Is there a God, and if so, who is it?

[Guest]

Pat Robertson just called. He told God about this thread, and God is going to hack the site and crash the server.

Just fyi

But Pat Robertson just gave a favorable public comment on my latest story!



(if God finds out Robertson has been surfing porn sites again, he's in deep shit)

 

[fifty5]

I'm glad you liked it

I guess I tend to also think of 'god' in the same terms as I do 'magic' -unseen, but not necesarily supernatural.
...
Love and respect right back,

Sweet.

Whoo!   “god ... not necesarily supernatural”   Gosh!

My interpretation of the 'God' symbol is a being that is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient - and even if the second and last of those might not be supernatural, to my understanding of the first term, that, inescapably, is.  “Can-do-anything” includes going beyond nature, whatever that is. (suffering from comma diarrhoea)

Tell me more.

f5 (with, again, love and respect.)

 

[shereads]

But Pat Robertson just gave a favorable public comment on my latest story!



(if God finds out Robertson has been surfing porn sites again, he's in deep shit)

Pat tells me that God is fine with his porn surfing, as long as there are no condoms in the stories, and the girl is not on top.

 

[Guest]

Pat tells me that God is fine with his porn surfing, as long as there are no condoms in the stories, and the girl is not on top.

AND no sex standing up.


(Cause that might lead to dancing!)

 

[fifty5]

Pat Robertson just called. He told God about this thread, and God is going to hack the site and crash the server.

Just fyi

Well, my last couple of posts seemed to take a tad longer to appear than normally...

Is that a measure of GOD's omnipotence?



f5

PS Why am I so obsessed with this thread?

 

[shereads]

Is that a measure of GOD's omnipotence?

Language!

 

[PDumbledore]

If there is a God, would He tolerate the wars and evil that is going on in this world? Would He let the little children and the very old suffer? What about the very sick who call out His name? These are questions that we always ask.

I was raised in a church and was told that there was good and evil in this world. The good was made by God, and the evil was made by Satan. But is all this made by two spirits, or is it made by man.

The more education I sought, and the older I became, the more I grew away from church. A lot of it because of the Pat Robertson's, and those in the Catholic faith who have done what they have.

One thing I do believe though, is that if there is a God, he judges people by what they have in their heart and mind.

 

[shereads]

If there is a God, would He tolerate the wars and evil that is going on in this world? Would He let the little children and the very old suffer? What about the very sick who call out His name? These are questions that we always ask.

I was raised in a church and was told that there was good and evil in this world. The good was made by God, and the evil was made by Satan. But is all this made by two spirits, or is it made by man.

The more education I sought, and the older I became, the more I grew away from church. A lot of it because of the Pat Robertson's, and those in the Catholic faith who have done what they have.

One thing I do believe though, is that if there is a God, he judges people by what they have in their heart and mind.

My own belief is that God, or whatever spirit connects us, is neither omnipotent nor judgemental. I've heard the concept of God described this way, and it's the only way that makes sense to me - it's also enormously comforting for someone who was brought up in the fire-and-brimstone Baptist Church. It's a fairy tale, maybe, but no more than anyone else's theory about the existence or non-existence of a Creator. And as the friend who gave me this gift said when I asked for proof, "If something should be true, there's no harm in assuming that it is true."

Here's the story he gave me when my father was dying and I was furious with the all-powerful God of my childhood, for failing to stop the suffering:

God is the self-aware part of the universe, existing alongside the physical just as we do, but not in control of it. If you imagine God as the one self-aware, intelligent spirit in an otherwise empty universe, you can imagine the loneliness. He would have created others, not to set up rules and dare these others to fail, but simply for the joy of seeing a few of us become aware of him in return. He "tossed fragments of his own spirit into the dark, and he watches us spark to life, and hopes that some of us will recognize him." This God watches our suffering and our failures and grieves for us, but doesn't control the laws of physics, doesn't cause earthquakes or floods or diseases, doesn't decide who lives and dies. He's purely spiritual. He doesn't judge us, either, any more than a loving parent would judge and cast away a child. Why would he? We're pieces of the same spirit. It would be like condemning part of himself.

