# God and Life **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 26, 2018, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192 "2018-04-26T22:27:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/41 "2018-04-27T06:22:58Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > No, the atoms in your hand each contain the entirety of this universe, in which they reside. It is not a stack of turtles, it is recursive. You really need better acid, man. My acid is fine, thank you very much-_You_ need to find a typeface that doesn’t glow in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/42 "2018-04-27T10:13:38Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > but I also think “God” is one of those terms that has as many interpretations as there are people. Ah, so it is like “smurf” or “[marklar](http://southpark.cc.com/clips/151539/welcome-to-marklar)”! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/43 "2018-04-27T10:16:00Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > To reframe God as Life Itself may rub many people the wrong way, especially the Heaven and Hell/reward and punishment types, if all you really need to do in this world is live and breathe. Well, he that loveth his god shall lose it; but he that _hateth_ his god in this world… ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/44 "2018-04-27T11:11:21Z")
Always loved the “God is just a state of mind” argument. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/45 "2018-04-27T11:44:22Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > No, the atoms in your hand each contain the entirety of this universe, in which they reside. It is not a stack of turtles, it is recursive. You really need better acid, man. Vishnu had the entirety of the universe in his mouth. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/46 "2018-04-27T11:48:00Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > It’s a hard-knock God for us. I don’t care what you say anymore, this is my God Go ahead with your own God, leave me alone ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/47 "2018-04-27T11:51:59Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > Vishnu had the entirety of the universe in his mouth. Spit it out, Vishnu, you don’t know where that universe has been! ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/48 "2018-04-27T11:54:04Z")
God. Don’t talk to me about God. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/49 "2018-04-27T12:06:15Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Allow me to address the first part of your quote: > > He can “what if” all he wants. The terms are not interchangeable. Life can be proven to exist. God cannot. End of discussion. It feels to me like that’s sort of the intent of the argument - to handwave the arguability of God away with a ‘yes, but what if…’ Which I think it just another way of saying “Except for all the objections you have, what’s your objection?” ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/50 "2018-04-27T12:27:50Z")
I sort of subscribe to aspects of God=Life, though That is more of Love (God) creates the matrix for life. We are alive not because of our biological nature, but because we are patterned on the alive Mother Earth, which so on is patterned after the universe, also a living being. Mother Earth is not just the planet, but the planet is akin to just one of her chakras, the being Mother Earth is to us the solar system. Some faiths consider the Universe as God, or a God figure. The reason that we have biologic life is because of the life ‘energy’ of our mother (Earth). Her life energy causes, to use new age terms, vibrational patterns which organize matter into patterns, which it is the vibrational energy that groups around matter and sometimes arranges it it to what we consider a biological lifeform is the concentration of this life energy around matter which has grouped itself in a way to create what we consider a life. It is just a energy node of Mother Earth’s life energy and pattern. Her pattern is based on, perhaps the galaxy’s pattern who would be her parent. In this different star systems would have slightly different life patterns, as it was from a different child of the common parent. In this it sort of leads to after our biologic death we return to the source life pattern, never lost but the energy which made and sustain us gets mixed up and redistributed. However it also leads open that this energy in our current state (biological) is not the end point but just one phase and can evolve. This leaves open the possibility of refining. Those who evolve take that energy and go on to a higher form, those who don’t fall back into the Mother, reprocessed and are the basis for more life to evolve. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/51 "2018-04-27T12:33:31Z")
It’s too early in the morning to deal with so many mis-defined words used to describe an idea that doesn’t have a shred of evidence supporting it. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/52 "2018-04-27T13:14:32Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > So why must “God” be defined in some manner that, for example, makes no sense to me? Who decides what constitutes “God” anyway? Who died and made them boss? Go ahead and define God as Life if that makes sense to you. But you will be unable to have a meaningful conversation with the rest of society that has a different (although not completely consistent) definition. Who decides what constitutes “Love” or “Femur” or “Wankel Rotary Engine” anyway? As it turns out, most people are OK with whatever Mr Webster says. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/53 "2018-04-27T13:31:53Z")
I can’t see how the idea is anything other than complete gibberish. I’m glad the Wankel analogy has some traction, it makes just as much sense. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/54 "2018-04-27T14:00:31Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It’s too early in the morning to deal with so many mis-defined words used to describe an idea that doesn’t have a shred of evidence supporting it. Behold, I have succeeded in turning lead into gold! _That is very good, Percy, except, the thing about gold is, well, it’s **gold**. What you appear to have created here is “green”._ ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Call_Me.Tim)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/55 "2018-04-27T14:35:20Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > When Walsh says > Walsh is full of it. The universe existed long before life did, and there might be parts of it that life has never seen. > However as religious thought goes, it is pretty harmless. > > But life requires sex, so if you define God as sex you would get a lot more attendance at church. And maybe more interesting religious tracts. Life existed long before sex did, and there is life that has no sexual ancestors. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/56 "2018-04-27T15:02:56Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I don’t care what you say anymore, this is my God > > Go ahead with your own God, leave me alone Witty! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/57 "2018-04-27T15:57:36Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > I wouldn’t go so far as “gigantic steaming pile” but yes, it is the opinion of the author of the books, Conversations With God. I quite like his approach to religious thought Many years ago, I read Walsch’s first _Conversations with God_ book, or at least tried to—I don’t remember whether I made it all the way through, and I was left with absolutely no desire to read any of his other books. My impression, near as I can remember, was that some of the things he said when he was speaking for and about himself, in his own voice, might actually have been worth reading, and I wished he had just stuck with that. But when he claimed to speak for God, and went all “God said this to me”—the “God” he presented wasn’t one that I or any other traditional theist (Christian, Jew, Muslim) would recognize, and from their perspective, what he was doing might be considered blasphemy, idolatry (making up his own god to worship), or false prophecy (claiming to speak for God). ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/58 "2018-04-27T15:59:32Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Behold, I have succeeded in turning lead into gold! > _That is very good, Percy, except, the thing about gold is, well, it’s **gold**. What you appear to have created here is “green”._ “In Green we trust!” ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/59 "2018-04-27T17:32:15Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Many years ago, I read Walsch’s first _Conversations with God_ book, or at least tried to—I don’t remember whether I made it all the way through, and I was left with absolutely no desire to read any of his other books. > > My impression, near as I can remember, was that some of the things he said when he was speaking for and about himself, in his own voice, might actually have been worth reading, and I wished he had just stuck with that. But when he claimed to speak for God, and went all “God said this to me”—the “God” he presented wasn’t one that I or any other traditional theist (Christian, Jew, Muslim) would recognize, and from their perspective, what he was doing might be considered blasphemy, idolatry (making up his own god to worship), or false prophecy (claiming to speak for God). See, that’s the thing. Any “word of God” written anywhere was filtered through a human being at some point. Why shouldn’t he be allowed to give his take on that process was what I was thinking about at the time. I see where you’re coming from, and I did have my misgivings reading some of his conversations, but the upshot of it all—God being a much more reasonable being than we give Him credit for—gave me reason to believe Walsch was on to something here. Or on something, take your pick. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192/60 "2018-04-27T17:40:57Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > See, that’s the thing. Any “word of God” written anywhere was filtered through a human being at some point. That’s an awful large assumption you are asking us to swallow, because I think the default position is that any “word of God” written anywhere _originated with_ a human being at some point, because that is where all the evidence points to so far. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-life/813192.md?page=4)