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God is a concept

jasperkent said:
Good Orderly Direction. Works for me.
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Even Mother Nature works for me. Gaia. All kinds of ideas and concepts that there is a wisdom at work. Even the notion that every tree came from a tiny seed or cutting. Then grow to 50 feet and are huge. What miracle?

I was reading about miracles. The notion that someone can turn water into wine just to prove we can control Nature. But if someone can't see the miracle of cells growing into full intelligent beings then turning water into wine will do nothing.

I admit I almost posted the John Lennon song too.

Political stuff belongs in the political forum. But God as a concept should be expanded upon in this thread as to keep it going in a Good Orderly Direction.
 
jasperkent said:
Early in recovery I balked at & then struggled with the concept of a "Higher Power."
I especially disliked the word "God," which appears a LOT in 12-Step literature but has all kinds of negative connotations for me. A sponsor suggested that anytime I see that word, just think of it as an acronym for Good Orderly Direction. Works for me.
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An old friend at work years ago was an evangelical atheist. Not content with simply not believing in God, he had to tell others they should not believe. The message was that there is no message. But, he was a good guy. Not too strident and full of himself like evangelicals from both sides tend to be. He was an old hippiebilly as well and versed in psychedelics. So one day I asked him if he believed in anything at all as a power bigger than us. He said he maybe believed in the "force or soul" of the universe that could be tapped in to. So, maybe toward Buddhist but less so. All I could say was, "Exactly! We aren't so different. Many paths to the same goal, grasshopper."
 
Human beings have minds so of course it has a conceptual component, but divine nature is pre and post-verbal. It exists as complete silence. You don't need to have thoughts for it to be real. Actually thoughts make it less real.

Also I have noticed animals, even insects, respond to what one might call "divine energy" in holy places or sacred moments. It's not just humans who exist within this connected awareness. On some level anything that has awareness is aware of the source that its awareness springs from.
 
On some level anything that has awareness is aware of the source that its awareness springs from. I'm aware but I don't know that the source is from god and not just a fluke of development. I recognize myself ass a person who has gained insight through experience and personal growth. Using god as an explanation for the unknown doesn't make sense to me. If anything at all certain things associated with life. universe, living and death cannot be explained. I do not claim is responsible for things I do not know, I'm ok with not knowing
 
M!$TER-ED said:
God is omnipresent, omnipotent and all knowing based on human ignorance.
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This is the monotheistic concept of "the one and only" god. Other religions have gods that aren't omnipresent or omnipotent, and some of them have lots of vulnerabilities and limitations.

Edit: This conversation tooks turns I didn’t see before posting my answer.
 
jasperkent said:
Early in recovery I balked at & then struggled with the concept of a "Higher Power."
I especially disliked the word "God," which appears a LOT in 12-Step literature but has all kinds of negative connotations for me. A sponsor suggested that anytime I see that word, just think of it as an acronym for Good Orderly Direction. Works for me.
Click to expand...

"Good orderly direction" sounds equally annoying to me. But I'm glad it helped you.
 
JackARoe said:
I was reading about miracles. The notion that someone can turn water into wine just to prove we can control Nature. But if someone can't see the miracle of cells growing into full intelligent beings then turning water into wine will do nothing.
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I like this!
 
Definition of concept: A general idea or understanding of something. something conceived in the mind, a thought or notion.

Beyond one's mind god does not exist. Faith is notorious for fabricating an idea or concept into one's reality having no basis for reality at all. Look at Christian beliefs that according to faith believers will rise to heaven, leaving their bodies behind at the time of the rapture. This logically impossible but according to faith it is true.
Why do humans give god, a concept so much power and control thereby making themselves helpless and unequipped to decide their own destiny? It is easier to believe god is in control than to believe we are capable as humans to live the life we choose for fear of screwing up. At least by believing in god we are less accountable when things go south because god is in control.

I give myself credit for my life not because I am vain or a know-it-all but because I was there from the beginning on my on with a little guidance along the way. I made the decisions that got me to where I am today.
 
Foreigner said:
Also I have noticed animals, even insects, respond to what one might call "divine energy" in holy places or sacred moments.
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Interesting - can you expand on that a bit? How have the animals responded? I realise words may not quite cut it here but also, what do you mean by 'divine energy'? Don't wanna hijack this thread tho

Have certainly seen animals react to exceptionally 'vibey' situations/places/people for sure. I just put it down to their perceptual ability, ie them becoming aware that things are 'different' somehow....a bit like someone's pet may react when owner is tripping, or substantially different to their 'normal' in some way (elated for example, or upset).

Over the years I've noticed that my animals do not like the vibe when I take a nasty stimulant, not at all. In fact they look truly disgusted! If I took a psychedelic however they'd completely disappear until I (or we) was just past the peak and then they'd tentatively return and end up insistently lying all over me for the remainder of the trip.
 
There are lots of things beyond exclamation that I attribute to myself not knowing instead of god. However, I'm referring to the Christian god not to say an entity unknown to me does not exist. I dislike the word god because it refers to a faith or belief conceptualized within one's mind.
 
M!$TER-ED said:
I dislike the word god
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Same.

The word has a lot of baggage. I strongly disagree with most of the conventional definitions-- especially the idea that God has human emotions like love, hate, jealousy, & anger. That sounds absurd. I don't know if a Supreme Being or Universal Intelligence/Force exists, but if it does it is most definitely not humanlike.

The comedian Pete Holmes says that he believes in God but also agrees with those who don't-- "Yes, God is nothing. God is no thing." I'm not sure if that makes sense, but it's funny.

No doubt the Universe operates under complicated laws of physics and it is huge, amazing, & beautiful to boot. If people want to call that "God," I guess I'm OK with that, although I'd prefer "Nature." In that sense, we are not separate from it, but a part of it-- as everything is. A lot of spiritual traditions talk about "Oneness," so that works out well there, too.




PS-- I am a Gun Owning Democrat, but you can call me GOD for short.
 
M!$TER-ED said:
There are lots of things beyond exclamation that I attribute to myself not knowing instead of god. However, I'm referring to the Christian god not to say an entity unknown to me does not exist. I dislike the word god because it refers to a faith or belief conceptualized within one's mind.
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yeah, I gotta agree

Any human, anyone, who thinks they can define 'God' (in the sense of an omnipotent creator) is pissing in the wind imho.

How could we possibly understand such an entity (if one were to exist) with our little brains and apparently limited consciousness? It's a bit of a reach eh....and the height of egotism. We get overwhelmed by big numbers ffs, yet we think we can understand 'God'? Nahhhh. No chance.

It's handy (to say the least) to be aware of our limitations (and yet not to be constrained by them at the same time)
 
ageingpartyfiend said:
How could we possibly understand such an entity (if one were to exist) with our little brains and apparently limited consciousness?
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I've heard it put like this--

Imagine an ant crawling accross a book of Shakespeare's sonnets. The ant probably perceives the texture & maybe the smell of the cover-- that's about it. It doesn't know how the book was made, who made it, why it was made, or even what a "book" really is. Now imagine the complexities of a printing press, language, and the concept of Shakespearean sonnets.

We are the ant looking at the Universe and trying to understand God.
 
We do not even know God's name.

Even if someone subscribes to any of the Abrahamic religions they should know this by reading the Bible (or Torah or Quran) . When Moses asked God what His name was (when Moses received the 10 Commandments) God replied "I am who Am".

All names attributed to God are made by men.
 
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