Where is God?

[ThereIsNoSpoon]

Supposedly he has created the universe, supposedly he has sent prophets and messengers to us, supposedly he communicates every now and then with people and supposedly he does his works daily.

A legitimate question would be: where is (the abrahmitic?) god?

 

[Anti-thesisofreason]

Supposedly he has created the universe, supposedly he has sent prophets and messengers to us, supposedly he communicates every now and then with people and supposedly he does his works daily.

A legitimate question would be: where is god?

Where isn't god?

 

[Storm]

Supposedly he has created the universe, supposedly he has sent prophets and messengers to us, supposedly he communicates every now and then with people and supposedly he does his works daily.

A legitimate question would be: where is god?

This thread might be more productive in your eyes if you edited the OP to specify Abrahamics.

 

[ThereIsNoSpoon]

This thread might be more productive in your eyes if you edited the OP to specify Abrahamics.

Good idea, done

 

[zenzero]

Friend ThereIsNoSpoon,

A legitimate question would be: where is (the abrahmitic?) god?

Personally have no idea about any god and about specific gods? can only guess.
AM sure my friend Abe will surely know where his god is or not is.

Just trying to point that the word *god* is the most misunderstood word in the history of mankind.
Can only suggest that substituting the word god with universal energy is what modern human kind from all parts of the world will follow and understand batter.

Love & rgds

 

[Cobblestones]

I like Isaac Asimov's ideas about the nature of universes. I would recommend "The Gods Themselves" as a classic (and award winning I might add) I.A. book.

In essence, the idea is that there can't just be two. If ours isn't the only universe then logically one cannot exclude the possibility that there are an infinite number of universes. Nor can one exclude the possibility that universes interact with one another. Therefore, it is entirely possible that there are what are referred to as "Cosmic Eggs" (or Cosmeg) which are essentially enormous balls of mass that are stable until some other universe interacts with it and causes it to become unstable, collapse, and generate a "big bang" resulting in the kind of universe with which we are most accustomed.

Some might cry, "Where's the evidence for this?" to which I will say there is as much evidence for this as there is for god and must therefore be true.

 

[Storm]

Intriguing! I'll have to look for that. Thanks, Cobblestones.

 

[Just_me_Mike]

Supposedly he has created the universe, supposedly he has sent prophets and messengers to us, supposedly he communicates every now and then with people and supposedly he does his works daily.

A legitimate question would be: where is (the abrahmitic?) god?

From my perspective, the best guess is that God needs no further revelation, as we have the beginning and the end in the bible.
I suppose I lean on Rev 22 vs 18&19, of course this would require one to believe the the entire bible is God's word written over many years penned by many men.

 

[Cobblestones]

Intriguing! I'll have to look for that. Thanks, Cobblestones.

NP. It's somewhat of a difficult read, particularly in the middle section where the story takes place in an alternate universe. You'll definitely want to be in a quiet place where you can pay close attention and really conceptualize the alternative beings.

 

[Storm]

Duly noted.

 

[Riverwolf]

Supposedly he has created the universe, supposedly he has sent prophets and messengers to us, supposedly he communicates every now and then with people and supposedly he does his works daily.

A legitimate question would be: where is (the abrahmitic?) god?

There.

 

[sojourner]

Supposedly he has created the universe, supposedly he has sent prophets and messengers to us, supposedly he communicates every now and then with people and supposedly he does his works daily.

A legitimate question would be: where is (the abrahmitic?) god?

That's a good question. Where is God? We believe God is here, yet God is also deafeningly silent most of the time. Perhaps the fault lies, not with God, but with us, and our uncanny ability to diminish God with our language. Since God will not be diminished, God has to stand outside our ability to verbalize and understand.

 

[slave2six]

That's a good question. Where is God? We believe God is here, yet God is also deafeningly silent most of the time. Perhaps the fault lies, not with God, but with us, and our uncanny ability to diminish God with our language. Since God will not be diminished, God has to stand outside our ability to verbalize and understand.

You crack me up! You begin with "we believe" meaning you don't know and end emphatically with what god has to do because we are somehow at fault that he can't communicate with us properly. Trust me, even a deaf person understands when someone is communicating kindness or anger or what have you. This god that you believe in because you don't know because god is "deafeningly silent most of the time" is a complete incompetent if he can't manage to communicate with us effectively.

