by minimus 48 Replies latest jw friends
Good question!!!! YES I do believe there is a God but not sure who he is, I have been lied to so much. Which of the many many Gods is the right one. If he wants us to know he will do it. Right now he/she is not making it very clear so we on earth just have to blunder along and live our lives as best we can.
Some one had to make this whole universe, I just can't believe in the Big Band Theory.
MY opinion
IPSec: good words!
Gopher says:
So the non-believer would have the attitude that this life MUST be used to the fullest, because anything beyond that is unsure. The believer may not share that attitude, because to them life will surely continue on and so why worry. (In extreme forms this is bad, as when Islamic terrorists believe they'll get a special after-life reward if they blow themselves up in a crowded market.)
That's how I see things, too. The not-so-extreme forms can be sad, too, as with the WTS: don't even try to make your life or the world a better place, because you can't - God is the only one that can make things better. So, beyond just putting off typical life pursuits (education, career, family) in favor of "spiritual things" (in their eyes, field service), there's also an embedded, institutionalized apathy (at best) or downright disgust toward a "normal" human life.
OK, back to the OP...like Journey-On, I would have to say yes to a non-traditional "God" - though not a God with personality, or interest, or ego, or will. The "God" I see may be related to the creative demi-urge that "caused" the big bang, or "caused" DNA to develop (which is just another way of saying "unknown impulse or state", but "God" is shorter and easier to type) - experientially, I access this "God" through a sublime sense of yearning toward existance; and what I perceive to be a commonality of consciousness that we all share, which may very well be a) a fantasy or illusion, and/or b) have nothing whatever to do with "God".
Both of these things I might call "God" are, to me, just natural parts of the cosmos - impersonal forces. Most people I suspect wouldn't think of these things (even if we concurred they exist) as "God", but again it's a handy shorthand for "stuff beyond human ken that I suspect exists but have no objective evidence for" (kinda like the traditional definitions of "God").
Cheers -Void
Burn says:
That sentence reeks of a religious fervor I almost wish I had.
You've got me smiling yet again...! ;-)
At this time in my life I have to say Yes
I believe.
Too much in the universe is connected not to be put together by some creator.
I did want to say that I can see the appeal of atheism after the WTS.
I can see manipulation by men in the Bible.
As a Christian; Christ's yoke is light, just believe, be faithful, be moral as possible, be forgiving, be kind and charitable, and share the good news (how is not specified, and up to the person).
I don't have anything profound to say; but I would have to say 'no'.
A part of me feels the need to add that I wouldn't mind believing in a God, and I could easily just decide to believe one exists, but I'm not sure why I should?
I'm not sure where to "put" him/her/it ("It" from here on). I guess I could put It in charge of one of the gaps in human knowledge, like the cause of the expansion of space-time. But God has been driven from gap to gap over the centuries, from being in charge of the weather, to swirling stars planets and galaxies around with Its "fingers", to creating every species; having to flee every time knowledge has filled the gap It used to occupy.
I don't know exactly how my television actually works, and instead of trying to find out, I coulddecide to believe there is an invisible garden gnome living inside it, spreading the images across the screen with its magic wand. My payoff would be that I then had an explanation for how the TV works, and didn't have to do much work to find out.
Which God should I believe in?
The aforementioned divine characteristics that were abandoned with new knowledge belonged to various religions throughout the times, and I could forget everything about religion, and just choose to believe in "the actual, true, existing God, whatever that may be", like I guess quite a few here do. But why? How? With no Bible, no Koran, no Vedic texts, no nothing, everything and anything I could use to describe this deity's characteristics would be my own guesswork; I would form the deity according to my own understanding of it. Well - I guess one could come to at least one logical conclusion about Its properties based on its creation (if it was a creating deity; but what else would it be?): It would necessarily have to be powerful and complex. - Loving, caring, forgiving? Well, if creatures here on earth could be said to reflect their Creator, one could find evidence of those things, but one could also find an equal amount of evidence to the contrary. - Caring for me personally; having a plan for my future? No way of knowing, but no signs to the affirmative either.
Still - my belief or lack thereof may be subject to change without further notice should anything profound change my current view of things. After leaving JWs, I don't care for dogmatic answers either way.
I should add more, but I have to go to bed. I see a few things I should probably change in this post, but I can't be bothered right now. Tomorrow perhaps.
He is a possibility. No one has ever given me a good explination for whats going on. The churches fail. And to me evolution fails.
Maybe God is behind the mystery.
I doubt he endorses or condones the bible. But then again when you look at all the kaos and confusion and pain and suffering he very well could be the god of the bible.
Maybe well find out when we die, maybe we wont.
To me, God is the topic heading of trying to figure out the big questions of life.
Carl Sagan, a famous person who believed in evolution, in his movie "Contact" allowed it to be said that there is a mystery out there, something we dont understand about life.
I call that God.
Things I can't see but believe in:
Every age has a sub-conscious narcissistic belief that it has reached the pinnacle of understanding, even though it would publically acknowledge the reality of its ignorance. It's usually only some form of bigotry that causes someone to totally preclude the "possibility" that some future invention might shatter their cherished paradigm.
As for the so-called "God's Master Plan" - people have been inventing those for millenia! It seems a poor excuse to blame God for the work of those who merely claim to be His minions
I do not believe in God, Satan, heaven, hell or life everlasting.
DJK
OMG! I just browsed through this site and found Dogaradodya. That guy is a genius. He discovered God. He offered this as the evidence.
