112 replies to this topic

[beach]

God is whatever you want, however you define, and however you use it. Some people need it for voids, some don't.

For me, God is a pool...a natural matrix of all; and I actually died and was revived the other week


And now concerning the more physical earth-based storytelling "God":

Basically there were early advanced/evolved beings on Earth that tried to survive through the last major cataclysms and their remaining population interbred with humans thus allowing earl advanced civilizations in South America, Atlantis, Egypt, and India to develop. The head figures were viewed as deities and the lesser evolved interpreted everything as above their payroll thinking "What the flying f*ck is all of this sh*t??"

Over time, the newly emerging hybrids de-evolved from the advanced side of things and evolved from lower primates and basically met in the middle to form the current human model. That's why we have a duality between the conscious and physical self. After the cataclysms ended and the ice age ended around 10,500...newer civilizations were propped up around the world some on top of the older monuments and buildings further clouding our history. Egypt had documented a lot and did it pretty well but was sh*t on by the emerging monotheistic war based powers.

gods and then eventually God became misinterpreted as a deistic worldy being who oversees our inner and outer actions which helped prop up the current global model.

[chris999]

god = aliens

end of story

This is probably true. Many things explained in the Book of Genesis can be done with today's technology. Things such as genetics and DNA when God made Adam in 'his' image(probably splicing the DNA of ETs and a lower animal, such as a chimpanzee for a template, and created Eve using Adam's rib bone. These are sciences which we are on the cusp of being able to control ourselves.

The great flood which is found in many ancient stories, not just the Bible, could have been caused from outer-space using mirrors to direct sunlight onto the glaciers and melt them, causing sea-levels to rise. Again, another technology that we could achieve if we wanted too.

"Flaming chariots in the sky" are probably UFOs. There are many stories and accounts in the Bible that suggest that 'God' is a higher, more advanced lifeform.

In a thousand years (if we dont destroy ourselves first), we will have the technology to travel the stars, and we will have the technology to alter the DNA of some lifeform we will find on another planet, and we will show them 'magic', and give them commandments, and then they will think that we are gods.

The God that I respect is the God of the Universe, who created the Universe in a way that would give rise to stars, planets and even life itself. That was God's creation IMO.

A book that I recommend is "The Chariots of the Gods" that goes into some of the details of these ideas. I dont take any of this stuff too seriously, but it is a real eye opener to think about.

[Matthias]

There's good reason to believe in God, or believe that He exists. Just look at the universe. Mostly 99.9% of everything is non-living material. In other words, most things in this universe do not have a conscience. In fact, considering what we think happened in the early universe, it began with things that had no conscience. The universe should have remained with things having no consciousness. Yet all of a sudden, you have living organisms coming out of nowhere. Now, scientists believe they will one day explain how living organisms came about with the study of abiogenesis. Yet, we still haven't fully figured out what consciousness is, much less how it came into being. So this is just one reason for me as to why I believe God exists.


With that said, believing God exists does absolutely nothing. If we are talking in terms of morality and Heaven/Hell, does a criminal's belief in the existence of cops and judges stop him from going to jail? So belief in God means nothing.

[beach]

There's good reason to believe in God, or believe that He exists. Just look at the universe. Mostly 99.9% of everything is non-living material. In other words, most things in this universe do not have a conscience. In fact, considering what we think happened in the early universe, it began with things that had no conscience. The universe should have remained with things having no consciousness. Yet all of a sudden, you have living organisms coming out of nowhere. Now, scientists believe they will one day explain how living organisms came about with the study of abiogenesis. Yet, we still haven't fully figured out what consciousness is, much less how it came into being. So this is just one reason for me as to why I believe God exists.

That's the important part hence why "living material" is simply receiver bodies that imo generate different wavelengths of the same consciousness. We are all different receivers of the same consciousness: god. That's imo why many buddhists in the deepest of reflections come to this notion, same with those who experience isolation tanks, same even with many of Jesus' words unobstructed by the many translations.

You would probably dig Peter Russell imo (not for a 4th party night like tonight, but for when you're feelin' like a good listen)

[Matthias]

That's the important part hence why "living material" is simply receiver bodies that imo generate different wavelengths of the same consciousness. We are all different receivers of the same consciousness: god. That's imo why many buddhists in the deepest of reflections come to this notion, same with those who experience isolation tanks, same even with many of Jesus' words unobstructed by the many translations.

You would probably dig Peter Russell imo (not for a 4th party night like tonight, but for when you're feelin' like a good listen)

I believe just as there's reason to believe God exists, there should also be reason to believe a certain God or gods exist. Of course, they all can't be right. I believe all of these people have stumbled upon spiritual awareness, but do they comprehend what they've stumbled across?

I believe at one point in human history, we knew the complete truth. Yet as we grew and spread over the world, that truth was distorted, and is the reason we have all the religions and spiritual beliefs we have today. The only way we will know the complete truth again, is if God or our creator tell it to us. So while they have stumbled upon some things, they do not know the complete truth.

[beach]

I believe just as there's reason to believe God exists, there should also be reason to believe a certain God or gods exist. Of course, they all can't be right. I believe all of these people have stumbled upon spiritual awareness, but do they comprehend what they've stumbled across?