Or, perhaps god is "deafeningly silent" because he isn't there...?

 

[sojourner]

You crack me up! You begin with "we believe" meaning you don't know and end emphatically with what god has to do because we are somehow at fault that he can't communicate with us properly. Trust me, even a deaf person understands when someone is communicating kindness or anger or what have you. This god that you believe in because you don't know because god is "deafeningly silent most of the time" is a complete incompetent if he can't manage to communicate with us effectively.

Or, perhaps god is "deafeningly silent" because he isn't there...?

I'm glad I provided such a level of entertainment for you. I had a cat that was eminently entertained by a springy doorstop, too. What's your point?

We are at fault. We have recreated a world where we have diminished God to T-shirt screen printing, bumper stickers, pens that have "God hearts you!" imprinted on them, and billboard slogans. We live in a world where people throw Bibles in the trash along with soiled diapers and other filth. In what way do those things contribute to any sort of communication with God?

Deaf people do understand nonverbal acts. And God has communicated with us in such a way. God soiled God's Self by becoming Incarnate. I'd say that was pretty effective non-verbal communication, yet that act was widely misunderstood -- or ignored -- by humanity. The point is that we're looking for God in the wrong places. God isn't found in our language -- or particularly in our cognition. Language and cognition are not the only indicators of existence. Shall we say that trees don't exist because they're silent? Or that life doesn't exist, because we cannot understand it?

Part of the understanding we have of God is that God does not force God's Self upon us. God has acted -- we must respond. If we don't respond, in what way does that make God ineffective?

 

[Dunemeister]

The question of the OP can have several interpretations. It might be using the word "where" to ask about place. In what place can we find YHWH? If that's the question, it's a bit of a category mistake. God isn't physical so we can't find him like a lost shoe. Yet he is not limited by the category of space, so wherever you happen to be, YHWH is there.

But the question might be "What signs are there that God is present?" Or "What is God doing?" or "What has God done?" If that's the question, the answer involves appeal to theology, which I doubt the poster will accept.

 

[Cobblestones]

We are at fault. We have recreated a world where we have diminished God to T-shirt screen printing, bumper stickers, pens that have "God hearts you!" imprinted on them, and billboard slogans. We live in a world where people throw Bibles in the trash along with soiled diapers and other filth. In what way do those things contribute to any sort of communication with God?

In what way does reading the Bible contribute to any sort of communication with god? It seems to me that you think that God is trying to communicate from some radio frequency and we are doing everything we can to destroy all the radio receivers. My question is what does it matter if God is somewhere out there failing to communicate to us rather than standing in the room next to us communicating in a way that we can both understand and not mistake for something else?

Part of the understanding we have of God is that God does not force God's Self upon us. God has acted -- we must respond. If we don't respond, in what way does that make God ineffective?

Whose understanding? That's simply your hypothesis which has yet to produce any supporting evidence.

 

[slave2six]

Thanks Cobbles. You're spot-on (although I was thinking more in terms of God being a fisherman casting out individual lines and rewarding those who actually took the bait).

What I find so profoundly troubling in Soj's comments is the mixture of conjecture and certitude:

We believe God is here

God will not be diminished...

We are at fault

It's all our fault and yet we are the lower or lesser intelligence and yet we have the power to thwart the creator. It just seems so implausible to me that an all-powerful deity could be so ineffectual and incompetent.

 

[ftv1975]

God's residence is "Kolob"

 

[Twilight Hue]

When I was a Christian, God was manifested as "alive" through the Bible, in songs, fellowship and worship. Since then, "God" has changed form and quietly disintegrated away revealing the breeze on the skin, washing dishes, taking out the garbage, eating apples, drinking tea, chatting with folks, going for walks etc.

 

[ThereIsNoSpoon]

But the question might be "What signs are there that God is present?" Or "What is God doing?" or "What has God done?" If that's the question, the answer involves appeal to theology, which I doubt the poster will accept.

I find it strange to say that.
As I mentioned already God supposedly has done (still does) many things. Yet interestingly while for example a whole city should have been able to tell you about him some millenia ago, you don't see any manifestations of him or his acts nowadays.
Aint that somewhat "interesting".

Thousands of people killed, cities and nations destroyed, planets created, miracles around the corner, healing blind people.....
and nowadays? "Rien"