Who is God?

[godnotgod]

You can think of God as human, and converse with Him as such

..in which case God is an anthropomorphic entity fashioned after the image of man. Is that a possiblity, and if so, is the result God, or just man creating a concept of God?

You can think of Him as beyond human and a bit more distant.

"Him" is still anthropomorphic. "More distant"? Where do you suppose this "God" of yours dwells?

Or non-human, devoid of thought and feeling, responding to you, only if the 'force' is with you.

....in which case "the force", as you refer to it, takes sides in human conflicts. Is that possible?

In the mean time you will indeed make your life what you will of it.
And suffer accordingly at the hour of your last breath.

In every example you give, you are separating man from God, and man is "treating" God in some way, with consequences. What if you do not make a distinction between man and God, between the physical and the spiritual, but merely see all existence as seamless and singular, which, in fact, it is. In such a view, there is no "other" which "self" treats in any particular way. One can simply do nothing, in which case there is no 'cause and effect'. By maintaining such a view, one need no longer 'suffer', and one can go out sweetly, especially when one comes to the realization that life and death as we know it are but illusions.

The whole point of achieving union with the Absolute is to put an end to the vicious circle of cause and effect, in which one suffers the consequences. One awakens into a new reality where Absolute Joy is to be found, and that reality is to be found only in the Here and Now. Suffering is an Option, but it is the Long Way Home. It is not a requirement.

When I say 'union with the Absolute', I mean that all distinctions between man and God are dissolved, like dye in water. If you take another look at your Bible, you will see clearly that the very opening lines state:

"...and the Word became Flesh..."

It does not say that the spirit entered into the flesh, but that it was actually transformed into the stuff. I don't think most people truly understand the significance of what they are actually reading when they see this. Spirit IS flesh, and flesh, spirit. When you see and understand that all is One, this is possible. Until you do, you will continue to live in the dual world, where all things are in conflict one with the other, but this 'conflict' is not real: it dwells only as illusion within the mind itself.

The only remaining question is: Are the gifts of the Incarnation exclusive only to the historical Jesus, or available universally to all mankind, as the Buddha tells us they are?

 

[islam means peace]

Can someone please explain to me why the God of most Abrahamic religions is just called "God" instead of calling Him by a name? To me that is kind of like naming your child "Child."

Simple question. No debating about who's God is real. No fighting about who has the cooler name. No religion disrespect. Just, why? Why is there no name?

Well , i think your concept is totally wrong , you said "why the God of most Abrahamic religions is just called "God" instead of calling Him by a name? "

Muslims useually dont use this word ,the word 'GOD' is spoken/written in english language and you will find the word 'GOD' in speaking/writing in todays english but you wont find this word in any other language.


In Holy Koran, Allah says: "Allah`s are the excellent names, therefore invoke him by them. (7:180)

So muslims preffer to use the names like "Allah" ,"Ar-Raheemu" ,"al-Maleku" etc, See this link - - - The 99 Excellent Names of ALLAH (God) ``Asmaa-ul Husnaa`` - Page 1.The names 1-10 - - - for more details.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

???????????what? you don't understand consequence?

Treat God as a person, and His response is predictable as much as your actions are predictable.
You would expect to be treated as human....if your God is human.

Treat God as a God...and you should expect some detachment of human traits, and His response to you may seem a bit cold. His will over yours may prove more important than your life.

Treat God as an unthinking, unfeeling energy, and it will be up to you to deal with something that will not heed your presence.

Of course, which is greater...you or God?
Choose as you please, how deal with Him...and suffer how He deals with you.
Doesn't that sound fair?

Well, it was just your last line in the previous post like most of the gibberish here that doesn't make any sense.....

Of course people can treat "God" as a person...or treat God as a god...They do this because it is they who create God in the first place. "God" or gods are a mental construct. There are no consequences.

 

[zenzero]

Friend Dirty Penguin,

Of course people can treat "God" as a person...or treat God as a god...They do this because it is they who create God in the first place. "God" or gods are a mental construct. There are no consequences.

Well said!

Love & rgds

 

[Thief]

I will attempt a reply to several postings at once....God help me.

There has indeed been a separation between God and Man.
The creation of Man is the opportunity to form a fresh spirit...an individual...with each and every birth.

Constant contact....in the spirit...reduces the differences.
Complete interaction takes the individual characteristics away...altogether.
If you were one with God...you... and everyone else who is one with God, would be identical in every manner of speech and response.

You are not one with God. You should be able to see this for your lack of ability. Do storms go away, when you say so? Do they return at your beckoning? If we each had such ability...would there not be chaos?
Can you turn the stone into bread? or would you refrain?

You have questions that lack answer. If you actually knew the 'answer', your participation here would be what?....to enlighten your fellow man?...as if you know better?

