Where is God?

I just finished reading two news articles which I will list in a moment. The articles are regarding the recent murder of approximately 2,000 people in Nigeria by Boko Harem. Here are the links to the articles:

2,000 feared killed in 'deadliest' Boko Haram attack in Nigeria

Boko Haram's 'deadliest massacre' reportedly kills 2,000 in Nigeria


To start, this is not a Christianity bashing thread. Nor is this a thread in which any individuals should be bashed for their beliefs. Before going any further, I'd like to say that I was raised in a Christian home. Church every Sunday. Church curricular activities during the week. I'm 31 years of age and for the most part I've wanted to believe in God. However, after recent circumstances in my life, and after reading about things that occur, like in the above articles, almost weekly, how do people continue to believe in God, or any higher power?

I read things like this, and the more I read, the more I wonder where this loving God is that the bible speaks of. If there are any believers or even non believers that would like to help me along in the thought process, please feel free to comment. However, I don't want to see anyone berated for their beliefs.

Mods, please feel free to move this thread if it's in the wrong section. I wasn't quite sure where to place this.

God is within you dwelling as you and is the real you. Some call our souls god, others the mind or counsiousness, I say all of the above.

a reply to: EternalSolace

a reply to: FormOfTheLord

If God is within us, and is the real you, then it would stand that God would also have to dwell within those whom consider themselves a part of Boko Haram. So, how does one follow an internal God who says to one group, it's okay to murder so many millions across earth's history?

a reply to: EternalSolace

God is most likely a myth to give people hope in hard times. The God I'm referring to is the one in scripture. There may be some godly force out there than we know but it probably doesn't see things from our perspective or care either.

Why do you think god is supposed to come save us?

Wouldn't that defeat the whole free will thing?

I don't recall anything from the Bible or even sunday school that would suggest killing a few thousand people would summon the creator of the universe.

The latest physics models allow for 11 dimensions or something? Perhaps the afterlife can be found in the 4th dimension?

all is one and one is all

everywhere and in all things. god is life, so to speak. the force. etcetc.

originally posted by: EternalSolace
how do people continue to believe in God, or any higher power?

By claiming that God is punishing those people for their sins. Sins of being Gay, Muslim, Atheist, etc.

That is the only excuse left for them to give even though to any sane person it's complete BS. It's either that or admit that God either doesn't care what happens, is and always has been false, or that he's anything but a Loving God.

a reply to: EternalSolace

I will jump in with my opinion.

It is hard to really nail down what my exact philosophy is for many reasons, the main one being I have taken little bits and pieces from the various philosophies of the world as well as my own inner travels.

Suffice it to say that I think that we are manifestations of God, therefore god is experiencing through all of of us, the good and the bad. I also believe that good and bad are simply a part of the duality that we chose to experience, the whole you can not have good unless you have bad.

So to expand upon the idea that we are manifestations of god, I think we may exist in multiple levels of reality at once, hence the idea of the higher self. Not only are our higher self, we are also this physical body and by extension our ego. I think of it quite literally like a virtual reality for the soul. Now for whatever reason we all decided to play this game and are currently experiencing a level of what must be extreme difficulty. As you pointed out in your examples there is much suffering going on all around us and on basically every level. I think this is partly due to a very diseased state of consciousness on this earth. It is evident in our separation from ourselves and our great planet embodied as GAIA.

Now that being said, for as many negative things we can point to it is best to keep in mind the ridiculous amount of good that is going on, but is simply not reported. I guess you could call it an epic game of good vs evil and currently evil has the upper hand. What I mean by this is, the consolidation of power in the form of the vast conspiracy to benefit the few over the many.

We are evolving fast though my friend and to me God is everywhere, benevolence is our natural form and the consciousness of the Earth is changing from the core, we may not be able to see it, however if you sit in silence and clear out the commotion of the ego, you can feel the presence of divinity, for that is what you are a divine being.

Namaste Aloha,

I believe that a great reference is Bill Hicks in this video

originally posted by: EternalSolace
a reply to: FormOfTheLord


If God is within us, and is the real you, then it would stand that God would also have to dwell within those whom consider themselves a part of Boko Haram. So, how does one follow an internal God who says to one group, it's okay to murder so many millions across earth's history?

God is god is god, god is at times good and others bad, depending on the manifestation of god. Everything is a manifestation of god wether good bad or somewhere inbetween.

Just as worms live in the earth, birds in the sky, fish in water, people in cities and towns, so too does god seperate beings out according to thier nature.

Think about the heavens of astral realms for a moment for example just as beings are seperate on earth so too will beings be divided there, those who channel darkness and various types of ignorance are divided from those who are more loving and empathetic to the sufferings of others.

