If God Exists...

do you really think he would limit his presence to one single religion? I know there are many Atheists who have no belief at all. Do you really think that because of thier disbelief, that God, if he exist would deny them if thier heart was in the right place?

God is many things, imo but above all else he is Love. I realize that the Bible states that none come to the father but by Christ, but couldn't this just mean that if we do as Christ did, and embrace the father as love, that we can come to him in this manner? Isn't this what Jesus did? Surrender to his fathers will? To me God's will is obvious; he wants us to love one another, just as christ loved us, and embrace this unifying spirit.

Just a question to ponder, as I'm getting frustrated with all the exclusion and/or division created in God's name. If he exists, I believe he wants unity, and peace among mankind...


Junk~

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Originally Posted by JunkYard

do you really think he would limit his presence to one single religion?

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Well, he would have to, unless somehow you've found two religions that don't contradict each other's beliefs. Religions all contradict each other's beliefs somewhere (or else there's no point in calling them separate religions), and two conflicting religions cannot both be true for the same reason that two contradicting scientific theories (like say, the Big Bang theory and the steady-state theory in cosmology) cannot both be true.

If Mormonism is true, then Islam is false. If Islam is true, then Hinduism is false. If Hinduism is true, then Scientology is false. If Scientology is true, then the religion of the ancient Greeks is false. If the religion of the ancient Greeks is true, then the beliefs of hunter-gatherer tribes in central Papua New Guinea are false, and so on...

I don't see how a single God could encompass all the monotheistic, polytheistic and atheistic religions out there. It just isn't logically possible. But then again, since when have religions cared about logic?

Good point, Oneironaut and I'm glad you chimed in. I never said anything about the absolute truth of a religion, I asked if God would limit his 'presence' to a single one. You should already know what I think God is...if you read the entire post and ever watched me ramble on about it, lol! (I tend to do that) :D For sake of not seeming repititious or 'redundant', I'll refrain from elaborating my views any further on who God is to me, cool?

Isn't it possible that God is present in most every 'major' world religion, and even a few minor one's, and even among Atheists who have no religious views at all? Is there a common theme among these religions that would help unify mankind if they would rid themselves of thier need to think thier views are the one and only 'truth'?

I personally think that if G-d exists that he is perfectly capable of reaching every single person on earth no matter what thier religion is, or lack thereof...


Junk~

I think that god (whatever that means) would have to realise that he exists on a level beyond our limited human perceptions. So he'd realise that any view of him is like trying to see the whole of the world through the window, you're never going to see all aspects and facets at once.
Having that awareness, I'd hope that god would put a lot less emphasis on how we humans choose to conceptualize him, whether as an old man, a blue heroic youth, a vibration of energy, etc; and much more emphasis on how we choose to interact with him, (or perhaps I should say, how we interact with ourselves and everything else). God is just a variable term for something greater than ourselves, that is unexpressible.

I think all religions are obviously flawed because they're metaphors for the manner in which man comes to reality. I don't take them seriously, but I try to learn from them. Just because Plato's allegory of the cave never happened historically, doesn't mean we can't find some meaning in its characters shedding the shackles of ignorance.

^^I'd give you rep for that post, but you have it disabled, so I'll just give it a BIG :thumbsup:


Thanks,

The way that you perceive "God" has a _lot_ to do with your spiritual upbringing (whether explicit or not). ie a young boy raised a Muslim will pray to Allah and occasionally receive a "spiritual experience" -- which he will perceive in Muslim terms. A christian boy will pray to "God" (ie Yahweh) and if he gets a revelation it will be in Christian terms. A Wiccan perceives spiritual experiences in Wiccan terms. A Buddhist with "becoming one with existence" or something like that. How different are all those really? So maybe its just your brain setting something off that makes you high and you start hallucinating shit... I don't know, the whole thing smells fishy to me.

