- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
I’ll start at the beginning. I’m confident that there’s a Higher Power, even if that higher power is nothing more than the laws of physics. I’m not really sure what exactly I believe about God.
What do you believe about God? Are there many gods, or only one? What are God’s attributes, if there are any? How did you arrive at your beliefs?
Define god. Me? Right now? Here goes: Line up everyone on the planet earth, all 7.142 billion of us. Ask them one by one who is god… then, when everyone has had their say, tell them they are all correct. That’s god.
My definition is a work in progress.
InquiringMind wrote:even if that higher power is nothing more than the laws of physics.
I’m kind of there too. Even in science there is a “creator” like the Big Bang or something. It’s clear something great happened to create this world. Most days I would consider myself agnostic, since I just can’t find evidence of what God is like. When I’m feeling more believing, I like the deist idea of a less involved God. I had this thought once that I think is cool. I guess it is sort of inspired by the book Contact by Carl Sagan. It could be that there are more advanced beings who have evolved in other parts of the universe and maybe God is one of them. They have perfected themselves and can live forever, so they want to help others achieve that too. I think it fits well with Mormon theology really. Its just a bit of a sci-fi version, but I like to think about that sometimes. It makes more sense to me that there are many Gods, since if there was just one it leads to where that one came from, and how lonely and sad it would be to be the only one. There still is no way to get to the first thing that started it all, but the idea that everything always existed is pretty confusing too. Such big questions!
Most of the time I am agnostic. I know that others have had experiences that convince them that God or a higher power is out there. But I haven’t had them, and I’m not convinced that such experiences are reliable—for me. I do hope there is an afterlife along with something that will help make everything right. I hope that I will continue on in some manner and still be allowed to learn and progress. But it’s just a hope right now. I see “God” as a condition – as the ultimate goal of self-conscious existence, expressed as Heavenly Parents with the characteristics of charity described in 1 Corinthians 13. For me, that vision is the most compelling.
I really like the concept of God the Father condescending in the person of Jesus Christ to personally take upon Himself the sins of His entire creation. The Trinity is one understanding of how this might have happened. I have my doubts as to if that’s how it is but what a beautiful story – The God King that becomes the servant of all because of love. These questions are ones I share with you IM, and as I rebuild my faith I like to get the input of others as well. The different perspectives offered here have helped my to solidify what I believe – if Jello is a solid. Although like some others here I went through a stage of near atheism and full agnosticism, I have come to a view of God that is essentially deist. If nothing else logic convinces me there is some sort of creator. I believe God is that creator, but how he created is very open to interpretation (for instance I believe evolution may very well be how God created man, and that theory makes the most sense to me). Likewise, I believe God has little, if any, interaction with us and is mostly uninterested in our affairs having granted total agency to each individual. For me, this answers all of the questions on how God could allow the Holocaust and child abuse – he simply allows everything without intervention. I don’t necessarily believe there is only one God, although I do believe this God is ours (because he is the creator), and I also believe God can be plural as in Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, and perhaps others we are not aware of (that is I believe in referring to God we could be referring to Heavenly Father, Jesus, or the Holy Ghost, or all three).
I don’t know much about how to picture God physically, but the attributes of God are Love, Truth, and Life as the majors – then there are many sub categories of those three that include everything good and worthwhile. So does God exist as some real God-ish entity? Or can we point to something and call it “God” – i.e. can we point to the laws of physics and say, “See that thing over there? That’s God because we said it is.”? Or do we say that no one really knows whether or not God exists, so in the absence of definitive information, do we fashion a God after own image and choosing because we want to and because it gives us meaning and comfort? It seems that the question of whether or not God exists is unresolvable. No one knows the answer well enough to persuade everyone else that they’ve got the right answer. How, then, do we proceed in terms of our belief or non-belief in God, and why? It it simply a choice that we make by choosing faith or skepticism as a mode of living?
I think each person sees God in whatever way makes the most sense to that person – or in whatever way was taught in their formative years. I think the challenge for the second group is to let go of borrowed oil, so to speak, and figure out their own view. I know god does not speak to me, at least on a conscious level. I also know he does not speak to others, at least in a coherent uniform fashion. This tells me either: A. God does not exist
B. It is not important for god to communicate directly with us
Given those are the only two possible answers in my mind I am a Deist. I just choose to believe there is a god. Even if that is just a being with advanced technology from another planet. But that god for whatever reasons chooses not to interact or interfere. At least not yet.
I’m grateful for this thread because it has helped me hone in a little closer on what I believe or might choose to believe. Cadence wrote:I know god does not speak to me, at least on a conscious level. I also know he does not speak to others, at least in a coherent uniform fashion.
I feel very similar to what Cadence said, but less certain. I would say I have never experienced god speaking to me, and I doubt that I ever will. If he has spoken to me, it must have been on a level that I couldn’t recognize for whatever reason. And I would say that I have no direct evidence that he speaks to others but can’t deny the possibility that he has done so. If he has spoken to others, it has been in a rather incoherent and nonuniform fashion that doesn’t allow a very high level of confidence for everyone else and doesn’t constitute proof.I am constantly confronted by the question of why, if there is a god, would he make it so difficult to know about him? There’s no way to prove his existence either way in an objective fashion with what we have now, so to believe in him requires a choice. But what value is that choice when there’s no obvious reason to choose one way versus the other? I can only conclude that if god exists, he will not hold the choice against us—either because he doesn’t care very much (the deist view that Cadence holds), or because he wants to see whether we will still act with integrity and goodness regardless of our beliefs and circumstances.
Daeruin wrote:I am constantly confronted by the question of why, if there is a god, would he make it so difficult to know about him?
This is my struggle with believing in a personal God. If he’s just like you and me, but better, why would he make himself so difficult to find? I do everything I can to make myself available for the people I care about, so why would God work so hard to hide himself from us? If other people only have to ask me a question once before I answer them, why does God insist that we ask him a question many times before we get an answer? This is similar to the difficulty I have with a deist God – if God is capable of creating something as wondrous as the universe (and us) then would such a being really ignore all of it?So now my God is more impersonal – the laws of the universe, as it were. That may change as I go.
InquiringMind wrote:This is similar to the difficulty I have with a deist God – if God is capable of creating something as wondrous as the universe (and us) then would such a being really ignore all of it?
When I think of a deist god, I imagine a scientist with a giant laboratory. One day, when he’s still pretty young, he sets up an ant farm and observes it for a while. Then he gets distracted by giant electromagnets and superconductors and forgets about the ant farm. Every now and then, maybe he walks past it while he’s looking for something else and he thinks “Oh yeah, the ant farm. They’re still alive. Huh. Now where was that thingamabob…?” and he wanders off again.I disagree with you Cadence, I wouldn’t presume that God doesn’t speak to people. Maybe God has and does, but how am I to disprove that? Maybe God talks to all of us, all the time, just there’s just too much static on the line for many of us.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.