God does not exist

Agreed. What is your leprechaun?

 

Your post, or rather my post as you rephrased it. It doesn't matter the specific symbol you use, any represents the object of an ubiquitous human impulse,
namely, there is good in the world and I must have it.

In any word formula the word good can be substituted for the word god and the fundamental meaning of that sentence remains unchanged.

Our good is our god. There is no more important factor considered in making choices, personal or otherwise. So how do we attain our good? It depends on the measure of good you seek. The greatest measure of good is good in all things, a transcendent value.

 

I and my father are one. When we see christ we shall be like him. Let the mind be in you that is in christ.

God created man in his own likeness and image, male and female, (creative principle).
The separation of man from his good happens when he calls a thing evil. The perception of good and evil is a nightmare emerging from a split mind. It is the dichotomous view of creation that gives man the perception that he has fallen from grace. The knowledge of good and evil is not knowledge, but perception born of preference and there is no accounting for taste.

Atonement then is achieved through learning the meaning forgiveness/mercy.
We forgive the world our judgments against it and our perceptions are liberated from accusation.

 

It's not a Christian tenet. I was explaining a Hindu tenet which I thought was not adequately conveyed in the notion that God and human souls are "nothing". As I explained earlier, I tend to think of God as both immanent and transcendent. This is a longstanding view in the eastern orthodox tradition of Christianity, and is now current in the panentheistic orientations of Marcus Borg and process theology. And there is plenty of biblical support for it.

Agreed, Tillich's views are not held by the majority of Christians. Neither are mine. What the majority of Christians believe is difficult to determine, but the majority of the minority who purport to speak for them are, in my opinion, dead wrong. In other words, if they're the ones who cling to bioblidolatry, and the formulas of creeds (virgin birth, Trinity, etc.), I regard such beliefs as unbelievable. I'm not a big Tillich fan. It seems to me that his Ground of Being is an arid abstraction, though close to the recovery groups' Higher Power. But it has the advantage of calling attention to ultimates. God is the object of our ultimate meaning and striving. But as Frankl points out, many worship false gods, in that they pursue the ephemera of maya (he doesn't use that term): wealth, status, power, sensual indulgence--no lasting satisfaction there; okay in their place, but not as be all and end all.

I can only speak for myself. I believe in a God who is distinct from me and from other people (transcendent), but also intimately a part of all of us, and vice versa (immanent): He "in whom we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28). Humans are created in God's spiritual image and likeness. They are reflections of God, or rather aspects of God. The rabbis saw in this, as I do, and imperative to treat other humans as sacred. That's why Jesus stressed the importance of the first two commandments, which are linked: love of God and love of neighbor. He like Rabbi Hillel before him, saw these as the sum of the Torah. That is why whatever we do to the least of our kind we do to Him. Namaste.

 

"Humans are created in God's spiritual image and likeness."
Really? Where does this info come from?
Written down somewhere maybe?
By a man?

Just be nice to one another and do as you would be done by. There you go. Its all there.
Don't need all the other crap and baggage that goes with it.
No good will come of it! Now stop all this mass insanity and get out and enjoy your lives.
Assume that you only have the one unless you have empirical evidence otherwise.

And you don't.

 

one bible story is that every knee shall bend , every soul shall sing
in the glory of god . you can only imagine the undeniable evidence of
spirit that would be universally acceptable . care to try ?

? could be in the journey of our star , an encounter , a new
and collective experience for us

 

in case of emergencies one needs a philosophy . it should address
the unknown/unknowable , for at times in that night of darkness action
must be taken . most people just respect the one they are given . to
modify that tradition is careful work .

 

A philosophy of what? And why "only in emergencies"? So I can sin like the devil, but when I get caught (emergency) I suddenly need a philosophy?

Most religions (which are not synonymous with philosophies) do not "address" the unknown or the unknowable (which again are not synonymous). They merely fill a gap with quasi-historical cant.

Most people don't respect the religion they are given. They usually don't question it. Not the same thing at all.

And modifying a tradition should only be careful work if the tradition itself is inherently worthwhile.

 

I guess god is like the national guard., you only see them in times of emergencies..

 

:2thumbsup:

 

Or you don't.


In case of fallout, remember love.

Good is not our god, but ourselves. We have no god. We're really that wild. Shocking to some. There is more to perception born of preference than a great divide.

 

From a metaphor written down long ago by A. Nony Mous. But I find it useful in relating to people. It certainly brightened up my life. Using Jesus' fructose test, the truth of the proposition can be judged by it fruits. Not long ago on one of these forums, an OP proposed that a trip to WalMart would disabuse us of the idea that humans were worth much. But I find trips to WalMart to be peak experiences, because I get to see God in the checkout lines.

I concur in part, dissent in part. Being nice to one another is a great idea. Thousands aren't. And some of us find the metaphors and rituals useful in getting through the day, like the cliches of the recovery groups. . Is there empirical evidence of our existence after this life? I don't think so, and live life accordingly. Heaven is here and now. "The kingdom of heaven is spread out everywhere upon the earth, but people do not see it." (Gospel of Thomas, #113) It's a potential; a state of mind. Since people don't see it, a responsible bodhisattva might take some time to enlighten them by sharing thoughts.

 

Yes, by a man or men. Creation stories are metaphors for the conditions in which men find themselves, or their interpretation of those conditions. The information comes from observation or reflection upon ones own being.

In the case of being created in the likeness and image of a creator god who creates by speaking things into existence, we find ourselves endowed with the power to create nuanced experience through the use of our own descriptions.

 

Your model of good. The good you invoke. Your leprechaun.

What is love?

No more than the reflection of self and because there is no accounting for taste, many do not recognize themselves or their attitudes at work in the flavor of their own experience.

 

Love is never without our condition. Be golden, let the leprechaun go. There's no end to the rainbow.

Love is more than our reflection.

:-D

 

Rainbows come and go being light refracted through droplets of water.

Can you let love go? You ask me to let go of my good? I haven't asked you to do such a thing.

The word on the local street is that everything I touch turns to gold. Not my description but the claim of my neighbors. I call it, being grateful.

You say love is never without our condition. Sounds like, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, (godlike precept), yet love does not know fear nor fear love.

The word condition means at it's root, to speak with, con equals with plus diciere meaning to speak. What condition is evident without description?

Love cannot be taught as it calls upon no conditions. Love is being shared.

Love equals preference?
You are all over the place with the definition of love. Love is how much or what more than our reflection?