 

[cloudy]

My own belief is that God, or whatever spirit connects us, is neither omnipotent nor judgemental. I've heard the concept of God described this way, and it's the only way that makes sense to me - it's also enormously comforting for someone who was brought up in the fire-and-brimstone Baptist Church. It's a fairy tale, maybe, but no more than anyone else's theory about the existence or non-existence of a Creator. And as the friend who gave me this gift said when I asked for proof, "If something should be true, there's no harm in assuming that it is true."

Here's the story he gave me when my father was dying and I was furious with the all-powerful God of my childhood, for failing to stop the suffering:

God is the self-aware part of the universe, existing alongside the physical just as we do, but not in control of it. If you imagine God as the one self-aware, intelligent spirit in an otherwise empty universe, you can imagine the loneliness. He would have created others, not to set up rules and dare these others to fail, but simply for the joy of seeing a few of us become aware of him in return. He "tossed fragments of his own spirit into the dark, and he watches us spark to life, and hopes that some of us will recognize him." This God watches our suffering and our failures and grieves for us, but doesn't control the laws of physics, doesn't cause earthquakes or floods or diseases, doesn't decide who lives and dies. He's purely spiritual. He doesn't judge us, either, any more than a loving parent would judge and cast away a child. Why would he? We're pieces of the same spirit. It would be like condemning part of himself.

That's beautiful, Sher.

 

[shereads]

Thank you. It's not mine, it was given to me. It helped a lot.

 

[sweetnpetite]

Pat Robertson just called. He told God about this thread, and God is going to hack the site and crash the server.

Just fyi

I'm looking at your av and I think it's a knee. But at first I thought it was a pregnant belly!

 

[sweetnpetite]

I, love, commas,

Ahh, but only if you think of god as a singular, physical being. If you think of god as the energy that runs through everyone and everything and as being connected to all, rather than one or many seperate things/beings then anything is possible.

Example of an honest to goodness miracle- so far:

The man who jumped over Niagra Falls and lived. He wasn't even trying! People have tried many times over the years and weren't ever successful, yet this guy who was trying to kill himself servived. Scientists still haven't been able to find a 'logical explaination' Sometimes the universe seems to extend just a little bit to make the impossible happen.

My daughter put a sharp-ass peace of glass in her mouth once. When I got it out, she had no cuts. Not one. the skin in your mouth is extremely easy to cut. Lucky her.

Why is it that every time my hat falls off, someone manages to find it and then find me, even when I'm no where near were I lost it? (I think I have a special hat angel)

I don't know if I necessarily believe that God really is all of those o words. I'm not saying he's not, I'm just not as tied to the idea that he *must* be or else he's not god. (using the male pronoun purely out of habit) Maybe god *isn't* all places at all times and maybe he doesn't know everything. Maybe god doesn't know *anything* cause he/it doesn't have a consciousness that is the same as ours. Maybe god doesnt' *know* but yet god *is* the knowledge. I don't have all the answers, I just keep asking the questions, and wodering. I do believe that you can talk to god, that god hears and sometimes god answers. God comes to us in ways that we can understand, and in ways that we can accept.

I'm also not tied to the idea that god is good. Maybe god is a sadistic bastard! (sometimes it seems that he is) I'm not afraid to question or to be 'irreverant.' Maybe god is nutral. Maybe god is failable. Maybe god has weaknesses, vices or flaws. (Like the greek gods did) Maybe god is my own higher conciousness. Maybe god and the devil are just one being with a split personality. The important thing (to me) is that I try not to take any 'fact' for granted. I question everything. I have even questioned if there *was* a god. I was willing to accept the possiblity that there was no god, but I found that for me, the answer is yes. I have felt god- and it could not have been anything else.

I don't have all the answers (that's also why I said, not *necessarily* supernatural. there's always that window.) I only have what I know and what I believe. ANd that all comes from my heart and my experience. The important thing, I think, is not whether you believe or not, but if you are willing to be open to possibilities and to listen to your heart. The only 'sin' if there is one, is a closed heart.

(sappy enough?)

Whoo!   “god ... not necesarily supernatural”   Gosh!

