what did god do before he did anything?

by sleepy 39 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  jst2laws

  13th Apostate,

  "Let us make man in our image". if god is completely unrelated to man or beyond his comprehension, than most of the bible is useless and god should be studied in more of an abstract way, perhaps as some eastern beliefs dictate.

  What ever one might try to interpret from "make man in our image" it does not necesarily mean we should be able to completely comprehend everything about God. The Bible, it seems to me, was not given to help us to explain God's existence but to help us cope with our own.

  As to what we Do learn about God most of what is portrayed in the Hebrew scriptures is the erroneous human image of Him. Just like most of what Job and the three comforters said was wrong, most of what the Hebrew scripts portray is a shadow leading to Christ, who revealed God to be a loving "Father", not a jealous, violent demanding god. Loving father is a human concept attributed to God but what else can be done. At least this is something we can "comprehend".

  When the apostle Paul was talking about joining Jesus, who is the "only begotten God" (John 1:18), he said we do 'not know what we will be but we know we will be like him'. It appears they didn't comprehend much of this stuff either.

  Jst2laws
• 

  SYN

  For a human mind to find an answer to this question is much more difficult than getting a watermelon through a keyhole
• 

  NeonMadman

  I think that part of the problem is that we tend to think of eternity as being an infinite amount of time. I don't think that is so, I think eternity is much more than that. If time is an arrow, eternity is all of space to shoot the arrow in. It can go an infinite distance in any direction. Where we humans are confined to a linear conception of time, I think that God stands outside of that line and, in effect, "looks down" at it and can reach in and manipulate it at any juncture. (I'm speaking figuratively here, I hope you understand that).

  From his standpoint in eternity (which is not confined to a linear flow as time is) God can potentially control an infinite number of timelines for an infinite number of universes. Whether he actually does so, or whether this is the only universe with which he concerns himself, is anybody's guess. As Paul Simon sang, "the information's unavailable to the mortal man".

  Of course, I can't support any of that Biblically. But neither, in my opinion, does it necessarily conflict with the scriptures, since the Bible concerns itself with earth and man and their relationships to God, and doesn't really address the finer details of cosmology.
• 

  zenpunk

  13th Apostate - "Let us make man in our image". Well I'm glad just2laws answered for me. I agree. And I take the Bible with a grain of salt.
• 

  proplog2

  The reason we can't understand God is because it's a completely incoherent concept.
• 

  SpiceItUp

  I think a better question is---

  did god do anything to begin with?
• 

  The Devil

  Juggled poodles. Don't ask me why but he just had this thing for trillions of years where he loved to juggle poodles.

  I heard those stories but I always thought they were rumors And I heard that it was chihuahuas not poodles.

  Dad also drank a lot of vodka which really does explain a lot.

  Well, you know who got him doing that dont you? After he created me, he had to have some kind of excuse for how I turned out. It is always hard being the black sheep of the family.

  Lucifer
• 

  joelbear

  Every time I have devoted much thought to this, I come up with the same answer.

  Everything is god. Everything has always existed in some form and always will. I believe we are all tied together by this everythingness which is god. Recognition that everything is us and that we are everything is the beginning of being aware of our spiritual nature.

  Our animal nature rules us through our genes to seek survival, comfort and then territorial expansion. Our spiritual nature allows us to recognize the needs of that which is not us.

  God is the sum total of all our sensory inputs.

  This is the only explanation that seems logical to me. I write more about it on my Lifeism page at www.joelbear.com.

  None of this is really new thought, just a rearrangement of the thoughts.

  I used to think that is was essential for human survival to not only recognize our spiritual side but for everyone to give themselves up to it. I am tending to think now that what we are going through is simply a minute set of events in what is going on in the totality of what I think of as god. Similar to having a small scratch or bug bite somewhere on our body that we are aware of but which does not change our life course in any significant way.

  We are a small part of a very very large thing and in consequence are very insignificant. Dust in the wind.

  However, I also believe that our individual live are significant within the godthing since only we can create what we can create. We create thought and action every day and each thought and action build into the experience of the whole. Communicating our thoughts is very important as is creating all the newness that we can during our life.

  Peace

  Joel
• 

  Satanus

  Joel

  I agree.

  SS
• 

  teejay

  >> However, I also believe that our individual live are significant within the godthing since only we can create what we can create. We create thought and action every day and each thought and action build into the experience of the whole. Communicating our thoughts is very important as is creating all the newness that we can during our life.

  If I didn't know any better, Joel, I'd think you were running for office or something.

  Our lives are significant within the godthing?

  We actually "create thought and action"?

  By communicating, we create "newness"?

  What books *you* been reading? Let's get real.

  Our lives are significant only to those that are impacted by them. Nobody else really gives a damn. We don't create either thought or action. We react to impulse, just like a basic one celled organism. Like a bird pecking the ground looking for a worm. We don't create thought or action. We think. We act.

  We don't create newness. Nothing is new. Nothing. Everything we do has already been done, in some form or another. Everything is vanity and striving after wind. You can quote me.