Is there anything other than the bible that says there is a God

You know, all my life I have been pulled this way and that, believing or trying to believe in God and then
changing my mind, but I never truly let it go.

There is always the nagging doubt that there might be a God.

But suppose there is, is there any way to know, does anyone know, or is all down to the bible.
What if we had no bible , how would God be known to us.

I have often wondered about a scenario i have thought out. say a child is born and grows up with no knowledge
of Bibles and Gods. Would this child ever no God, or would the child just go through life wondering the same things we do without ever knowing or wondering about God.

I think the child would never know God!

Just wondering what others thought about this.

reply to post by rigel4


My youngest sister who is 8 years has grown with no religion of anyway implemented on her. Her answer if God exists? She told me if God exists then he exists, if he doesn't then he doesn't. Lol.

reply to post by Unvarnished


I am not talking about no religion , but a child that has no knowledge what so ever of the concept of God,
Not even hearing his name.
I wonder then would the child come to know God in some other way.

I believe the concept of God and supernatural deities can be found throughout all culture, throughout history and even before. The human brain is programmed to distinguish self-awareness, and to think of mind as being separate from body. This is hardwired into all of us, for whatever reason, but I believe that it's partly because we're spiritual beings. Whether some would like to admit it or not, history and especially modern day is testimony to that.

Now, I'm not religious, and you can still be spiritual without having to adhere to any of the many religious doctrines. =]

Concluding, the Bible is not the origin of belief in a God, this is an idea that's lingered in the minds of all humans in existence.

Well, to be fair, at some point in our history there wasn't 'A God' but then we created it. That is not to say that God is fictional, but that we had the inspiration to come up with God before, so I imagine that someone who was completely isolated from religion would still think "Man, why is the sky so big? Why does the grass grow? Why does it rain?" and he or she would still think, "These miracles must be some sort of magical, higher power." Ergo, God! Or, gods, or Allah, or Harmony, or Nature, or whatever they decide to name the divine that they saw in the world.

On a sidenote, I wonder if this person was raised with science to explain natural phenomenons, what would they think? I do not know the answer. Maybe since we still can't explain everything, they would still explain the unexplainable with the divine.

On the note of whether God actually exists or not, as cheesy and evangelical as it sounds, it comes down to faith, because no one actually knows. Even the Bible doesn't provide a very compelling argument for the existence of God lol

Originally posted by rigel4
You know, all my life I have been pulled this way and that, believing or trying to believe in God and then
changing my mind, but I never truly let it go.

There is always the nagging doubt that there might be a God.

But suppose there is, is there any way to know, does anyone know, or is all down to the bible.
What if we had no bible , how would God be known to us.

I have often wondered about a scenario i have thought out. say a child is born and grows up with no knowledge
of Bibles and Gods. Would this child ever no God, or would the child just go through life wondering the same things we do without ever knowing or wondering about God.

I think the child would never know God!

Just wondering what others thought about this.

edit on 11-9-2011 by rigel4 because: (no reason given)

What you've got to understand is that all the great kingdoms of the world worshipped something. Lets say as the bible does that satan has great power on earth. You look at The egyptians, the greeks, the persians and the Romans. All of them worshipped Gods or as the bible would put it - Satan, Baal, Lucifer...
Now if there was no God or satan then why is it that the people always in control of the world are always the ones who worship something? You can even say the current leaders (Iluminati, freemasons...) also worship Satan or Lucifer. The difference between today and history is the ones in control today are hidden from sight. But you can see the symbolism is mainly from ancient egypt. And the egyptians worshipped Gods.

Gods have always been known to man as a way to explain the world around them prior to science. Their stories have been passed down by oral tradition. Even segregated tribes have some sort of higher being in their teaching. The earliest form or representation found was a Cow god worshiped in Matriarchal societies. If you wish to find the origins of monotheism you can look at Akhenaten from ancient Egypt.

I would say that yes, if the child is not raised by animals and was taught to think rather than react they would come up with some sort of higher power understanding or wonder. But that is my opinion.

Edit to add:

I was told once when I asked "Does God exist?' that "The question as to whether God exists or not does not matter, What matters is that the World acts as if he does."

Originally posted by spacekc929

Well, to be fair, at some point in our history there wasn't 'A God' but then we created it.

How could you possibly know this?

IMO, God presented himself to humans. Not vise versa.

reply to post by rigel4

There is always the nagging doubt that there might be a God.

As an atheist who was once a devout christian, my problem isn't with the idea of an entity who might be perceived by humans as all-powerful. My problem is with worshipping that entity, or any other. The very notion of a "god" is oppressive to say the least.

reply to post by rigel4


Call this thing for which you are searching God, or Big Banana if you wish. Call it what ever you want. Relieve your brain circuitry of the associations which you have been brought up with as they all are secondary memory patterns of what you have heard about this thing. Let them all relax.

Do you pray? Then pray. Do you meditate? Then meditate. Do you wish? Then just wish. But what ever you do, do it. Don't just do it for a moment or so. Don't just do it when it is easy. Spend time when you have it.
At night go to your room and submerge in your practice. If you don't do any of these, then just pick one and do it.
Do it with all your heart. Do it do it do it.
And don't stop until this thing replies. If it takes an hour, do it. If it takes a month, do it. Call out.

And make sure you are alone. Do not let anyone else hear you or they will try to define the Answer when it finally comes to you. This Answer is what you will want to devote your life to. It is yours to define and call it what you will. And if you get no answer then I guess that is your answer.
That's all I've got for you friend.

reply to post by Klassified

If there is a God, and he did give you the gift of life.
He has every right to be worshiped.

reply to post by GmoS719


Any being who demands worship for its exploits has made itself less than those it demands worship from.

Originally posted by TerryMcGuire
reply to post by rigel4

 

Call this thing for which you are searching God, or Big Banana if you wish. Call it what ever you want. Relieve your brain circuitry of the associations which you have been brought up with as they all are secondary memory patterns of what you have heard about this thing. Let them all relax.

Do you pray? Then pray. Do you meditate? Then meditate. Do you wish? Then just wish. But what ever you do, do it. Don't just do it for a moment or so. Don't just do it when it is easy. Spend time when you have it.
At night go to your room and submerge in your practice. If you don't do any of these, then just pick one and do it.
Do it with all your heart. Do it do it do it.
And don't stop until this thing replies. If it takes an hour, do it. If it takes a month, do it. Call out.

And make sure you are alone. Do not let anyone else hear you or they will try to define the Answer when it finally comes to you. This Answer is what you will want to devote your life to. It is yours to define and call it what you will. And if you get no answer then I guess that is your answer.
That's all I've got for you friend.

I'm sure i like your approach, I might even give it a try. I am feeling particulery desolate today.

I have done 2 years of religious studies, at the start I was an Atheist, at the end of the 2 years I found that I wanted everyone to know I am an Active Atheist and that quite frankly religion disgusts me.
In answer to whether or not God is mentioned any where else but the Bible

There are 2 videos I think you should check out
www.youtube.com...

This video sums up the belief in God completely
www.youtube.com...

There is absolutely no concrete proof of the existence of God as it all came about as word of mouth and then eventually was written down, I personally believe that each religion is trying to supersede one another, with who's God is better than the other. And think about the different religions and what each of them believes- That is a lot of different Gods, so there is more than one? I think not!!

A child asks "where did I come from"? So you tell them, and then they ask "where do my parents come from"? you tell them. - eventually that child wants to know where we all came from. Then you have to explain evolution, and the scarcity of life and the vast size of the universe, what the universe is, how it could have started and how we are still learning...

Then a child asks "what happens when I die"? So you tell them about how everything dies, and decays and is reused on earth. Then the child asks, "is that it?" and then you pause....because you don't know if that is it, nor if you want that to be it. So you say "maybe, I don't know".

God doesn't have to be included when it comes to explaining life. I just think that God is a preferred idea that fills the void of understanding, It wraps everything up, all the loose ends, all the unanswered questions, its the deus ex machina to find more meaning. You can't beat God, just like you can't go beyond eternity.

reply to post by juveous


good post
like your explanation.

reply to post by Unvarnished


thats a fairly reasonable answer.

The word God is a relatively new European invention, which was never used in any of the ancient Judaeo-Christian scripture manuscripts that were written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek or Latin.

According to the best efforts of linguists and researchers, the root of the present word God is the Sanskrit word hu which means to call upon, invoke, implore.

wahiduddin.net...

reply to post by Agarta


Its said, that in beginning, man knew only God.

