I stated that God is a SYMBOL.
That's flat-out wrong.
adamah,
so if god is NOT a symbol, what the heck is he???
lol, see, this is why people like kate are confused.
i don't know?
what do you think?.
kate xx.
I stated that God is a SYMBOL.
That's flat-out wrong.
adamah,
so if god is NOT a symbol, what the heck is he???
lol, see, this is why people like kate are confused.
i don't know?
what do you think?.
kate xx.
Galileo had SUPPORTIVE EVIDENCE on which to challenge the commonly-held beliefs of his day: Galileo used observations that were obtained with a TELESCOPE to support his theory that the Sun was at the center of the Solar System, and not the Earth.
adamah
you missed the point of my referencing Galileo my friend.
you alluded to 'intellectual dishonesty', who could be more intellectual than Galileo? What was believed about the solar system was thought of as ABSOLUTE truth (not mere interpretation as WE are discussing here), and he proceeded to be 'intellecutally dishonest' regardless, and it started with an uncommon idea.
as for my proof, it's actually not all that much work (contrary to your assertion that it is unsurmountable).
I stated that God is a SYMBOL.
why? because I have never seen the 'commonly accepted' god, i have never talked to him, i have never seen him pour fire from heaven onto a wicked city. i have never heard him speak from heaven. Ive never seen his throne, ive never seen his angels that cater to his every whim.
but i've also never seen him put a protective film over some to prevent them an injury, nor have i seen him ever multiply fish and bread to feed thousands. ive never seen him walk on water, or bring someone back from the dead to give such dead person back to his friends and family.
there is no record of ANYONE having seen any of these things...yet we accept that they are literal?
LOGIC compells me to accept that God is not a person, bur rather a SYMBOL or a representation of something else. And again, the Bible answers the very question of what God is suppose to symbolize.
i don't know?
what do you think?.
kate xx.
It is intellectually-dishonest to move goalposts by redefining 'God' to mean power, justice, wisdom and love: all of those words are those concepts that already have commonly-accepted definitions
adamah,
let's stress the words above 'commonly-accepted'.
commonly accepted does not constitute 'true' or more importantly, accurate.
Also, allow me to point out that Galileo was 'intellectually-dishonest' when challenging the idea of Earth being the center of the universe. Remeber THOSE 'goalposts'?
i don't know?
what do you think?.
kate xx.
Sorry Monseuir, but I'm not playing along with your, "I want to redefine 'God' to mean 'science" game: it's a vapid and intellectually-dishonest approach which tries to move the pieces and relies on your silly obsfucation.... That's precisely WHY Ishmael just asked you to define God: he's likely seen your tactic before, too.
adamah,
how am i 'redefining' what God is? please DO explain?
I stated that God is power, justice, wisdom, and above all else, love.
Interestingly, the Bible says the EXACT same thing. I have not redefined anything my friend.
The only thing I have done, is apply LOGIC to the understanding of what God is. You , adamah, argue against a literal God ( i do the same thing by the way). But you cannot argue against the FACT that power, justice, wisdom and love do exist, and are very real.
Ismael,
God is a SYMBOL, a representation, nothing else.
A symbol's purpose is to conjure a 'picture' in your mind, a 'picture' that helps you to understand an idea or a concept.
The symbol for 'Poison' for example (skeleton skull) tells you many things, such as 'step away' or ' do not touch', or 'dangerous'.
You can understand all these things with one simple symbol.
i don't know?
what do you think?.
kate xx.
But even if another valid approach was used to answer the question, it still would only constitute a "benefits-based" (telelogical) argument, which ultimately doesn't answer the underlying question: does God exist or not? Some people like to believe in things that actually do EXIST, regardless of how it makes us feel!
kate,
see what adamah wrote? case in point. When you attempt to make 'God' what he isnt' (a literal person) it gets very confusing.
i don't know?
what do you think?.
kate xx.
Hi Kate,
it is easy to discard 'God' or label God as pointless altogether when one doesn't fully understand what God really is.
If you view God as a literal person, like you or me, literally sitting on a throne in the heavens, then yes, he is very much pointless. Why would an all powerful God have to sit on a throne being catered to by millions and millions of angels?
conviniently, this is a God that you cannot (or not suppose) to see. this is a big clue as to what God really is.
God is a symbol, a representation of something else. What is it suppose to represent? The Bible answers the question. God is justice, power, wisdom, and above all else, love.
God is also perfect, exact, accurate, unfailing, good. 'God' is even given a name, Yahweh or Jehovah, meaning 'I can be ANYTHING I need to be'.
As humans, we are quick to 'personify' and humanize things that are NOT human or people, we do it with our cats and dogs, even unliving things like our car and house. We've done the same with 'God', and its created a ton of confusion.
we had to go off grid for a time, time and half a time as we thought we had been outed.
fortunately it was a false alarm, but it was a stressful time.
i asked for my original diary thread to be deleted in case there could be anything on there to identlfy mrs smith and i. i am always very careful when posting, and am sure there was nothing on there, but felt it best to have it removed in order to be as cautious as a dove.
Winston
i think what your mother was really asking you was 'why do you want me to stop being your mother?!!'
as you can clearly see, she couldn't care less what you believe in and what you don't, hence her recommendation regarding just becoming inactive.
winston, in the end, by attempting to 'discard' the made up 'rules' set by the wt, you are hurting your mom by actually following one of the worst 'rules', the turning in a letter of DA. there is nothing in the Bible about doing this either.
anyways, in a few years no one will care that you turned in a DA or not and no, no one will think of Winston as a JW if you're gone long enough, it's true. no one except your mother. it sounds like you care about her and she wont be around forever, i'd give in for her. just my op.
i will happily answer this question if there can be some guarantees this thread won't be deleted..
simon -
Ultimately, here you are - you started a topic called "Did Cedars manipulate Lee into having a thread closed?". It is your obsession with what you think others think of you. That's called ego.
cedars,
agree completely with simon, you need to quit it with the self grandeur. were you that guy that would go around double checking others' field service report for 'accuracy'?
get a life cedars.
do you believe in a literal christ?.
someone that walked the earth and did the things the bible states he did?
(miracles, etc.).
Do you believe in a literal Christ?
Someone that walked the earth and did the things the Bible states he did? (miracles, etc.)
Some here have aluded to 'historical evidence' as being the basis of their belief. Where can one go to see this evidence?
found this interesting article in the ny times.
i had never heard of a tulpa before.
for those of us that don't buy into certain posters claims, this may be an explanation.. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/opinion/luhrmann-conjuring-up-our-own-gods.html?_r=0.
My Lord speaks the same message to all of His Body... teaching and speaking to them the same things. Evne though they have never met in person. Even though they do not even live in the same countries. Even though they might not have lived in the same time, for that matter. Yet we hear the SAME things from Him. One time that does come to mind is having heard something from my Lord... something new... and a sister in Christ phoned me at some point that day to tell me what she had received from Him, and it was the same as He had told me. That has happened too often to be dismissed.
tec,
just for conversation's sake, is it possible to 'hear' the same message from apparentely two different originating sources? or must the message come from one source alone?