What is God?

[Springfield]

Looks like this one is all cleared up

Should probably just close the thread.

It's what God would want.

[Jumbo]

Looks like this one is all cleared up

 

 

I'm sure not going to give away the real ending.

[grhqofb5]

Dog spelled backwards. /close thread/

[chipwhich]

So does He. Don't sweat it...He made you. Just like you are.

All good.

god made me and brought me to es! Hallelujah

[Dan T.]

So how did Man abandon the notion of a whole roster of Gods hanging out on Mt. Olympus and come to accept -  Jews, Muslims, and Christians all - one God?  Is Abraham the guy who said we don't need a whole team, we got one and only one?

[Fergasun]

I don't know.

God is the being that put me here.

I hope to meet God and know him/her/them better in the afterlife - and anyone else I've connected with is also with God.

That "life" has no purpose beyond what we see and know now and I am just some random thing/animal (but where did the first stuff come from?) is mentally depressing.

[Metalhead]

So how did Man abandon the notion of a whole roster of Gods hanging out on Mt. Olympus and come to accept - Jews, Muslims, and Christians all - one God? Is Abraham the guy who said we don't need a whole team, we got one and only one?

By politics and for power I assume. Like our primaries

[NoCalMike]

[Sacks 'n' Stuff]

God is a vagabond, bent by age, bereft of companionship — his only friend a pine stick, severed from its roots, slowly desiccating, forever a burden... like children. As bleak winter descends like a shroud over Germany, his meager gifts are the only distraction from the hovering darkness. The wolf of oblivion forever licking at our doors with his eternal tongue, until we become to weak to fight and lie down to be taken by the cold embrace of the snow.

[Kosher Ham]

This 2+2 thing is funny to me. God supposedly told Noah to take animals in pairs on the ark. 7 pairs of clean animals, and also gave a  blueprint to design the ark.

 

Are we so sure that math is man-made ?

[s0crates]

This 2+2 thing is funny to me. God supposedly told Noah to take animals in pairs on the ark. 7 pairs of clean animals, and also gave a blueprint to design the ark.

Are we so sure that math is man-made ?

Judging by what we know about the universe, one guess is God is a mathematician.

Maybe the Pythagoreans weren't that far off.

[WVSkinsfan]

God is real!! I am 40 years old and my whole life I thought I was living the perfect life.I thought I could do nothing wrong and everything I did in my mind was the right choice not realizing that I was headed to a devils hell.four years ago my MOM suddenly passed away from a heart attack.I done everything I could do to save her life.I tried cpr but it was to late.She was a christian and the day we buried her there was a rainbow right up above her grave and I knew without a doubt that was a sign from God and my MOM that she is up in heaven. That day stuck in mine and Dad's minds for two months.Everybody telling us that that was a sign of God telling us that he is taking care of her.Here me and Dad are both sinners never thought about God or going to church.Ever since that day that we layed my MOM to rest I had this urge to go to church.It was like something was telling me to go but I kept fighting it off.I cried for two solid months b/c my mom past away and I knew God was calling me to go to church.Dad walked in one day and said son I have been thinking bout this for a very long time and I said what Dad? He said I am really thinking bout going to church!! Listen I bout fell out of my seat b/c I knew it was another sign from God and my MOM.By this time I couldn't wait no longer...I said lets go and we did.We walked into that church that night thinking this would be nothing.Man was we ever more wrong!!!

 

The spirit hit me and him both so hard that we had to go up to the alter and give our lives to God.The feeling that I had when I came up from that water is the best feeling that I will ever have in my life.It felt like every bad thing that I had done was gone and all the worries/problems that I had was all gone.I came out of that water a brand new man PRAISING GOD with tears of joy running down my face.Guys I am telling you I didn't know I could feel that great!!! The good lord replaced that black heart that I had that was full of hatred and replaced it with a solid white one feeled it with nothing but love.I have been a christian for four years now and I can honestly say I wouldn't trade it for anything.I wish I would have done it years ago!! People theres no better feeling knowing that you have a ticket to heaven and will be able to see and live for eternal life with your loved ones that are already up there or going with you.I can now say without a doubt in my mind that I am living the perfect life b/c everything is perfect when you have God in your life. I really hope what I wrote just now touches somebody's heart and will help you make that decision to give God a try.God Bless and I love you all!!!!

