There Is/Is No God

I was surfing the threads and saw that "There Is No God" was shut down, without warning or explanation. My guess is it was getting kind of personal and nasty, and the site administration might have thought people were "proselytizing". There was some atheist vs. theist friction, but as I recall, the principal battle was between the traditional believers in God and the folks who think they are God (I'm not kiddin'!). So I thought I might give us another chance by opening up this thread. If there are any deities out there, please show some restraint, lest you piss off the administration!

 

He wasn't saying that he was God, exactly. He was saying that everyone is God, including him, and the only difference between him and everyone else is that he realized it - I think.

It was a pretty interesting discussion, and I dunno why it was shut down. A lot of the animosity seemed to have dwindled as the replies moved forward.

 

Well depending on your view of "God" he may be right (though I don't think he'd have been the only one to realize it). Atman anyone? (forgive my lack of diacritical marks)

 

:hysterica the thread is back!!

It was a good thread, just think everyone should keep personal remarks/ attacks limited.

 

Some people are just assholes.

 

Everyone has the right to their opinion, but in the end this is a hippie forum, I feel no 'love' so to speak!

Oh well some interesting things raised.

 

How about just plain ... off-topic.

The last five pages was not even on topic at all ... including the remark I made to Bl4ck3n3D!

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That's what inevitably happens with religious threads

 

-_-

 

The thread closure is most unfortunate. On topic or not, people were enjoying it, as the numbers prove.

Had it turned into a nasty shouting match, I could see the reasoning, but to close upon a mere technical point is...coldly bureaucratic.



x

 

Yes, that is what I meant.

A kind of enlightenment if you will.

 

Well, xexon, what I find most unfortunate is that I continually have to remind people of the Forum Guidelines they HAD to agree to in order to gain posting privledges to this site.

Let's start there, okay?

Rule 6: Off Topic Postings/Thread Titles: Often people post remarks that have nothing to do with the subject of the forum or thread. Occasionally threads are deliberately taken off topic to advance an opposing agenda or disrupt the discussion. These posts will be moved or deleted at the discretion of the moderator, and the user may be banned. We urge all members wishing to discuss a new topic to start a new thread in the appropriate forum. In addition we request that all threads in public forums have a title that accurately reflect the subject of the thread. Thus titles like "guess what?" or "hummmm..." are unacceptable and may be deleted at the moderator's discretion. If you want your thread to be viewed by the most people, you should always have the subject in the title.

Since I opted not to delete the thread/posts, and/or ban the people who were taking it off-topic, I opted to close the thread. Since the posts were continuously off-topic, it was assumed the topic of the thread had been exhausted and it was time to move on to a new thread where the last discussion of the closed thread warranted further discussion under a new thread topic.

Now it appears you wish the same thing to happen to this thread, of which your responses and mine have nothing to do with the topic of this thread ... again ... off-topic.

If you can't stay on-topic, why do you bother to post in these threads? What purpose, or agenda would it serve?

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It seemed on topic to me. People were discussing how they either saw or didn't see God, and explained so in their own words. The OP said "There is no God: Prove me wrong", and people challenged it in one way or another.

Xexon tried to do it by saying that we are all God, FedUp tried to do it by saying that it's illogical (same with mr.stiffy), I did it by saying that you have you keep your mind open to it.

It went off track for a little while, but then it went back on track right before it was deleted.

Anyway, back on topic: God is real because he's cool. Anyone wanna reply???

 

I agree/disagree. (S)he's Beyond Cool (which is cooler than Way Cool). I do think that before we go wandering down the rabbit hole again, it might be useful to define our term(s). Hinduism and the Abramic religions recognize the paradox that God is mindbogglingly ineffeable--far beyond the ability of mere mortals to comprehend. But at the same time, these traditions go on to give God or It's emanations anthropomorphic characteristics, because of the need to dumb down theological truths for humans. As a result of the revolution in science brought about by relativity and quantum theories, we're not in Kansas anymore. We know that the Newtonian mechanical view that we can still get by with for many purposes, was incorrect, that reality defies common sense and is beyond the comprehension of our greatest scientific minds, that efforts to account for it all with a TOE (Theory of Everything)--superstring theory, the Akashic field, etc.-- are mathematically abstruse, unverifiable, and non-refutable. In other words, physics is getting to look more and more like metaphysics. So what is God?

I think that if we do find TOE it will be God. However, I think Dawkins is right that people who say there is a God are saying something more than that there is underlying regularity or unifying principle behind the universe. If this regularity is some blind force or network of simple, blind prcesses, I think we'd be fools to be worshipping it. God is an intelligent, conscious entity that is the unifying principle of all universes. Fire away!

 

God has 6 billion names, but only one address.

Many cannot see "god" for the simple reason they have never gone beyond their own yard.

If you live in a comforatable valley which satisfies all your needs, what incentive do you have to to venture beyond it? It is only when you have a need which cannot be met, that you start thinking of what lays beyond.

The mountaintop, so often spoken of in religion, is a metaphor. It means one who has pulled back from the world, and in doing so, now sees that world as a whole planet instead of one's own front yard.

Pull back further, you see the Milky Way galaxy, Pull back even more, the universe.

If you keep going, you will come face to face with the God you seek.

But its easier just to hold a mirror to one's own face.

Peek-a-Boo. I see you.

You've loved this game as a child, but when you grew up in the world, you put it aside as a childish thing. Other things caught your attention. If you want to see God, you have to become as a child once again.

When you look back on that, you'll find the game never ended. And as an adult, you became worse at playing it.



x

 

This thread seems to have lifted the mood!

 

Within the Gospel of Judas, that once belonged to the Bible, had Judas describing Jesus as a child, and this wasn't meant as an insult. Life has with it the possibility to bring you full circle: Child to adult, and if willing, back to child.

Turning back into a child is often used to convey a lack of maturity; insofar as it can be called childish, but this ignores the good qualities of a child: of being childlike; as with innocence and truthfulness, and most of all: open-mindedness. Without reverting back to the childlike qualities of a child, one cannot expect to witness more than what he may already know to be truth. Gaining back the childlike qualities, while ignoring the childish qualities that of a child, is a fundamental step to open-mindedness; as open-mindedness lends us the ability to explore the existence of the transcendence.

There is a certain fear to reverting back to a child, however, and this is the reason, as not to say the only reason, that many are unable, or unwilling or unknowingly able to explore the transcendence; insofar as to say that the transcendence can't be explored, because to admit to such a thing would be foolish, and more importantly, childish.

With that being said, the transendence cannot be explored through reason, but through intuition; but the importance of intuition cannot be realized without first obtaining a childlike condition of your self.

 

And what is compassion if not a refined form of intuition?

The eyes use light to see the world. The heart uses compassion to see everything else. Divine compassion sees both equally well.

It puts Superman's x-ray vision to shame.



x

 

"When Jesus appeared on earth, he performed miracles and great wonders for the salvation
of humanity. And since some [walked] in the way of righteousness while others walked
in their transgressions, the twelve disciples were called.
He began to speak with them about the mysteries beyond the world and what would
take place at the end. Often he did not appear to his disciples as himself, but he was found
among them as a child."

From the Gospels of Judas, if anyone was interested.

 

I wish people would stop being so modest and say what they belive!!!!