Open concepts of God. (RF & beyond)

[blackout]

I am surely used to the world at large making all kinds of
automatic christian type associations whenever they hear the word "God",
never even stopping to consider that not everyone (by a long shot)
concieves of God in TERMS of christian (or major religion) ideology and dogma.

While I have come to expect and understand this is how it is out in the "real world",
I rather feel it is an attitude that does not belong here at RF.
If RFers are not intrinsically "Open" to the relavence of alternative God concepts...
(in any conversation)
how can we ever hope for as much out in the "real world"?

This is probably my only real dissapointment posting in the forum.
This pervasive underlying assumption,
that makes the rest of us (well me anyway)
feel like we're so often stepping our foot into conversations
that are not intrinsically interested in/INVITING to/designed in any way for...
the inclusion of "other" God concepts.

I wonder, am I the only non-mainstream,
non-traditional theist who feels this subtle invisibility?
Pagans? Poly-theists? Eclectics? Chaots? The unlabeled as myself?

Are our God concepts but a "side show" in a mainstream world?
Do we need an "equal relavence" ribbon?

Maybe people just don't know what to do with us?
Are we that "far out"?
or..
Is no one really interested?
I can't personally understand that,
because people's PERSONAL God concepts
are the God discussions that interests me most.

Think I'll start another thread.

 

[Rolling_Stone]

Are our God concepts but a "side show" in a mainstream world?
Do we need an "equal relavence" ribbon?

Maybe people just don't know what to do with us?
Are we that "far out"?
or..
Is no one really interested?
I can't personally understand that,
because people's PERSONAL God concepts
are the God discussions that interests me most.

Welcome to the club.:tribal2:

 

[Sunstone]

I just say "god" -- if people want to assume that's the Christian god, then so be it.

 

[McBell]

I just say "god" -- if people want to assume that's the Christian god, then so be it.

It only stands to reason that with most people in the USA being Christian that they would assume you speak of the same deity as they do when you use the "Christian Owned" word 'God'.

 

[blackout]

I just say "god" -- if people want to assume that's the Christian god, then so be it.

I think so much of it is the rest of the context.
A wide open "god" question is wide open.

Very often it's the unspoken assumption throughout a thread
that God=Christian God.
But no. Christian God=Christian God.
And it is never specified.

Very often, for example,
athiests argue "God",
when actually they are refuting the Christian God.
But they never state that specifically.
It kind of invalidates the whole "arguement".

I think I"m going to start "calling" people on it.
Not to be obnoxious,
or because I'm whining or feel slighted,
(because I don't!)
but because I feel it deserves a valid clarification.

 

[Rolling_Stone]

because I feel it deserves a valid clarification.

It deserves it, but I don't think you'll get it.

 

[John_672]

Very often it's the unspoken assumption throughout a thread that God=Christian God. But no. Christian God=Christian God. And it is never specified. Very often, for example, athiests argue "God", when actually they are refuting the Christian God. But they never state that specifically. It kind of invalidates the whole "arguement". I think I"m going to start "calling" people on it. Not to be obnoxious, or because I'm whining or feel slighted, (because I don't!) but because I feel it deserves a valid clarification.

Heh. Good luck on that. The problem is that our society defines God as being "X," and if you start talking about God as anything else besides "X," than it's assumed that you aren't really talking about God. It's a narrow way of thinking that is unfortunately more convenient than the more complicated holistic understanding of what God can be. This is one of the reasons why process theology hasn't really caught on - it is too difficult for most people to grasp.

What I would really like to see is an atheist attempt to disprove the existence of God defined by process theology... Now that would be an interesting discussion!

 

[ChristineES]

Since I have been here, I have been able to separate the Judeo/Christian God from other religions' version of God. I think I did before, but honestly, I don't know if I did or not- I never really thought about. I don't picture God as a big man with a beard, though.

 

[Don Penguinoini]

I just say "god" -- if people want to assume that's the Christian god, then so be it.

That really ticks me of.

 

[Storm]

I feel the same way sometimes.

 

[Isabella Lecour]

When someone just says "God" I assume.....yep assume...that 1- they don't know the name of that particular deity or 2-that it's just an generic male-form deity. When I say Zeus most folks know exally who I'm talking about but if I say I worship God...they assume whatever they'd like. lol It's still the same as saying I worship Zeus, he-he, in a round-a-bout way.

 

[Colabomb]

Well, frankly in this society, only Christians Jews and Muslims call their god God. Most other faiths with deities use specific names for their deities.

The Use of "God" as a proper noun seems to be unique to the Abrahamic faiths.

I think its just an issue of how people learn to talk.

 

[Troublemane]

I'll sometimes say God, sometimes "The Universe" or "The Cosmos", when referring to IT in a vague/secular way. But don''t it seem at times like a kind of joke, all the time we spend talking about the divine being without realizing the amazing vast wildness the divine unity embodies? its like every time we humans think we have the whole universe figured out, BAM! thats when we make a discovery that turns all that on its ear! I love it!---it makes this whole trip we are on worthwhile!

 

[Smoke]

Maybe we should say Allah when we mean the Muslim god, Hashem when we mean the Jewish god, the Trinity for the (orthodox) Christian god (the Godhead for Mormons), and Howard for the general Judaeo-Christo-Muslim male creator sky deity -- since Jesus, a Jew revered by Christians and Muslims, taught us to pray, "Our Father, Howard be thy name."

