Godulike

ahdumb · Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2023 3:39 pm Post subject: Some issues I have with God

Well... basically if you are one of the Abrahamic faiths, part of your belief is that everyone else around you not of your religion is pretty much going to hell, for lack of belief in faith of a supreme being.

I know it's oversimplified, but basically yeah. Don't believe in God, well, you'll spend the afterlife serving it in an ugly place called hell.

I hate the notion of that. Is god so unforgivable? What about those not exposed to religion? Those born into one, forced to follow? What about those in the distant past who didn't even know about such religions? Are all to be condemned? If all are doomed I'd rather burn in hell with the rest than to save myself - I consider it damn selfish and egoistic that only worshippers get saved. Value of human life is uncomparable and distinction by an intangible set of beliefs is simply too much of an injustice to me.

Then there's prayer. I don't see any reason to pray to god. Why worship god? Faith will transform you? Or is it you overcoming yourself? Conscience? Spirituality?

Do we need god, even if he exists? If I knew god existed on a personal level I would respect him but not worship him. I dunno. It just feels damn weird to me. Honour him, but not submit to him.

I guess that's my rant - by the way I'm asian. In Asia. And I guess this would be my introductory post.

Guest · Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2023 4:37 pm Post subject:

As far as I am concerned, the word "worship" should not exist.

Any 'GOD' that wants to be worshipped must have serious problems, therefore not to be trusted, lol.

I reckon all religions suck... try them all out and then put them in the trash, where they belong. ( just like diets Wink

)

Welcome, I am new here too.

aged hippy · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2023 12:54 pm Post subject: Worship.

It seems to me that any God who creates a whole species (us) to worship Him is as insecure as the people who invented Him.

It could be that the translation is lacking, the current concept of 'worship' is one foisted upon us by people (priests, etc.) who had a vested interest in keeping the population in it's place - on its' knees in more ways than one.

It's possible that the original concept was merely to be observant and appreciative of the God.

My thoughts, for what they're worth.

Hello, ahdumb, and Welcome, by the way.
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Guest · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2023 1:44 pm Post subject:

Hippy, you said what I meant much better than the way I came across.

I just realised that your "non-local" thingy reminds me of Deepak Chopra, maya, etc...

Rat_bytes · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2023 2:04 pm Post subject:

Well, it's all bullshit, of course! Obviously if you give things like that a lot of thought there are so many inconsistancies and holes that you'd have to be completely braindead to keep believing in them.
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ahdumb · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2023 3:16 pm Post subject:

Thx for all the replies.

Well I agree with hippy - that's what I believe religion's original purpose was: to give an awareness of God.

And then humanity just had to meddle and screw the whole thing up.

Ratbyte's comment on inconsistency is of course very true. The infallibality of any religion is rarely questioned but truth is religion is still pretty much under the responsibility of humans. And humans make mistakes.

But still I want to believe because the message has always come across so many times for over so many millenia. God or Gods exist - better believe it.

The existence of higher being or beings has been engrained over & over so many times there has to be some grain of truth to it. Or even a great deception. I just wish I knew what it was. Or maybe I just wish we'd all cast aside our differences. I see religion as such a big hindrance to life sometimes. The last stumbling block between people all over. Even race is becoming less of an issue on a personal level.

Rat_bytes · Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2023 2:30 am Post subject:

religion is just another method of mass mind control. God is just a big security camera in the sky.
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dox4242 · Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2023 1:22 am Post subject:

Religion is one's personal experience in seeking for, and eventually finding, God. That people believe there can be cookie cutter religions that can be forced upon everybody else is foolish. The search for God is ethereal enough that there will always be disagreements. What we should do is recognize that there is, in fact, 6.4 billion religions in the world today. There should be freedom of religion, without allowing religions to violate the laws designed to promote peace and happiness. In this vein, I would like to introduce the concept of true religion versus false religion. True religion is the search for God, or the self, or harmony with reality, or whatever. False religion is practiced by hypocrites with ulterior motives (like child raping priests and suicide-murders). A true religionist does not pursue war, promote violence or practice hate.

Welcome to the forum, ahdumb. It's always good to hear from diverse points of view.

Personal, off-topic query: is there a significance to the username 'ahdumb'? I hesitate to apply the quality of 'dumb'ness to people, without being overwhelmed by the evidence therefor. Though I doubt your name is supposed to be interpreted as 'ah dumb'...rather maybe it's a transliteration of 'adam'? A Google search was less than informative (though the first result was to Godulike).
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ahdumb · Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2023 2:10 pm Post subject:

Well done dox. The distinction between finding god and worshipping him (however you do it) is crucial to humanity's view of religion.

