Defying the Deity
POSTED BY: AnthonyT
UPDATED: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 18:15
VIEWED: 9122
PAGE 3 of 11
Quote:Good point.
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
What's less obvious is how many good decisions were made by such internal moral compasses, and how many bad actions were taken by those who either lack them, or ignore them.
-----
"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." - Richard Lamm
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
I think Byte means the voice that reads or speaks her conscious thoughts, this lives in the conscious mine.
Exactly. I'll respond to the rest by PM because I don't want to detract from Anthony's original topic.
Something that comes to mind as people mention a meditative voice or a God voice is an experiment. Part of the brain could be stimulated to feel a presence in a sensory deprived environment, and in religious people, they often interpreted or reported the experience as the presence of God. The experience was reported as a positive or comforting one, religious or not.
Maybe in a way, God exists and a number of people have minds hardwired to feel and recognize him. Maybe God is a sense that bolsters a person in hard times when they feel isolated and struggling to keep living. Maybe we're all actually summoners of a divine spark, and scientists just stumbled on the mechanism to tap into that energy and call down some wrath. Or, I dunno. I can toss out a few RPG video game references here that would be applicable if someone wants. Magic? Mana? Buffs?
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
I remember as a youth, someone was relaying to me the Bible story of a man being ordered to sacrifice his own son. At the pivotal moment of the story, I was asked what I thought the protagonist should do. I said, confidently, "He didn't do it. It's a test. Killing your son would be wrong."
Then, with some consternation, my Bible teacher gave me the end of the story. The man was actually supposed to go through with the murder of his son, because God said so. God sent an angel at the last minute to stop him, but this loyalty test and its implications disturbed me for the rest of my life until even today.
My question would be, if God is all knowing why does he have to test one's loyalty?
I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:The Jewish/Christian God is not really all knowing. If we have true FREE will, he doesn't really know what we are going to choose next.
Originally posted by m52nickerson:
My question would be, if God is all knowing why does he have to test one's loyalty?
But, I don't think this God tests people for loyalty. I believe that is a misinterpretation of the authors at the time the Bible was written.
-----
"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." - Richard Lamm
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:Quote:
I think Byte means the voice that reads or speaks her conscious thoughts, this lives in the conscious mine.
Exactly. I'll respond to the rest by PM because I don't want to detract from Anthony's original topic.
Something that comes to mind as people mention a meditative voice or a God voice is an experiment. Part of the brain could be stimulated to feel a presence in a sensory deprived environment, and in religious people, they often interpreted or reported the experience as the presence of God. The experience was reported as a positive or comforting one, religious or not.
Maybe in a way, God exists and a number of people have minds hardwired to feel and recognize him. Maybe God is a sense that bolsters a person in hard times when they feel isolated and struggling to keep living. Maybe we're all actually summoners of a divine spark, and scientists just stumbled on the mechanism to tap into that energy and call down some wrath. Or, I dunno. I can toss out a few RPG video game references here that would be applicable if someone wants. Magic? Mana? Buffs?
Sorry, my brain is tapped.
I think the closer we get to God, scientifically, the more it seems that there is a God.
Some people have a condition called "Freemanic Paracusia" where the internal narrative voice is Morgan Freeman. Not sure where that came from.
That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Hello,
I keep meaning to reply here, and give a meaningful explanation, but activity in other threads keeps pulling my attention away.
After hearing someone else say it, (in this case several someones) it seemed obvious. If God asks something of me that I consider abhorrent, then he/she can not truly be the God I worship. He/She may be some powerful thing, and may be able to hurt me, but that isn't my God.
This understanding reminded me of my grandmother's favorite saying, spoken daily and often.
"Dios es Amor" or in English, "God is Love."
What better gauge can there be? And it was there all along, throughout my life, to guide me. Turns out I needed you all to help me remember.
Thanks,
--Anthony
_______________________________________________
"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by canttakesky:
The Jewish/Christian God is not really all knowing. If we have true FREE will, he doesn't really know what we are going to choose next.
But, I don't think this God tests people for loyalty. I believe that is a misinterpretation of the authors at the time the Bible was written.
I don't believe that an all knowing God is incompatible with free will.
That being said, God in the bible is described as all knowing...
Psalm 139:2-6
2You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
5You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
Isaiah 40:13-14
13 Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD,
or instruct the LORD as his counselor?
14 Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?
I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Hello,
I know every decision Anthony, age 10, will make in his life.
But Anthony, age 10, has Free Will.
This is how I reconcile the two.
--Anthony
_______________________________________________
"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Honestly, I believe in no anthropomorphic 'God.'
No DUDE up 'there.'
I believe in a 'Versal energy flow, a 'Force' if you will. We, our cats, our bacteria are all physical expressions of the multi-dimensional living spirit of high speed quantum particles.
God.
The Treknobabbling Chrisisall
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Taoism has a similar basis, like the force, driven by something unknown, or unknowable.
I've been meaning to check out Buddhism at some point.
That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME