"Initially I say "Fuck your God", but I'm not really saying fuck the actual God, I'm just saying "Fuck -your- god". A god that would isolate people, and punish. Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning was the word, and the word was God." In the original aramaic text, that word was "Yahweh" or "Jehovah" which means "light" and "love". We've kinda twisted it to mean this guy with a beard passing judgement, but it's not. In the beginning was the word, and the word was 'love' and 'light', infinite, unconditional and without judgement. At that point you could pretty much close the book." I think he brought up a good point. What would be your response to this?
That the entire rest of the Bible negates the single sentence you cited [and the explaination thereof]. God is a vengeful, authoritarian despot who rules by the mere threat of his wrath and the promise of eternal life. God is merely a defense mechanism to protect the egocentric human race from realizing that he is not special, that he will not live forever, and that this forlorness that you may be experiencing is unnecessary because the glory of God will be experienced in the next life. But don't kill yourself to get there sooner because that would significantly cut down on tributes to the Church.
But that's what God is. Love, and light. THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT! God is full of love, and brighter than 20 suns. Your comment is ignorant, and offending towards christianity.
God, supposively being full of love and all, is exceedingly hypocritical, knowingly or not, in the act of condemning his own creatures to eternal suffering, no? If I was God [and loving], I would create my humans already in Heaven so they don't have to risk eternal damnation and such. Indeed, I would do away with the whole life on earth thing, no point in wasting people's time, I say. Besides I am not so shallow that I need to have my ego stroked constantly by all of this silly worshiping.
sorry dude but if you wanna come in here and argue about the Bible or God, get your scriptures right. Genesis 1:1 says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 1st John 1:1 says in the beginning was the word, and the word was WITH God, and the word WAS God.
ADAM AND EVE WERE IN PARADISE ! Until Adam took the fruit Eve gave him. That was the first sin. THEN they got kicked out into the world. Hell wasn't even created for humans, but for fallen angels.
Whether its the individual's fault or not is completely besides the point. The point IS that, whether deservedly or not, God willfully condemns his own creation to an existence of eternal suffering, either actively or by apathetic inaction.
Hell is an existence without God and people are there of their own accord. Each and every individual has the free will to choose his or her own path. If one cannot give thanks to the Lord in this realm, then they should not expect to be in Heaven, a place where praise and worship are abound.
but god is suppose to be all knowing, he knows who is desinated to hell and heaven before that person is even born. so if god already knows a persons fate, that person has no real choice over his path on earth, its all predetermined. id like to bring an example to the table.- judas betrayed christ, commited suicide and is condemed to hell. but is it really judas's fault, if he didnt betray christ scripture would not be fulfilled and that would make god a liar, so judas did gods will, he did what must come to pass, he did what god has destined him to do, but he was still condemed to hell. does this sound just? id rather rule in hell than serve in heaven- a quote of satan from the book paradise lost
I think there's the God of the spiritual man, the mystic...and then there's the God of the religionist. The two are very different. The latter is a legalistic, king-like being, ruling and judging, however justly, often rather harshly in the scriptures. The former is undescribable, but something that can be experienced if one is coming from the right place, it is also very different from the religionist's god. I think the problem is people mix the two up, ending up with a warlike, legalistic god who is also pure love. Lunacy. This all arises from the way ruling elites use religion for control. They've been doing it for millenia, which is why you mix up the god of pure love with the much more human-like, worldy-oriented god. They hijacked the god of love and used it to their own worldly ends, muddying the waters and making the work of the mystic that much harder.
" For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16 NKJV " For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3:17 NKJV "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." John 3:18 NKJV He's very compassionate! Imagine killing your own child in order to let other's live? An innocent one at that?? He was perfect, God sacrificed his perfect son, who never sinned, in order to pay for our sins. In order to get into heaven you must be sinless, for satan takes every oppertunity to get you to his place. God didn't decide for you to go there, you did. EVERY sin has been forgiven ...except the sin of disbelief, for belief is the one that Satan fears.
How could we, mere space dust in a universe pulsating with this infinite perception, energy, power, and potential, where we ourselves are a part of this whole, of everything, do anything that could be blashemous, betraying, and wrong? How is that possible? Is right and wrong even existant? Or is it just a lower level of understanding we have? Maybe the existence is beyond duality? Or will you remain thinking that there really is a black, white, and gray - and that is all? What if color is just our way of perception? Metaphorically speaking.
you are lying to yourself if you think there is no right and wrong. God has put right and wrong in our hearts. Even if you don't believe in Him, when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, they became LIKE God, knowing good and evil, just like Satan told them they would. But knowing the difference isn't all we have to do to become God-like. It's choosing good OVER evil that makes us more Godly. GOOD PREVAILS!!
Not trying to start shit, but if one doesn't believe in God, why would be belive in your adam and eve story? Someone of the atheistic persuasion (or other religions even) might take an evolutionary approach and not see "right and wrong written in our hearts." Burn, to answer you, I'd say right and wrong exist, but can be transcended. It's a stage we must go through but we don't have to stay there. It is one level among many, and as we go through self discovery, we learn more about ourselves, see a bigger picture, and transcend to new levels of perception.
I agree with you, all the way. Maybe it isn't necessary to talk to people who are still in the steps behind us. We're no better or worse than they are... Just further up this staircase of understanding. It's hard for them to relate to us, but we've been where they are, so... I guess we could offer a hand... But can they see it? Sometimes I wonder if its worth it. I hope it is. As you can tell there are people here who have no concept of something beyond right and wrong.. And this is what I say to you, the people who live in duality: Open your mind - just a little bit. See what happens when you throw down all beliefs, experiment a little... make yourself vulnerable. See what happens.
Why sacrifice someone for my mistakes? Doesn't the bible state that every man shall bear his own burden? This is justice but no matter how I twist it, I can't understand how offering a man of such rightousness would be just.
God wanted to give us a second chance at living for eternity with him. In the Old Testament, people would sacrifice "spotless" lambs as an atonement for thier sins. Jesus became our spotless lamb and took our place, because He loves us so passionately. Otherwise we'd all go to Hell, every last one of us. Now it's up to us whether we want to accept this free gift, or say "no thanks, i don't need your forgiveness" and go our own way, apart from what we were created for, to be with God and wrapped in His love forever.