After many generations, man deviated from that simple awareness, and his thirst for knowledge led to 'gifts from the Gods", which means he understood reality from multiple different perspectives. Each aspect becoming a "god", each part commanding his attention, and giving man power over it.

Very early on, man became drunk with such power, and forgot that original simple unity, that simply God that was just one.

Fast forward through history, and man has bulit himself quite a deep knowledge of metaphysics. Sumer, Egypt, Babylon, Akkadia, India etc, and reality becomes a sophisticated means to achieve an end, and that end could be so many different things, because there were so many different gods.

One person could dedicate his being to a god of his worship, and in doing so, his personal self became merged with the gods, and the two became one, or the person, sacrificing his individuality, commits to a life connected to his god.

Some worshipped the "universal self", the great god of Egypt, Osiris, or Krishna, in Hinduism, or Jesus Christ, in Christianity. This 'universal self' is the first emanation of the creator. It is the Pleroma of Gnosticism, aka Anthropos, the Adam Kadmon of the Kabbalah. The Kabbalistic name associated with this being is "EHYEH", "i shall be that which i shall be". This is a fairly popular god. A whole religion was built around it with Christianity. It is also a prominent idea in Islam.

But none of these concepts approach the one God, because it is more or less thought that the infinite God doesnt care about this world. For some odd reason.

Nonetheless, there is a people who claim to have recieved a revelation from this one God, who claims that this world is His creation, and that mankind is here for a divine purpose.

This God, who created this world of space and time, and activity, wants man to work through these mediums - space,time,activity,ego consciousness etc, to draw down the essence of the above world - which is pure good. In order for man to achieve this, they must abide by certain laws - principles. This idea is encapsulated by the concept of Bahira. Bahira means "choice" in Hebrew. More precisely, though, the word Bahira conveys the concept of a 'Free Will Choice-Point'.

Someone who is born into a lowbrow, ghetto family, will have a very low free-will choice point. Sometimes this choice-point can be aroused when hes being wondering whether murder is right or wrong. He may have feelings about it that tell him it is wrong; this is the conscience, the good and divine spark of truth which spurs him toward choosing the right action. If he listens to this higher side, he will have fought, and won, over his evil nature (the symbol derives from Jacobs defeating the angel, and the angel bestowing on him the title "Israel", "who fought with a divine being and prevailed". The divine being is the archetype/god which he struggles against. When he overcomes this force, and chooses otherwise, he literally transmutes the energy of the evil-negative archetype into one of holiness- which is called Israel "Ish Ra El" - "Man sees God". This is the process of the transmutation of the other side - impure gods and forces - into holiness, where the lower side is forced and compelled through Bahira, to serve the good. By doing so, the entire nature of creation is fundamentally challenged. In psychological terms, the contents of the collective unconscious become those of good, and holiness, as opposed to lower emotions/archetypes.).

Free Will only occurs when the will is really challenged. He knows something is right, but still he doesnt do it.

An example being a smoker. At night he has horrific coughing fits and promises himself he will quit tomorrow. The next day, he has the urge, but he tries to resist it. Eventually, the relentless desire to smoke grows on him, and he rationalizes he'll only have one. but then he has another. And then he does this over and over again in a perpetual cycle of wanting to quit "but not having the power to do it".

This is an example of knowing something is wrong, and false, and illusory - smoking, and yet doing it anyway. You could indeed change the situation through force of will, and choice, but you havent a strong enough love for the truth. You have to love the truth, know the truth, in order to effectively change any situation.

Today for instance, my mom came home early and she asked me to clean the basement (where i live) the day before. I forgot to do it, and frankly, i was feeling so lazely and had no interest in doing it.

But, i realized i was at one of those points, where i could do good, and whats right, and fight against this idiocy, and unreasonable aspect of myself that takes advantage of others, or disregards other peoples feelings....

The Bible is not the be all about "God".

There are many ancient texts, and many better ones.

I'd recommend the Bhagavad Gita.
It gives a rational logical explaination of "God".

As Brahman(all pervasive energy) Bhagavan(the formless in form, of which devotions can be given) and Atman the God that is the soul, the life giver, and consciousness in everyone(animals, bugs etc too).