What's YOUR personal opinion about God...

And by that I mean do you think of God as a male/female? Is he omnipotent? Omnipresent? Is he eternal? Is he just a race of long-lived aliens? What I'd like to get here is people coming from the same belief system yet having a different perspective... does the Bible for example state any SPECIFICS about his powers and abilities?

Also, a question I'd like to get into, (unless this post is trashed like my last one O_O) is when people say "God is Love"... what do they mean? What's love? What would you say if I said "love = knowledge". Knowledge = God. God = knowledge = love = light. So basically to not get terms confused, isn't KNOWLEGE the ultimate "thing" to strive for? Would you rather be happy but know only what you take on faith (so know nothing, believe everything), or would you rather know everything but the "everything" may not necessarily be warm and fuzzy like you previously thought.

Also, does anyone DESERVE knowledge more than someone else? Or do you only receive as much as you strive to receive? So you get what you achieve, but there is no free lunch in the universe.... does anyone have any thoughts?

Prime Creator.
Omnipotent.

God is dead....and we have killed him.

DE

God is everything that exists. Both physical and nonphysical.

Personally, I don't see God as a he/she. I don't see God in the way Christians generally do. My definition of "God" is similar to the "Tao", but is really that of the "Force", spoken of in Star Wars. *waits for laughs and ridicules to stop*............

I'll use the term "God", to make things easier.

I see God as omnipotent. God is everywhere. Literally. We are made up of God, God is made up of us. There is nothing really seperating me from the monitor I'm staring at as I write this, or separating me from you, as you read this. The objects - even air - only have differing "energy levels", giving the illusion of them being seperate objects. A tree vibrates at a different level than human skin, for example, so the bark tends to feel harder. We are all just made up of energy, vibrating at different levels; thus we appear to be seperate beings, though we are all part of the same God.

God has a will, but It relies on us to "hear it" - through deep meditation - and carry it out. God won't carry out Its will (even though It does, since we are a part of God, carrying out God's will. You lost yet?). Since God has a will, through It, we can see the future as it is meant for us, though this is not necessarily the way things will play out. In fact, just seeing your own future will likely change it, anyway. What you are seeing when you perform divination is that which God has planned for you, though you don't necessarily HAVE to conform to this plan, if you don't like what your future holds.

I think I make sense, but I probably don't. I've probably led you in circles. Ask me specifics, I'll be able to give better answers; ones you'll likely better understand.



[Edited on 10-1-2004 by LOBO]

"God" is both male and female, "God" is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. Nobody created God,God is self existent, the first cause of all, and existing by "God's" own intrinsic powers.

"God" is inconceivable to man...that is why we question his existance, intentions, motives and purpose.

And since man cannot conceive something without a name or form, man created "God" and gave him names like God, Jesus, Allah, Yahweh, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Buddha just to name a few.

"Truth is one but men describe it differently"...RigVeda

The last two posts are excellent!!!

oh yeah about deserving knowledge or having to strive for it...

to make this clear, I am using "knowledge" not just as learned knowledge gained from books, but to also include knowledge of the astral, physic, unseen, physical, material worlds.

ok, someone people are born with more "knowledge" than others, some people have the capabilities to increase their "knowledge" very easily, some have to strive really hard to acquire or increase what "knowledge" they have..and some people have no "knowledge" what so ever.

why you ask? because of my belief in reincarnation and karma...and it is karma from previous lives that determine the extent of your "knowledge" in this life. Now it's our purpose to always strive for more "knowledge" regardless of how much knowledge we have already gained in hopes to finally break the cycle and achieve nirvana.

Now, let's face our next question: How does one get closer to God? I guess that would depend upon one's definition of God, but since we already have some nice ideas... let's say based on your personal belief, how do you get closer. Or is getting closer to God not really your goal?

And if it's not, WHAT IS the goal if each one of you personally, the ULTIMATE goal and purpose you want to achieve. These questions have no limitation and can apply to anything physical, non-physical, emotional, WHATEVER! I hold no bias towards any answer! So just let it flow.....

Originally posted by lilblam
let's say based on your personal belief, how do you get closer.

???????????

I thought I'd never hear such a sentence come out of your keyboard.

What were we created by? Star dust. Where did the star dust come from? The universe.

There. God explained. Look no further.

Not so simple... Where did the Universe come from??? Where did matter come from???

God is real....in the minds of humans. Thats about all I know regarding the factual reality of God. IMO, there is no actual being or abject idea that exists out in the ether of the universe or beyond that could be conisdered "God".

When I create a thread and argue for the non-existance of God, everyone jumps at the chance to prove me wrong. EVERYONE!
When I just simply ask an open-ended question, people come to a realization that God doesn't exist, after all. Human psychology is a weird thing, really is. *scratches head*. So instead of trying to use logic to prove the lack of existance of something, I should just ask certain questions and have people use logic to do it for me! That way no one can disagree with me since I state no opinion of my own, and a few people will actually go pretty deep and possibly touch some important aspects of what I wanted to convey in the first place! Amazing! I must write this down... for later use

That is an interesting point lilblam.

