We can't see God. Moses couldn't see the face of God. Daniel saw Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. He didn't see God in his fullness. He only saw God in a limited sense.
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- Thread starter Evangelicalhumanist
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We can't see God. Moses couldn't see the face of God. Daniel saw Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. He didn't see God in his fullness. He only saw God in a limited sense.
The problem with this metaphor in relation to religious beliefs is that the assumption is always that there is some external truth that is being sensed in different ways. What if it is not an external truth, but an inherent characteristic of human beings themselves? What if it is human need and desire that drives the creation of the religious? What if that is the shared truth by all?
I believe that having a relationship with God exists because we all know that God exists and that he wants a relationship with us, and religious rituals exist because people turn away from God's clear revelation to make other gods for themselves.
That's great. All I am saying is that there are incongruities and conflicts in religious beliefs and the pat answer that they are all different parts of the same truth in no way addresses or resolves those conflicts. If you can overlook the conflicts, then great. I prefer to sort out the real from the imaginary.
in my opinion, the numbers are wrong.
In Germany, only 75% percent of the members of the Catholic church believe in God, and only 67% of the Protestants.*
However, according to the Bible there is no Christian who does not believe. Faith is a prerequisite of being a Christian.
And this is only the ones who believe in God. They could be general theists, though.
So, only 61% of the German Catholics and only 58% of the Protestants in Germany actually believe ** that Jesus rose from the dead, which is also a prerequisite of Christian faith. This is at least as I see it.
Some say that you need to repent in order for you to be Christian.
This is what a small minority believes, I think.
In brief, there are much less Christians than the often cited 2.3 billion.
Thomas
* source in German: Umfrage: Viele Christen glauben nicht an Gott
** source in German language: Christen, die nicht an Gott glauben? Neue Umfrage enthüllt Erstaunliches über die Deutschen | Politik
mikkel_the_dane
My own religion
I don't doubt that the world is real. I believe in that. I doubt that the world is natural.
What do you think the God is like who created everything?
mikkel_the_dane
My own religion
I don't know. I am an agnostic and don't do theology. If pressed I am a sort of pan-deist. God is the world, because that is all I have access to as a part of the world.
I believe in the existence of the Christian God because He is the God who wants all of his creation saved. A pantheistic or deistic God is impersonal. How could God be the world if God created the world?
Do you think believing Jesus was born of a virgin and was God is a prerequisite to the faith? Some Christians believe that Jesus was the Messiah but isn't God.
mikkel_the_dane
My own religion
I don't know. You are asking for logic and evidence. I don't have that and I don't need it to believe.
How does it make sense that God created the world, and the world is also logic? It doesn't take any amazing faith to believe that God is real, but it takes a lot of faith to believe in an impersonal God and God being nature.
mikkel_the_dane
My own religion
That is your thinking. I do it differently.
Its not possible for God to have created nature and to be nature, because God existed before nature. There are many beautiful fruits that you see in nature. God gives us blessings. Why would this God be impersonal?
sojourner
Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
Art Wholeflaffer (The Firesign Theatre): “Everything you know is wrong.” And: “There’s a seeker born every minute.”
sojourner
Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
What if it’s not about being right, but about being in relationship?
sojourner
Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
sojourner
Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
Actually, it depends on the standard for the expectation for the glass. Is it meant to be full? Or is it’s natural state one of being empty?
sojourner
Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
There are Daleks...
