My new way of thinking about God

I first believed in the Old Testament God. I then believed in a personal God. After many disappointments I became an atheist. After arguing the virtues of atheism over Christianity I then became bored. Arguing a pro-atheist position is just way too easy. So for a challenge I started arguing the theist position against atheists. A funny thing happened along the way. After 10 years of trying to convince atheists theism is a better position I began to believe my own arguments! I then started to believe in a pantheistic type God. I then started to believe in omnipotent God of unconditional love who allows everyone through the gates of heaven to experience eternal bliss no matter what our earthly sins might be or how we practiced or not practiced our religion.

I then started thinking about what does God want from us. I then concluded by the way the Universe works we exist for God's entertainment. And our purpose is the realization of unimaginable possibilities. And our role in the Universe is to act out every possibility so God can realize His omnipotence. I then started studying Apophatic theology and came to the conclusion we have an Apophatic type God. So based on Apophatic theology, here is my latest thinking about religion and God:

The purpose of religion is to answer the four great existential questions:
1. Who am I?
2. Why am I here?
3. What does it all mean?
4. What is going to happen to me when I die?

I no longer think of God as a person type object. I think of God as a type of experience. God is the essence of the experience of "greatness". God is an experience we are drawn to. We are all drawn to God. God is our destiny. Our destiny is to experience God's greatness. When we die, we go into the light, we stare into the face of God, and we all get to experience God's infinite beauty.

Happiness comes from having the realization to get what you want you have to want what you have. Once you are completely grounded in wanting what you have then the next thing to do in finding happiness is to understand or have an appreciation for non-duality:

www.amazon.com...

Non-duality along with God is a type of experience is where I currently am resonating with my religion. These two ways of thinking create a "Unity of opposites" the way I see it.

Couple of things

God was clear, we were created by Him to be in relationship with Him.

People have a choice, God can’t force people into a relationship, He can’t make people go to heaven.
It’s a choice a person has to make.

a reply to: dfnj2015

God is an experience. That's all I know for sure. To me it seems God has a personality and can reach out in very individual ways. Who or how God is perceived is always depending on how the person reacts towards the experience with which God shows its presence.
God can utilize everything and every being but that doesn't mean everything and being is God.
I entertained for a while the thought that God only lives in our consciousness but that ultimately failed because he showed me his presence through weather and clouds, which are not having consciousness. And again that doesn't mean all clouds and weather show God or come from God.

Now I'm thinking God is the root of all consciousness but what that actually means is not quite clear to me yet.

a reply to: dfnj2015

Good thread - in a nutshell its been my journey as well.

One thing I will never fear again is a "judgmental god" who transformed into a pre-existing Trinity come redeemer who had to die and rise again.

Books have a tendency to not tell the whole picture going through hundreds of years of iterations.

a reply to: Raggedyman

Which god was that? The absent one in the garden who temporarily lost its omniscience?

God was clear, we were created by Him to be in relationship with Him.

a reply to: dfnj2015

originally posted by: dfnj2015
I first believed in the Old Testament God. I then believed in a personal God. After many disappointments I became an atheist. After arguing the virtues of atheism over Christianity I then became bored. Arguing a pro-atheist position is just way too easy. So for a challenge I started arguing the theist position against atheists. A funny thing happened along the way. After 10 years of trying to convince atheists theism is a better position I began to believe my own arguments! I then started to believe in a pantheistic type God. I then started to believe in omnipotent God of unconditional love who allows everyone through the gates of heaven to experience eternal bliss no matter what our earthly sins might be or how we practiced or not practiced our religion.

I then started thinking about what does God want from us. I then concluded by the way the Universe works we exist for God's entertainment. And our purpose is the realization of unimaginable possibilities. And our role in the Universe is to act out every possibility so God can realize His omnipotence. I then started studying Apophatic theology and came to the conclusion we have an Apophatic type God. So based on Apophatic theology, here is my latest thinking about religion and God:

The purpose of religion is to answer the four great existential questions:
1. Who am I?
2. Why am I here?
3. What does it all mean?
4. What is going to happen to me when I die?

I no longer think of God as a person type object. I think of God as a type of experience. God is the essence of the experience of "greatness". God is an experience we are drawn to. We are all drawn to God. God is our destiny. Our destiny is to experience God's greatness. When we die, we go into the light, we stare into the face of God, and we all get to experience God's infinite beauty.

Happiness comes from having the realization to get what you want you have to want what you have. Once you are completely grounded in wanting what you have then the next thing to do in finding happiness is to understand or have an appreciation for non-duality:

www.amazon.com...

Non-duality along with God is a type of experience is where I currently am resonating with my religion. These two ways of thinking create a "Unity of opposites" the way I see it.