As for my personal opinion of a god...well I can't comprehend any conclusions anyone has made. But I certainly haven't heard all of them. I've tried to think of what I think, but I can't think anything. I always just look around me, and dream far, and I see no one else. If everything is god, why even talk of god. I feel enough mystery and fascination with all that is. But it seems whatever is not, is somewhere.

Uhm... Only one person in this thread has said that God doesn't exist.

And the thought that you just came up with is just uncommon knowledge. Asking questions is more important than giving answers.

God is the essence of all things, not a being , in my OPINION... unless you count Lysergic's avitar!

Originally posted by worldwatcher
...man created "God" and gave him names like God, Jesus, Allah, Yahweh, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Buddha just to name a few.

Before I continue, I just want to mention that Buddha isn't a god. He stated so himself. He (like Jesus, in my opinion) was a great teacher, and I pray to his spirit, so that he might bless me with the wisdom he held in his life. Doesn't make him a god.


Now then:

...let's say based on your personal belief, how do you get closer. Or is getting closer to God not really your goal?

Since we are all already God, and God is already us, we only need to get closer to each other to experience the true essence of God: love. You can say that getting closer to God (remember my definition of God) is my goal - through intense meditation, we bring our vibrational levels closer to that of God, and can thus "hear" Its will being "spoken" to us. We can either act with or against this will. It's our choice.

Through meditation, we become "closer" to God (that is, the Force). Now personally, I worship multiple - even numerous - deities. I don't believe the Force requires worship, but I do believe perhaps these other deities do require honor and love - the definition of "worship". I see these other gods as symbionts with us - just as with the Force: without them, we would not be (or wouldn't have this, or that, etc.); without us, these gods wouldn't be as powerful as they are. Our worship gives them power. Through meditation and prayer combined, we can become closer to these gods.

I believe that, upon death, one of many things will happen:

1. If you die before you have learned all there is for you to learn, you will be reincarnated to learn more. Sometimes you will be reincarnated as a human - even as a member of your previous family, occasionally (you could be your own great-grandfather!) - other times, you will be reincarnated as another species; maybe even you can be reincarnated into something as wise as the tree. They have a long life, and would gain much wisdom listening to the gods' whispers in the wind.
   
2. Depending on your outlook on life (and if you have learned all you can), your spirit may be sent to the island of Valinor (again, try not to laugh...if you know what I'm talking about) - which can also be called the Summerlands, or, Heaven. There you will be a god/ess of your own reality, where you can create anything you want - you can even bring those you knew in life to you, in a way. Kind of like creating a computer simulation of your loved ones. You can then choose to be reincarnated again, or stay on Valinor - or even become one with the Force.
   
3. You can skip all of this, and, once you've learned all you can, choose to become one with the Force - or God. You give God more power, and God grows. You are everywhere, and nowhere. Essentially, you are God - on a higher level than while in life.
   

Originally posted by LOBO

Before I continue, I just want to mention that Buddha isn't a god. He stated so himself. He (like Jesus, in my opinion) was a great teacher, and I pray to his spirit, so that he might bless me with the wisdom he held in his life. Doesn't make him a god.

sorry Lobo, I didn't mean to disrespect your beliefs, I realize that Buddha (Siddharta) never claimed to be a "God", but many people worship images of him and he has become a "god" in the western world. Again I didn't mean to lump them all together in any way that would offend any particular belief....but I was trying to make a point.

now regarding getting closer to "God". I try to get closer to "God" by meditating. Now I don't know if that is the way to go about it...but it's the best method I have, which allows me to see beyond the "maya" (the veil of reality, that which separates, the physical world from the astral world)

I also pray and chant in the old language of sanskrit, because of traditions passed on to me, however, regardless of which language I chose to use, I know "god" will understand (see my explanation of god)

by talking to "god" on a daily basis, and living a just and good life, I feel that I am on the path to getting closer to "god"....now it may take several more cycles, who knows? but this works for me.

My goals (emotional, spiritual, etc) are more personal and not something that I can share..sorry

[Edited on 1-11-2004 by worldwatcher]

God is not male or female, lilblam. God IS. We refer to God as a 'he' for the sake of confusion. God is not physical, his son, Jesus Incarnate, was. God is spirit, soul, and things good. My personal opinion is, some time ago, ie when Earth was created, something, as in humans, went wrong. The human did something bad, and so we are born with original sin. Now, I believe, it does not matter what religion you are. If you do good, and follow the basic rules and regulations of what God (in all religions) generally asks for, you will be rewarded. The physical world, is not the end, not the end by far. These are my personal opinions.

-wD