Is God what we think he is!

Is God really some kind of divine deity or can he be defined in more simpler terms. Suppose if you would that God were pure matter which we know can neither be created nor destroyed according to what we know today. Then to say that man was created in his image would certainly be true. No matter what gender or race you are, you would look just like God. Then for God to judge your life after your host body ceases to function would be quite easy, because God would have lived your life with you, every second of every day. And since matter exists always, then God must exist in past, present, and future. Kind of makes you think of the endless possibilities, doesn't it.

well????

I think that the answer really would depend on ~WHAT~ your idea of God is.....people are differant and have many differant views on this. Hence the MANY Holy Wars, people being burned alive at the stake, crucified, and the Holy Cruisades and jihad that have raged across this small planet.........

I am interested in WHAT kind of answers your going to get on this thread.....

hmmmm...... My sense is God (Spirit, Creator, Universe, etc. - whatever name you want to attach to the Source of everything) is unconditional Love and pure energy residing within every living thing. Within humans, that energy is what we call the 'soul'. Thus we are all connected to God and to each other and all living things.

When our mortal existence is over, God, who is unconditional Love, would never 'judge' us. Rather, because of our total awareness after death and because of our own Love of God - we 'see' with absolute clarity those choices we made during our time in mortality that did not reflect Love. Depending on how we've lived our lives, we either reunite with God upon our body's death or we choose to separate ourselves from God because of the awareness that some of our choices did not reflect Love. The reuniting with God can be thought of as 'heaven', and the seperation from God can be thought of as 'hell'.

I know I haven't said this very well but for me - there are only two motivating emotions; Fear (think darkness) and Love (think light). The choices based on Love reflect Love and light; choices based on Fear reflect darkness and result in a seperation or distancing from God.

I am waiting for god to say hello to modern man in some tangible way.

When I speculate I think about a possible god like this. He made everything and including man and he is waiting for man to evovle to be like him. I mean that in every way. Intelligent, able to create life, ever lasting life. The promises and miracles of god are withen man kind. He does not take an active part in our evolution other than he created to become what it will become. Like him..

So many religeons are against science, cloning, stemcells etc... The flesh we live in is nothing to god so our deaths are meaningless that means that the lil embryos that we may get stem cells from to make our selves imortal mean nothing to god.

Its our spirits/souls that are important and a part of god. It was in my beliefe the soul of Jesus that mattered as it was pure and a part of god.

Even when I went to church and listen to preachers they preach about souls not flesh as being important yet if you want to do someting godly like creat a human they lose there mind.. When this is exactly what god wanted us to do become like him be godlike.. Why people draw the line at God like morality instead of becomeing god like in every scince is beyound me.

I don't think God cares what happens on earth because everything that happens or will happen was set forth and ordaned by him. So nothing you do or nothin humanity does is BAD in gods eyes because he created what has happend, what will happen and what is happening right now.

Some thing man does may seem horrible (use off stemcells to prolong life) to other humans who wish to remain animals and not godlike.

I also think people try to play god themselves by placing what they think god would think or want on the rest of us. Since god is quiet these days I believe they are fanatics.

Originally posted by Xeven
I am waiting for god to say hello to modern man in some tangible way.

Been there done that.


Isn't it strange how we
believe everything
that magazines and newspapers
say, but we question the words in the
Bible?

i have actually found the opposite...a lot of people refuse to take anything at face value, claiming nothing is true unless its stated in the bible...

my opinion is that a loooong time ago, a farmer had a good crop year. the next year, the rains didn't come. something bigger than him must control the rains, so he needs to find out how to please the controller...henceforth, early religion...

later, as the farmer tried to convince people how to insure good crop yield, had to portray a figure to make other people comfortable with his idea, hence: man created god in his own image...this could be expanded to include more gods/goddeses, but at the root seems feasible to me...

my experience in various studies and tinkerings is that most external things (candles, incense, knives, music, chanting, praying, etc.) are all tools to put you in a state of mind as to achieve focus of energy toward a goal...in all my experiences, the god(s) changed, the rituals changed, but the energy was the most real aspect, and there in each successful working...i feel that we contain the powers of "gods", if we want something badly enough...

some people need an external figure for support, and there's nothing wrong with that. but i feel we are all capable "magicians" in our own right...

Yes, it's an interesting question isn't it to ponder on - What is God.

The accepted archtype/general consensus is image on a bearded old man in a white robe, sitting on a cloud watching us mortals, constantly judging who is gonna join him in the Heavens, and who is going to be cast into the firey cauldrons of Hell for all eternity.

This image, one presumes, comes to us direct from Zeus, the leader of the Greek gods (Roman equivalent, Jupiter). I guess this image was ported over to Christianity, and it's the one that is still used to this day.