My interpretation of the 'God' symbol is a being that is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient - and even if the second and last of those might not be supernatural, to my understanding of the first term, that, inescapably, is.  “Can-do-anything” includes going beyond nature, whatever that is. (suffering from comma diarrhoea)

Tell me more.

f5 (with, again, love and respect.)

 

[PDumbledore]

Re: I, love, commas,

I don't have all the answers, I just keep asking the questions, and wodering. I do believe that you can talk to god, that god hears and sometimes god answers. God comes to us in ways that we can understand, and in ways that we can accept.

No one has all the answers. Even the most educated people have debated and argued for years about the existence of God, or a higher power.

The reason no one has the answers is probable because there is a little bit of God in each one of us. For those who cry a silent tear when something upsets them, for those who run into a burning building to save someone, maybe for the fireman and policeman who gave their lives on 9/11.

We all have a little bit of God in us. Some show it more than others. Some can accept it, and some can not.

 

[gothgodess]

I belive that while there isn't a God as such that there is a higher power guiding the universe. Thay don't control every aspect of life but give us a nudge in the general direction.
The things we think of as Guilt and morals are actually the cosmos whispering in our phycic ear.
This higher power has no desire to stop us diong things and it dosen't cause all these huge catastrophies, It sort of made the mix and is not sitting back to see what happens.

 

[gothgodess]

i edited this cos I felt a pratt double posting.

 

[Guest]

Several wonderful, caring members of my church,

. . . in hopes of coaxing me back (LOL) have kept up a steady barrage of emails.

They know me very well, so while a few of the emails are warm and caring others are smart-alecky and pushy and contain just the sorts of things I probably need to be hearing.

With me asking, "Why? Why do awful things happen?" I received the answer of "Our God would be very small and powerless if we were able to understand Him and the things He does."

Simplistic, but it does make sense.

(In a strange, warped, Catch-22 kind of way.)

*sigh*

 

[Liar]

I belive that while there isn't a God as such that there is a higher power guiding the universe.
They don't control every aspect of life but give us a nudge in the general direction.
The things we think of as Guilt and morals are actually the cosmos whispering in our phycic ear.
This higher power has no desire to stop us doing things and it dosen't cause all these huge catastrophies, It sort of made the mix and is now sitting back to see what happens.

And why wouldn't this be God?

Wait, what am I saying? I'm an atheist for chrissake.

 

[Guest]

And why wouldn't this be God? Wait, what am I saying? I'm an atheist for chrissake.

Try calling it Godot, Liar.

Perdita

 

[Liar]

Try calling it Godot, Liar.

Perdita

Yeah, that'll help.

 

[gothgodess]

And why wouldn't this be God?

Wait, what am I saying? I'm an atheist for chrissake.

For there to be an Antichrist there has to be a Christ.
The devil is a big beliver in God, he has to be or there would be nothing for him to do all day.

 

[Guest]

.....

 

[Guest]

For there to be an Antichrist there has to be a Christ.
The devil is a big beliver in God, he has to be or there would be nothing for him to do all day.

VERY good point, Gothgodess. If one believes in inherent evil, then one must also believe in the opposite of that.

You've made me think about my own beliefs now. I am hugely into horror, and it takes a lot to freak me out or get scared. But, I have never "dabbled" in the occult. I've never had my tarot cards read, and I've never even seen a ouija board, let alone used one. Why? Because it scares the bajeebas out of me. But, how can it? I claim not to believe in God. If I don't believe in God, then I can't believe in the Devil and all the dark stuff that goes with it.



Maybe I'm just a wuss, at heart.

Lou

 

[Liar]

For there to be an Antichrist there has to be a Christ.

ANd for there to be antipasto, there has to be pasta, right?

Damn, I'm hungry...

 

[gothgodess]

I belive in the forces of good and evil. Not in the star wars sort of way but there are too many occult experiances in this world to not belive them.
I am so glad you have never touched Ouija bords they can cause serious reprocussions. I have never come across a good experiance with them.
In my opinion Daemons do exsist and so do angels.

 

[gothgodess]

ANd for there to be antipasto, there has to be pasta, right?

Damn, I'm hungry...

Someone we need emergancy pizza in here we have a rambler