You don't know GOD

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
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I remember one day in college I was relaxing in the student lounge staring out the window. Then a small asian woman approched me and sat besides me. She greeted me and introduced herself. We made small talk for a few minutes then she revealed her true intentions; the “reality” of GOD. She went on about how her life was changed due to gods intervention and the whole nine. Ive heard this pitch countless times #-o .

She made sure to point out that god “had plans” for me and that god loved me and my family. She referred to the bible (as she pulled one out) numerous times as a guide to salvation and prosperous living. She seemed to know everything about god.

Well here is my problem.

I think just about every god fearing culture believes he (god) is an immense concept. “God himself is Omnipotent; alpha and omega; creature of all in the universe”…right?

You dont know GOD.

If you have a sibling take a look at him/her. Look at them a long while and come to some finite conclusion. Define them totally. What can you be sure about them? Imagine being them and try to imagine their thoughts and their beliefs. Imagine every variation of every belief. To what degree do they believe in “X”? Can you imagine how they percieve the world and its countless concepts? What is important to them?

To know someone else like you think you know yourself is a task, perhaps even impossible? Then why would we trust anyone with defining our god? Whatever that “god” is.

“God is OMNIPOTENT!!!” compared to what? us?: negligible specs on a vast and perhaps infinite canvas? “God is all merciful!!” Did he tell you this or prove this to you? “The bible tells me GOD is alpha and omega”, a book with a few hundred pages of human wording is going to help us understand a concept we consider infinite?

Im not slamming religion. I can appreciate the good that can come out of religion, but can our definitions of god atleast progress with our knowledge and rationale?

Lets ALL agree, “sure there COULD be something out there that we may consider a GOD”. I dont think theres a need to define IT yet (if it exists).

“Well god doesnt EVER want us to “find” him! He wants us to have FAITH in him.” That statement is oh so convenient. Something layed this universe out before us to explore and learn from it. What ever that begining is, God or big bang or whatever, its still out there waiting for us to understand objectivly. Hope its possible (crosses fingers)
:cry:

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Lololol. Your sig!

Okay, enough jazz.

Here’s what Dan says:

Women should always take the initiative like that, n not come to tell you about God, but tell you about science and truth and facts.

Yeah! No more shy! Learn about then share things that most people don’t know!

(* Pops daydream bubble *)

God damned bubbles, God damned gods. God damnit. God shod, God God God.

Gid Gad Good Geeb Gob Goop Poop Soup Loop Stoop Hoop.

lOLePOE~

…
…

…
Um…
Science gave us what religion never has:
An real explanation of the unknown.

Why does it find itself at odds with religion?
Why, after all–after all logic and truth applied by an unbiased mind about what I’m about to say:

Why would study of all “creation” reflect something other then the creator’s will and idealism?

“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.” ~Oscar Wilde.

When we talk, or act, or create any thought or work–this is an expression of who we are and what we want. I’m sick of ID. Atomic reactions are autocratic. Species existence is self-determinted and also autocratic. “We created ourselves” (see more in the “I am God” thread, in religion area).

“Holy spirit” and “God’s grace” are actually healthy ELF frequencies that a human aura can ressonate with–as far as I know. There was a mastake & the people thought it was a being, because it felt so alive and “spirited”. But, even an atheist can potentially tap into this higher brain function.

I’m God, I would know! (Just Kidding)

What about feelings of “what is the meaning of life?”?
Well, a question deserves an answer. Remember what 0sc said:

“The aim of life is self-development. To realize one’s nature perfectly - that is what each of us is here for.” ~Oscar Wilde.

Understanding must eventually bring truth and solutions, eventually.

I feel sorry for the agnostics, because these still expect higher powers to be sentient beings… If the universe is primarily inanimate, how much more so–“God”?

