Since God is Love…

by blubberyk9 50 Replies latest members private

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  Sea Breeze

  In other words the idea of a loving god is nothing but your personal fantasy based on wishful thinking with no basis in reality.

  Cofty,

  The idea of a loving God is found in the Miriam Webster dictionary.

  Definition of god

  (Entry 1 of 2)

  1God : the supreme or ultimate reality: such as

  a: the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped

  The irony is that if such a Being does exist, we would not be able to determine if he was the ultimate standard of Good unless we entertained a personal fantasy whereby we elevated ourselves to the level of "Ultimate Good".
  
  Some folks are able to do this, some can't. We are all different.
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  smiddy3

  I disregarded the old testament. Then anything in there that was not uttered by Jesus.

  So you believe everything that Jesus said ? He believed everything that was contained in the Hebrew Scriptures / old testament .

  Or are you just cherry picking about what Jesus said and disregarding anything Jesus said that relates to the Old Testament ?

  Its people like you with your way of thinking that started over 40,000 different sects of Christendom that we have today .

  And you just want to add to that ?

  
  
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  smiddy3

  I do not agree that a planet-wide flood occurred because God wanted to destroy so much humanity. That would not be a God of Love, would it?

  yet Jesus believed that didn`t he as recorded in scripture or are you now going to cherry pick what Jesus said and believed now .?
  
  
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  punkofnice

  Bluby - How do you know that is not true? How do you know that those who believe do not actually know an aspect of the Original First Cause--God?

  This ties in with Cofty's question

  Why the hiddenness of god?

  A real god, of biblical proportions, would make him/her/them/it-self known undeniably.

  Anything outside of this is cobblers, me thinks.
  
  
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  stan livedeath

  have these new god botherers gone yet ?
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  blubberyk9

  I started this thread to promote a discussion. That has happened. I have shared a piece of my personal belief system. I have not asked any responder to prove their own. I have said that I do not agree that the Bible is the authority on everything...that I disagree with much of it. Therefore if it should look as though I am cherry-picking let that be so. How could it look otherwise? The Bible is not the only place to find information on these issues. When one has told you that their faith and belief system comes from within, why do you then look for external validation?
  
  As I stated when I began this topic, I am interested in discussion--the exchange of ideas. Why you think I would worry about defending them is beyond me. It would be analogous to attempting to describe what being a parent is like to those who have not raised children. Until you have parented a child, you really don't have full information on what that is about. Neither can someone who has faith-experienced tell those who have not what it is like. But that does not mean we cannot have a decent discussion. The exchange of ideas is what drives progress forward. I do not ask anyone to believe as I do. Nor do I expect to believe exactly as anyone else does. Again, you cannot prove spiritual realities with material "facts."
  
  Thank you!!
  
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  punkofnice

  Blubby - you cannot prove spiritual realities with material "facts."

  Then there is no god. Simples.
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  truth_b_known

  I think one of the greatest obstacles to this discussion (both here and outside this website) is that it is done through western Judaeo-Christian lenses. Mankind's origin debate literally seems to be Christians vs Atheists. With the addition of Atheists stating "If the God of the Bible is real, I want nothing to do with him because he is evil, uncaring, callous, and narcissistic." Ask an Indian if there is a god. He or she will tell you the only Atheists in India are the ones that attended Catholic school.

  I evolved. I was born in the Witness religion. Got out. Became an Atheist. Now, I am more of an Agnostic spiritualist who enjoys studying all belief systems, clinging to no beliefs, and open to whatever the truth is.

  There is anthropological evidence that shows that humans have existed in their present physical form for over 150,000 years. We only have roughly 10,000 years of history. There's geological evidence that roughly every 6,000 to 10,000 years there has been a major cataclysmic event that would have wiped out civilization completely. It seems human civilizations are unknowingly being built on top of the ruins of previous civilizations.

  What I am gathering is there have been a few people who have reached a sort of enlightenment. Unless you experience it yourself it is hard to convey to someone else in words. So, I believe that those who have tried to convey it through words used the only vehicle they had on hand - the religion they were raised in and shared in common with those around them.

  I think there was a historical person who came to be referred to as Jesus of Nazareth. I believed this Jesus obtained enlightenment. As a Jew he used the Jewish religious system to convey his thoughts. This was no different than Siddhartha Gautama being raised a Hindu teaching his insights to his fellow Hindus 500 years before Jesus.

  Both men condemned their religious leaders. Both men taught to concentrate on spiritual things (love, compassion, mercy, etc.) as well as altruism. Then, both men died. That's when other men came behind them and made religions with rigid rules that actually violate the beliefs of the originators.

  Do you want material proof that a god exists? Go look in a mirror and say hello to God. Divinity is within as is the power to show love. So, in the end, God is love, but only if you choose it.
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  JoenB75

  To me God is supreme and terrible in his awesomeness that we should fear were it not for the mild face of Jesus Christ. To begin to rationally analyze such a being is as grotesque as ant university trying to evaluate the possibility of man's existence (and a weak comparison, God is infanthomable greater compared to us than we are to ants). Then you are asking for a god made in your image. We can only know the fractions revealed to us by Scripture as well as personal revelation. We can speculate as well. That is all good and dandy. What is God's relation to this and that. But it is just that.
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  JoenB75

  Adam and Eve fits nicely with the very likely concept of ancient lost civilisation. Out of that primordial chaos emerged new civilisations, man reborn repeating the actions of lost civilisations of Adam and Eve. The more reason to cling on to the Master in control of the seeming chaos. Out of the storm He speaks to us "oh man where were you when I..".