3bob Posted November 6, 2015 there are days when we say to ourselves, "there is a God!" - other days we say to ourselves "everything is going to hell in a hand-basket!" How does your of tally of each add up or balance out? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
noonespecial Posted November 6, 2015 We get the god we deserve, not the one we want. - jewish proverb 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chang Posted November 6, 2015 Heaven or Hell in a hand basket. The Gods will maintain a silent smile. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Everything Posted November 6, 2015 (edited) If God exists, he's certainly trying very hard for us to believe in God. Almost too hard. It makes no sense to me. It's like a person who exists trying to tell people to believe that they exists. It just doesn't happen. Because existing people don't really try to exist. They just do. God on the other hand is constantly trying to proof that God exists. Atleast the prophets God has supposedly send are trying to convince people to believe in God and conspiring punishment for those who do not believe. I personally have always wanted to believe in God. Nothing has convinced me so far yet. Who knows. Maybe that will change one day. I'm open to further investigation. I always have an open mind to religion. But blind faith has always led me to dissapointed. Edited November 6, 2015 by Everything 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
3bob Posted November 6, 2015 (edited) Chang, Subtle gods hiding behind subtle ways sometimes make cosmic level errors, and guess what - shit goes down-hill. ("as above so below" which heavenly includes blunders) Edited November 6, 2015 by 3bob Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Junko Posted November 6, 2015 We get the god we deserve, not the one we want. - jewish proverbDoes that mean there is a different God for different people? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael Sternbach Posted November 6, 2015 Does that mean there is a different God for different people? Rather, it means that different people are creating a different God for themselves. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
3bob Posted November 6, 2015 and gods are creating different people for themselves while we are at it... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted November 6, 2015 I guess an Atheist shouldn't even be reading this thread. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael Sternbach Posted November 6, 2015 and gods are creating different people for themselves while we are at it... Yes, the gods and their believers are creating/reinforcing each other. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael Sternbach Posted November 6, 2015 I guess an Atheist shouldn't even be reading this thread. You are creating a no-god. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted November 6, 2015 You are creating a no-god. No, No, No. I have created nothing. Therefore there is nothing. (Sounds like I'm in the "Nothingness" thread.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
3bob Posted November 6, 2015 (edited) it's a good thing for Buddhists that a "God" came along and helped a doubtful and ambivalent historic Buddha get his act together post "enlightenment". Edited November 6, 2015 by 3bob Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Junko Posted November 6, 2015 (edited) No, No, No. I have created nothing. Therefore there is nothing. (Sounds like I'm in the "Nothingness" thread.) Your idea of Nothingness determines you. Edited November 6, 2015 by Junko Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawei Posted November 6, 2015 there are days when we say to ourselves, "there is a God!" - other days we say to ourselves "everything is going to hell in a hand-basket!" How does your of tally of each add up or balance out? I find that both sayings are just saying that 'there is a destiny unfolding'... like it is out of our control yet we are within or under the sway of what is going on. So I don't think God or Hell... but destiny is my balance. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sillybearhappyhoneyeater Posted November 6, 2015 I'm just working on becoming Yuanshi Tianzun :) :) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bud Jetsun Posted November 7, 2015 (edited) If God exists, he's certainly trying very hard for us to believe in God. ... They just do. God on the other hand is constantly trying to proof that God exists.... This is singularly your own personal choice in delusion. I can inherently can not offer an explanation or definition of the of the unexplainable and undefinable, yet in enjoyment of the pursuit of the futile, out of Compassion for your awareness I will make an attempt. All things equally are God, all aspects of this moment of Now which contains all that is real to the limit of a humans ability to know it is God. God is not something you look for, as every aspect of your being to look with is already God, and there is no place you could look or mind to ponder with that is not already God. All phenomena that ever may have been, is Now, or will be is equally God. God is the nature of the emptiness from which all perceived phenomena arise. God is equally the emptiness and nothingness of all things and no things from before all phenomena existed to post all phenomena concluding simultaneously. When a human mind (including my own of course) chooses to apply it's own personal perception limited delusions of 'knowing' to God, in that instant perception of God and all that is of God (Now) is replaced by some inherently lacking human constructed model. Whatever one creates as a model or understanding of God's being or equally God's not being, this is delusion. There remains nothing a human can know, there is only this perception of Now which embraces all that is Real. When we choose to create the faith based illusion of having 'known something' (supporting the existence of God or denying the existence of God), this is a human immersed in deluding themselves with the unknowable to replace all that is Real (which each being is free to believe is of God or of no-God makes no difference, either way you don't know and lack the mechanism for knowing). We are here to perceive phenomena for a fleeting moment. When I eat an apple, I don't personally have a clue what micro-nutrient components of