There is a certain Universal archtype of the wise old, white bearded, man - the universal father figure of knowledge - from the Incan creator God, Viracocha to Father Time, and even, the timely, Mr. Claus himself.


I think this post above is a great theory about how religion began:

Originally posted by rodie
my opinion is that a loooong time ago, a farmer had a good crop year. the next year, the rains didn't come. something bigger than him must control the rains, so he needs to find out how to please the controller...henceforth, early religion...

later, as the farmer tried to convince people how to insure good crop yield, had to portray a figure to make other people comfortable with his idea, hence: man created god in his own image...this could be expanded to include more gods/goddeses, but at the root seems feasible to me...

my experience in various studies and tinkerings is that most external things (candles, incense, knives, music, chanting, praying, etc.) are all tools to put you in a state of mind as to achieve focus of energy toward a goal...in all my experiences, the god(s) changed, the rituals changed, but the energy was the most real aspect, and there in each successful working...i feel that we contain the powers of "gods", if we want something badly enough...

some people need an external figure for support, and there's nothing wrong with that. but i feel we are all capable "magicians" in our own right...

I think that's spot on. I read a quote recently, I can't recall by whom, but I'll paraphrase, it was something like 'there are some people who are intelligent/aware enough to decide there own destiny, for most others, they need someone else to do it for them'.

I think this is a little cruel, I believe everyone has the right to equality and freedom to access of information, but clearly not everyone thinks that way, including those who began and upheld established religions. Look at the history of Christianity, how the Roman Empire took it on board and tried to violently exterminate any other version of Christianity that deviated from it's own ideas of what it considered part of the faith. Then the Crusades and in-fighting between Catholicism and Protestantism. That's a whole lot of killing, money and power involved in trying to impose a belief system on a mass population of people - it's tantamount to propaganda and mass mind-control. Religion tells people what to think about their own life and morality. It doesn't often ask a person to question for themselves whether something is moral or not, it tells them what to think, and hammers the point in my giving them a clear reward/punishment ultimatum - blissful Heaven for those who unquestioning follow their rules, eternal torture in Hell for those who don't follow the rules.

It's the classic carrot on a stick - Do as I say, and you will achieve the goal, but when it's time to achieve the goal (death), it's too late to tell anyone else it was a load of hooey (or not as the case maybe).


There does seem to be some sort of Solar allegory behind many religions and belief systems - The Sun as a representation of God, the Moon as the woman/female deity or energy.
The Sun is the power strong giver of light, the female is the smaller, less imposing protector through the dark night - it's really quite logical.

The idea that Jesus is the Sun/Son, and he dies and is reborn every day, and also annually. The equinoxes and solstices are important religion days/events in most religions and beliefs systems - a lot of religious festivals and holy-days align roughly with these astronomical events.

The point about some people being able to decide their own morality and others being deemed not worthy of this, this inequality of belief, may be the origins behind the allegories in religions. I'm of the opinion that most religions are two-tiered: The initiated know the rules of the allegory, the uninitiated (the masses) are taught the allegory as fact. One need not know the information behind the allegory, for the information to be broadcast and understood, that's why the allegory is an effective medium - it communicates many things, to many audiences, depending on their understanding (or lack of) of the information encoded within it.

I don't know what God is, and I'm not sure I would believe anyone who told me they knew what it was either - it would raise my suspicions, just like organised religions do. I would be open to the idea that God is simply a personification of creation, and that in fact, there is a sort of collective consciousness or Oneness behind the illusion of reality.

thank you, and i agree with your post as well. to me, organized religion is an advanced self-propogating form of mind control, in that it's handed from parents to children, and tends not to stray much from the original indoctrinations of the child. this varies from generation to generation of course, but seems to hold fairly true.

george carlin's rants about religion really ring with me. i have met many spiritual people, of many faiths, who are comfortable enough in their beliefs to disagree respectfully and not try to force/shame you into their belief structure. on the other hand, i've seen several otherwise intelligent people become borderline violent when asked a question that forced them to think for themselves, and not just quote a bible passage.

faith is an excellent thing, no matter what you have faith in...beliefs are dangerous...

God and religion was created for people to believe in something. Since a lot have no idea what life is about or why there are here they make up some b.s. to make themselves sleep better at night.

The truth will only be found when we die. I don't fear death just how I'm going to go is what scars me...I don't want to be runover by a streetcar, you'd feel pain x10 before you've died.

If God stood right in front of you, grabbed your hand and said "hello", you would know as well as anyone that God existed. So why doesn't God just show up and eliminate all the guesswork? Simple...HE needs proof.

He needs proof that you really believe in Him, and that you really love Him. And the only way you can do that in his absence is by the constant demonstration of your faith in Him.

I kinda agree with some of the earlier posters; the judgement is really a given. You are shown where you fall short. I also believe you are given the opportunity to repent, see the error of your ways, and truly ask for forgiveness. Maybe you need to demonstrate that request in some way...I am sure I will find out.

But I also believe that there are many who will disagree with their shortcomings when confronted by God, exactly as it happend in "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis. And those that do stay in Hell.

Many will label my post "pure speculation". My faith says otherwise.

If God has a set path a created destiny for each person, then why do some become homeless or become murderers, perverts, rapists. It's the devil right? There is always an excuse for the negatives. The reason why most don't have faith because what you said "God needs proof." And so do we.

If God was real and came down and shook my hand I'd take it back and ask him "What the hell have you done to us?! This ant farm project of yours is not working."

Originally posted by the_renegade
"What the hell have you done to us?! This ant farm project of yours is not working."

He has not done a thing to us that we have not done to ourselves! WE made this world the way it is. Do we know how many times he has saved our butts ? I have worked in the hospital ER, mental homes, & on the street. I have seen war and death. I have seen our own forgotten and left to die just after a storm. I pray for us all! You ask why...... but you have no clue.
We could stop it all. MONEY and POWER are what people love. Not each other. God is like, I gave you a nice place to live and look what you have done to it. I know God is real. There are places in my life were if not for some Devin intervention I would not be here today, and it was 11 times.
I don't push God like most people but I know, just ask someone like me and they will say the same. It's a feeling like no other, It's not all the time. It's not when I am sad. But just when I think the world is not worth a crap and I am just wasting my time with others I get this feeling....... It's like the feeling I get when my children hug me............ It's love.

I believe in God, just not the conventional, organised religion kinda way,

God is an eternal source, no beginning nor end, and when it became self aware, it started creating. I don't believe it knows anything 'outside' itself, but only what itself can experience, and thats what we are, the tools for his experience, everything we go through, god goes through as well, and thus the reason why there's no interference (without first asking)....

Kind Regards
Merger

All mystical traditions tend to point more clearly to "God" then mainstream religion.
(Kabbalah from Judaism, Chrisian mystics, sufis, etc)
Take a look at Eckhart Tolle A new earth, he encapsulates the whole God bit the best in words so far.
You cant "think' about God. The whole idol thing is to prevent us from calling some form or thought form God.
God is that which by all things can be...through watching and observing without interpreting everyaction you can be aware of God, but the mind cannot know God...only you can know God.

dalen

I think God isn't a male or a female, he's just God.
I think he is whatever he is in your head and I think he lets us destroy this world because he gave us free will.
I don't know where heaven is, but I'm quite sure it was originally here and we
broke it.
I don't think he has a beard either.

While I enjoyed reading all of your replies I sadly realize that none of you truly understand what I was trying to say. Merger though was kind of close but still lacked the true understanding of what I was trying to get across. I sincerely thank all of you for opening my mind to other possibilities. Thanks again and good day.

The first post of this topic actually acts as if everyone thinks there is a God?

Can't you cater for people like me who don't?

I guess I'll have to imagine.

BostonBill99, 'HE needs proof' , that's simply what you've been taught in your Christian up-bringing so you continue your faith, lol, you have to learn to see things from different points of view, Christian reality-tunnels are so restricted it's unbelieveable!

The person with the nearest beliefs to me is Xeven.

For people who say 'Why can't you believe in something that you can't 'see' in front of you?', maybe I'm just a Rationalist, maybe I believe in Science, maybe I believe a 'God' has given me NO reason whatsoever to actually believe in 'it'.

A 'God' is there so people can believe in something, that is why there are so many gods that have been imagined, probably one for each person, so they can either be 'Blamed' for all wrong-doings or 'Praised' for all the good that has happened. Someone people can talk to, someone that's always there for you? Someone that doesn't answer back? Someone that listens? Someone that 'guides' you? etc.

Come on people, get rid of the chains!

I think that God is however you percieve God.

God is a pawn used in a control system in society, it's a power base to induct less than stronger individuals into a group that will follow a dominant person.

God represents the hope that good will conquer evil and when it doesn't, we pat each other and say that we should never dare to assume to know the mind of God.

God request us to 'snip' off parts of our body to show reverence.

God represents kindness and justice, he/she knows what you're really thinking and
is your only true companion through your life.

God is an entity that sometimes 'stretches' himself across the universe and sometimes leaves us to the wills of the bad people.

God is a drawing of a kindly-looking man with a beard that a child colors with a crayon
in Sunday School on a rainy day.

God is why you bomb unbelievers, God says poison is safe to ingest as long as it's name or to handle snakes whispering his praises.

God can be used a curse word.

God condones the way we treat our planet and each other, because he hasn't stepped in to stop us... yet.

God is... give it a name.