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I am wondering if anyone ever stopped to think that maybe “We” are the god’s, the creators of this vast universe (the physical)? So that we would have a place to experiance a new variant and learn thing’s that can only be learned here in the physical. There are thing’s a physical being can learn and understand that no metaphysical being ever could. True it might know what it is how it exist’s and everything about it,But it would never be able to actualy “learn” anything this physical universe has to offer without asuming a place in it as a physical being. And experianceing first hand.

maybe that’s why this was created. We got tired of theorizing and discussing what it would be like to live, die experiance pain and suffering, Discover thing’s we up until this was created did not know and perhaps still do not as this physical universe was created to be rather random and change variables quite often?

Perhaps also this universe will eventualy evolve into the metaphysical or maybe that is what has happened to the rest of the universe and this one universe is all that’s left of the physical universe’s that once were?

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Interesting theory Watcher.
Can you support it or is it just something you’d like to believe?

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What annoys me more than anything else is when some religious fanatic tries to convert me. Look I dont mind who prays to who.(No one is listening anyway) But dont tell me what is best for me, especially when it doesn’t even exist.

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How do you know that it doesn’t even exist? It seems that you are making some strong assumptions, just like the religious fanatics :laughing: :laughing: the irony :laughing:

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Saying that god does not exist – is as good as never claiming god exists in the first place. The god of abraham and the god of mohhamen must be removed from culture somehow!

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Hm, I respect most all religious beliefs, I think.

From my limited experiences with religion I have come to see that, for the most part, religion promotes good will. Ofcourse I am sure there are exceptions, but I will go out on a limb (a relatively safe sturdy limb) and suggest that, yes; most religions satisfy that part of human nature that strives for happiness.

Happiness, brio?

well, my personal belief (and probably many others’) is that anything satisfying to the human anatomy can be considered happiness or a means to happiness. This could mean the soft caress of a feather on ones skin to the mutilation of said skin :astonished: . The means is moot since pleasure is relative, but the filtration system is what is important. And this filtration or medium or path to happiness is what is important.

So whether your religion practices prayer or mutilation is neither here nor there. What is the purpose of doing these activities? Some sort of gratification I would say, happiness. Maybe thats obvious and maybe its not.

So many religions; so lil time

“The means is moot since pleasure is relative, but the filtration system is what is important.”

Maybe this is why there are SO many religions. There are so many ways to be pleased with ones universe.

Anyway, Use your definition of god only as a bridge to its reality

This is what I am suggesting; No religion is wrong, but no religion is right.
Every religion is just a taste of what this universes greatest concept truly is. We create a bubble of doctrine and rules and stories to help us understand what this universes greatest idea could be. And OUTSIDE those bubbles of belief lies what has always been and always been there. “The Truth”. We exist as far as I can tell, right? I mean…we are HERE on this thing we named earth in this system we call the milky way. If we can safely agree that we are here then we can agree there must be a GREATER mechanic involved in this Fish bowl we call the unvierse AND any realities that exist beyond it. The greatest possible reality is our god…wether its a man with a grey beard or a big bang. That is our “father”. So no matter WHAT our fuzzy belief in god is…OUTSIDE those beliefs,the bubble, will ALWAYS exist the truth.

Science can never reach the truth, because what we are searching for is truly massive and “infinite” so we can only dream of what is beyond our
perceptions. Religious people are one and the same with philosophers and scientists. They are all dreamers trying to find out “X”. All using different tools, but all seeking the same “truth”.

You don’t know GOD.
[-X [/b]

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I cannot not succumb to an involuntary, primordial, atavic feeling of ire whenever confronted with the kind of people that prattle about God as if God were an older cousin, or a chum with which the weekly debonair gatherings result in pleasant small talk. The kind of people for whom faith is a category not unlike the affiliation to a political party, or some city hall register, who adorn every action with a complex gesticulation meant to reveal their worthy status. I cannot abstain from being suspicious about these people, who talk with such ease and facility about God the comrade, God the boss, or God the employee. Such manifestations of effusion and mundane cordiality towards such a metaphysical signified (which is to say such a complex concept to grasp) usually leave me slightly stupefied and often unconvinced.