Let's go with that....
When I die, I will stand up from the dust, and seeing my dead body, I will pronounce...in the spirit...
'it is finished!'.
The angels will be there, to see what has come up from the dust.
They will ask, what I have said and what I have done, and I will fess up.

They will then ask If I told anyone else.
That's when this discussion 'resurrects'.
They will then come looking for you.

You will not be able to plead ignorance.... because you have read this...you have seen such things.
It's like putting a fishing hook through you lip.
Sure...you will squirm...you will make denial...and the hook will come out.
But the scar will be there.
You will never be able to say this didn't happen.

You have been told. Your plea of ignorance is gone from you.
I stole it, even as you you watching me do it.
I am Thief.

 

[godnotgod]

I will attempt a reply to several postings at once....

You don't seem to have addressed much at all, except to parade your own point of view, smothering everything else in your way...

There has indeed been a separation between God and Man.

Assuming for the moment that such a God exists, where do you suppose any such separation first arose? Or are we just to take your word for both statements?

You are not one with God.

That is YOUR problem, since you believe that self and other exist as reality.

When I die, I will stand up from the dust, and seeing my dead body, I will pronounce...in the spirit...
'it is finished!'.
The angels will be there, to see what has come up from the dust.
They will ask, what I have said and what I have done, and I will fess up.

They will then ask If I told anyone else.
That's when this discussion 'resurrects'.
They will then come looking for you.

You will not be able to plead ignorance.... because you have read this...you have seen such things.
It's like putting a fishing hook through you lip.
Sure...you will squirm...you will make denial...and the hook will come out.
But the scar will be there.
You will never be able to say this didn't happen.

You have been told. Your plea of ignorance is gone from you.

You are asleep and are dreaming and fantasizing. Wake up!

I stole it, even as you you watching me do it.
I am Thief.

Keep talking...you might just convince yourself of it.

I wonder if you are capable of actually answering any of the questions posed to you here?

All that you claim will occur in some future is total conjecture. None of it is real, except in your own mind. Wake up and face the reality that you now find yourself in, or are you capable of doing THAT?
:spam:

 

[Thief]

Dead men don't wake up.

We all die...no exceptions.
If you have life after death, your fate is determined by what you do....
or don't believe.

Dream on....carefully.

 

[Thief]

You don't seem to have addressed much at all, except to parade your own point of view, smothering everything else in your way.

Actually I did...you simply didn't like it.

And in review I see you cut and quote as you please...completely ignoring the details that you don't wish to address.

I believe this is called intellectual dishonesty...here at the forum.

There has indeed been a separation between God and Man.
You're not God....neither am I.

Reviewing my previous post will probably help.

 

[Mr Cheese]

Can someone please explain to me why the God of most Abrahamic religions is just called "God" instead of calling Him by a name? To me that is kind of like naming your child "Child."

Simple question. No debating about who's God is real. No fighting about who has the cooler name. No religion disrespect. Just, why? Why is there no name?

On the contrary...

the Abrahamic God has MANY MANY names

it is just in Christianity, for example, these names are generally just all translated en mass to "God"

arguably a major stumbling block in understanding

 

[Mr Cheese]

You don't seem to have addressed much at all, except to parade your own point of view, smothering everything else in your way.

Actually I did...you simply didn't like it.

And in review I see you cut and quote as you please...completely ignoring the details that you don't wish to address.

I believe this is called intellectual dishonesty...here at the forum.

There has indeed been a separation between God and Man.
You're not God....neither am I.

Reviewing my previous post will probably help.

at a certain level there is no seperation

So actually he/she you are referring to, is God...

we can look to science, mysticism and religion for confirmation.

Or, we can actually experience this connectedness for ourselves.

....

Or we can live in duality and seperation....

The choice is yours...

 

[Thief]

I agree to the notion of choice.
If you treat God as a person, you would expect a personal exchange in return.
If you treat God as a blind force (nature) then you step aside when nature runs headlong your way.
Etc...etc...etc...

I'm not expecting that one on one, in the face, confrontation.
I strongly suspect hierarchy will be in place.
So...after my last breath...angels will have first call what happens to me.

Various belief systems describe various scenarios.
Say as you please, and expect that much in return.

If you don't believe in God, you don't have much to look forward to.
If He is no more than blind nature, there won't be a lot to talk about.
If you consider Him to be a person....then your endeavor would be to discover His expectations.

But for now...your thoughts are your own.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

Truth is never ending....... francis

Truth is relative.

Muslims believe in God and they believe in Yeshua (Isa) Jesus....There way must be the "truth"...

