Tesla
Member
I read everything. You lost me, though. When I speak of God, I dont speak in active voice as "God deemed what is appropriate" and "he can only speak to prophets." It's more, God IS life.
This is long. It's a story and narrative to ocmpare how I see God and life compared to how you (and other believers) explain it to me.
Let me think of a comparison.
The two of us are in separate rooms. Both rooms are pitch dark. There is no lamp. There is no light bulb. The door is locked. We have no key.
Then, in both of our rooms, suddenly, the light comes on.
I think wow, all this time being in the dark, with all these experiences, now I can see. There is light. Period. Who cut it on? Why would I ask that? That isn't in my brain to ask because there is no switch. There is nothing there to make me think there is a way to cut the light on. It's on. I can see. That's it. Now, I can focus on this life. This room. I can see the road ahead. Can't see my destination. I don't feel trapped.
(This is what I'm hearing from you)
You think all this time from being in the dark, I got light. From all my experiences, it must have come from somewhere or someone. But where? Who? It must be God (given that's what you were taught?). He must have cut on a switch that does not exist. He created a bulb that is not there. Then you think even more that not only did he did this without anything, how wonderful. That's a pure miracle. Now, I can feel this light prickle all over me. It is his love. His grace. Now, I know. I also found out he deemed it appropriate that we have this light. He tells us what we should and should not do. He is God.
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Then for some reason our doors open. Light splashes from both our rooms. I decide to visit you. I see light you see. (I'm not blind) but I don't look for switches. I dont see light bulbs. I did not look for them. I knew they where not there because they were not there in the first place. That is not how light brightened my room. I don't ask, because I dont need to. That's like asking for directions when you can see your destination already.
Then I ask you in curiosity (thinking that your light came on the same way mine did)
"How did you see he light?"
This is what you say: (Which many of us non believers find odd)
Well, when the light came on, I knew there was someone who cut it on. I felt that person. I didn't need to know there was a switch to cut on the light. I dont need to see a bulb to which that switch and wires should go to. It didn't just come on. There was someone there.
"Someone?" I ask, scratching my head. I know it's a mystery, but, I thought, huh?
"Yes, someone" you say. Then you go on, "he deemed it appropriate that we have this light so we can see where we going. He said that he did this out of love for us."
I look around, "Where did you get this from? In my room, no one is there. I saw no switches. No light bulbs. The light came on. How did you come to that conclusion?
You say, "I got it from God."
This word, God and deity are foriegn to my ears. That's not my life experiences (not what's in my room). But reality doesn't change just because we have different experiences. Reality is One room. No switch. No light Bulb. We can have traditions and written scripture that says these things exist; however, depending on the person, depends on how they will accept these traditions, scriptures, etc as the source.
That's okay that people believe what they believe. People can believe that who or whatever they believe is a someone or something that cut on the switch and lit the room. However, reality doesn't change because of what we believe....
So....
A Christian. is no different than you nor a Muslim. We are all in our individual rooms. We have all our individual stories. From believers to atheists. However, the reality of it is there is there is No Switch and No Bulb.
That's why the Native Americans call it the Great Mystery.
The Great Mystery is what others call God.
God IS Life Itself.
I hope you read this and everyone else. I think I might keep in on hand. I haven't written in ages.
Okay, I think I see where you’re going with this. I will try to respond with a Jewish perspective. Using your analogy, I’d say that G-d gave also me a very concisely written paragraph which says, “I am G-d. I turned on the light, and I opened the door because I want you to interact with other people and bring meaning into your life. Treat anyone you meet with decency and respect, and if you do that, your life will be improved. Have a wonderful life.”
It doesn’t matter if we believe that the source of the light is something different. Our belief systems will have no ramification on what actually happened. Our beliefs just don’t matter. What matters is how we live our lives, and how we treat one another.
In this analogy, I have a document to tell me what happened. It satiates my curiosity so I can focus my energies on more important things; like creating a connection with you, and bringing joy and meaning to my existence.
Maybe another person was given a document which says, “I am G-d, I turned on the light so you can see beauty and wonder.” And other has a document that reads, “I am G-d, I opened the doors to offer you an opportunity to build friendships.”
The problem only comes in when the door to another room is opened, and out pops this jerk who looks at my document and decides that he can do a better job. So he writes his own explanation to contradict the one I was given, and demands that I follow his document instead of mine. When I refuse, he threatens me with eternal damnation.
To that person, I can do nothing except explain that I don’t agree, and try to avoid them if they can’t resist the urge to continue to push their new doctrine on me. If they believe that the doors were opened because the devil wanted to trick them into leaving their room, then there really isn’t much I can do to stop them. - But their belief in this doesn't impact me or change the nature of the universe.