In the beginning, you started believing concepts created by people around you

Then all went to hell

That's all

You must have been better with no concept at all, of god or whatever.. Then you probably would be closer to real God than whatever other concept tries to fix a human explanation of the God entity

But anyways

Oh please don't hate but i will say this as i may not be able to reply for a while

Drop the concepts of a God or Goddess or whatever else and just be you, then forget about all the entire thing and start from beginning as a new born with no concept of any of those things, clear your mind. Be free of other people ideas, float away on your own, no guilt, no pain, no freedom, no lust, no nothing, just float away, then you may understand. No zen as well by the way Just float away.. then you may get it, but drop it all before that

It's up to you

a reply to: dfnj2015

What made you change your mind so many times? Evidence? Or people’s words?

originally posted by: BoneSay

originally posted by: dfnj2015
I first believed in the Old Testament God. I then believed in a personal God. After many disappointments I became an atheist. After arguing the virtues of atheism over Christianity I then became bored. Arguing a pro-atheist position is just way too easy. So for a challenge I started arguing the theist position against atheists. A funny thing happened along the way. After 10 years of trying to convince atheists theism is a better position I began to believe my own arguments! I then started to believe in a pantheistic type God. I then started to believe in omnipotent God of unconditional love who allows everyone through the gates of heaven to experience eternal bliss no matter what our earthly sins might be or how we practiced or not practiced our religion.

I then started thinking about what does God want from us. I then concluded by the way the Universe works we exist for God's entertainment. And our purpose is the realization of unimaginable possibilities. And our role in the Universe is to act out every possibility so God can realize His omnipotence. I then started studying Apophatic theology and came to the conclusion we have an Apophatic type God. So based on Apophatic theology, here is my latest thinking about religion and God:

The purpose of religion is to answer the four great existential questions:
1. Who am I?
2. Why am I here?
3. What does it all mean?
4. What is going to happen to me when I die?

I no longer think of God as a person type object. I think of God as a type of experience. God is the essence of the experience of "greatness". God is an experience we are drawn to. We are all drawn to God. God is our destiny. Our destiny is to experience God's greatness. When we die, we go into the light, we stare into the face of God, and we all get to experience God's infinite beauty.

Happiness comes from having the realization to get what you want you have to want what you have. Once you are completely grounded in wanting what you have then the next thing to do in finding happiness is to understand or have an appreciation for non-duality:

www.amazon.com...

Non-duality along with God is a type of experience is where I currently am resonating with my religion. These two ways of thinking create a "Unity of opposites" the way I see it.

In the beginning, you started believing concepts created by people around you

Then all went to hell

That's all

You must have been better with no concept at all, of god or whatever.. Then you probably would be closer to real God than whatever other concept tries to fix a human explanation of the God entity

But anyways

Oh please don't hate but i will say this as i may not be able to reply for a while

Drop the concepts of a God or Goddess or whatever else and just be you, then forget about all the entire thing and start from beginning as a new born with no concept of any of those things, clear your mind. Be free of other people ideas, float away on your own, no guilt, no pain, no freedom, no lust, no nothing, just float away, then you may understand. No zen as well by the way

Just float away.. then you may get it, but drop it all before that

It's up to you

#ImFourteenAndthatsDeep

/s

originally posted by: STARL0RD

originally posted by: BoneSay

originally posted by: dfnj2015
I first believed in the Old Testament God. I then believed in a personal God. After many disappointments I became an atheist. After arguing the virtues of atheism over Christianity I then became bored. Arguing a pro-atheist position is just way too easy. So for a challenge I started arguing the theist position against atheists. A funny thing happened along the way. After 10 years of trying to convince atheists theism is a better position I began to believe my own arguments! I then started to believe in a pantheistic type God. I then started to believe in omnipotent God of unconditional love who allows everyone through the gates of heaven to experience eternal bliss no matter what our earthly sins might be or how we practiced or not practiced our religion.

I then started thinking about what does God want from us. I then concluded by the way the Universe works we exist for God's entertainment. And our purpose is the realization of unimaginable possibilities. And our role in the Universe is to act out every possibility so God can realize His omnipotence. I then started studying Apophatic theology and came to the conclusion we have an Apophatic type God. So based on Apophatic theology, here is my latest thinking about religion and God:

The purpose of religion is to answer the four great existential questions:
1. Who am I?
2. Why am I here?
3. What does it all mean?
4. What is going to happen to me when I die?

I no longer think of God as a person type object. I think of God as a type of experience. God is the essence of the experience of "greatness". God is an experience we are drawn to. We are all drawn to God. God is our destiny. Our destiny is to experience God's greatness. When we die, we go into the light, we stare into the face of God, and we all get to experience God's infinite beauty.