[Kosher Ham]

Wouldn't I have to believe in heaven first ?

 

Sorry about your Mother passing. I try my best not to think about that day.

[WVSkinsfan]

Wouldn't I have to believe in heaven first ?

 

Sorry about your Mother passing. I try my best not to think about that day.

 

Yes you have to have faith,then repent(meaning go to the alter for god to take away all your sins) then get baptized.

[Kosher Ham]

Yes you have to have faith,then repent(meaning go to the alter for god to take away all your sins) then get baptized.

 

That's what I thought.

 

I live without regret, so in my mind, I have nothing to repent for.

Nor have I ever sinned by bible standards.

I baptize myself twice a day while listening to music, shaving and showering.

 

Although, I've never seen anyone stoned.

[skinsmarydu]

This 2+2 thing is funny to me. God supposedly told Noah to take animals in pairs on the ark. 7 pairs of clean animals, and also gave a  blueprint to design the ark.

 

Are we so sure that math is man-made ?

That's where I kinda divide myself. There's something absolutely divine about how we were "made", and eventually evolved. We have scientific proof of the evolution, whether folks believe it or not.

And my dad being a minister my whole life has made me look around sometimes, especially when I'll be home in NoVa tomorrow, and just say, "WOW!"

If He made anything better or more beautiful than mountains & sea, He kept it for himself. (My grandmother giggles when I say that, btw.)

[Burgold]

Dog spelled backwards. /close thread/

So, you are saying God is the opposite of man's best friend? :paranoid:

[skinsmarydu]

So, you are saying God is the opposite of man's best friend? :paranoid:

I have a friend with a bumper sticker that reads: Dog is my Co-Pilot

[Zguy28]

I have a friend with a bumper sticker that reads: Dog is my Co-Pilot

The bounty hunter?

Honestly...the first thing I thought when I read the thread title was, "Oh, Jesus...not again?"

Whatever it/who is can be totally personal. No definition necessary. To anyone.

You seem pretty dogmatic about this...

That's what I thought.

 

I live without regret so in my mind, I have nothing to repent for.

Nor have I even sinned by bible standards.

I baptize myself twice a day while listing to music, shaving and showering.

 

Although, I*'ve never seen anyone stoned.

Wonderful! Now come, sell all you have and give it to the poor and follow Jesus and you will have eternal life.

[grhqofb5]

So, you are saying God is the opposite of man's best friend? :paranoid:

No. I'm saying that god has never been in my kitchen.

[Zguy28]

So how did Man abandon the notion of a whole roster of Gods hanging out on Mt. Olympus and come to accept -  Jews, Muslims, and Christians all - one God?  Is Abraham the guy who said we don't need a whole team, we got one and only one?

Several thoughts come to mind. According to the bible, mankind was not polytheistic in the beginning, but rather became that way due to sin.

Romans 1:18-25

 

But God revealed Himself as the only God to Noah. Then man degenerated again.

 

The true God Yahweh revealed himself again, this time to Abraham and called him out, and Abraham followed (Genesis 12).

 

The apostle Paul gives a good explanation of God in Acts 17.

 

¹⁶ Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷ So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. ¹⁸ Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. ¹⁹ And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? ²⁰ For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” ²¹ Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

 

²² So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. ²³ For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. ²⁴ The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, ²⁵ nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. ²⁶ And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, ²⁷ that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, ²⁸ for

“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“‘For we are indeed his offspring.^'

²⁹ Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. ³⁰ The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, ³¹ because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

³² Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” ³³ So Paul went out from their midst. ³⁴ But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

 

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

[tshile]

This 2+2 thing is funny to me. God supposedly told Noah to take animals in pairs on the ark. 7 pairs of clean animals, and also gave a  blueprint to design the ark.

 

Are we so sure that math is man-made ?

man-made was probably a terrible choice on my part, as it's led down a path I didn't intend.

 

what cracks me up is the idea of proposing this being that created not just us, but everything around us. this being supposedly has the ability to determine all of our thoughts, at all times, and all at once, also the ability to remember it all forever as he will eventually judge us for it. he is no where and everywhere, at the same time, at all times. he can see the future, he knows how things end. he has a plan, but also gives us free will.

 

but i'm supposed to get stumped on whether he can make 2+2 = 5? the answer to whether he can or cannot make 2+2 = 5 is supposed to provide real insight into the discussion? is the ability to completely change our minds, instantly and across the board, and completely rewrite our understanding of math without us knowing an acceptable way of making 2+2=5? because if he can read our thoughts and is all powerful, why can he not do that?

