If God Is Real

Oh by the way did you know witnesses get points for starting and maintaining these conversations? It's considered time on the clock.

 

It sounds like an identity claim. Entity "God" = Jehovah. As opposed to Entity "God" = Allah, etc. What about "God is that which we invoke", is that fealty to a symbol of invocation?

I'm still struggling over this statement of yours, and if anybody else reading this understands what it means, please chime in.

"God is that which we invoke" how is this different from "Breakfast is that which we invoke"? Isn't everything just whatever we invoke? Even physical reality seems to be "invoked" by our brains, albeit not consciously most of the time.

 

We can measure the value of god, what you cite as authority and are devoted to, by observing the resulting behavior. The practical effect of change in JW behavior from baseline, is to see them evangelizing a message, "believe this way or die at some future point."

I regard this as a failure in producing tangible benefits for society and a success in producing societal annoyance

 

God as that which we invoke is a description of action. God as verb. An active connection. Creative entity is energetic process. Everything is part of this.

We can relate this description to sayings like we are justified by our words or as we judge so we are judged.

The most prescient evidence provided by this revelation is that of the observable effects in the organization of our efforts in life. As you judge there is threat in the world to that degree you will arrange for defenses, etc.. We create a system of judgement, courts, and as we create them we become subject to it's verdicts.

We are material analogue and create material analogues for a creative process that begins with conception. As a practical matter when we think in terms of life choices the thought comes first. This is the abstract version and the solid version is connection is made first, or consciousness is an epi effect.

As I pointed out the actual process is a redundant loop and the only reason for having a starting point is you need a backstop to create direction or have a control edge for navigating space. Forward looking binocular vision.

 

We as a Human species are quick to disbelieve in our selves. We are also the most selfish, destructive and violent species. "God" is the way out that has been invoked on us for 2000+ yrs. We will never get the understanding of what the Bible entails cause we believe it as true and"written" by "God" through "mans" hand. Yet we are quick to disprove Aliens or other Paranormal phenomenon as not real and anyone that thinks otherwise is non "Christian" or an Atheist or just crazy. But we devote our lives to an Entity that has no future, past or present.

We hear the religions tell us that "God" is Love and "God" is all around us or in us all. These are just metaphors that describe our true selves not someone residing over us like a marionette. We pull our own strings

Take for instant the story of Moses and the burning bush: "God said to Moses,"I am who I am." And to tell the Isrealites that "I am has sent You" The key phrase being "I am who I am" Ex 3.2

 

I agree. we are no different than anything we visualize "outside" everything we see is made up of the same things, trillions of particles joined together and WORKING together to create life as we know it. Our cells in our body are alive, you can feel it if you focus enough.

I believe everything has a conscious just in their own way. But in nature it is more instinct then a thought process. Watch a swarm of Sparrows and how the dance in the sky as one big entity, failing to crash into one another. the Wildebeast in Africa always migrating to the smell of rain cautiously crossing Croc filled rivers, or a tree reaching to the Sun, it is the drive to survive, to continue creation cause without the continuation of creation we will inevitably fade away.

We Humans have a drive to survive as well but we do it through manipulation, deceptiveness, greed and power. We have abused the privileged to exist, we expect to regardless of the planet and all it occupants. Earth is the Ark Noah built. So we "save" ourselves with "God" to feel better with the destruction we cause

 

^I agree....a sorry lot we are......glorifying our shit......

 

You really have no clue what you are talking about and copy and pasting something to get your point across is kinda weak.

 

Do you have a clue what I am talking about? I think the case is coming through loud and clear. To say I have no clue what I am talking about is ignorant on the face of it.
I articulate my own meaning.

 

Your articulation may make sense to you, but not necessarily to someone else.

 

That is just what I said. i asked do you know what I'm talking about, because I know what i'm talking about as I composed the statement. His statement was I didn't know what I was talking about..

 

Yet to catch up to the last posts, but for the lulz




The initial filters of the mind responsible for interpretation of information determine the flavour of reality. It's probably emotional. Onion brains.

On a side not, I lay down on the couch today and I found myself not wanting to actually drift into feeling. Like some kind of magnetic barrier of mind was stopping me from completely relaxing. So I lay there, trying to come to terms with why I felt so on edge, slowly relaxing muscle by muscle, feeling heavier and heavier. Gravity was surfacing in my awareness. So unobtrusive, yet so very much there, holding my body tightly to the linen. A pulse echoed through my senses and I soon found myself, quite by accident, alive. Again.



