What God " Really " Meant

[sojourner]

Damn Antlerman, I still cringe a bit when I hear you say that man. It seems so new agey to me. I would say God is often a human projection or something. I mean damn. Saying "we are God" sounds so arrogant to me.

 

Hey Legion

 

What if its not arrogance, in that, all man proclaims about God are images that arise out of very human desires to understand God and to explain God to himself and others? Dont we really by even speaking about God or writing about God create a God in our own image?

 

 

 

sojourner

[Guest end3]

Who teaches us about our spiritual/emotional "truths"? Mom, Dad, history, the second grade teacher? And why do we come to some indepenant understanding than say Mom, Dad, history.....

 

edited for signature line

 

END III

[Legion]

God is human.

Damn Antlerman, I still cringe a bit when I hear you say that man. It seems so new agey to me. I would say God is often a human projection or something. I mean damn. Saying "we are God" sounds so arrogant to me.

 

I take that as the gods' different natures are of human invention. .

 

Dont we really by even speaking about God or writing about God create a God in our own image?

Hey Sojourner and Chris, I understand the idea that gods are often created in our image. Or perhaps you could say that gods are often a personification of our own values and ideals. But there is still a big difference in my mind between saying that and saying "we are God."

 

I find it interesting that the two people who responded to this sign names at the end of their posts.

 

Legion Most Magnificent Regalis

[sojourner]

I find it interesting that the two people who responded to this sign names at the end of their posts.

 

Legion Most Magnificent Regalis

 

lol great observation

 

thanks for that, will ponder more on it, hey maybe this would work, s_______r ya know, like the nick is just too unspeakable to speak so out of reverance for myself I will sign like that lol

 

Hey Sojourner and Chris, I understand the idea that gods are often created in our image. Or perhaps you could say that gods are often a personification of our own values and ideals. But there is still a big difference in my mind between saying that and saying "we are God."

 

I see, well being as I believe in God and not only God exists but in panenthiesm, then its not a far stretch although to me God is not only in us and us in Him but He is beyond human - that to me is the great mystery.

 

(cant decide what to sign here)

[florduh]

I get your position, Legion. This might be confusing to discuss because people seem to have different ways of saying the same thing.

 

We interpreted AM's remark differently, but after all, we're just human!

 

God made us in his image, therefore we are as god is, according to the Bible legend. We can do the things Jesus did, and even greater things, according to the Bible. From that perspective we are "gods." From another Bible perspective, we can never know the mind of God, as we are created inferior to him. WTF?

 

Outside of Biblical concepts, conflicting as they may be, other gods exist in the minds of humans. All take form as human or observable things in nature, such as animal gods. If none of these gods people have made up really exist, and if we MUST have our gods anyway, then those gods are really just us. By deliberately not giving your idea of a god the you believe surely must exist any recognizable form, it is still just a human idea at work. You can only say I feel there must be a god, and mine is a father figure, or a mother, of the sun that gives us life, or the powerful god of the volcano, or the formless and nameless force that must have created us. There is no logical reason to posit a god, but human emotional makeup seems to demand it.

 

Maybe I just can't make any sense sometimes . . .

 

- God

[Legion]

Oh gracious Sojourner, I think you're great. She whose name cannot be spoken. lol

[sojourner]

 

I really needed to laugh, thanks, its been tough around here! (not here as the forum but life in general)

 

sojourner

[Grandpa Harley]

I find it interesting that the two people who responded to this sign names at the end of their posts.

 

Legion Most Magnificent Regalis

 

lol great observation

 

thanks for that, will ponder more on it, hey maybe this would work, s_______r ya know, like the nick is just too unspeakable to speak so out of reverance for myself I will sign like that lol

 

Hey Sojourner and Chris, I understand the idea that gods are often created in our image. Or perhaps you could say that gods are often a personification of our own values and ideals. But there is still a big difference in my mind between saying that and saying "we are God."

 

I see, well being as I believe in God and not only God exists but in panenthiesm, then its not a far stretch although to me God is not only in us and us in Him but He is beyond human - that to me is the great mystery.

 

(cant decide what to sign here)

 

So does your God have a 'personality' or is God simply all things, with all the 'personality' of, say, an individual wasp has compared to the hive?

[Manditag in AK]

Hi End3....it seems everyone else is too busy with their discussion for the moment to have caught your question, but I'll give you my answer. I do believe in spiritual phenomena. It happens to most of us, no matter what religion we claim to be part of, and even if it is something that we ourselves create, it is still legitimately real for us.

 

That said, most countries as a whole DO believe in God. So you can walk down the street and see church advertisements, people mentioning him, slogans for how to act, what is right, your parents telling you about the golden rule to get you not to smack your little brother on the head...it's reflected in books, even little board books. People often say 'jesus' when they curse. Also, I think what's NOT said is important-what if your class sees a gay person on a field trip, and the teacher quietly orders 'no, don't talk to him'...and you leave? Doesn't that send a more powerful message because it was ACTED on, not just said?

 

So I think our environment, all around us, usually has those truths in it. If it didn't we wouldn't live in a place where any 'truth' resided, and I personally don't think that's possible.

