Why does the truth matter is a question to be answered in the heart of me, of you and of anyone who cares enough to want to know the truth and love it. In my belief, God and how I see Him as Truth is my all. I mean, God is All, and to me giving my little all to Him is the least I can do. So ya it matters, it matters to me. Sorry to trouble you with it.
How many Gods do you believe in?
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Why does the truth matter is a question to be answered in the heart of me, of you and of anyone who cares enough to want to know the truth and love it. In my belief, God and how I see Him as Truth is my all. I mean, God is All, and to me giving my little all to Him is the least I can do. So ya it matters, it matters to me. Sorry to trouble you with it.
Well I'm not blind and neither am I deaf, even if I was both the interior of self would tell me there was something more and greater than me and I would seek it. Actually the concept is interesting.
As for the truth " according to the Gospel of myself, yourself or anyself " I guess the debate will be endless till someone comes with absolute proof about the whole thing. Agreed ?
Yes, I'm well aware of that, and I find such discussions with you interesting and provocative. You've noticed, I presume, that I *do* keep talking with you?:smile:
Your view of god is very like the views expressed by Spinoza and Einstein on the subject, so you're in pretty good company. What I think is that god is the wrong word for what you want to talk about. I don't remember Spinoza clearly enough to be sure, but I know Einstein used the word only metaphorically when he said things like "God does not play dice with the universe" (except it turns out that he apparently does, but that's another discussion). Stephen Hawking uses the word the same way, as do a number of other scientists who write for a popular audience, and I wish they wouldn't, because it's a deceptive and misleading metaphor. They do not mean anything like what most people understand by the word god, and neither do you, and we already have perfectly good words that *do* mean what you mean. Nature, reality, the cosmos, the universe...
What is a structure made of? It's made of whatever it's made of: wood, bricks, steel, ideas...
What is energy made of? It's not made of anything, in the sense that you can't break it down into a list of components that can be put together to make energy in a fashion similar to how nature makes protons and neutrons out of several kinds of quarks. Energy is the fundamental component, you can't go any deeper than that. It's like electrons; they're not made of anything the way neutrons and protons are, electrons are fundamental. In the simplest physical terms, energy is just the ability to do work, and work is done when a force is exerted and something moves. Odd as it may seem, if you struggle and heave and grunt trying to move a piano, and it doesn't move, you haven't done any work on it. You've done *some* work of course, your body's been moving in various ways, but you've imparted no energy to the piano except for the trivially minor elastic deformation you caused by pushing on it.
In one sense you're right that myths are as real as the laws of physics. Myths certainly exist as ideas, you can pick up a book and read about them, and some people will be moved to certain actions by them, depending on their attitude toward them. But they really have no existence outside the realm of ideas. The laws of physics do. They are accurate, predictive, testable, consistent descriptions of how nature behaves, so they must be built into the fabric of nature (whatever that means...) and I think that gives them a higher order of reality than myths can claim. And note that I am not claiming we know them; I will claim only that we know some of them to a certain degree of approximation.
And to belatedly get around to explicitly answering the OP, as if anybody who knows me was in any doubt, I believe in zero gods. I think the fundamental reality is matter and its interactions.
Heres my answer to that.
God the Father by name is the creator of all that there is.
But because mankind was made in likeness of God, there could but exist one God. All other god likes are as dead in His sight.
God the Son is mankind's representative of the Father God to reconcile that which was lost in the process, into one body, that body being the one God the Father.
Life than being a resultant. (Spiritually speaking)
Now mankind can exist as a god but within the Father God spiritually.
The Holy Spirit is the Father God, representative Jesus name,and representative to mankind via the heart, or spiritually while yet alive in the flesh.
These three are consistently referenced throughout the whole of the bible.
Father God the creator, Jesus Christ the creator and the Holy Spirit the comforter in the second creation.
Apart from those three, you have absolutely nothing.
They are all one in the same, but in different applications to arrive at the end results, and that is to give us all god like abilities without the penalty of eternal death due to there being but the one God over all.
All that is clear and very understandable throughout the scriptures if..........................
one should be inclined to seek it out with dire interest and not to find loop holes.
Peace>>>AJ
I believe in very many Gods. Every Pagan religion has an extensive pantheon. Our Gods are personifications of the forces of Nature, of the Universe and of different manifestations of human beings.
And I can't help believing in my Gods, because I have actually seen them, spoken to them, heard them reply to me. After an experience like that, you don't believe. You actually know.
And I can't help believing in my Gods, because I have actually seen them, spoken to them, heard them reply to me. After an experience like that, you don't believe. You actually know.
If your gods give you the peace and love for mankind as your brother and sisters, then God will honor that.
Peace>>>AJ
If you are God, would you care to give me immortality and eternal youth? I'd sure be very grateful to you, China! >>>China
We, you and I can be instrumental in sharing God with some by which if they receive it, will inherit eternal life as promised by Jesus.
