Those are interesting questions. I have no answer, sorry.
I was raised Baha’i. They believe they have the latest in a long series of revelations from the one God. They tend to be very open-minded while still believing they have the most up-to-date, super-cool message from God, designed for these times in history.
I converted to Islaam about 10 years ago. In Islaam, there are over a hundred thousand prophets (much like the prophets of the Old Testament) throughout time. While Muslims claim to have a perfectly-dictated-and-recorded message from one God, they are never quite sure if any of the other religions out there fall into the area of the hundred thousand plus other prophets with religions and books, etc.
In my experience, nothing much if anything at all seems provable, so it’s pointless to say “such and such is not true or right” as I can barely manage to say for myself that “such and such is true or right.” It just seems to me to be an extra leap of imagination to claim not only that one is right but by the way you all are wrong too. Bold claims.
To the God & Satan question: The allowance of rebellion is not the endorsement of rebellion.
To the Heaven & Hell question: Western (Catholic & Protestant) Christianity has generally regarded Hell as Eternity in the Absence of God (Who is all Love, Light, Significance), either in solitude or in the presence of all others, human & demon, who are outside of God’s Presence.
Eastern Orthodox thought has countered that God is everywhere and so perhaps Hell will be the Inescapable Presence of God as experienced by those in incorrigible rebellion against Him, so that, in a sense, the Glory of God is the Lake of Fire.
Interesting question… it gives me some appreciation for how difficult it must be for atheists to be diplomatic about religion.
Define the word athiest, and you get an answer of the following taken from wiki.
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities.[1][2] In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities.
The moment those folks said they couldn’t say if there was a God or not, they needed a new name.
it was meant factually and intellectually. I personally do not believe in magic as it does not exist. I am not atheist nor religeous as I do not believe in organized religion. I do believe that someone came to this planet however and the people that witnessed them were in awe, just as the ww2 pilots were treated when they parachuted down to remote islands and were mistaken as Gods to the natives. I believe the bible, but I believe it rationally. It was written by people that could not explain what they witnessed in any other means of what they knew about.How do you explain a pistol if you never had knowledge of their existence or even understood the chemistry of gunpowder, or life saving cpr, surgery and many other things that can be mistaken as Godlike powers. For us to assume that we are the only living creatures in the cosmos is nieve and ignorant, but many do.So I read my bible, apply my faith in a modern, rational way, and hope that whom ever this person we refer to as God is a good guy.
So…God is an alien, then? What about other gods humans have worshipped?
“those who above came” or refered to as the nephilim each settled and ruled city states all of which were worshipped as God’s. As their children were. “The son’s of god’s saw the daughters of man and took them as wives and bore children, men of old and renowned”. You choose the word “alien”, which is defined by wiki and others as:Alien may refer to:
Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth
Alien (law), a non-citizen resident of a country.
The bible clearly states that these son’s of god’s came from the heavens, or above.
I personally dub them or the ruler of them with no name or classification as the true classification does not exist, their is only an earthly ignorant classification not of my choosing.The truth is yet to be seen and according to the bible that is the plan. So no I don’t pray and ask God to make my life easier, that’s for me to do. Some say I pick and choose my bible references, and that is true and here is why. Take paul for example, he never knew christ and never lived in his lifetime. Paul had a vision and preached all over about his own testimony and repeated what was already written, so I give him the same credit I give Joseph smith, or jim jones. When I researched books in the bible I discovered interesting things and asked a good question. Who put all these books into one book and called it the bible? The answer was astonishing. That was when I realized that their is a rat in the barn so to speak. Here is why, God himself chose Enoch to take to heaven and show it to him and for him to return and tell all about it, but yet this book is not in the bible. Bible says that god chose enoch by his deeds, and that god favored him. So, if enoch was God;s favorite human and God trusted his word, then who is man to say that enoch was wrong and discount his writings? Then I read enoch very closely. It was then that I realized the true nature of man, which is deception.knowing this great deception, how can I trust anything I read? Facts fine sir, facts. There are plenty of facts in the bible when you simplify.
I know this is going to sound a bit wishy washy but I believe that all Gods are just the way that humanity has chosen to try and explain what is beyond our current knowledge.
Personally I am a cultural Christian but am at heart an agnostic.
The bible states a lot of things. Sometimes quite clearly,indeed.