Happiness comes from having the realization to get what you want you have to want what you have. Once you are completely grounded in wanting what you have then the next thing to do in finding happiness is to understand or have an appreciation for non-duality:

www.amazon.com...

Non-duality along with God is a type of experience is where I currently am resonating with my religion. These two ways of thinking create a "Unity of opposites" the way I see it.

In the beginning, you started believing concepts created by people around you

Then all went to hell

That's all

You must have been better with no concept at all, of god or whatever.. Then you probably would be closer to real God than whatever other concept tries to fix a human explanation of the God entity

But anyways

Oh please don't hate but i will say this as i may not be able to reply for a while

Drop the concepts of a God or Goddess or whatever else and just be you, then forget about all the entire thing and start from beginning as a new born with no concept of any of those things, clear your mind. Be free of other people ideas, float away on your own, no guilt, no pain, no freedom, no lust, no nothing, just float away, then you may understand. No zen as well by the way

Just float away.. then you may get it, but drop it all before that

It's up to you

#ImFourteenAndthatsDeep

/s

Well you clearly think like you are 14 so /s for you lol, how dumb this is

Have you any idea or comment that indicates intelligence, beyond repeating the old tired excuses from every religion that are already so dumb it makes people look like idiots when they repeat them?

Or nah

/s

a reply to: dfnj2015

The best way of thinking about god is not to bother. Look within instead.

1. Who am I? No one.
2. Why am I here? You’re not.
3. What does it all mean? Nothing.
4. What is going to happen to me when I die? Nothing.

a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

Hmmm, yeah there is that and there is free will, can God know free will, interfere in free will, allow freewill
Saying freewill a lot aren’t I
Think you don’t understand free will

God can’t know everything if we have choices, yes He knows the outcome but not our decision

I guess you have to put a bit more effort into selling your version of omniscience over mine

I am guessing your faith is based on what you don’t believe 👍😁😬

a reply to: AgarthaSeed

That image is kinda awesome

a reply to: dfnj2015

Are you the doer [of any action]? Scott Kiloby........ on you tube is worth a listen.

a reply to: Raggedyman

Who has stated this and where?

a reply to: surfer_soul

Why should he look within when you already gave him the answers?

Are these the answers you found within yourself, or did someone else give them to you?

a reply to: BoneSay

You sure seem to know a lot of answers to deep questions. Where did you get them?

originally posted by: Woodcarver
a reply to: dfnj2015

What made you change your mind so many times? Evidence? Or people’s words?

I'll have a poke at that...

Ephesians 4:14

So we should no longer be children, tossed about as by waves and carried here and there by every wind of teaching by means of the trickery of men, by means of cunning in deceptive schemes.

That's what's possibly going on with the OP, it's very common. Sometimes I call it 'going wherever the wind blows' (with which I'm thinking about going with whatever teaching or belief that makes you feel good about yourself, or sort of sounds nice or appealing to you, teachings that often appeal to people's pride in a subtle way, giving them the false impression that they are wise and openminded for rolling with them, not bound by any particular teaching with possibly a touch of agnosticism, as if one can't really figure out the truth about God and His requirements for worship and obedience with certainty anyway).

Isaiah 5:20,21

20 Woe to those who say that good is bad and bad is good,

Those who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness,

Those who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

21 Woe to those wise in their own eyes

And discreet in their own sight!

Proverbs 14:12

12 There is a way that seems right to a man,

But in the end it leads to death.

Jeremiah 10:23

I well know, O Jehovah, that man’s way does not belong to him.

It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.

Knowledge (Greek: gnoʹsis) is put in a very favorable light in the Christian Greek Scriptures. However, not all that men may call “knowledge” is to be sought, because philosophies and views exist that are “falsely called ‘knowledge.’” (1Ti 6:20) The recommended knowledge is about God and his purposes. (2Pe 1:5) This involves more than merely having facts, which many atheists have; a personal devotion to God and Christ is implied. (Joh 17:3; 6:68, 69) Whereas having knowledge (information alone) might result in a feeling of superiority, our knowing “the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge,” that is, knowing this love by experience because we are personally imitating his loving ways, will balance and give wholesome direction to our use of any information we may have gained.​—Eph 3:19.

E·piʹgno·sis, a strengthened form of gnoʹsis (e·piʹ, meaning “additional”), can often be seen from the context to mean “exact, accurate, or full knowledge.” Thus Paul wrote about some who were learning (taking in knowledge) “yet never able to come to an accurate knowledge [“a real knowledge,” TC; “a personal knowledge,” Ro; “clear, full knowledge,” Da ftn] of truth.” (2Ti 3:6, 7)

Which counts for anyone with the agnostic way of thinking bolded below.

“What Is Truth?”

