JcP

sure. what would you like a list of? jerky things the God in the bible does?

__________________

Just look out around us, people fightin their wars...
They think they'll be happy when they've settled their scores...
Let's lay down our weapons
and hold us apart
be still for just a minute
try to open our hearts
MORE LOVE.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Rev It's not what you see, it's that you're looking.

JcP

v3d4?

__________________

Just look out around us, people fightin their wars...
They think they'll be happy when they've settled their scores...
Let's lay down our weapons
and hold us apart
be still for just a minute
try to open our hearts
MORE LOVE.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Rev It's not what you see, it's that you're looking.

SageTree

I thought that was a rhetorical question.....

I'd be interested to hear your scholar's notes.

__________________

Dozer McDozer

*sigh*

i'm reading the bible right now literally ZOMGWHAT?! Yeah because i'm not gonna listen to other fools nonsense and ramblings. God is the very nature and laws of the world is he not? Build something high enough and it will crumble will it not? Don't peoples language change gradually? Why do we have different dialects.

Childish... You are foolish, JcP.

And whats this talk of Israelites builing the pyramids... it says they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities.

And don't you think of course the Pharoahs heart would harden when he hates the Israelites and has magicians of his own.

BAH!

__________________
Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance. - Albert Einstein

Properly trained, man can be a dog's best friend - i'll get his name once i get book back

farmergiles

It`s a song by Matt Johnson

Armageddon Days Are Here Again

They're 5 miles high as the crow flies
leavin' vapour trails against a blood red sky
Movin' in from the East toward the West
with Balaclava helmets over their heads, yes!

But if you think that Jesus Christ is coming
Honey you've got another thing coming
If he ever finds out who's hi-jacked his name
He'll cut out his heart and turn in his grave

Islam is rising
The Christians mobilising
The world is on its elbows and knees
It's forgotten the message and worships the creeds

It's war, she cried, It's war, she cried, this is war
Drop your possessions, all you simple folk
You will fight them on the beaches in your underclothes
You will thank the good lord for raising the union jack
You'll watch the ships float out the harbour
and the bodies come floating back

If the real Jesus Christ were to stand up today
He'd be gunned down by the C.I.A.
Oh, the lights that now burn brightest behind stained glass
Will cast the darkest shadows upon the human heart
But God didn't build himself that throne
God doesn't live in Israel or Rome
God doesn't belong to the yankee dollar
God doesn't plant the bombs for Hezbollah
God doesn't even go to church
And God won't send us down to Allah to burn
No, God will remind us what we already know
That the human race is about to reap what it's sown

The world is on its elbows and knees
It's forgotten the message and worships the creeds
Armageddon days are here again

__________________
Cultivate a stoic calmness

JcP

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about

haven't forgotten to reply sagetree. I'll post the list of "dickishness" of the old testament 'God' tomorrow after rehearsal.

__________________

Just look out around us, people fightin their wars...
They think they'll be happy when they've settled their scores...
Let's lay down our weapons
and hold us apart
be still for just a minute
try to open our hearts
MORE LOVE.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Rev It's not what you see, it's that you're looking.

verklingen

one man's dick is another man's. . . well, dick

__________________

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

Sugar420

srry i forgot all about this

well i dont want a list. i dont even necessarily want an answer

but i do want to challenge your whole way of thinking.

when we give basic religious instruction to little kids we talk about God as if God is a person. having this idea of God as a person make it easier for kids to begin thinking about (and developing) their self and the relationship between "self" and the entire universe. so thats why we talk about God as a person.
eventually ppl largely stop believing in God or they stop believing in "God as person"

so i just want to make sure you are not thinking of God as a person. of course a person would never do any of the things on your list, not a normal person anyway. only a bad crazy person would. obviously the universe was not created by a bad crazy person.

the other thing is that thinking of God as a person means that everything that exists and happens is ultimately the responsibility of someone other than yourself. in that case when things arent going your way it is natural to blame or feel a little resentful towards that person who is responsible for messing everything up for you.

but God is not a person.
so for me a list of "things done by God" doesnt prove anything because there is nobody, no person, that did them.

