Do you have FAITH in God?

If we define God as divinity/symbiotic oneness. Then it exists and can be found for those who "seek it"/"prove themselves". Those who seek shall find.

The three Abrahamic religions might sometimes lead souls to divinity but there from my point of view better maps to point to the place a soul should go find what it is seeking.

Yeshua seem to be one of the Chosen (one of the Christos/anointed ones) but Paul who rewrote the Christian Dogma was the opposite. His teaching moves souls away from becoming anointed and by definition that means he is an anti-Christ.

Buddha knew what he was talking about, Nanak was amazing. Nikola Tesla was a gift to remove suffering for humanity thru technology advance.

originally posted by: ltrz2025
Faith if the opposite of knowledge.
The opposite of knowledge is ignorance.

You are wrong again.

Ignorance is not the opposite of knowledge, it is the absence of knowledge.

Is dark the opposite of light or the absence of light?

Is cold the opposite of heat or the absence of heat?

originally posted by: NorthOfStuff

originally posted by: ltrz2025
Faith if the opposite of knowledge.
The opposite of knowledge is ignorance.

You are wrong again.
Ignorance is not the opposite of knowledge, it is the absence of knowledge.
Is dark the opposite of light or the absence of light?
Is cold the opposite of heat or the absence of heat?

If you are ignorant, is because you don't have knowledge.
If you have knowledge, then you are not ignorant.

The terms cancel each other. They are opposites.

You cannot be knowledgable and ignorant at the same time.
Either you know, or you don't know.

Bro, this is not very hard to understand, really....

edit on 9-2-2023 by ltrz2025 because: (no reason given)

What if "GOD" is not something Abrahimic and instead a juvenile trickster stuck on a planet with us humans as play mates ?

originally posted by: zerbot565
What if "GOD" is not something Abrahimic and instead a juvenile trickster stuck on a planet with us humans as play mates ?

You really think a "juvenile trickster" could create something so beautiful, harmonic, organized and magnificent like the universe just to play a practical joke on this "mostly r*tarded" species called "humans"?...

Different people do and are capable of different things. Carpenters, stone masons, chefs,

Industry, food, engeneering.

We all just live along.

a reply to: DeathSlayer

I have faith I am theistic when it comes to God.

I'm agnostic when it comes to aliens

I'm atheistic when it comes to atheists, I don't believe they exist..

Everybody knows God right? The humans didn't all come to this conclusion for no reason.

God is like air... a consequence of the human condition, if one needs to define exactly what is air then so be it.

/an invisible odorless colorless gas nonetheless however... present

originally posted by: DeathSlayer
... He is called Adonai: the Lord; and his holy name of Yahweh is never mentioned by the people because of its awesome sacredness. Only the high priest, and only once a year, and only in the holy of holies of the Jerusalem Temple dared to utter the divine name of Yahweh. On all other occasions Yahweh is addressed as the Almighty Lord, as the Most High God, as the Lord God of Hosts.

From one of my comments in the thread Who is Jesus to you? The topic at the time was evidence for the Bible's historical accuracy (as the claim was made that the Bible was a book "full of lies, myths and legends stolen from other places" or "cultures", and that Jesus and the ancient Kingdom of Israel were myths).

...

The most numerous items found by archaeologists during excavations of ancient sites are potsherds, or broken pieces of pottery. These fragments of earthenware are also referred to as ostraca, from the Greek word for “shell, sherd.” Pottery fragments served as inexpensive writing materials in many places in the ancient Middle East, including Egypt and Mesopotamia. Ostraca were used for recording contracts, accounts, sales, and so forth, just as memo pads and sheets of paper are used today. Generally written with ink, the texts on ostraca varied from just one word to several dozen lines or columns.

Archaeological excavations in Israel have uncovered numerous ostraca from Biblical times. Three collections dating back to the seventh and eighth centuries B.C.E. are of special interest because they confirm various details of historical information found in the Bible. They are the Samaria ostraca, the Arad ostraca, and the Lachish ostraca. ...

...

A Common Feature

The Samaria, Arad, and Lachish ostraca collections confirm a number of details recorded in the Bible. These include family names, geographic designations, and points regarding the religious and political climate of the times. There is an important feature, though, that is common to all three collections.

The letters found in the Arad and Lachish collections contain such phrases as “May Jehovah ask for your peace.” In seven of the Lachish messages, God’s name is mentioned a total of 11 times. Moreover, many Hebrew personal names found in all three collections contain the abbreviated form of the name Jehovah (these are called theophoric names, see last video). These ostraca thus confirm that the divine name enjoyed everyday usage among the Israelites of that time.

Unlike what Deathslayer said.

originally posted by: redchad
a reply to: DeathSlayer
Ahh! Josephus! Didn’t take long for him to rear his head. I think it is generally accepted in academia that Josephus has several authors and some added later such as In just 127 words Josephus confirms everything – now that is a miracle!

In Book XX of his Jewish Antiquities, first-century historian Flavius Josephus refers to the death of “James, the brother of Jesus who was called the Christ.” Many scholars consider this declaration to be authentic. However, some doubt the genuineness of another statement in the same work concerning Jesus. This passage, known as the Testimonium Flavianum, reads:

“Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works​—a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.”​—Josephus—​The Complete Works, translated by William Whiston.

Since the end of the 16th century, a heated debate has raged between those who believe that this text is authentic and those who doubt that Josephus wrote it. Serge Bardet, French historian and specialist in classical literature, has sought to untangle the threads of this debate that have become so knotted over the past four centuries. He published his research in a book entitled Le Testimonium Flavianum​—Examen historique considérations historiographiques (The Testimonium Flavianum—​A Historical Study With Historical Considerations).