What makes you think it states it correctly?
As opposed to a game of telephone over a large number of evolving ancient myths, that finally got put down to writing by some early iron age ignorants.
not the only reference to people coming from above and using the “elohim” and “nephilim” reference as well. You can find many references to the “from above” statements.Sumerian being the oldest references but not the only other ones. Phoenician references as well, so I give credibility to the numerous references throughout a few thousand years.
I would hope if you think about it you will realize that that is an extremely weak if not outright absurd argument. Ancient cultures had all sorts of stories, and that a few are similar does not imply any of them are true.
It is if you’re omnipotent.
If parents bring a two-year old to a nice restaurant, and the kid starts running around and screaming, and the parents do nothing to stop him, they are effectively endorsing his behavior - and should be blamed for the situation.
With absolute power comes absolute responsibility.
My God is the God of Gods. The One that all of the other Gods rant and rail against. The One who is not moved by any other. The One *without *the qualities of loving only what man loves, hating what man hates and only knowing and understanding what man knows and understands. My God is The Creator of the magnificent mechanism that man calls “reality”. My God cannot be shackled to any pulpit, does not fit in anyone’s pocket and will not take orders from anyone. It’s big - ***really ***big - and sometimes, It’s a little scary.
My God loves Itself, Its work and all the results thereof.
I call it God and I capitalize the names I use to refer to it. Regardless of who or what It is, It’s what we’re mad at. It’s everything we love, everything we hate, everything we “allow” and everything we fight. It’s in charge, there’s nothing we can do about it and man has wasted thousands of years trying to usurp It.
Call it God or call it “the laws of physics”, it doesn’t matter - It’s either all good or all evil because It’s all there is. Personally, I’ve kicked “evil” to the curb as the very idea of it is simply no fun. Whatever man calls “evil” *must *be something else - that is my conclusion.
Man can want, think, believe and direct his attention toward anything he chooses. That’s what “will” is - and in that, man has *absolute *freedom. No other can interfere with it and regardless of whether or not It has the power, even God doesn’t interfere with it.
In the end - no man is qualified to supervise any other’s relationship with my God. What is, is, and what it is, is Truth. Most prefer a lie - most prefer fiction - most prefer what isn’t - but even those sentiments are Truth.
Everything that is, fits perfectly within the universe. The universe is home to all and everything. It is the container of Truth. It takes even lies, before they’re ever even spoken - whether as empty vessels or as something man can’t imagine, it doesn’t matter. They are. They simply are.
This is the universe in which you exist. Your body, your consciousness, your thoughts, even your lies - it all exists and it’s all here and perfectly at home in this universe. It all *belongs *and it’s all *perfect *and it’s all alive - always moving, always reaching for more and continued “aliveness”.
And that concludes our sermon for today. Go forth and be alive. Be bold and fearless and be alive. Amen.
Disregarding the rest of your thread and quoting the bit I think pertains to the question at hand, does this mean that you think the gods of other religions exist?
I don’t know. I suspect that they do not exist, as they are defined by those who claim them…err…actually, most *define *their God as I define my own God - as “The Creator of All Things” - but in their very next breath, and in their “acts”, they invoke the name of that same God in their attempts to validate their disapproval of the parts of creation they don’t like. So…I don’t know. Yes and no, I guess.
I think we’re actually talking about the same God…I just don’t think they like him very much…basically. And I say “they” but, obviously, I’m talking about those who use religious ideas to justify their hatred for various bits of creation and, by extension, the Creator *of *it. I don’t think God cares, but that’s how it appears to me -
Just to clarify, might I ask what religious sect you follow?
Jain: Nondenominational
Taoist: Philosophical
There is no “following”, as such.
edit to add:
You could probably add several other theological and philosophical ideas, but let’s stick with these.
Are you neither Digambara or Śvētāmbara?
Neither and both. Universality and I do not diverge. Equality and I do not diverge. Divergence is required, even in naming it Jainism.
All religions are universal, at their basis, but in naming them and setting them apart from all others, they must…“stray” from universality. And in comparing “this” to “that”, they must “stray” from equality. “Religiously”, I don’t “stray”. Words stray - I do not - and it doesn’t matter. All being equal. Does that make sense? Thoughts and words and interactions are also “things”, in and of themselves, in this universe, and all is well.