THAT question was cynically posed to Jesus by the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate. He was not interested in an answer, and Jesus did not give him one. Perhaps Pilate viewed truth as too elusive to grasp.​—John 18:38.

This disdainful attitude toward truth is shared by many today, including religious leaders, educators, and politicians. They hold that truth​—especially moral and spiritual truth—​is not absolute but relative and ever changing. This, of course, implies that people can determine for themselves what is right and what is wrong. (Isaiah 5:20, 21) It also allows people to reject as out-of-date the values and moral standards held by past generations.

The statement that prompted Pilate’s question is worth noting. Jesus had said: “For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.” (John 18:37) Truth to Jesus was no vague, incomprehensible concept. He promised his disciples: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”​—John 8:32.

Where can such truth be found? On one occasion, Jesus said in prayer to God: “Your word is truth.” (John 17:17) The Bible, written under divine inspiration, reveals truth that provides both reliable guidance and a sure hope for the future​—everlasting life.​—2 Timothy 3:15-17.

Pilate indifferently rejected the opportunity to learn such truth. What about you? ...

Three 16th-Century Truth Seekers​—What Did They Find?

“WHAT is truth?” That was the question that Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Judea in the first century, asked of Jesus, who was on trial before the governor. (John 18:38) Pilate, of course, was not really seeking the truth. If anything, his question revealed his skeptical or cynical attitude. Apparently, to Pilate truth was whatever a person might choose or was taught to believe; there was really no way to determine what is truth. Many today feel the same way.
...

Of course, if there really was "no way to determine what is truth" (or I'd phrase that as "what is true") regarding the subject of God and all related subjects concerning worship, requirements and love+obedience (the Bible describes that the love of God basically boils down to obeying Him), why bother with evidence or trying to figure it out based on the evidence one can find or learn about. Just go with whatever you feel like at the time ('anything goes'; 'do what thou wilt' quoting from the Law of Thelema as promoted by the Satanist Aleister Crowley). South Park got the general gist of the agnostic code correct, it becomes pointless to talk about it, from that perspective. Which nicely plays into the cards Satan is playing (or holding), he's the god of vagueness and confusion and is intent on keeping people in the dark about God, including his identity, character attributes and requirements for true worship or obedience. So if he can get people to stop even trying to figure it out, stopping them from trying to look for God and the answers to the related questions about God, that works great for him. Stay ignorant, stay agnostic, that's the idea (the opposite of the motto on this site, yet expressed on this forum everytime someone says things such as "there is no such thing as absolute certainty in science", quoting Alexander Vilenkin but there are many ways of phrasing that general notion and then not just applying it to what is falsely called "science/knowledge").

More info on how to determine what is true, especially concerning theological subjects (including whether or not God exists at all as a theological subject), can be found in the article in my signature. Try the tips called "Use discernment: ..." and "Put information to the test: ...".

Some more useful things to keep in mind:

Understanding: Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2

Relationship to Knowledge and Wisdom. Understanding must be based on knowledge, and it works with knowledge, though it is itself more than mere knowledge. The extent and worth of one’s understanding is measurably affected by the quantity and quality of one’s knowledge. Knowledge is acquaintance with facts, and the greatest and most fundamental facts relate to God, his existence, his invincible purpose, his ways. Understanding enables the person to relate the knowledge he acquires to God’s purpose and standards, and thereby he can assess or evaluate such knowledge. The “understanding heart is one that searches for knowledge”; it is not satisfied with a mere superficial view but seeks to get the full picture. (Pr 15:14) ...

originally posted by: InwardDiver
a reply to: BoneSay

You sure seem to know a lot of answers to deep questions. Where did you get them?

I dont think they are deep

i was raised with no religion at all, but wanted to learn about when i was 13, i think noy having a real full concept of "God" and zero idea of what the bible or other books said until i started learning on my own makes me see things very different maybe?

I dont get a lot of what makes religion work on people's minds, but i do get the feeling there may be something bigger out there, just not as described by any religion

Honestly i dont know, just makes sense to me and i speak up my mind

a reply to: dfnj2015

God is not external. it is you. That essence of you when you were born, that guiding voice, that inner thing.. your conscious.

There is no external entity for you to believe in, that is from a time when people needed to be controlled. It is your nature. We all have it. Some people let the fabric of who they have become define it for them, by this leads to religion. A selfish way to control people. "follow this belief, or the very nature of what you feel will make you suffer."

God is you. And as the nature of reality is that we are all connected, even the air you breathe right now, touches the air I feel as one all encompassing thing surrounding us all, we are all god.

and right now, god is very angry.. look at the world, we are not very good gods. We are satanic.

Be good, be empathetic. Be as god, who can create life, or take it. who can shape life, or destroy it. who can be better.