The Jews, no doubt, believe in God...so their way must be "truth"

Christians believe in God....There way must be "truth"

All of you with your varying sects and denominations profess your particular interpretation to be "truth"

Truth is relative.

 

[ElderChild]

Truth is relative.

Muslims believe in God and they believe in Yeshua (Isa) Jesus....There way must be the "truth"...

The Jews, no doubt, believe in God...so their way must be "truth"

Christians believe in God....There way must be "truth"

All of you with your varying sects and denominations profess your particular interpretation to be "truth"

Truth is relative.

Obviously you have never received "a love of The Truth" ;-(

Simply, sad for you ;-(

 

[godnotgod]

All of you with your varying sects and denominations profess your particular interpretation to be "truth"

Truth is relative.

Yes indeed, it is! But the moment you call it "relative" you imply the Absolute. What do you call a view that is beyond any personal view?

That is to say: is it possible for man to hold a view that is impersonal; to see reality exactly as it is, without attaching a see-er to the see-ing?

Now what do you call it?

Furthermore, if such a view is possible, then can we also say that, what YOU see, and what I see, are the same view, since there is no "you" nor "I" in the way of what is being observed?

1st Observer: "The flag is moving"
2nd Observer: "Wrong! The wind is moving!"
3rd Observer: "Both wrong! Flag and wind are both moving!"
Passerby: "All wrong! Your minds are moving!"
*****

A Zen Master and his pupil had sat meditating together for years in total silence. One day the thought came to the pupil's mind that his master could read his thoughts. As he turned to look into his master's face, his master looked back at him and winked.

 

[godnotgod]

Obviously you have never received "a love of The Truth" ;-(

Simply, sad for you ;-(

Authentic love for the truth is dispassionate. It leans neither to the left nor to the right. It simply sees reality just as it exists. Nothing more. Nothing less.

"My heart burns like fire but my eyes are as cold as dead ashes."
Soyen Shaku

 

[godnotgod]

If you don't believe in God, you don't have much to look forward to.

There is always the wonderful reality of this eternal Present Moment as it unfolds, full and complete, just as it exists. No beliefs, doctrines, or Gods required.

To believe that there is some "other realm" to look forward to is a substantial, delusive idea. It ignores the reality that is right under your very nose in favor of some pie in the sky notion in some non-existent future.

You are not completely here, now. And if you are not here, now, you will not be there, then.

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]"In desiring a thousand and one things, by and by you come to understand that all desire is futile. Each desire lands you in frustration; each desire again and again throws you into a ditch.[/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica]This has been happening for millions of years but again you start hoping, again you start thinking that this new desire that is arising, sprouting in you, will maybe lead you to paradise. That this will give you what you have longed for, that it will fulfill you. Again and again hope arises.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Enlightenment is when all hope disappears. Enlightenment is disappearance of hope.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Don't be disturbed when I say that enlightenment is a state of hopelessness -- it is not negative. Hope arises no more; desire is created no more. Future disappears. When there is no desire there is no need for the future. The canvas of the future is needed for the desire. You paint your desires on the canvas of the future -- when there is nothing to paint, why should you carry the canvas unnecessarily? You drop it. When there is nothing to paint, why should you carry the brush and the color tubes? They come from the past. The canvas comes from the future and the color and brush and technique, and all that, comes from the past. When you are not going to paint you throw away the canvas, you throw away the brush, you throw away the colors -- then suddenly you are here now."[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Osho[/FONT][FONT=Arial,Helvetica]
[/FONT]

 

[godnotgod]

There has indeed been a separation between God and Man.

You are claiming a separation has occurred between man and an entity you call "God" whose existence can only be maintained as a belief, but what is of prime importance here is not whether such an entity exists or not-exists, but why, exactly, you maintain such a belief in the first place.

I ask you once again:

When do you suppose this "separation" first occurred?

You're not God....neither am I.

The only reason you say that is because you believe in the artifact view of the universe, in which an outside agent creates the world in the same manner that a potter creates a pot. The creator is one thing, and that which is created yet another. Already you have separated man from God from the get-go; by the very nature of your belief; by the very nature of your delusive view of reality.

Now, if the creative force that you believe responsible for your presence at this very moment unfolds instead from the inside out, then you indeed ARE God. It is simply that you do not realize it yet.

So what's the Big Deal about being God? Did you think it was Something Special?

In God's mind, being God is quite Ordinary.

Would'nt you say so, God?

Or are you still playing Cosmic Hide and Seek with yourself?

Peek-A-Boo!

 

[Thief]

How odd you would post as you did in #55 and then criticize post#45.

 

[Thief]

Some one has quoted Osho.

The quote describes the grave. Apparently the participant using the quote did not see that possibility. Or maybe he thinks it is something else.

 

[Mr Cheese]

truth is beyond concept