father Wilhelm Schmidt

IN the beginning,humans created a God who was the First cause of all things a Ruler of Heaven and earth. He was not represented by images and had no temple or priests in his service. He was too exalted for an inadequate human cult. Gradually he faded from the consciousness of his people. He had become so remote that they decided that they did not want him anymore. Eventually, he was said to have disappeared
Well that is one theory popularised by father Wilhelm Schmidt in the Origin of the Idea God published in 1912.
I love this song from the film Yardie
www.youtube.com...
Anyone care to comment?

originally posted by: DpatC
IN the beginning,humans created a God who was the First cause of all things a Ruler of Heaven and earth. He was not represented by images and had no temple or priests in his service. He was too exalted for an inadequate human cult. Gradually he faded from the consciousness of his people. He had become so remote that they decided that they did not want him anymore. Eventually, he was said to have disappeared
Well that is one theory popularised by father Wilhelm Schmidt in the Origin of the Idea God published in 1912.
Anyone care to comment?

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 have. We are all drawn to God. God is our destiny. Our destiny is to experience God's greatness. And 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. Nothing else matters once you 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 am currently resonating with my religion. These two ways of thinking, in my mind, create a "Unity of opposites".

en.wikipedia.org...

en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: dfnj2015

You have a very self centered view of religion. Consider how many Atheistic or Pantheistic charities there are. Or schools, hospitals, orphanages, or other institutions for social good these viewpoints have created. What positive contributions can they point to?

originally posted by: toms54
a reply to: dfnj2015

You have a very self centered view of religion. Consider how many Atheistic or Pantheistic charities there are. Or schools, hospitals, orphanages, or other institutions for social good these viewpoints have created. What positive contributions can they point to?

I have no idea what you are talking about. Apophatic theological view is the interpretation of the holy trinity espoused by Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox religions.

a reply to: dfnj2015

If you are going to pretend I was commenting about Apophatic theological view, then I don't see how it's possible to discuss anything. The first 85% of your post had nothing to do with that but was a recount of your life religious quest. The Apophatic theological view was tacked on at the end almost as an afterthought.

It's right there in black and white. How can you believe you are fooling anybody? If that's some attempt to be clever, it's a fail.