I grew up in a Italian catholic house hold, we lived eat and breathed Jesus and because I was a little kid I just accepted it as fact. As I grew up and my mind developed I began to realize the contradiction that is the bibles depiction of god. He's this all loving, all knowing, all powerful being, but for some reason he loves to hate homosexuals and has a prison of fire for all those who misbehave or deny him. So where's the love for the gay community, where's the forgiveness for those who make mistakes, and especially where is the love and forgiveness for his/her (or both) people that may not see Jesus as their lord and savior. To many things don't add up and when I presented this to my pastor he said the same thing they all will, "everything happens for a reason." and "Jesus is the only path to glory" well guess what it must be a pretty #ty reason because this world is consumed in negativity, and the path Jesus left behind is full of bodies that keep continuing to pile up. My beef with ALL religion is that it gives people a reason to not work at making this world a better place because no matter what they do some kind of heaven is waiting for them if they just believe. Well clearly believing isn't enough because our world is in turmoil and its time for all the worlds people to take responsibility and stop blaming the Jews or the Christians or the Muslims or whatever you want to blame, and start realizing its up to us all to fix the world. No man will be coming down from the skies to clean up our mess anytime soon, or ever.

a reply to: Elton

I recall several passages of scripture of promises of protection:

Jeremiah 29:11 - What purpose does the death of those children serve?

John 19:11 - Why would God give authority to have me murdered?

Mathew 28:18-20 - Once again, why would God authorize the murder of 2,000 women and children?

Though scripture never said that the mass murder of thousands would bring about the creator of the universe, it also said that nothing happens without the authorization of the creator of the universe.

I'm not some second rate person who has never read the Bible. Like I said, I grew up in church, and while no expert in scripture, was brought up in it for all my life. I'm just trying to understand the thought process behind situations as these, and continued belief.

Flagg...for just the title......I've been sent to tell ya!! cool huh!!!
God is to be found by any who seek him......He says in the Scripture......that He'll LET you find Him, if you search well....

God is within you, he is your moral compass. If you choose to ignore that moral compass you abandon God in favor of personal gratification.

How do you expect God to be with you when you have abandoned him? God isn't in places of genocide and war because those committing said acts have chosen to ignore him.

Those who help with the recovery in the aftermath are God's way of helping and healing those wounds.

a reply to: mOjOm

I thought the OP was questioning where God is not individual religions?

On topic, I think "God" is working on a different level of consciousness, we talk about making computers that are smarter than us, imagine what else is out there?

0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001. That's a very generous estimate of all we know out of all there is to know. Scientists still debate things like the causes of earthquakes, things like that. We've barely scratched the surface when it comes to knowledge, religion included.

“If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it is yours. If it doesn’t, it never was.”

"If you blow chunks and she comes back, she's yours. But if you spew and she bolts, then it was never meant to be. "

If God exists, I do not think it is completely benevolent, but what is benevolence? What is altruism? If God made humans in its image then God is as bewildered, confused and conflicted in its existence as we humans ourselves are, trying every scenario, sorting "right" from "wrong", seeing what will happen and hoping for the best.

If you were trillions of years old, wouldn't you step back into the shadows so-to-speak? As I get older, I care less about such abstracts like good and evil. Good and evil are outcomes, powered by intentions, and defined by those who bare the brunt of those actions. Everyone thinks they are in the right, but one man's right and is another left. I know MY parents are "signing out," and they are less than 70.

To think that we humans divide this universe into moral choices and opinions...its sad. Humanity's entire existence is a blink of an eye and yet most rocks predate all life on this pale, blue dot by factors of a 100. Reality, historically speaking, has been dominated by a lack of consciousness, and thus emotion toward death. There was no murder and tragedy and heartbreak for billions and billions of years, then consciousness gets birthed, and suddenly it is all about us, because we die.

Maybe God is too concerned with holding the the innumerable planets and stars in place than he is with vastly more finite consciousnesses?

originally posted by: 3NL1GHT3N3D1
How do you expect God to be with you when you have abandoned him? God isn't in places of genocide and war because those committing said acts have chosen to ignore him.

What about those who are the victims of such acts???

originally posted by: mOjOm

It's either that or admit that God either doesn't care what happens, is and always has been false, or that he's anything but a Loving God.

As I progress in life, I find this point harder and harder to argue... as much as I want to argue against it.

a reply to: Yeahkeepwatchingme

How does that change the fact that God is either Not Real, Doesn't Care, or Cruel based upon his example given in the OP and it's relation to Where is God during all of this Violence and War???