God: the central question (page 2)

mindseye

Nothing determines your worldview-and the course of your life-more than how you answer those question

Not really. As an agnostic I answer "I dunno" to all of the above, and go about my business and live the best life I can. Since God doesn't directly communicate with us, then we have no objective way of proving that He/She/It exists. That's why religious belief is called faith, you have to take a leap of faith to believe.

Now I have a very Jungian view of "God", that God is consciousness. I believe that the concept of God is still relevant to our psyche, even though he may not literally exist. But those are deep waters for longer post.

We who believe in one God see all of creation as permeated with personality, packed with moral meaning, and filled with eternal purpose... Atheists, on the other hand, see reality as the product of mindless, impersonal, and purposeless processes.

These are drastic simplifications. Many atheists and agnostics can and do have lives filled with meaning. We do have a sense awe and wonder of the universe. This is what Einstein called "God". Existentialism, Buddhism, Taoism, Pantheism and many other belief systems give man purpose without a need for an Anthropomorphic god.

Morals are man made. You can see this in the Bible, as morality evolves from bronze age barbarity to the more compassionate teachings of Jesus.

If God exists as described in the Bible, then abortion, same-sex "marriage," embryonic stem-cell research, and so on are clearly wrong. If not, then whether they're right or wrong is ours to decide, and no decision we made could possibly be wrong.

If God exists as described in the Bible, then we have a whole host of moral issues to deal with, because much that is perpetuated by him in the Bible is reprehensible by any decent moral standard.

For instance, since you mentioned abortion, here's a relevant verse:

Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks! Psalms 137: 9

That's just one example, there's a lot more genocide, polygamy, abuse and other immoral examples. But I want to keep this post short!

ixthis

design - hello again! How are you today? I am having a wonderful day ... we have casual day at work so I am in my jeans and a pretty little blue blouser that I should have complimented with a pearl necklace! Very soon, I am leaving work to spend the rest of the day out on the town! Yay!

Anyway, I would like to point out that I am not the author of the first post. I merely found it an interesting read and have referenced the source of the article (who is Tom Gilson).

Actually, on that point, I am glad that many of the other readers (such as cofty) realised that it is not my own writing. I was contemplating what the best method is for quoting another person's writing ... I used the Hat Tip method at the end of the post as I think that eliminates the issue of plagiarism since it links people to the original source.

Mad Sweeney

God is irrelevant,as are leprechaunsand fairies.

Hey! I resemble that remark!

As for the Bible God, I quote a hero that's every bit as real: "Come get some."

thetrueone

All the gods developed within human consciousness were intrinsically developed out human ignorance of the world we/they lived in, the very

same world we all happen to live in today.

That includes the god on the ancient Judeans Yahweh.

The spiritualised seers, or the ones who self identified themselves as closest to the gods of these ancient civilizations tried to solidify

their their stately position within their own cultural presence by instigating the killing off other tribes who worshiped other gods,

there by strengthening their own stature within their own tribe.

This killing off by venture toward self empowerment is still going on today and can easily be seen by the WTS. religious organization.

ixthis

The Orthodox speak of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit: three divine persons sharing the same essence and a perpetual movement of love which makes the Holy Trinity act harmoniously as one.They have always maintained a theological balance between the oneness of God and the threeness of God.

For example, in the Old Testament we read:

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one."
(Deuteronomy 6:4);

and, in the New Testament we read

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..."
(Matthew 28:19)

The Orthodox belief of God is based upon how He has revealed Himself to His people through the Holy Scriptures and Sacred Tradition. The theology never speculates in its beliefs (e.g.., the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the person of Jesus Christ, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Jesus Christ, sacramental theology, etc.), but is very comfortable in saying, when things are inexplicable or impossible to comprehend by the human mind, that it is a "mystery."

What we do know of God-that is, what He has revealed to us-is that He is: eternal, holy, perfect, all-loving, present everywhere, the Creator, the Source and Giver of life, the Source of virtues, a Trinity, just and therefore Judge, etc.,

So, God is not a waste of time IF all of this is true. If one takes the position that He IS then all of this is important if He ISNT then it IS a waste of time but if you die and discover that it was true then you have wasted your opportunity to use your free will to believe in Him.

thetrueone

what He has revealed to us-is that He is: eternal, holy, perfect, all-loving, present everywhere, the Creator, the Source and Giver of life, the Source of virtues, a Trinity, just and therefore Judge, etc.,

Thats why he killed all of mankind, innocent children and all, accept one family in the great flood of Noah because of all of the grand virtues of

what you say.......what a god indeed

God: the central question

mindseye

ixthis

Mad Sweeney

thetrueone

ixthis

thetrueone

designs

designs

glenster

Dagney

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