Josephus was not a Christian author. He was a Jewish historian; hence, much of the controversy centers on the designation of Jesus as being “the Christ.” On analysis, Bardet asserted that this title corresponds “in every respect to the Greek usage of employing the [definite] article for the names of people.” Bardet added that from a Judeo-Christian perspective, “not only is the use of the term Christos by Josephus not an impossibility” but it is a clue that “critics have in general been greatly wrong to overlook.”

Could it be that the text was embellished by a later forger imitating Josephus’ style? Drawing on historical and textual evidence, Bardet concluded that such an imitation would be almost miraculous. It would require a forger with “a talent for imitation hardly without equal in all antiquity,” in other words, one who was “as Josephan as Josephus.”

So why all the fuss? Identifying the heart of the problem, Bardet specified that “there are doubts about the Testimonium​—in contrast with the majority of ancient texts—​simply because questions have been raised about the Testimonium​.” He goes on to say that the positions adopted over the centuries are based more on “ulterior motives” than on deductive analysis of the text, which leans heavily in favor of its authenticity.

Whether Bardet’s analysis will change the opinion of scholars on the Testimonium Flavianum remains to be seen. It has convinced one eminent specialist of Hellenistic Judaism and primitive Christianity, Pierre Geoltrain. He had long considered the Testimonium to be an interpolation, even poking fun at those who believed in its authenticity. But he changed his opinion. He has concluded that Bardet’s work is the reason for that change. Geoltrain has now declared that “nobody should henceforth dare to speak of the ‘implausible testimony’ of Josephus.”

In the end, it's unreasonable to use the Testimonium to try to discredit Josephus' statement about “James, the brother of Jesus who was called the Christ” as being authentic. Criticism about the Testimonium doesn't take anything away from the authenticity of that declaration. Nor does it cast doubt on the fact that this is genuine evidence for someone named Jesus, who was called the Christ, and had a brother named James. Yes, a Pharisee, a member of the sect many of whose adherents were avowed enemies of Jesus, acknowledged the existence of “James, the brother of Jesus.”

Concerning secular records that speak of Jesus, The Encyclopædia Britannica says: “These independent accounts prove that in ancient times even the opponents of Christianity never doubted the historicity of Jesus, which was disputed for the first time and on inadequate grounds by several authors at the end of the 18th, during the 19th, and at the beginning of the 20th centuries.”

originally posted by: beyondknowledge
...
There was no Jesus simply because 2000 years ago the letter J had not been invented.

Since you brought it up (no matter how silly the argument is in my opinion), the history of the letter J in the languages used for popular Bible translations:

a reply to: ltrz2025

Yes i do and so do others for example , According to Joseph Campbell who is known for his book " The Hero with a Thousand Faces " even he thinks Yahweh is a trickster god.



In Hindu texts for example we have Krishna whom is known as the god of love is also a known trickster

Keev (Sanskrit: कीव, IAST: Kīv) is a name of Krishna from the Hindu tradition. The name appears in the 108 names of Krishna in the Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Keev is named after mother Devaki and father Vasudeva, and is generally used for the child form of Krishna and depicts his prankful nature.

According to John Koller, "love is presented not simply as a means to salvation, it is the highest life". Human love is God's love.

I could go on and on about the trickster in its various forms but the bottom line is that the trickster god/goddess is found in almost all religions and in folklore in one form or another on all continents on this planet and almost all if not all tales predate Yahweh.

To me this entity is just a merry old prankster that goes by many names,
who has been playing tricks on humanity since we first learned to crawl ..

a reply to: zerbot565

Well, even I don't deny that there are or could be trickster entities and spirits here and there, I doubt that this entity so focused on our r*tarded and st*pid species (humanity) would be the CREATOR OF THE UNIVESERSE (aka, the real God).

a reply to: ltrz2025

I suggest reading The Undying Fire for a laugh by H. G. Wells

The Creator determines and conceals the aim of the game, and it is never clear whether the purpose of the adversary is to defeat or to assist him in his unfathomable project. Apparently, the adversary cannot win, but also he cannot lose so long as he can keep the game going. But he is concerned, it would seem, in preventing the development of any reasoned scheme in the game.

originally posted by: zerbot565
a reply to: ltrz2025
I suggest reading The Undying Fire for a laugh by H. G. Wells

I suggest you reading the Upanishads, the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the entire works of Julius Evola, the entire works of Plotinus, the entire library of ancient Hermetica, etc. These are real metaphysical works, not a commercial novel from the last century.

Anyways, that being said, books are simply the OPINION of another person. To rely on books is to put yourself in the most vulnerable position you can find. You are the one who has to write your own book.

a reply to: DeathSlayer

Yes, God is real and we get salvation through His son, Jesus Christ. This verse has helped me with faith:

Romans 10:17
New King James Version
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

I think praying and asking God for help with faith and to remove unbelief is important, and also reading the Bible daily is a to gain and keep faith. There's so many distractions and assaults to Christianity and our faith, especially in Western culture. Even listening to the Bible helps. It's nice to have it playing while falling asleep, waking up and thinking on a specific text.

a reply to: ltrz2025

From what i understand, "God" is omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (everywhere) and omnipotent (all-powerful)
be it written in the Tibetan Book of the Dead or in a book by HG wells , God is God.
He Brings into Existence Whatever Exists,