An invitation: Do you believe in god?

[traceroo]

Comments

[silverdawnatl]

Wow. Very cool T. This is hard to do in a short comment but I'll try

I am interested.

[traceroo]

Wow, that's some story. And you never doubted after that? Never wrote it off to a tough moment as a troubled teen, or even peer pressure in that environment? Have you remained steadfast in your faith since then?

I know that you and your wife have very different spiritual beliefs. I have wondered how this affects you two - not just in the normal questions one would ask about your children, and unity as a family, and so forth. I've often thought that as you're so close, surely you must influence each other spiritually. I have wondered how that shakes out. Do you feel strongly influenced by her beliefs?

Thank you so much for replying.

T.

[elena23]

I may have shared this before, but my earliest memory of talking to God is as a four-year-old child. It was nearing Christmas, and everyone told me that Jesus was coming, and that Jesus would someday take us all into heaven. My little-girl mind translated this into Jesus was coming to take me away, and I tearfully gathered all my stuffed animals around me, told God that I would miss my parents a lot, and said that I was ready for him to take me

Listening to God

[traceroo]

Thank you so much for sharing this. I hoped that you and Danny in particular might share some of your thoughts here

Re: Listening to God

[elena23]

Oh yes, there have been many times when my reason has led me to doubt. For instance, I struggle continuously with a fear of death. A few weeks ago, I was talking to a Detective about something and I mentioned he might die and he said, "Oh, I ain't worried about that, I know where I'll be when I die." I thought, how wonderful to have that sort of assurance. I started out my college career as a biology major. I have studied evolution and science. So the idea that we are just some sort of cosmic accident and we'll eventually die and just fade away frightens me

Re: Listening to God

[traceroo]

Much younger, I used to date someone who had a twin sister. He used to laugh telling me how often people would ask him the absurd question, "What's it like to have a twin?"

This comes to mind when I try to consider what you describe as hearding from god. It describes an extrasensory completeness that is entirely alien to me, as if you described telepathy or - I guess - having a twin! It's just not something I've ever experienced, or can easily imagine in reality.

Thank you again for being open to my questions, and sharing these things with me.

Trace

[rubix1138]

Such a good question. I have come to realize that there are multiple perspectives. So even thought I have dismissed the idea on a separate omnipotent entity, I no longer dismiss those that do view God in that way. My perspective is that God is the combination of the consciousness of all living things. We possess amazing power and knowledge as a whole. But that is my humble perspective. Even those that do not see any divine presence and figure everything is casual, I respect their perspective as well. There is no 'one truth' but 'multiple truths

[rubix1138]

Reposted: http://gnuuu.blogspot.com/2007/06/answering-question-why.html

Interesting

[traceroo]

So would you say that yours is a conscious choice of belief, such that it's possible? You would like to believe these things are true, and so you choose to believe it. Much in the same way that in a dangerous situation, you might tell yourself it's all going to be okay?

I think I'll have to say this a lot to people throughout this thread - To be clear, I don't mean to sound mocking in any way. These are genuine questions. I apologize if I'm not making that clear in my tone. I'm deeply greateful for your insight here.

Thank you.

Trace

Re: Interesting

[rubix1138]

Yes, belief to me is a conscious choice. That may be my existentialist upbringing showing, but whether we are responding to an emotional or supernatural experience, I propose that we have to accept or dismiss that experience. Therefore it is a conscious choice to believe in something. In many different folklores, choice is one of the definitions on being human.

[waywalker]

T

[rubix1138]

It's very interesting you describe "how even the tiniest thing around us prove that God exists". I use the same invocation to talk to atheists on 'the meaning of life'. As I study more to become a UU Minister myself, I revel in the ways different belief systems are alike. While you say the little things are why God exists, I say the little things give us reason to live, joy and rejoice. Without evoking the concept of God, I can help others realize the wonders of our earth are worth respecting and loving, and can the path of higher meaning. I found this quote from Freeman Dyson:

I believe we are here to some purpose, that the purpose has something to do with the future, and that it transcends altogether the limits of our present knowledge and understanding... If you like, you can call the transcendent purpose God. If it is God, it is a Socinian God, inherent in the universe and growing in power and knowledge as the universe unfolds. Our minds are not only expressions of its purpose but are also contributions to its growth.

[waywalker]

Neat!

You're a really great person.

[traceroo]

It speaks volumes to your own goodness that you can feel such joy just over questions - no answers, just questions. You're a remarkable person

[howlets_wing]

I have never known a time when I didn't believe in God. There has always been for me an awareness of an "Other," a Maker of all things. Even as a child, when I asked the minister, "Where did God come from?," and he proceeded to draw a confusing number of concentric circles on the blackboard, and then continued to a a profusion of syllables which made little sense (which told me that, of course, he truly didn't know- but, then, who could?), I was untroubled. I have always felt that God intends for things to work out for the best. We always tend to root for the underdog in athletic events in which we have no vested interest, and when the underdog wins, we tend to be delighted and believe that all is right in the universe, and we then go back to our beverage(s). What we do not often consider is the other team or competitors. They lost. There is no joy in Mudville for them. Despite what many today are trying to convince us of otherwise, we are not all winners, all the time, never all equally gifted. Unhappiness abounds (yes, often created

"Have a great day!" What a delight you are to me!

[traceroo]

Thank you so much for reappearing here today to share these thoughts with me! I wish I heard from you more often. Such as it is, I treasure these brief communications when you choose to offer them.

When you talk about the underdogs of sports and the winners and losers, that life isn't fair - Do you reference what I wrote elsewhere, about God being unforgiving of different religions? That's just how it is, there is a right way to worship and a wrong way, indeed only one path to the top of the mountain? God can no more forgive the wrong path up the mountain than it's worth forgiving losing a sporting event?

This certainly goes in a similar bin of questions with those I asked in the previous post on this topic, from the other day: gender roles. Does God really intend something different for men than women? Is there some divine right and wrong?

I have a really hard time opening my liberal, modern mind that, I do. It's worth exploring. There's no point in holding any untested belief, I think.

Thank you.

Trace

Re: "Have a great day!" What a delight you are to me!

[ladylilo]

I don't think G-d punishes different religions. I think that 'punishment' is a label that people of one religion want to use to make themselves feel justified that G-d is on their side.

But no one religion will stand on top forever, just as no one nation will, or no one man. They all have their rise and fall. Just because Christianity is at the top now doesn't make it special. It just means that right now is it's time at the top, and the recession will eventually follow.

Punishment?

[traceroo]

"Punishment" is just a word. Believing that the immortal souls of anyone who doesn't follow your god in the prescribed manner is a little more than a mere label, wouldn't you say?

T.