What is life?

[Sonofason]

Thomas Jefferson said "I am a congregation of one".

Well, he was a smart guy.

 

[Sonofason]

You are not so secure if in the same post you admit it could be a figment of your imagination.

Ciao

- viole

If my experience of God is my imagination, I'll be happy to imagine the rest of my life.

 

[Sonofason]

Well yes, I agree on the metaphorical theory. Equating God with electromagnetic radiation or photons seems a bit far fetched.

Ciao

- viole

I have toyed with the idea that God is all matter and energy, converting himself from one form to another. If that should be the case, I'm okay with that. I do have a weak suspicion that all things are aware to some degree, I suppose depending on the complexity of the substance. But I believe God is much more than that, and that all that exists is his creation.

 

[blue taylor]

Well, he was a smart guy.

We are all a congregation of one. When that is understood, we will all be liberated from the others.

 

[Sonofason]

Yes, God is a word. A 'title' word meaning: Supreme Being. The God of the Bible is named at KJV Psalms 83:18
The God of the Bible is also our Creator - Revelation 4:11, and our Heavenly Father ( Life Giver )
Yes, source of all moral authority in that God has the ultimate position in absolute authority, whereas we have relative authority being in relative subjection to God's absolute position.

Well, of course you are right.

 

[Sonofason]

We are all a congregation of one. When that is understood, we will all be liberated from the others.

I like that concept.

 

[Marsh]

I'm not googling s**t

You might be making a mistake in not investigating the findings of neuroscience. The thing to keep in mind is that you claim to be absolutely confident that God is communicating with you. If so then in neuroscience are you not likely to find support for what you believe? My son today told me of a YouTube discussion with Sam Harris in which the neuroscientist explained an interesting finding. The brains of patients, who reported hearing a voice, responded just as if they were hearing a "real" voice. That is the audio receivers in their brains behaved as it they were receiving actual sound waves. Interesting, eh? I got the sense from my atheist son that Harris wasn't quite sure how to explain the finding.

Note: The talk is four hours long and my son is about halfway through the interview. He postponed listening at the point that Harris got onto the anti-Trump bandwagon. So they apparently talk about a range of issues and discuss this point of interest to you in the first half. You never know when a discussion that you'd expect to undermine your position suddenly turns in your favour. That's why I investigate everything.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

I have toyed with the idea that God is all matter and energy, converting himself from one form to another. If that should be the case, I'm okay with that. I do have a weak suspicion that all things are aware to some degree, I suppose depending on the complexity of the substance. But I believe God is much more than that, and that all that exists is his creation.

You might find Psalms 104:30 to be of interest because God sends forth something of His to create matter.
I found it of interest what Jesus said about his Father at John 4:23-24 that his God is a Spirit Being. ( Non matter )

 

[Sonofason]

You might be making a mistake in not investigating the findings of neuroscience. The thing to keep in mind is that you claim to be absolutely confident that God is communicating with you. If so then in neuroscience are you not likely to find support for what you believe? My son today told me of a YouTube discussion with Sam Harris in which the neuroscientist explained an interesting finding. The brains of patients, who reported hearing a voice, responded just as if they were hearing a "real" voice. That is the audio receivers in their brains behaved as it they were receiving actual sound waves. Interesting, eh? I got the sense from my atheist son that Harris wasn't quite sure how to explain the finding.

Note: The talk is four hours long and my son is about halfway through the interview. He postponed listening at the point that Harris got onto the anti-Trump bandwagon. So they apparently talk about a range of issues and discuss this point of interest to you in the first half. You never know when a discussion that you'd expect to undermine your position suddenly turns in your favour. That's why I investigate everything.

Okay Marsh, I will have a look at it, but I am absolutely certain that no neuroscientist is capable of determining the source of every voice that someone might hear, unless of course it is the neuroscientist that is responsible for propagating the voice that is heard by the patient; and of course they might be capable of determining the source of the voice if the voice is a direct result of sound waves stimulating the auditory nerves. They might be able to tell you what part of the brain is stimulated, but they cannot, at least not at this point, always know the source. Saying that someone has epilepsy, or that some disproportionate number of epilepsy patients hear voices in no way is an indication that a voice was not heard, or that it was imagined. If it is God doing the speaking, I doubt that anyone is going to hear the voice except for those whom God intends to hear the voice.

 

[Sonofason]

You might be making a mistake in not investigating the findings of neuroscience. The thing to keep in mind is that you claim to be absolutely confident that God is communicating with you. If so then in neuroscience are you not likely to find support for what you believe? My son today told me of a YouTube discussion with Sam Harris in which the neuroscientist explained an interesting finding. The brains of patients, who reported hearing a voice, responded just as if they were hearing a "real" voice. That is the audio receivers in their brains behaved as it they were receiving actual sound waves. Interesting, eh? I got the sense from my atheist son that Harris wasn't quite sure how to explain the finding.

Note: The talk is four hours long and my son is about halfway through the interview. He postponed listening at the point that Harris got onto the anti-Trump bandwagon. So they apparently talk about a range of issues and discuss this point of interest to you in the first half. You never know when a discussion that you'd expect to undermine your position suddenly turns in your favour. That's why I investigate everything.

Okay I checked it out, and it is all BS and speculation - no value to me whatsoever. Perhaps you can send a link to the video your son was watching. The site Artie posted was all BS. There is a movie you might check out about the Holy Spirit who I believe does communicate with some people sometimes. The movie is currently on netflix and is called "Holy Spirit" It is actually a documentary movie, and it was, in my opinion, slightly interesting. I will say that I believe that the guys that were filming do know the experience of the Holy Spirit. Now, they were claiming that the Holy Spirit was talking to them. While I have heard voices that I sometimes attribute to the Holy Spirit, I find it difficult to distinguish the voice I hear from my own self. Yet, I could tell that their experiencing of the Holy Spirit was indeed as I do experience the Holy Spirit, who is God. When you experience God, you know it. It's not up for debate.

 

[Sonofason]

You might find Psalms 104:30 to be of interest because God sends forth something of His to create matter.
I found it of interest what Jesus said about his Father at John 4:23-24 that his God is a Spirit Being. ( Non matter )

I agree, that is my understanding...God is 'Spirit", but then God's Son Jesus, at least for a time, embodied matter. If the Son of God can embody matter, I'm quite sure God can too. He probably does.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

I agree, that is my understanding...God is 'Spirit", but then God's Son Jesus, at least for a time, embodied matter. If the Son of God can embody matter, I'm quite sure God can too. He probably does.

However, the pre-human heavenly Jesus did Not embody matter.
God sent His Son ( transferred his heavenly spirit life ) to Mary.
When God resurrected the dead Jesus out of biblical hell (grave), God did Not resurrect Jesus back in his physical matter body, but back to his pre-human spirit body - Hebrews 9:24

 

[Sonofason]

However, the pre-human heavenly Jesus did Not embody matter.
God sent His Son ( transferred his heavenly spirit life ) to Mary.
When God resurrected the dead Jesus out of biblical hell (grave), God did Not resurrect Jesus back in his physical matter body, but back to his pre-human spirit body - Hebrews 9:24

I believe when Jesus was on this earth preaching and teaching he had a body, which would indicate that his spirit did indeed embody a body.

*oops, you said Pre-human Jesus - I agree

 

[blue taylor]

?

 

[Sonofason]

?

 

[Marsh]

Animal go by instinct, whereas we humans, unless damaged, come equipped with a built-in conscience.

You'd be in error about that. The reason a predator like a lion cannot easily be released into the wild when raised from a cub, is that it missed out on all the necessary learning from adult lions as it was growing up. That's just a single example. Also, people have more instinctive behaviours than you might imagine. If someone we are interacting with yawns, we yawn. That's instinctive. I can think of a few more examples, but that may just be the tip of the ice-burgh.

Under Christ's coming 1,000-year governmental rulership over Earth animal kind will be a peace with human kind - Isaiah 11:6-8

Mosquitoes won't bite us anymore?

 

[Marsh]

Okay Marsh, I will have a look at it...

I've just started to watch the video. I've read three of Harris's books and have seen a number of interviews with the guy and as you might guess find him very interesting. I don't know how you will react to him. This interview starts out asking Harris about his experiences with veganism. Just thought I'd let you know so you don't wonder if I've directed you to the right link. And no, I didn't know he'd gone vegan. I'm an omnivore myself.

 

[blue taylor]

Pre-human Jesus?

 

[Sonofason]

I've just started to watch the video. I've read three of Harris's books and have seen a number of interviews with the guy and as you might guess find him very interesting. I don't know how you will react to him. This interview starts out asking Harris about his experiences with veganism. Just thought I'd let you know so you don't wonder if I've directed you to the right link. And no, I didn't know he'd gone vegan. I'm an omnivore myself.

Please provide a link to the video.

 

[OurCreed]

And I don't know much about the Koran saying there is life before the life we have now on earth. When you spoke of it, you spoke of this life, and the one after, not one before this life. If I am mistaken, show the verses of the Koran that suggests we had lives before this life?

I did already in this thread. Please read post #66 on page 4.