that apple belong becoming my brain or my muscles or energy to oxidize with the air I breath etc. When I break my body, it knows how to heal despite myself not even understanding the function of the broken mechanism, when I plant a seed and it grows, when I awake and feel the suns warmth, when I drop and object and it falls to the earth, these phenomena do not occur because some human's labeled various aspects they observed and quantified rates of effect and applied meaningless tags like 'gravity', 'light' and 'cellular reproduction' etc. This collection of phenomena of unlimited beauty is my personal delusion of God, any and all are equally welcome to call the collection of phenomena 'not-God' if they want, the phenomena remains equanimous to the humans choice in recognition appreciation of the unlimited beauty it offers in all aspects from all perspectives. Real Divine Love doesn't control, nor does it imply a bias to the choice in interpretation/perception of sensation. It simply IS the phenomena provided for your perceptions. There is no point at which a human suffers that is not exclusively the choice of that being to suffer (ignorance causing fear-rooted thoughts). Real Divine Love (Reality of Now) permits you to freely choose to toil and suffer pointlessly as hard as you like. Without that range of experience one could not appreciate the choice of non-suffering unbreakable bliss that is also equally always available entirely irregardless of whatever the current transitory fleeting sensation may be or not be in this one precious moment of Now we each get until our singular divine entitlement unavoidably concludes it. Unlimited Love, -Bud Edited November 7, 2015 by Bud Jetsun 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
3bob Posted November 7, 2015 (edited) . Edited November 7, 2015 by 3bob 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ilumairen Posted November 7, 2015 there are days when we say to ourselves, "there is a God!" - other days we say to ourselves "everything is going to hell in a hand-basket!" How does your of tally of each add up or balance out? Years ago I happened upon the Gnostic idea that the God in the old testament and the Father of the new had to be two different beings. I take comfort in neither what has been perceived as a jealous, wrathful, demanding and petty God, nor a self sacrificing Father intent on being adored. Instead I find comfort in the loving arms of the Mother. In my tally she wins - especially when things go to hell in the proverbial hand-basket. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
noonespecial Posted November 7, 2015 Does that mean there is a different God for different people? I dont know, does it? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bindi Posted November 7, 2015 I believe that God is the very fabric of all the universes which must be a generative force, as God apparently generates itself in a multitude of ways, one being matter. I think that our 5 senses blind us to our true nature which was generated by God therefore must be of God, and when we realise this blindness we start out on any number of paths to regain the experience of our true God nature. I believe that it is possible for us to perceive the nature of God as unconditional love and unconditional knowledge, though God is probably beyond this perception, but I trust that it is possible for us to experience this perception of God in matter, which we call enlightenment. It seems to me that the idea of hell as separation from God is the state we find ourselves in here on earth, though I believe in the Christian Hell the point is that a soul is forever separated from the presence of God, and that is not the case for us because enlightenment is possible, and we are also apparently aware of God in between lives. But I also think that full enlightenment therefore full re-experience of God while alive on this earth must happen to only one in many billions of people. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted November 7, 2015 Your idea of Nothingness determines you. No, it only defines my understanding of the concept. I am much more than just my understanding of nothingness. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gentlewind Posted November 7, 2015 I'm not an atheist, but I share their view that there is no god. And there is no god, god is a creation of Man. Man needs a father substitute, so he created god. I share the theory which favors Divine Intelligence. There is an intelligence within everything and this intelligence is Divine. Hence Divine Intelligence. It doesn't need worshipping because that would be rather vain ! We would be worshipping ourselves ! Along with father christmas and the easter bunny god is yet another fictional figure. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted November 7, 2015 I share the theory which favors Divine Intelligence. Yes, a common understanding for many. I wouldn't have any problem with it if it were associated with the processes of nature (the nature of the universe). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dust Posted November 7, 2015 there are days when we say to ourselves, "there is a God!" - other days we say to ourselves "everything is going to hell in a hand-basket!" How does your of tally of each add up or balance out? There seem to be two ways to interpret this..? I assumed you meant, "Are your days filled more with optimism or pessimism?" but most replies so far seem to have interpreted it as "Do you believe in God?" As for my original interpretation: I'm easily annoyed /angered /confused by the things people do; I realize that people have been the way we are for a long time, and that there is, relatively, about the same amount of joy and suffering as there ever has been; I try not to concern myself too much with it all. As for the "Is there a God?" interpretation: I don't think this question has any real meaning, and I try to approach life from the position of never having been asked. Perhaps both interpretations can be answered like this: Never having been asked, and not having the apparatus to consider or respond if it were, a bird flies around not bothered by such questions; water flows and forms clouds and ice, and doesn't seem to be either optimistic or pessimistic, full of belief or entirely lacking in it. I am water; I am a bird. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites