Are you not worthy of attention from the gods you worship?

What makes one man more worthy than another to receive guidance and advice directly from God himself?

I propose that God can communicate with anybody he wants to. I further propose that those who claim exclusive communication with God are liars and con artists. It simply makes no sense that God would allow one man to receive his communication when he could instantaneously impart his wishes to every single man woman and child who currently exists. He could further update everybody periodically. Why would God allow one man or group of men to control another group of men with this exclusive doctrine? I do not believe that a just and loving God would do such a thing.

You will note that most religious books are written by men. Manly men, men who like to control and dominate women. Men who want to exclude women from control of their businesses, religions, and households. Why would a just and loving God allow his representatives to do this?

Organized religion exists to keep people ignorant and fighting against each other so that the people at the top can control them and fleece them of their dignity and cash. Look at how all the religions fight against each other. "Your prophet and God are FALSE, while my own are TRUE!!" Cowpies!!!

Organized religion is not about glorifying God, it is about Power and Control and Money. If religion really was about glorifying God, then we would not be fighting each other over it. We would be too busy giving glory to God.

Like I said in another thread. I DON'T NEED ANY STINKING PROPHETS!! A just and loving God would not allow a small group of men to control, dominate,and persecute others in his name.

God has the ability to talk to ALL MEN AND WOMEN. He does not need to communicate with a select few. Why would God take a chance that his words may be mis communicated or interpreted due to language and cultural differences?

I have sincere hopes that God himself will reply and set me straight.

Just a few words to this very interesting post.

You got my last vote for the month

Religion is so commercialized, politicized and has been made into such a mulitibillion dollar faith empire that it actually has lost its meaning a long time ago, people love more their false prophets to the point of giving away their money that they have forgotten that God had not need for earthy riches, . . . but their false prophets do

Thanks marg6043. Those are my sentiments exactly. I hate watching the world's religious leaders. Resplendant in their expensive robes, driving limousines by the dozens and living in mansions while their followers grovel in the dirt.

Well,I have certainly always felt the way that you do. However,who is claiming that they are the only ones talking to God anymore? I know at one time the Catholic faith had the pretty firn conviction that one had to go to confession, et cetera...I don't know how predominatnt that idea is nowadays though.


Of course, my biggest beef are people who think that they don't have to do any thinking for themselvs. They think that if their pastor or priest said it, then it must be right... These are the people that really get under my skin in a hurry.

Originally posted by groingrinder
God has the ability to talk to ALL MEN AND WOMEN. He does not need to communicate with a select few.

Why doesn't he talk to all men and women then? Nice thread btw.

I agree with the OP -- that all people have access to the divine. The denial of that access is anti-divine. We differ on the view that you can lump all organized religion and all religious texts into one big stinking evil pile of poo, but I fully agree on the divine access and personal revelation issue.

It's a great topic and deserves it's own thread IMO. Thanks for posting it.

[edit on 15-2-2007 by Perfect Fifth]

Originally posted by groingrinder

. . . I do not believe that a just and loving God would do such a thing. . . .

Implying that you know more about justice and love than God does or would ?

Impressive

I'm curious about the religious leaders in their resplendent robes. Other than the Pope, whom did you have in mind. You mentioned "by the dozens;" Can you name more than a dozen leaders?

You mention that a just and loving god would not allow people to fleece each other. . . It sounds like your god would continuously intervene to force people to be good.

Maybe a just and loving god expect people to grow up and be good on their own, and to discern craparoo for themselves, instead of expecting god to be an omniscient nanny, and fix everything.

Until about 50 years ago, if god had spoken through a woman or a slave, most people would not have listened, including the women and slaves. Until the sixties, most human beings were ignorant trolls; but how is that god's fault, unless he is going to start talking to every single one of them.

In short, it sounds like you think a just and loving god should be a lot more like . . . groingrinder.

.

dr_strangecraft you certainly have an odd way of reasoning.

1. I am not saying that I know more about justice than my God. I am sure that I know more about justice than YOUR god though.

2. No, I cannot at this time name a dozen fake religious leaders , but the Pope would certainly be among that dozen. I was talking about leaders driving LIMOUSINES BY THE DOZENS. Why does a humble and contrite man of God need a Limo?

3. My God would not allow the leaders of his religion to misrepresent him.

4. I wholly agree that a just and loving God would let people grow up on their own. I am saying that he would tell us if there was something he wanted us to know instead of giving the message to a bunch of loony zealots on some mountain. Maybe ignorant humans bought that story ten thousand years ago, but we are much more sophisticated now and lots of us realize that God could talk to all of us, not just one person or two.

5. I did not say humans were ignorant trolls until the sixties and I certainly did not blame God for it. Check the last part of above point no. 4. And yes I am asking for God to talk to each and every one of us. You finally have the gist of what I am going on about!!

6. I said nothing that could be interpreted as a just and loving God being more like groingrinder. That is your twisted reasoning or lack of reasoning.

Perfect Fifth and mech eng thank you! I still am waiting for God to reply.

SpeakerofTruth the Catholic church used to have a rule that nobody could own or read the Bible, but the parish Priest and people would be severly prosecuted for that. They expected you to learn everything through them. A good example of keeping the masses ignorant to take advantage of them.

While I hope your search for an answer is fulfilled, I completely agree with most of your original post.

However, I do believe we all have the ability to be spoken to. Maybe not through sounds, but through other means as well. Why some of us actually are is still beyond my understanding, but my theory is that the answers are always there. We just have to find/see them.

Personally, I have had a couple of occurences where I knew something beyond my understanding was taking place. However, I do not claim to be special in that aspect. I think everyone can/does wheter they know it or not. Both instances of mine were when I specifically asked about something. I received one answer as a voice. The other was a "sign" that was directly related to my question.

Who did I ask? Well, I actually prayed. To whom? Honestly, I don't know. I guess you could call it God, but that would beg my definition of God. Prayer is not something I do regulary. If I had to guess, I'd say I did it 2-3 times a year.

Who answered? Was it my conscience? Was it a personified God? Who knows?

All I know is that I did receive answers.

I hope that you can find your own.

You are on the right track though, and as long as you enter any situation with a clear mind that does not discriminate, you will find knowledge.

Again, I don't feel special in anyways. I just felt the need to share my views on this issue.

Sometimes, those instances are more of a curse than a blessing, in that people I tell think I am crazy and that the instances themselves only furthered my quest for knowledge.

What I do know though, is that they did, in fact, happen.

Originally posted by groingrinder
What makes one man more worthy than another to receive guidance and advice directly from God himself?

I have sincere hopes that God himself will reply and set me straight.

I love this post well done.

But i have an issue, What if god is not all loving and kind ? in many religions there are many examples of god doing tyranizing us stupid humans ?

What if god was similar to us and had favorites and did'nt want to talk to just anyone ?
It would seem according to the bible this was true, None jews were not worthy of being chosen ?

I do think an all loving and kind god would talk to everyone to avoide this confusion, but this simply is not the case so i assume he is not all loving and kind at all, or all organised religion is a sham to be in agreence with you ?

I hope god reply andsets me straight too.

Peace

Thanks for replying Azazelus. I am glad you got your reply.

Thanks to you also Reaper2. I know what you mean about what if God is not a loving God. If I remember right, there is somewhere in the Bible where it says something to the effect of "I am a jealous God.".

Thanks to you also Reaper2. I know what you mean about what if God is not a loving God. If I remember right, there is somewhere in the Bible where it says something to the effect of "I am a jealous God.".

Thats not all that leads me not to trust any particular text in the bible.

Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, . . . and they shall be your possession . . . they shall be your bondmen forever."Leviticus 25:45-46

And then....

"Undo the heavy burdens . . . let the oppressed go free, . . . break every yoke."Isaiah 58:6

Another example...

"I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling."
Jer 13:14

And Then...

The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.
James 5:11

And another...

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham.Gen 22:1

And then...

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.
James 1:13

Indeed only if god would open his mouth as the above should never have happened.

Peace

Originally posted by groingrinder
Perfect Fifth and mech eng thank you! I still am waiting for God to reply.

Just as an observation, you appear to be looking up at the sky, shaking your fist at God and cursing him for the improper behavior of other people.

Are you really trying to talk to God, as in a two-way communication and conversation? Or are you really more interested in projecting your anger at him?

Do you see the difference? The first example, you are trying to talk to him and sincerely get an answer. The second situation has you just telling him you're angry. Maybe he jots that down in his notebook, feels bad for you and moves on to one of the other 6 billion people trying to get his attention :-)

Have you ever tried talking to someone who is furious mad and yelling at you? They don't usually hear what you are saying back to them anyway.

Pick a religious framework that accepts the concept of communicating with God/Deity/Supreme Being or whatever. Study how they do it and experiment for yourself. People have been working at this for thousands and thousands of years. Millions of people claim to have succeeded (and most of them have no motivation beyond their own personal enlightenment, i'm not talking about televangelists). You don't have to reinvent the wheel.

The real questions is if you truly want to talk to him, or do you just need to vent. I don't personally think you are going to get any results if just shake your fist at the heavens and dare God to prove himself to you. I don't think he gets intimidated by that and moved to prove he's the big man on the block :-) At least not very often. hehe.

From a Christian perspective no-one is more worthy than another. Anyone can receive guidance and advice directly from God. Ministers don't get better advice, they probbley get more though because they pray and ask for advice more often.
Another thing is that communication is a two way street. If you want to know something you have to ask. you talk to your father don't you? When did you last ask God for advice?
God makes the rules and an excellent book on how to live our lives, it's called the bible. there are many answers in there for most of us, before you can talk to God though you have to beleive that he exists. that has to make sense.
God says " My thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways ". In other words, He is not easy to understand and a lot of people don't, including me. The problem is people, they will use whatever they can to get power, money or control over people and that includes using God. Boy, have we suffered because of that. As soon as christianity is mentioned out come the same old arguments. It's people who have done wrong, not God.
If you want answers, Get a relationship going first then ask your questions.
Don't expect him to write the answers on the clouds though, he is a little more subtle than that. Answers come in the form of thoughts and things happening in our daily lives. (coincidences some people call them).
Also, when a beleiver reads the bible, words or pasages suddenly seem to have more meaning than at other times and can be the answer to a problem or prayer.
By the way, God won't get in touch first either by email or a forum. I'm affraid Its up to you now.
You may not agree with or like the answer that I have given but its the one that works for me and a couple of billion others.
all the best
John 1