Are all believers in God automatically idol worshipers?

[swilow]

Whether beleievers are idol-worshippers or not doesn't make a difference. Idol worship seems to be something condemned specifically by Christianity; I'm not going to use that moral system of highly dubious value to judge the religion. Suffice to say, I think Holy Communion is nothing but stale wafer and cheap wine.

I'd tend to agree. What kind of a mature or loving god is jealous of it's creation or allows suffering on the scale we see in the world?

A god that does not exist.

A good question is why is god so jealous, violent, hierarchical and oppressive? That sort of god seems remarkably similar to the worst of humans. Coincidence?

 

[belligerent drunk]

Coincidence?

Me thinks not.

 

[Nixiam]

Me thinks you thoughts may be good.

 

[Gnostic Bishop]

Seems like a good time to show this link.



Regards
DL

 

[Profit Prophet]

I believe in God as I believe in nature.
There is no idol involved with this.

All believers in God are following an entity that they only know by what other people have said about that God. Few, if any, know their God from apotheosis or first-hand information.

I am from the latter category, however.

You cannot know God indirectly, I think.
So, yes, to some extent blind faith is idolatry.
But it (the extent) depends on whether or not the prophet is true.

 

[Gnostic Bishop]

I believe in God as I believe in nature.
There is no idol involved with this.



I am from the latter category, however.

You cannot know God indirectly, I think.
So, yes, to some extent blind faith is idolatry.
But it (the extent) depends on whether or not the prophet is true.

Gnostic Christians see the evolving perfection of nature, so I think we are on the same page here.

I agree that that is not idol worship as natural forces can be seen and are real and not just a self created mental picture.

Regards
DL

 

[Cosmic Trigger]

I was under the impression from things I've read that the Gnostic Christians thought that nature and earthly life to be completely evil? The idea being to strive for non existence which included anti natalism. At least the original Gnostic Christians.

 

[Shrooms00087]

Their theology and philosophy is a little more nuanced than that.

 

[Gnostic Bishop]

I was under the impression from things I've read that the Gnostic Christians thought that nature and earthly life to be completely evil? The idea being to strive for non existence which included anti natalism. At least the original Gnostic Christians.

With most of our scriptures having been destroyed by Christianity, it is harder to know what ancient Gnostics believed. What we can know is that they wrote our scriptures and myths to put against the Christian myths, when Christians still knew they were just myths, as tools for discussion and debates. Here is what I think we actually believed.

GnosticChristian Jesus said, "If those who attract you say, 'See, the Kingdom is inthe sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you.
If they sayto you, 'It is under the earth,' then the fish of the sea will precede you.
Rather, theKingdom of God is inside of you, and it is outside of you.
[Those who]become acquainted with [themselves] will find it; [and when you] becomeacquainted with yourselves, [you will understand that] it is you who are thesons of the living Father.
But if youwill not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are thatpoverty."

As you can see from that quote, if we see God'skingdom all around us and inside of us, we cannot think that the world isanything but evolving perfection. Most just don't see it and live in poverty.

We follow this irrefutable thinking.

Candide.
"It isdemonstrable that things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for as allthings have been created for some end, they must necessarily be created for thebest end.”

We live in the best of all possible worlds as it is the only possible world given all the conditions that brought us to this point in time.

Their theology and philosophy is a little more nuanced than that.

For sure. We have our myths for discussions and then we have our belies that come from those.

Regards
DL