Storm
ThrUU the Looking Glass
How sad....
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Where exactly is God?
- Thread starter robo
- Start date
BobbyisStrange
The Adversary
No I havent, but it sounds great...I may pick this up...thanks for the link
BobbyisStrange
The Adversary
I didnt ask you to accpet my description of God...Just as I dont accept that a murdering God as a God of love. And there is absolutely no evidence for the existence of God...I challenge you to name me one single piece of evidence.
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Reverend Richard
New Thought Minister
I was raised as a Southern Baptist, and later converted to Catholicism, but your last statement is exactly the reason I left mainstream Christianity and adopted a faith that concentrates on an image of God this is compassionate and merciful.
No offense, but fear as a tool of conversion, and as a way to enforce belief is no way to worship God. If you believe in a God that is jealous, vengeful and punishing, that God sounds way too human to me, and is too easily led by those human weaknesses.
Two things Bobby:
1) I am running out of time here this morning, and I would hope to give you some answer down the road to your question. (Yes, I have been through this before many times on this site and on other similar ones)
2) In the meantime, I would ask if you could tell me what satisfies your demands as "evidence for God." Can you give an example of what you might accept as evidence?
I will let Bobby respond to you...but whenever you get time, please also address my points as related to this thread.
If God is omnipresent, he cannot NOT be in hell. Please redefine omnipresence otherwise, or else, do not claim your God is omnipresent.
sandandfoam
Veteran Member
Letting God aside entirely, many argue that the idea that mind = brain is a fallacy. Here's a jump off point for reading if you're interested.
Peter Hacker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
To my mind God is, and I, like everyone else, can only speak from the perspective of my mind.
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No offense taken in the least. And I would like to engage your honest opinions but I must leave for a time. I do believe in the God of the Bible, yes. Probably an attribute emphasized about God as much as anything else in Scripture is the fact that God says "My ways are not your ways!" IOW, we cannot reduce God's motives or God's decisions based on the limitations of human understandings. God's promises are immense and eternal. Heaven is not a worthy enough goal for you and your family? You insist upon an explanation for hell before you might take one step of gratitude towards the one who gave you life? I do not get it? And "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." That implies reverence and gratitude far more than some basic use of the word. Later, perhaps.
BobbyisStrange
The Adversary
I dont want to Hijack this thread and turn it into another evidence for God debate. I think Robo has asked a good question and it would be a shame to morph topic from the specific question asked..would you accept a PM discussion?
Reverend Richard
New Thought Minister
Originally Posted by Reverend Richard
I was raised as a Southern Baptist, and later converted to Catholicism, but your last statement is exactly the reason I left mainstream Christianity and adopted a faith that concentrates on an image of God this is compassionate and merciful.
No offense, but fear as a tool of conversion, and as a way to enforce belief is no way to worship God. If you believe in a God that is jealous, vengeful and punishing, that God sounds way too human to me, and is too easily led by those human weaknesses.
Yes, Vanity, later perhaps.
In the interim, your comment (in red) nails my point home exactly.
Humans have a very limited understanding of God and we perceive Him in human terms, and the Bible was written in human terms, and with human perceptions.
I believe we must read between the lines of the Bible, and remove the human perceptions of God as jealous and vengeful (lets face it, sending a weak human to hell is simple vengance). Again, reading between the lines of the Bible, and trying to discern Christ's teachings, Christ taught love and compassion - not vengence and condemnation. The concepts of hell and damnation are simply human inventions based on fear and misunderstanding of Christ's original teachings.
I was raised as a Southern Baptist, and later converted to Catholicism, but your last statement is exactly the reason I left mainstream Christianity and adopted a faith that concentrates on an image of God this is compassionate and merciful.
No offense, but fear as a tool of conversion, and as a way to enforce belief is no way to worship God. If you believe in a God that is jealous, vengeful and punishing, that God sounds way too human to me, and is too easily led by those human weaknesses.
Yes, Vanity, later perhaps.
In the interim, your comment (in red) nails my point home exactly.
Humans have a very limited understanding of God and we perceive Him in human terms, and the Bible was written in human terms, and with human perceptions.
I believe we must read between the lines of the Bible, and remove the human perceptions of God as jealous and vengeful (lets face it, sending a weak human to hell is simple vengance). Again, reading between the lines of the Bible, and trying to discern Christ's teachings, Christ taught love and compassion - not vengence and condemnation. The concepts of hell and damnation are simply human inventions based on fear and misunderstanding of Christ's original teachings.
Yes exactly, which is also the prominent Hindu view. But to reword it again, I would say that everything/everywhere is an extension of God's own Self. And therefore never separate.
Aquitaine
Well-Known Member
Y' know recently I've been contemplating Reality a lot, and the more I give it thought, the more I tend to see us, the Universe and "God" as the same thing. Even in terms of physical anatomy: all the creatures of Earth share the same core Elements as distant Stars and Nebulas. One example would be Hydrogen.
Which perhaps sounds very similar to Hindu beliefs, although I'm a Secualr Boy ^_^
Rocky S
Christian Goth
Your avitar pic looks like Rick Warren.
Reverend Richard
New Thought Minister
LOL, Rocky! I'm not sure whether I should be flattered or offended. Either way, Rick Warren's and my theology are substantially different!
arthra
Baha'i
The Qur'an states the God is closer to you than your jugular vein ... and that's in the present tense I believe...so He is very close to you now.
Creation is an ongoing process and so we cannot say there was a time when God was not creating ...
The Day of Judgement is already upon us.. It has to do with recognizing God's Messenger or Manifestation for this day... so the judgement is now. People choose whether to be on the left hand or right hand of God depending.
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PolyHedral
Superabacus Mystic
Uninformed choices are worth zilch.
Twig pentagram
High Priest
"Where exactly is your God now?"
Everywhere.
"Where was he before creation?"
I'm not a creationist, but I'll take a shot at it anyway. My answer is
my guess is just as good as yours.
"Where will he be after the Day of Judgement starts?"
I'm not apocalyptic, so again my guess would be just as good as yours.
God is Nowhere and Everywhere. He is All that you can see and All that you cannot see. He is in heaven, hell, purgatory (which are really states of mind and spirit rather than places), the earth, Mars, the entire universe and beyond it there is nothing save his Presence, Energies and Essence. We live in Him like fish in the Sea; breathing Him, in Him we live and move and have being. He is the Being of our being, Soul of our soul, Spirit of our spirit and Life of our life. He is the Ultimate Reality that is both immanent and transcendent, within and without. He is everything and nothing. His presence, essence and power flows into the essences of all created things. He is personal and aware of His creation.
He exists eternally beyond Time in an Eternal Now. From there he ceaselessly creates all things eternally in that "Now! moment and is forever young.
He is likewise in the Here and Now.
He exists eternally beyond Time in an Eternal Now. From there he ceaselessly creates all things eternally in that "Now! moment and is forever young.
He is likewise in the Here and Now.
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Asking where GOD is at is like asking where the soul or mind are at - they are usually shown to be located in our head but does something nonphysical reside in a place?