Only a few languages in the world pronounce my name correctly: Arabic and strangely, Japanese. It also makes me a little unique anyway in case I meet other adams. Yes I'm a Muslim Adam.

FYI Koran also has Adam and Eve but it doesn't apply the concept of Original Sin that emanated from them plucking the apple.

An exception to my people, I couldn't bother with religion till 21 when I decided to see what I've been missing and unexpectedly found myself drawn to religion - hence the name based on a life of ignorance.

I'm at odds with my religion. The core I do like, but it has strangely driven it's followers to a degraded quality of life after roughly the 13th Century if I'm not mistaken, and gone exponentially worse since WW2 . The exact opposite happened to Christianity in the same time frame.

BTW 9/11 and the stupid word "jihad" floating all around perverted the entire outlook of Islam. So I don't have murderous thoughts on killing the infidels who refuse to submit to Allah with a belt of C4 strapped to my chest... oh my I gave my plans away...

Basically what I'm saying is the person typing here is a sane, rational young man who would probably be given very hard looks if he went to the Middle East debating on such issues about God and subsequently be stoned and flogged for having wickedly blasphemous thoughts.

Seriously speaking, religion is something I feel I could live without but the implications of that are rather tumultously staggering in my life.

If God exists I think humanity should doesn't have to look to him for advice or aspiration. They just have to live the life given to them and for goodness sake use their God-given & Satan-induced intelligence (so much for eating the Fruit of Wisdom) a little better. Hell it isn't even a matter of intelligence I think with many it boils down to a matter of choice.

And if the above was true then just what is the significance of God and religion?

rubindj · Is anybody out there? Joined: 16 Oct 2023 Posts: 1

Just wanted to point out that NOT all the Abrahamic faiths believe that hell even exists -- only Christianity and Islam do. Judaism doesn't believe in hell or satan, nor do they particularly believe in conversion.

We pretty much feel that faith is your way of getting closer to god. We have our ways, and other people have theirs. Our belief holds that any good person, gentile or Jew, will be with G-d in the afterlife. Our way is right for us, and their way is right for them -- imposing ours on them would be in terribly bad consience, just as we don't like people imposing theirs on us.

If Christianity and Islam have corrupted that since then, then that's their religion, but its not all Abrahamic faiths.

webczar · Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2023 2:41 pm Post subject:

webczar · Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2023 2:56 pm Post subject:

aged hippy · Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2023 10:25 am Post subject:

webczar,
I do'nt know if the God you're referring to as

webczar · Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2023 12:55 am Post subject:

helengabelli · Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2023 8:28 am Post subject: God to me,

How interesting to read all the various ideas about God. Some believe, some don't. Some want to. Some won't. Like many of you, a personal search for the truth of God has lead me to this conclusion.

If there is a God, He has manufacturer directions for His creations. He knows what makes them perform the best and He has remedies for correcting mistakes. The human eyeball alone is one example of magnificence that no scientist has ever yet created in a laboratory. The whole body is full of wonderful systems that work and function without our help when they are healthy. We have a body that can heal itself. I can't prove to anyone that there is a God, but just because I can't see Him does not prove that He does not exist either.

I love this God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. And trying to find Him amidst all the false gods and teachings was not easy. It took a long time to finally realize there is only one God.

I choose to believe that He sent us a message on how we are to live.
Unfortunately, the people He sent Him to killed Him because they could not stand the thought of changing their ways. This Man who became one of us said that there is only One commandment. Treat others the way you want to be treated and if you really want to do God's will, all you need to do is ask for His Spirit and you will be guided and helped to accomplish this task.

Does this message need the help of religion? I think not. Does this commandment which is so simple that even a fool can understand it,
need human beings posing as messengers of God and passing baskets
for money after they talk to you? No. This message is so simple but so
life changing if followed that you really do not need agents of control to force you to do the "right" thing. This message is so liberating that when you fully embrace it as a lifestyle in your everyday life that beautiful things begin to happen to you. Of course, you cannot explain why.
You only know that there is a certain kind of love and feeling that exists in your thoughts and emotions that did not come from your own finite puny mind.

I have been ridiculed in these forums, called names, put down and criticized for my belief in love, which happens to be my God. That is okay. Only those who wish to find God can find Him and He just has to let those who have no interest or love in the truth enough to try to find it just bumble around in their arrogance, darkness of mind and blindness. True humility does not permit us to boast of things we know not. I know what love is. I guess that means that I know God is love.

Nice visiting and seeing all you old die hards still chewing on your rags about having the marvelous ability of not having to believe in God. Have fun. It is your choice to believe what you wish about God.

Still me and still believing because I have not found anything better yet.

Helen G.
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