 

seems not only trivial, but irrelevant. if god exists then the world as we know it is a sham. i'm supposed to care about this one aspect of the sham and question how he could get around this aspect? seems like pointless philosophical nonsense to me. at the very least, it hardly seems like a reasonable test of whether something can or cannot exist when the said something is, by definition, not limited in the ways we are (or the ways we think everything else is.)

[The 12th Commandment]

He could make you think 2+2=5. 

[Chew]

My only thing with God is that, he's so demanding and jealous.  not that I know much of anything about the bible, but I have seen the verse where it says something to the effect of "for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land."   Really?  Is all that necessary?  If he demands so much from us, why then give us free will?   If God loves us so much, why even make it possible for us to fail?  Are we to be his puppets, or some kind of fun experiment? 

 

The only other thing that bothers me how some 2,000 years later, mankind is supposed to just keep rolling on faith.  It's crazy how, back when the bible was written, there were all kinds of miracles or magical events taking place.  The parting of seas, a cloud of smoke killing first born children, Jesus walking on water.  Christians back then had it easy, because there were constant reminders that a higher power does exist.  Hech, here in 2015, if I saw a man wave a wooden staff and it parted the sea, I would go get baptized today during my lunch break.  Yet its been thousands of years since any true miracle has taken place.  Especially not since cameras have been invented. 

 

So today's christians are supposed to just have faith in events that took place thousands of years ago and not have any doubt whatsoever?  Can a 21st century christian get just one miracle or something, just to make it a little easier?  Why bother testing us if we are already perfect in God's eyes, why bother testing us?  Just let us into the kingdom of heaven already.

 

also find it kinda shady how, now that modern science debunks most if not all miracles/large scale biblical events, many people have said that the bible isn't to be taken literally.  How blasphemous is that?!  The bible is absolutely meant to be taken literally.  Back when it was written, everything in it was true to them and all those miracles did happen.  I just can't get on board with a religion that revolves around a book that is so old, the people who wrote it believed a man walked on water.  I have a very difficult time getting around that stuff when it comes to the idea of religion.

 

I have not accepted jesus christ as my lord and savior, so if I'm wrong about god and he is real, the thought of being in hell for eternity terrifies me.  But I was raised in a household by two people who left the catholic church as soon as they left home at 18, so God didn't make it real easy for me to become part of the team.  I would think he'd understand that...

[endzone_dave]

man-made was probably a terrible choice on my part, as it's led down a path I didn't intend.

 

what cracks me up is the idea of proposing this being that created not just us, but everything around us. this being supposedly has the ability to determine all of our thoughts, at all times, and all at once, also the ability to remember it all forever as he will eventually judge us for it. he is no where and everywhere, at the same time, at all times. he can see the future, he knows how things end. he has a plan, but also gives us free will.

 

but i'm supposed to get stumped on whether he can make 2+2 = 5? the answer to whether he can or cannot make 2+2 = 5 is supposed to provide real insight into the discussion? is the ability to completely change our minds, instantly and across the board, and completely rewrite our understanding of math without us knowing an acceptable way of making 2+2=5? because if he can read our thoughts and is all powerful, why can he not do that?

 

seems not only trivial, but irrelevant. if god exists then the world as we know it is a sham. i'm supposed to care about this one aspect of the sham and question how he could get around this aspect? seems like pointless philosophical nonsense to me. at the very least, it hardly seems like a reasonable test of whether something can or cannot exist when the said something is, by definition, not limited in the ways we are (or the ways we think everything else is.)

 

I think if a god doesn't exist, then life is a sham.  We then have no purpose and have no relevance.  At best you can say our purpose is to propagate our species.  But then Hitler killing 6 million Jews doesn't matter, the human population has grown in size just fine.  Or maybe our purpose is just simply our individual happiness/thriving.  So why would I be upset about a cop killing an innocent person?  I plan on going fishing this weekend, I'll have a great time, I'll be happy as heck.

 

I truly have hope that my Christian beliefs are true.  Loving God and loving my neighbor add real purpose to my life and makes everything in life fall together.  If it isn't true, I'm no more important than the mold growing on the piece of bread on my counter.  That would be depressing.