Whether it is my inability to grasp an essential truth that it is so obvious to everybody else that it’s become mainstream, or these guys are totally oblivious of what they’re talking about, I keep wondering why is it that they exhibit so few mental restraints when they bring God into the discussion.

Because I am aware that actual and authentic faith in God above is infinitely more difficult to concoct and attain than a convenient gliding over verbs and indulging in the idea of believing. I wonder if they sense what potential weight lies in every uttering that concerns metaphysical concepts - the weight of meaning, of explanation, of enforcing the mystery.

Sometimes it is hard to discerne what God really is out of everything that everyone puts in Him with every gratuitous ascribed attribute or predicate. Christian mystic and folklore often integrate so rich grace-notes, that it all becomes all to kitsch.

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1 word.
Once you understand this word well enough, you will know what faith is really all about:

Self hypnosis.

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even the so called prophet in Plato’s Phaedrus could not even define pious.(to Plato’s standard)(what does it mean to “be” moral?)

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Harvest and empower the state of being that nourishes, refreshes, purifies, balances and heals the living beings around you.
^
I’d call it “pious”, but I burn out if I take on that paradigm, it’s too tiering & it just wares me out if I practice it,
but if you are hypnotized that you will get a reward for it all, the selfishness becomes unselfish, by wanting the karma/heaven part later on?

Piety is a form of investment extending very far into the theoretical future…
^ from what I can tell, that’s about it…

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What does is mean to be pious? don’t harm anyone(earth is occupied by creatures we can eat and creatures we can’t, humans are one of the ones we can’t). Maynard did a good job summing up human nature(TOOL)

Credulous at best
Your desire to believe in
Angels in the hearts of men.
But pull your head on out
[Your head please / ??] and give a listen
Shouldn’t have to say it all again

The universe is hostile
So impersonal
Devour to survive
So it is, so it’s always been …

We all feed on tragedy
It’s like blood to a vampire

Vicariously, I
Live while the whole world dies
Much better you than I.

it has a double meaning, tradgedy is a source of re-affirming good for the lucky few, and the line “devour to survive” can be taken literally we use the earth as fuel.

nobody is pious by your definition. the earth(and its inhabitants re-populate/re-cycle by nature) Physics and biology study these process.
we consume animals/plants/water to survive, harming animals for food is not immoral as morality only relates to harming people. So if you don’t harm anyone your considered moral by any moral standard.

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It’s funny you use Wilde in your quotations so much, though of course, its not the messenger thats important, but the message.

Science is the record of dead religions.
- Oscar Wilde

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Oh. I was hoping for a little theological trivia, ala You Don’t Know Jack.

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Oh, but I do:
im-c.com/jack-shitt.htm

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Space and time are a side effect of matter. When by all logic they should be constants, they are variables to the speed of matter.

Effect equals cause divided by medium.

The effect is chenging the effects of time. As if going fast adds an invisiable resistance to the effects of time.

My theory is that the creation of matter had the eqaual and opposite side effect of space and time. Before this there was nothing. Since centripital force causes centrafugal force,… it shows that every action has an equal and opposite reaction,… and this is different when creating a new type of energy. So all energy can be traced back to the creation of the basic sub atomic particles. Then these sub atomic particals would be idealistic opposites that would cancel each other out if combined. IE attract vs repell vs spread evenly vs bond. Since they are four opposites, they will never combine, but will be attracted to eachother.

…
Since God exsisted before all the above things. God is independent and outside of all the above things. Thus God sees dirrectly into our souls witch is also independent of matter, but trapped in space and time by our connection to our bodies.

Thus, we see God dirrectly by how he interacts with us.

The Holy Spirit heals the soul so that we may be able to lose calousness and fear, and then work on better ways of thinking to avoid the problems that caused our calousness and fear.

God weighs on the heart of prayers to do his “bidding”. A psychic would have to know every thing about the problem to even want to do something. Yet God says to a man, “Go talk to this person, and I’ll give you the words in time.” That takes faith. But God will only tell you what you need to know to get the job done.