This thread is such a cocktail of testosterone filled madness, it's hilarious. I'm glad to have spilled my manspunk with you lot.

Goodnight, you horrible lot

 

What is funny about the picture? That is actually true and for the most part why people so vehemently defend their belief in God.

They are defending their imaginations.

 

Forum dynamics, interesting.

I wonder why this is. I suppose a lot of it could be because there is no direct connection. It's like an overflow of opinions, since there's no direct objection or approval - we're all very much in our own worlds since there is no atmospheric tether that ties us all into a similar frame of mind.

"I WILL be heard."

At least, I'm guilty of that. S'interesting. What's to defend? Imagination is. There are no tigers here, only words and insecurities. Lay down the spears, pull up the loincloths and party like it's 2015!!

 

It depends on how that's interpreted. We can think of humans in a variety of ways and not be wrong: "naked apes", collections of molecules, "totally depraved",etc. Thinking of them as having divine potential is the foundation of Christian humanism. I became a Christian after I began to think of humans this way. Humans also have the potential to be nasty, as any newspaper can tell us. But I think humans contain a divine spark. That's not an empirical observation; it's a postulate that forms the core of my programming as a moral actor. Cynicism is a choice with important consequences. I choose a more positive outlook. Next time you see a human, think of him or her as a reflection of God and act accordingly. It works miracles.

 

I wouldn't go so far as to go and call humans "totally depraved". I think a lot of humans (even you and I) cause harm to others in indirect ways without even meaning to. I think evil is defined by intention, and whether or not a person really knows the downstream effects of their actions. Morality can become complicated very quickly but I believe that the golden rule as preached by Jesus, and the negative of that, the silver rule taught by Confucious are the very good principles of morality.

Do unto others as you wish to be done unto yourself, and do not do to another what you would not want done to you. We must realize that other people are just like us, further instantiated versions of us. We can then infer that they must have the same feelings and emotions as us. Love yourself, and love others. And never unnecessarily cause harm to another.

 

Okay, but I'm a masochist. I don't think Jesus really thought that through before saying it.

 

I wouldn't go that far either. I was mentioning ways in which humans have been viewed (I think perversely) by others, by focusing on one or another human attribute. "Total depravity" is a Calvinist phrase, the first element of the so-called TULIP summing up Calvinist belief: Total Depravity (also known as Total Inability and Original Sin)
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement (also known as Particular Atonement)
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the Saints (also known as Once Saved Always Saved)
Calvinists think this is the essence of Christianity.

I think it's the essence of anti-Christianity and anti-humanity. I think you've summed up the essence of true Christianity in your ethical principles.

 

Yes, it breaks down with sexual morals, but in general, it's a valid ethic of reciprocity found in Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Islam. In fact, reciprocal altruism is one of two fundamental ethical principles found in several non-human species, as well the other being empathy). The function of world religions and ethical systems is to clarify, universalize, and elaborate their implications (with varying success) for persons who are different from us.

 

I’m not really a masochist, but I do occasionally play the part of one on internet forums for reasons that I can’t quite put my finger on. My thoughts on the issue of reciprocity are rather simple. If you do unto others as you would have them do unto you, then you promote the construction of a system that perpetuates itself in a way that increases health and happiness. Others who are moved by the example you set will duplicate it, and health and happiness are multiplied.

Those who believe in, and practice, the system based on greed and the idea that only the strong survive promote the construction of a system that perpetuates itself in a way that decreases health and happiness. Such a system is self-destructive, as it feeds on the misery of others. And of course, a steady diet of misery is bad for one’s health no matter who you think you are, or how you believe you benefit from it. No one is immune to the consequences of a deficient diet.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This is an instruction. Add the word you to the beginning of that statement, and rather than an instruction, it becomes a fact of human nature. It is true that “you do unto others as you would have them to unto you.” If I beat you up and take your money, believe it or not, it is true that I would have others do the same to me--if not for the reason that my thoughts and actions will draw like-minded people into my sphere of activity, then for the reason that I need an offense committed against me in order to confirm my idea that I need to be hard and insensitive.

Empathy stems from the knowledge that All is one, and One is all. You recognize the need of another as though it is your own. Religion may teach this, but it has the unfortunate side effect of separating minds.
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And just to be straight, I'm actually a sadonecrohomobeastialitist. Don't judge me; I, too, am one of God's children.