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Originally Posted by rabbitslayer

The way that you perceive "God" has a _lot_ to do with your spiritual upbringing (whether explicit or not). ie a young boy raised a Muslim will pray to Allah and occasionally receive a "spiritual experience" -- which he will perceive in Muslim terms. A christian boy will pray to "God" (ie Yahweh) and if he gets a revelation it will be in Christian terms. A Wiccan perceives spiritual experiences in Wiccan terms. A Buddhist with "becoming one with existence" or something like that. How different are all those really? So maybe its just your brain setting something off that makes you high and you start hallucinating shit... I don't know, the whole thing smells fishy to me.

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if you do some shrooms and have some sort of hallucination, is the 'experience' real, or no? I say yes, it is real! Same with G-d experience...the only difference with a G-d experience, or religious experience is that it is based on thought, emotion, and/or spiritual awarness as opposed to being induced by a substance. It's still real, only derived from a different source.

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Originally Posted by JunkYard

Isn't it possible that God is present in most every 'major' world religion, and even a few minor one's, and even among Atheists who have no religious views at all?

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What do you mean by God being "present" in religions and in atheists? Traditionally God has been defined as being omnipresent, that is, existing in all locations at all times, but I don't think that's what you meant.

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Is there a common theme among these religions that would help unify mankind if they would rid themselves of thier need to think thier views are the one and only 'truth'?

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No, it seems the only unifying theme among all the major religions that I can think of is their belief that all other religions are false. And I don't blame them, either. If you sincerely believe your religion is true, then you have to reject the possibility that other religions which contradict your own are true. If you're a Muslim and believe in the indivisibility of God, you have to reject the Christian idea of the Trinity. If you're a Jew and you think God wants people to eat cows but not pigs, you're going to have to reject the Hindu belief that God wants people to eat pigs but not cows.

Religions are conglomerations of various ideas, each one of which is either true or false. Even if you're not a fundamentalist who believes every word of your scripture and insists on following every ritual to the letter, some of the basic tenets of your religion are going to force you to reject the basic tenets of other religions. For example, if you believe in a single entity called God, which you apparently do, you are in essence saying that every religion is false that incorporates hard polytheism (the belief that there are many gods which are not manifestations of a single entity). You are also saying that the atheist varieties of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, etc. are false religions.

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I personally think that if G-d exists that he is perfectly capable of reaching every single person on earth no matter what thier religion is, or lack thereof...

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I personally believe that God doesn't exist. If he really could reach me, he would have done so on one of the numerous times I have begged for some sign of his existence. He has not indicated his presence to me in any recognizable form, so I can only conclude that either he doesn't care enough to make his presence knowable or he doesn't exist. If there is some entity called God which is influencing the events of my life somehow, I have yet to see the evidence, and I can't take any hypothesis seriously unless there is at least some kind of evidence for it.

“Dear Lord: The gods have been good to me. For the first time in my life, everything is absolutely perfect just the way it is. So here's the deal: You freeze everything the way it is, and I won't ask for anything more. If that is OK, please give me absolutely no sign. OK, deal. In gratitude, I present you this offering of cookies and milk. If you want me to eat them for you, give me no sign. Thy will be done. (munch munch munch)” —Homer Simpson

[edit: this is in response to OP... yeh im baked whatcha gon do...]

Exactly. Only I have a feeling you think that God (or G-d as you'll have it) CAUSES that brainstate, while shrooms causes it in a shrooms experience. I say your own brain causes it, which makes you perceive God... yes, if you like, your experience is REAL (at least to you, right?)... that doesn't mean the God you saw or heard or felt actually exists. Just that your brain is capable of perceiving it.

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Originally Posted by rabbitslayer

[edit: this is in response to OP... yeh im baked whatcha gon do...]

Exactly. Only I have a feeling you think that God (or G-d as you'll have it) CAUSES that brainstate, while shrooms causes it in a shrooms experience. I say your own brain causes it, which makes you perceive God... yes, if you like, your experience is REAL (at least to you, right?)... that doesn't mean the God you saw or heard or felt actually exists. Just that your brain is capable of perceiving it.

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Exactly, so why should it matter what you believe is real or not? All of our experiences are experienced subjectively, so we really have no clue as to what "reality" actually is...only the way we percieve it, lol!

Great post, btw!


Junk~