What do you think is the purpose of life/ what keeps you going?

Thomas Edison basically said that God is the worst invention in the history of the planet. God didn't invent light bulb for us, he did, so to me, Edison is God.

God is the worst thing people invented.

 

http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b4edisont.htm
Unfortunately, Thomas had a slight hearing disability, which worsened year by year.

"I do not believe in the God of the theologians; but that there is a Supreme Intelligence I do not doubt."

"My mind is incapable of conceiving such a thing as a soul. I may be in error..."

Have fun with your Ouija board!

 

A 'human' coping mechanism is a way of dealing with issues by our efforts.

Divine salvation is God's way of dealing with issues we cannot by our effort.

When you look for God and you can't find Him that doesn't mean He doesn't exist, it just means your search is flawed or your direction is off.

God is a spirit. He sent Jesus in human flesh to make Himself observable.
What else should He do for the logical mind?

If Jesus doesn't satisfy reason, nothing will.

If God has done His best to reveal Himself and you refuse Him, whose fault is it?

Jesus Christ is the revelation of God to man.

These things are hidden from the wise and they are revealed to children.

 

I believe alot about what your saying....but reality is kinda of vague concepty or entity. Reality does encompass day-to-day events, like most of us go to work (or school), have families, watch or read the news in some way shape form, get married, have kids, go to church (or mosque, synagogue, or temple), then we die and go to heaven or one of the other places. To most that is (our) reality in the nut-shell (in America and similar societies. We understand or reality in the most simplest forms, but not the most complex.

We can't see everything that's happening in the world or the universe. We can't really see what's happening on far away. We can even see what's happening on our jobs, homes, or etc....like for example...you see when people are totally shock when the someone reveals a secret to them about something work-related, in romantic relationship, or something else about them that they didn't know.

The reality of people consistently changes, while the world's and universe's
does not. The world and universe is pretty much has the same basic cycle or order of things through. Also, our reality is sort of constructed by society...like most things...if they prove true is always up for debate.

To prove God exist to unbeliever could prove difficult, because he has not grasp that possible concept of spirtuality or the presence of omnipotent master and does understand the laws or a requirements.....while unbeliever would have that same difficulty trying to covince a person with a world of faith that this whole God thing is just figment of people's imagination, or socially constructed tool thats has been used to order people's moral character for centuries. It would be monumental for both sides...almost in death or reincarnation as a spirit, angel, or force that could come back to the unbeliever and say "I told you so," or the unbeliever and the believer both die and never heard from again in any form or fashion.

It's kinda like the "World will never end, but it will end as you know it." Even you die or every other person on this planet is killed after big blast or plague. The world technically will not end, God would not be dead, the Universe will still have the cosmos, but the human race would be ended for that moment in time or possibly forever.

 

I believe alot about what your saying....but reality is kinda of vague concepty or entity. Reality does encompass day-to-day events, like most of us go to work (or school), have families, watch or read the news in some way shape form, get married, have kids, go to church (or mosque, synagogue, or temple), then we die and go to heaven or one of the other places. To most that is (our) reality in the nut-shell (in America and similar societies. We understand or reality in the most simplest forms, but not the most complex.

We can't see everything that's happening in the world or the universe. We can't really see what's happening on far away. We can even see what's happening on our jobs, homes, or etc....like for example...you see when people are totally shock when the someone reveals a secret to them about something work-related, in romantic relationship, or something else about them that they didn't know.

The reality of people consistently changes, while the world's and universe's
does not. The world and universe is pretty much has the same basic cycle or order of things through. Also, our reality is sort of constructed by society...like most things...if they prove true is always up for debate.

To prove God exist to unbeliever could prove difficult, because he has not grasp that possible concept of spirtuality or the presence of omnipotent master and does understand the laws or a requirements.....while unbeliever would have that same difficulty trying to covince a person with a world of faith that this whole God thing is just figment of people's imagination, or socially constructed tool thats has been used to order people's moral character for centuries. It would be monumental for both sides...almost in death or reincarnation as a spirit, angel, or force that could come back to the unbeliever and say "I told you so," or the unbeliever and the believer both die and never heard from again in any form or fashion.

It's kinda like the "World will never end, but it will end as you know it." Even you die or every other person on this planet is killed after big blast or plague. The world technically will not end, God would not be dead, the Universe will still have the cosmos, but the human race would be ended for that moment in time or possibly forever.

 

You start off saying to hell with happiness and then say happiness plays a big part. Not many people are happy a majority of their lives. Religious people sometimes sacrifice immediate happiness for the sake of their religion. If knowledge alone makes you happy, then go for it.

Every now and then you make these statements that sound Christian like. I get the feeling you want God to prove himself to you through various challenges. It rarely works out like that. You're relativistic yet you want to believe in Absolute Truth (albeit in the form of Knowledge). Perhaps you want that Absolute Truth to be practiced upon others so their lives can be bettered by the Discovery.

Without the human race, who will be there to worship God?

In a sense, knowing the existence of intelligent aliens would make the question simpler, but it would knock against that claim that we or they are the Chosen Race of our Creator.

 

I feel the same way you do about the Bible. It freaks me out at times. There's stuff in there that I wish wasn't Certainly lots of stuff in there I don't get...and so much we miss because of historical context.

But I don't understand the point about of "if one grain of it is false, it's all false." What do you mean? You have to be a complete literalist, or there was no resurrection?? Job can't be a parable? Genesis is a poem...does it have to be 100% factually true to communicate truth? Can it not just communicate that there was a Creator who created creation? I'm with you on the Gospel accounts...but those are presented differently. Luke starts by saying, "i'm making an account of these things that happened." That's a whole different tone though than most of the Bible.

You're aware, I assume...that the Bible is a collection of different books and letters written by various different writers over the course of thousands of years, right?

Book suggestion: "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell.

 

How is Genesis a poem? Isn't it a historical account of the Hebrew people through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Israel whose descendents are the twelve tribes of Israel? About how Jacob's son Joseph became prime minister of Egypt and answered only to pharaoh? And about how a famine in the land caused the Israelites to go to Egypt to buy grain in order to survive?

 

sorry..the first chapter or so is a poem. too often i use the word "genesis" as a synonym for the creation story.

 

What good is knowledge if it is mis applied or incorrect or worse yet not used rightly, if at all? How does knowledge affect divorce, crime and war? What about child abuse and greed? Ignorance can be blamed for many things when in fact it rarely is actually a problem. Moral actions require knowledge. Realizing something is immoral has no bearing on actions taken. The basis of moral decisions is love, whether something is selfish or benevolent, not knowledge.

Here is one example that proves this- let's say that you found an absolute foolproof way to hack into the government treasury and transfer up to 1 billion dollars into a secure account in your name in Switzerland. You have the knowledge that the government annually writes off several billion dollars in unexplained loss. You are guaranteed never to be caught. No one will ever miss it or know about it. You alone have this knowledge and opportunity.

Your facts, truths and principles tell you that since no one will miss it, no one will suffer for it, and no one will ever even know about it you will not be punished for this.

Now, what are you going to do with knowledge. Here is where the moral choice must be made. Is it right for you to steal what belongs to someone else? That is a moral choice- right or wrong

Now if I asked you if you loved the people who rightfully made those deposits
as much as you loved yourself (the Golden Rule) I could tell the truth by the choice you made. If you stole from them, then you cannot say you love them.

You would be upset if someone stole your car and all your credit cards, yet given the chance to get away with the same thing you might do it.

I think love is a much better reason for life than knowledge.

I am a Christian but I don't think of miracles as critical, I consider truth critical.

But miracles are not a contradiction to logic. It is logical that a powerful God can defy physical laws. Yes, Jesus walked on top of the water, defying physics, he also turned plain water into fine wine (with alcohol I believe) and he fed over five thousand people with a sack lunch.

Correct something is right because it is right, it is good because it is good.

I think you are really considering the correct things here. It is just as you say except that God is the giver of logic. The logical rule is a description of the logical God. Thus His logic is higher than man's logic.

This is a good attitude, I am praying for you to find truth. It is far more valuable than happiness.

I think you might not be thinking of pride and humility as I would anyways.
Pride is exalting myself higher than I should.
Humility is seeing my own value in true relation to the value of others and God. The drive to succeed could make you a cheater or a liar. Looking after others is the opposite of pride. Pride makes you more important, results in selfishness and causes you to think you are better than others. Just because you do your best does not make you prideful. It is when you think you can do less than your best that you become prideful.

This doesn't tick me off at all, You are a very honest poster and I respect everything you have given. After all we only are posting our opinions and we can respect that, right. So I will comment on these verses-

I would like to point out that God chose to work with these people, and he showed their faults also. God did not direct Moses to keep the virgins for themselves. The other difficulty here is the judgment God took on the Midianites this is an issue that takes quite of bit of understanding of mankind's sin and the justice, judgment and mercy of God. If you care to email me I will give you an answer concerning this that your can read or delete. I am not trying to say I understand everything in the Bible either, I am trying to say that without understanding God's redeeming purposes some of this makes no sense at all.

Again it would take a while to explain what I understand here, my opinion. But you can answer this for yourself, just commit bestiality, homosexuality, adultery and curse your parents and over time you will know if it is good or not. In fact if we all would do all of these things we could know alot sooner if they are indeed logically right, loving and just.

God is logical if you think on a relational level, instead purely materialistic.
God's point I think is don't worship what is not a god, what is false. That is logical also. It is good you are inquiring about God, He rewards this.

The only thing to fear is evil, both in yourself and others.

I don't think you should blame God for man's attempts at religion. I believe man has messed up religion to the point God is sick of it. God did not put any child here on earth except for the purpose of knowing Him. Christians are at fault for making God religious and keeping children around the world in the dark, let God work this out, He is just, faithful and in eternity all will be right.

The Bible is the story of Jesus Christ. I really believe He is the one you seek.

Read the gospel books, Matthew Mark Luke John, in there you will find the Answer. He is a person, God's Son.

I appreciate your honest comments and questions.

 

My bad, I mistook someone else's post for yours. However, one truth of our existence is that we change from birth to death. That state of flux is constant or even cyclical under your definition (but not cyclical to you or me). Furthermore, you will constantly set yourself up to change in your pursuit of knowledge. Cast it off as ignorance, but have been changed by what you just read.

While you can anchor yourself to a few Absolute truths, how you approach the truth in mindset and practice will definitely change as you move further.