the question is, do you have the courage to let that belief go? If not, I don't see what use your God is ever going to be to you.

I did not say I think that God should sacrifice anything for humans, that is ludicrous. God cannot be anything less than He is or He would not be God.
Our parents gave us the 'gift of being.' God did not create us.

None of us has any idea what God is or isn't, or what God can or can't do.

Wake up and smell the coffee. Life is not a picnic for everyone, so not everyone is grateful to be alive. Take your blinders off and look at all the suffering in the world, individually and collectively.

How you feel about life is entirely up to you.

That's the key. You WANT to believe in a loving God so you imagine that God is loving. There is evidence that 'some' humans are loving, so you attribute what humans do that is loving to God, when God is doing nothing at all.

None of us knows what God is or is not doing. None of us even knows if God exists or not. You keep spouting off as if you know. But you don't. It's just your ego telling you that you know things that you don't know. That's what it means to say "I believe". It's means "I believe I'm right" even though you cant know that to be so. Belief is a trap. I suggest that you stop falling in it and start thinking in terms of a God that you hope to exist, and put your trust in that hope, instead. It's not about being right. It's about whether it improves your life, and your relations with other people.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

And that is a belief that YOU hold, also based on no evidence. One that you can therefor change at any time.

She wrote, "there is no evidence that God is loving. It is only a belief some people hold." Her belief IS based in evidence - the suffering in her life. Her god doesn't meet her standards for being loving, and she won't take the step that compromises morals - accepting by faith that what appears to be bad must be good if a god causes or allows it - so called Divine Command moral theory.

this isn't about what God is or isn't. It's about what we choose to tell ourselves God is. And how that choice is effecting us.

This is what I mean about a god belief being held because it's comforting. Tell yourself whatever feels best and believe it uncritically. I consider it short-sighted and counterproductive in the long run. Do the hard work of maturing without that comfort, and one finds that he no longer is comforted by such thoughts, which is liberating and facilitates happiness more than god beliefs, which in her case seems to degrade her life. Imagine believing in a god that you think knows your plight and is indifferent to it. Wouldn't she be happier and more comfortable living without gods and religions? Like you, I'd love to see her solve that problem, but not by inventing a different god that doesn't comport with her experience.

No one can answer that question for you. You have to SEEK OUT the answers for yourself.

She has. You just didn't like the answer she found.

None of us has any idea what God is or isn't, or what God can or can't do.

For me, that's a pretty good reason to abandon the idea that one exists.