I believe at one point in human history, we knew the complete truth. Yet as we grew and spread over the world, that truth was distorted, and is the reason we have all the religions and spiritual beliefs we have today. The only way we will know the complete truth again, is if God or our creator tell it to us. So while they have stumbled upon some things, they do not know the complete truth.

I like that...I like it a lot

[jasonluckydog]

I think questioning is part of the growth purpose.

not in my house...you get smacked in the back of the head.

[stirs]

There is proof of concept of life. We exist, we are on a planet, we are alive, and we have traveled into space. That is why belief in alien life isn't ridiculed, because we are life and therefor we are conclusive proof that it happens.

There is no such proof of concept for a god.

"Why not?" is an extraordinarily flimsy argument for believing in something. It's completely anti-intellectual, especially when the "Why?" hasn't been answered yet.

When I see your punctual and consistent arguments against God, I am reminded of the Blood, Sweat and Tears song where they say, "I swear there ain't no heaven, but I pray there ain't no hell". You seem to be well invested in the non existance of God.

[Mr. Belding]

You can question

Heck Jacob wrestled God/angel...that's a great symbol for questioning/wrestling withe the idea

I question things all the time yet still believe.

Question everything

Many questioned God. Jacob, Jonah, Moses, even Jesus, among others.

[Mr. Belding]

we've seen this sort of thing before, btw... the church was not very pleased with the scientific discovery that showed the earth as revolving around the sun. medieval theologians went apeshit because it destroyed one of the foundations of their faith. hundreds of years later it's no biggie.

The reason the church rejected Copernicus is because they could not fathom that humans were not the center of the universe. It was their own arrogance that blinded them.

i'm not sure what foundations of the mosaic religions were destroyed. the pope even had copernicus work on a new calendar after he was able to prove the earth isn't the center of the solar system.

[mav1234]

There's good reason to believe in God, or believe that He exists. Just look at the universe. Mostly 99.9% of everything is non-living material. In other words, most things in this universe do not have a conscience. In fact, considering what we think happened in the early universe, it began with things that had no conscience. The universe should have remained with things having no consciousness. Yet all of a sudden, you have living organisms coming out of nowhere. Now, scientists believe they will one day explain how living organisms came about with the study of abiogenesis. Yet, we still haven't fully figured out what consciousness is, much less how it came into being. So this is just one reason for me as to why I believe God exists.

When you say conscience are you talking about an awareness of moral/ethical judgment or what not, or just being alive (presumably conscious)?

I'm not sure what you mean by us not having fully figured out what consciousness is. Are you trying to discuss life here? Something can be alive without likely be conscious (at least by most definitions of the word).

[NanuqoftheNorth]

There isn't and hasn't ever been anyone in recorded history who has been able to provide any tangible evidence of God's existence.

If there is anyone currently out there that can, I would love for them to step forward at this time and present that information. Of course so would the world's religious, mass media and scientific communities.

As it stands, God has as much basis in reality as Zeus,Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy (thanks for the spare change TF).

And before you ask, I can't prove any of those figments of the human imagination don't exist either (any more than you can).

Never-the-less, I am not about to start worshiping them or giving them credit for anything I am unable to explain otherwise.

If the human race is fortunate enough to exist a few more generations, verifiable discoveries will reveal more religious misconceptions as false, just like they have consistently throughout the ages.

Eventually our current Christian God will morph into a more contemporary supernatural power that is palatable to the sensibilities of our descendants desiring a way to explain the yet-to-be explained questions of their time. Just like gods have done since the dawn of mankind.

[Sapper]

Well, then we shouldn't be allowed to question the Greek or Roman Gods. The Viking Gods or the Egyptian Gods. The Planets were once considered Gods actually. I could honestly go on for hours about the evolution of Religion.

But for some unknown reason, through technological advances that have basically put our understanding of the Universe from a snail crawl to literally 'faster than the speed of light' there are still people that cannot open their mind to even the tiniest thread of a fact that maybe JUST maybe, the beginning of an addendum to The Old Testament (That New One) was written 60 years after the death of Jesus.

A book that has many different iterations and edits in hundreds of different languages.

Meanwhile, you get chastised within seconds for making an untruthful addition to Wikipedia.

[Sapper]

And let me go 180 on my previous post and make a case for Religion across the world.

Let's say anyone of strong Religious beliefs was introduced with a simple poll:

Have you ever thought about committing a crime, but decided not to because of your Religious beliefs?

Religion is a crime fighter (might be one of the biggest). It is one thing to take a chance on a crime and maybe get caught and spend time in the slammer. But it is a whole new ball game when the deity that you worship will always remember what you did (caught or not).

If you were in hard times, saw an opportunity and knew the police would never catch you, but it would be on the dossier up at The Pearly Gates, you would never make it through.

But what if there wasn't a dossier? What if it was getting away with (name a crime) and worst case scenario, you have a guilty conscience? I have many friends who are Religious and incredibly moral, and would never do such a thing. But what about all of the others? What kind of world would that look like?

[mav1234]

By the same token, there are people who only "commit crimes" because of their religious beliefs. There are also many individuals who do not commit crimes yet are not religious at all, and many individuals who do commit crimes, despite being religious.