JcP

I want to challenge your way of thinking too! Saying things like "God is not a person" is such a leap in logic based on nothing but faith. God might be an old overweight dude sitting on a cosmic lounge chair drinking beer like Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. We have NO IDEA. This isn't about what God is or is not....the OP used the Old Testament and the morality of the God-religion of bible based faith to warn us of incoming retribution. My response to that is that the God of Judaism (and Christianity) is a BIG DICK based on the actions of God.
And while your interpretation of what God is might be different, God is THE FATHER, Jesus is his ONE AND ONLY SON, and the Holy Spirit is the woo-woo aspect put into the mix for all the mystics in the original compilation of the morality-book.
I do not believe in this model...so I'm not sure what you're debating with by warning of me thinking of God as external.


....was my semi-rhetorical OP this confusing? Both you and peace seeker both seem to think that I believe in the Old Testament God...or that my proposal that the God of the old testament is more dickish than the new testament means I think God exists in the personified form.

Anyway, God very well MIGHT be an external person...I don't know. What I do know is that IF (IF IF IF IF IF) God is the God of the Old Testament...that God wipes out women and children in floods...asks for a father to nearly kill his child to show his devotion...tortures a man just to prove his devotion...wipes out entire cities because of 'sinful' behavior after apparently also giving those children free will....making a prophet walk around the desert with the promise of a promised land, only to at the last minute inform him he'll never get to see it...
Then God used to be a BIG ASSHOLE.

I do not believe God to be the God of the old testament...I do not believe God is necessarily an external person (or entirely external).

__________________

Just look out around us, people fightin their wars...
They think they'll be happy when they've settled their scores...
Let's lay down our weapons
and hold us apart
be still for just a minute
try to open our hearts
MORE LOVE.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Rev It's not what you see, it's that you're looking.

ziplock

Had to get a word in before I have to leave. I don't want this to be interpreted as a personal attack, or as a dismissal of valid and reasonable concepts. Instead, this is to be seen as simple a perspective on something I hold important to me and that is what most would understand as God.I believe this is tragedy. 2000 years ago our cultural knowledge base was completely different. The amount of available information humanity possessed 2000+ years ago was much less then what we have now. This leads to an incredibly narrowed, restricted, and particular way of relating. What I will refer to as the "God concept" is so far and beyond the available information that it cannot be related to. We then develop symbolic representations that are then used to "bridge" these distances that are created by our inability to relate.

The "God concept" represented within the OT, NT, and that sort of time period (not to imply that it is somehow unique to that time period as it is not) are of minimal application to todays society. Back in the day, there's a good chance all of this was taken literal, and it wouldn't be stupid to do so given the context. Now, everything in the bible is open for interpretation, to a degree.

Given the context of modern civilization, I see very little need for this particular God concept to be employed. In fact, I would say that I have on many occasion witnessed situations where it was indeed detrimental. I think it's time we dropped the book, and focused on the meaning, ya know?

I myself use many various concepts that are more efficient to me for relating to this overall God concept. I identify heavily with these concepts and my image as portrayed to others will include these concepts. I do so with the knowledge that these concepts are the ones that are best suited for me. I don't want to replace your concepts, be they Abrahamic or otherwise. I want you to be free to find the concepts that are best suited for you. So along as your freedom in finding these concepts does not in some way inhibit the freedom of another's ability. This would probably be the one possible moral absolute candidate I've come across. Do whatever you want, believe whatever you want, live however you want, so long as it does not inhibit another person's abilities to do the same. Once you inhibit another, you have agreed with God to take part in a dangerous game. However, I feel as if our particular existence is the manifestation of just this agreement on a grandiose scale.

__________________
Insanity is the only sane reaction to an insane society.