 

[Colabomb]

Hehe, i know you were being a bit toungue in cheek there, but referring to my God as "The Trinity" (even though I am a Trinitarian) seems a bit Cold. He is a person not a concept.

it would be like praying "Oh Omnipotent diety of abraham"

 

[YmirGF]

I am surely used to the world at large making all kinds of
automatic christian type associations whenever they hear the word "God",
never even stopping to consider that not everyone (by a long shot)
concieves of God in TERMS of christian (or major religion) ideology and dogma.

Oh, I agree wholeheartedly Ultra, hence I normally write "god" in quotes, so what I am meaning is open to conjecture. This is also, in a nutshell, why I list my religion as "Beyond the Light", as I am meaning that the Light is a great reference point, but it is still form, so don't get hung up on it. There is much beyond that initial reality.

While I have come to expect and understand this is how it is out in the "real world",
I rather feel it is an attitude that does not belong here at RF.
If RFers are not intrinsically "Open" to the relavence of alternative God concepts...
(in any conversation)
how can we ever hope for as much out in the "real world"?

Perhaps I just have a thick skin, but I simply expect that aspect. Although I don't mean to be sound arrogant saying it, there is not the slightest possiblity that 98% of people have the slightest idea what I am talking about when I use the term "god". So, I just expect it. When one expects certain behaviors one becomes less frustrated when one encounters them.

This is probably my only real dissapointment posting in the forum.
This pervasive underlying assumption,
that makes the rest of us (well me anyway)
feel like we're so often stepping our foot into conversations
that are not intrinsically interested in/INVITING to/designed in any way for...
the inclusion of "other" God concepts.

Ah, my dear child, that is the cost for being on the bleeding edge and not settling for the pablum of established religion. Oddly, most people feel that just because billions of followers believe similarly as they do that that somehow makes their liminted viewpoints correct. It doesn't, but it does prove that misery likes company.

I wonder, am I the only non-mainstream,
non-traditional theist who feels this subtle invisibility?
Pagans? Poly-theists? Eclectics? Chaots? The unlabeled as myself?

No, you are not, but when one expects this to happen, it isn't such a shocker when it does. My experience is that the average human animals wouldn't know "god" if IT bit them on the behind and then raged that their momma dresses them funny.

Are our God concepts but a "side show" in a mainstream world?
Do we need an "equal relavence" ribbon?

Now that is insulting. "Equal relevance"? Please, be serious. I would never lower my ideas to say they are of equal value to the religions of the human animal. Get a hold of yourself, girl.

Equal... pfffft.

Maybe people just don't know what to do with us?
Are we that "far out"?
or..
Is no one really interested?
I can't personally understand that,
because people's PERSONAL God concepts
are the God discussions that interests me most.

I used to think I was as "far out" as it was possible to get, until I realized that it is more apt to say "far in" as I have certainly plunged headlong into inner reality far farther than is the norm. Therefore, say not "far out", rather, say "Way IN". UV, you must try to appreciate that for people to take you/us seriously we have to couch our understanding within their accepted guidelines. If you/I approach this in any other way, it will not impact on the thinking of other human animals. This leaves us with a clear choice and that is to create a whole new symbol library to explain ourselves or muddy our thinking in the ruin of accepted thought. For me, I prefer the former to the latter, even though it is far more difficult. I simply refuse to submit my thinking to the drivel of accepted dogma to make a few quick and easy points. I am patient and I DO have the "time" as infinity is a spacious garden to plant my seeds in. I just hope I can continue to be a good gardener.

 

[Melancholy]

I see God as "The Maker' .
God is in everything and everyone. I just call him God because that's how I was brought up to call him such.
God is for 'All' and not the few.

 

[zenzero]

Friends,
This has been the problem since the term God as a concept developed by humans in all religions.
The reason is quite clear if one reads and understand Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching.
Truth once spoken does not remain so. It is very simple because we try and understand by using our minds. That very mind is already developed certain ideas and so the understanding is coloured / biased / as the perception is basec on past accummulations by the mind.
More over truth / god is to be realised by individuals and concepts like god etc are just pointers.
If any survey would be carried out am very much sure that no two answeres will be the same as to what one means by god; perceptions will be different.
Therefore if we stop perceiving and only take as whatever we see, hear, eat, throw out everything we touch or percieve or think about. Meaning to state God is something which includes everything including the sun [not under it] whatever imaginable, thinkable etc. When everything in and out of us is god then we need not think about god as we are a part of that WHOLE. a drop of that ocean.
Once the thinking stops immediately the realisation / satori / enlightenment happens.
Love & rgds

 

[Colabomb]

Ah, my dear child, that is the cost for being on the bleeding edge and not settling for the pablum of established religion. Oddly, most people feel that just because billions of followers believe similarly as they do that that somehow makes their liminted viewpoints correct. It doesn't, but it does prove that misery likes company.


No, you are not, but when one expects this to happen, it isn't such a shocker when it does. My experience is that the average human animals wouldn't know "god" if IT bit them on the behind and then raged that their momma dresses them funny.

Now that is insulting. "Equal relevance"? Please, be serious. I would never lower my ideas to say they are of equal value to the religions of the human animal. Get a hold of yourself, girl.

Equal... pfffft.

Could this be anymore judgemental and haughty?