IS GOD REAL? HOW DO YOU KNOW?

by still thinking 778 Replies latest jw friends

  • soft+gentle
    soft+gentle

    stillthinking one member of my family was in an accident and the other is chronically ill but fighting fit paradoxically

    edit: have to run - will reply to your second question soon

  • still thinking
    still thinking

    sounds like you have your hands full soft+gentle. thanks for taking the time to reply.

  • still thinking
    still thinking

    soft+getle

    In ancient texts this was done by means of signs and signals which were called phantasma which means appearances which to me suggests something real.

    So, are you suggesting that something is as real as we believe it to be? I suppose this is a valid thought. If we believe someone loves us, that is real to us. If we see something as green...but are colour blind and the object is actually red...the green is still real to us isn't it?

    And if it is unexplored or mysterious but considered real to many, that alone makes it real...to them.

    But, do these things remain real when you find conflicting evidence....I suppose they can and do if we choose to make the new understanding fit into our reality.

    The second definition of phantasma interested me...

    phantasma - something existing in perception only; "a ghostly apparition at midnight"

    Is reality simply our peception of information recieved.

  • jgnat
    jgnat

    Stillthinking, I celebrate the power of your self to survive.

    You've got a pretty special brain, there, too, for pondering these universal themes.

  • still thinking
    still thinking

    Thank you jgnat...

    I may discover that I can ponder myself into utter confusion...LOL

  • soft+gentle
    soft+gentle

    - it truly is a pleasure for me to come here.

    I don't think perception alone makes something as real as when grace happens with it (grace has relevance in non biblical thought too - so I won't whisper this). When perception is encapsulated in and by grace then I think it is more real than if it was not.

  • still thinking
  • still thinking
    still thinking

    soft+gentle...good morning to you...

    Now, this grace you refer too.....you say it is not the in the religious sense, so not by mercy that we understand more fully. So, are you saying that we gain complete understanding from beauty and love?

    You wouldn't be leading me down the path of Universalism would you? I think this is the journey Flying High was trying to take me on. ...LOL

    If you are referring specifically to being kind to ourselves and allowing ourselves the grace to make mistakes and learn from our errors without chastising ourselves...I think I am more in agreement and understaning of what you meant...we cannot learn or move forward without that. We are encapsulated in our own ignorance...

    So in effect...kindness to ourselves leads to knowledge?...but is it knowledge of God? Or is God truly within?

  • ballistic
    ballistic

    why are monkeys still here, not evolving into men

    OMG, did someone actually say that?

  • still thinking
    still thinking

    ssssssh....ballistic...they did, but they know not what they say...

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