Peace>>>AJ
We, you and I can be instrumental in sharing God with some by which if they receive it, will inherit eternal life as promised by Jesus.
Peace>>>AJ
Thanks! But I don't really care for the kind of eternal life Jesus promised :smile:
In exchange for obedience, Christianity promises salvation in an afterlife: but in order to elicit obedience through this promise, Christianity must convince men that they need salvation; that there is something to be saved from. Christianity has nothing to offer a happy man living in a natural, intelligible universe. If Christianity is to gain a motivational foothold, it must declare war on earthly pleasure and happiness, and this , historically has been it's precise course of action. In the eyes of Christianity man is sinful and helpless in the face of God, and is potential fuel for the flames of hell. Just as Christianity must destroy reason before it can introduce faith, so it must destroy happiness before it can introduce salvation.
Mrgrumpy, I give you all good reason to make that statement! You have it right to a T.
But let me explain a few things first so that perhaps you might understand where obedience comes in to the picture.
Mankind was created with the ability to reason, to know what is good form what is evil.
That was not learned but through time and experience as mankind evolved from the simple stone age mentality to modern day knowledge.
What was at stake here in this whole process was the state of mankind's soul, whether then or today that needed to be addressed by the creator.
Going along with my last post you will see that there can be but only one God, over all and not one more.
God in Jesus was that remedy, He is the one to whom obedience was a necessity for the salvation of mankind.
Our obedience or our righteousness as the bible puts it, is as filthy rags, and Gods righteousness alone is the only salvation mankind has.
The process of finding God throughout all of humanity was winked at by God as mere ignorance, but at a predetermined time in mankind's history Jesus made the scene as Gods righteousness gift to mankind.
That righteousness was a gift to mankind but had to meet the requirements of obedience that mankind without God could not meet, it had to be God's doing, therefore, God offered Jesus as that vessel of obedience for all mankind.
Hence, all mankind is gifted with righteousness solely for the purpose of salvation of the soul,(who and what you are, your character) but not for the salvation of the body because it still dies.
Like I said, God winked at all mankind's attempts to find God in the many gods ever created by mankind's minds to making of monuments of them and worshiped as gods.
Is it hard to understand that the vessel created has no power of its own to sustain life in the body much less in the spirit unless the creator of the vessel does it?
God has revealed Himself to us by way of prophets foretelling the coming of the Savior, and at the last, Jesus does appear to fulfill all that was told of His coming and the purpose of His coming.
We now have full revelation of who and what God is in Jesus, what He came to accomplish and what God did in favor of mankind by gifting mankind with His own righteousness.
Hence Jesus is the only name by which mankind can be saved, for He alone endured to the end to win that salvation for us.
Now, to address the churches, religions views of obedience with the threat of hell, is a process by which this great a salvation (gift) has to be worked out.
To have understanding of what salvation is, is to rely only on the righteousness of God in Christ and not our own.
The churches are having to learn through trial and error what that means and to the weaknesses of mankind, greed, power and subjection, the churches have somewhat failed to relay the truth.
Time, knowledge revealed and experience has a way of metamorphosing mankind into a new man as seen from our first parents (Stone age) to todays modern man.
We owe it to all their sacrifices of their leaning experiences, their sufferings, their efforts to find God, that today we have evolved into a very knowable human beings.
One would think that because of all that, we'd learn to get along with each other better.
Unfortunately, it will take allot more time, but lets not give the struggle up, for in the struggle is where mankind is going to find that state of perfection, to where all things earthly will mean but nothing compared to what awaits us in the after life.
So, all borderline believers and unbelievers, please understand that your struggle to understand God is nothing new.
The great news is that in your struggles, God winks at, but yet allows us to reap what we sow in the flesh only as long as we are in the flesh, because after the flesh, your soul belongs to Him.
Why not look into this God of love, lover of your soul directly? Seek His face through study, prayer and meditation and not listen to what mankind says He is.
Why listen to me? If I show something other than what God is, than don't listen, but if I demonstrate to you a drawing, a leading a challenge, with kindness and understanding to wards you as if God were bidding you look at Him, then definitely, give it a try.
I know there is allot of bragging of how wonderful life is without God, but trust me, each one of them knows in their hearts, though they would admit it not, that there is a God.
But because of mankind's sorry excuse for demonstration of Gods goodness, mankind is set back.................but not lost.
I hope this helps somewhat, for there is not much space to tell all of the goodness and love God has given in our favor.
Peace>>>AJ
Most of those professing to believe in a god shape that god according to what they need...and then ascribe various attributes,rules and regulations to their particular worship
Want a kind and gentle god...invent him.
Want a stern,severe god..invent him (or her,I suppose).
Want a kind and gentle god...invent him.
Want a stern,severe god..invent him (or her,I suppose).
There is exactly one God. He is The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. It's called the Trinity. Also, i believe God exists in each and every one of us. Its called your conscience.