 

I would also posit that because everyone is different, we all look at the same information in our world and come to different conclusions. Sometimes we disagree because what we're told doesn't make sense to us, sometimes it's simply rebellion. Sometimes we disagree because we feel like we're carrying around everybody else's views on the world and we have to shed those at least temporarily to know who we are.

[Grandpa Harley]

I was ignoring it because it's a sappy question...

[sojourner]

So does your God have a 'personality' or is God simply all things, with all the 'personality' of, say, an individual wasp has compared to the hive?

 

Hi Grandpa,

 

wow, what a question, really makes me think deeply. If you could call my thinking deep haha it may be as deep as a puddle compared to an ocean!

 

The word God, I aquate to the depth that I get hints at being real and there beyond the images but cant ever hold onto. It is that 'beyond' that I relate to 'In Him we live move and have our being'.

 

I think all creation are images that point to that 'beyond' that 'Him' that is God. But do I grasp it at all? I have no clue how much I grasp or dont grasp.

 

But I will say this, I think my experience in religion made me incredibly proud, sure of absolutes and I desperately needed that to see what Thich Nhat Hanh said, 'Every view is wrong view when its held that it is the only true view'.

 

see sig below lol

[Grandpa Harley]

In Sanskrit every word had an shade of meaning that pointed to the divine... thus the word for rock had the subtext 'god-in-the-form-of-a-rock', or 'tree' - 'god-in-the-form-of-a-tree'...

 

Is this what you're pointing at?

[sojourner]

I think that is good, yes

 

how do you view that?

 

sojourner

 

ps - came back to say I cracked myself up in the kitchen making lunch thinking on what i quoted of Thich, my thought was 'of course, Thich may be wrong about that' then I rolled

 

man this day is cheering me up

 

so_our___

 

hey I kinda like that one

[Guest end3]

Thanks Mand,

I was particularly thinking of those connections/revelations that happen periodically, but don't seem to be connected to a standard form of education. Thanks for the reply.

[Deva]

God is human.

Damn Antlerman, I still cringe a bit when I hear you say that man. It seems so new agey to me. I would say God is often a human projection or something. I mean damn. Saying "we are God" sounds so arrogant to me.

 

 

Hey Legion the Magnificent:

 

Saying "we are God" does sound strange in the west. Its because we are so conditioned with the Judeo-Christian idea of God. I don't think this is what Antler was referring to.

 

Its really not "new age". In the very ancient Upanishads it is stated that "Thou are That" which means you are the whole universe and in that sense you are "God". It is not arrogant in that way, just a fact. It is us being in God and God being everything.

[Grandpa Harley]

I think that is good, yes

 

how do you view that?

 

 

It's then down to definition of 'gods'...

[R. S. Martin]

Its really not "new age". In the very ancient Upanishads it is stated that "Thou are That" which means you are the whole universe and in that sense you are "God". It is not arrogant in that way, just a fact. It is us being in God and God being everything.

 

"I in him and he is us and all in God." I'm not quoting that quite right but isn't there a verse in the Bible that goes along those lines? Seems I was always hearing it in the Old Order Mennonite sermons and in everyday life to underscore how we are all connected and that what one person does has an impact on everyone else. It was used to enforce the idea that every single person absolutely has to keep all the rules whether or not anyone sees him or her because in the end it MATTERS.

[Deva]

Its really not "new age". In the very ancient Upanishads it is stated that "Thou are That" which means you are the whole universe and in that sense you are "God". It is not arrogant in that way, just a fact. It is us being in God and God being everything.

 

"I in him and he is us and all in God." I'm not quoting that quite right but isn't there a verse in the Bible that goes along those lines? Seems I was always hearing it in the Old Order Mennonite sermons and in everyday life to underscore how we are all connected and that what one person does has an impact on everyone else. It was used to enforce the idea that every single person absolutely has to keep all the rules whether or not anyone sees him or her because in the end it MATTERS.

 

 

I think the infamous Paul said something to that effect. In God (or Christ) we live, move and have our being (can't remember the verse). But the most of the rest of what he wrote indicates he only thought that Christians had this, not all people. It can obviously be twisted.

[Antlerman]

God is human.

Damn Antlerman, I still cringe a bit when I hear you say that man. It seems so new agey to me. I would say God is often a human projection or something. I mean damn. Saying "we are God" sounds so arrogant to me.

We need to work on your knee-jerk reactions. Are you still seeing God as some external super-being? Maybe subtly? A marriage to the past? I'm not sure how you see that as some New Age thing? How do you? How are you defining God?

 

When I say we are God, I'm speaking "we" individually and collectively create God, and that God is human means has the traits of the world as seen through human eyes. Here's the context of what I said:

 

God is a human expression

. They can couch it all in cloud-language, i.e., sky beings, but it's still an expression of something that pertained to them at that time, under those circumstances, and within that context. In the midst of all that, was a human being with human anxieties.

Those were expressed in the language of Divinity as an extension of themselves.

So to understand what God meant, is to understand the humanity in the midst of circumstance.

God is human.

 

I don't see that as arrogant. I see recognizing that we are the creators of God as ennobling, as empowering to humans. Why create something higher than ourselves, if we make it impossible to become that? Do you set impossible goals for yourself in life? How does that work for you? Why can't people become the things they create symbols for for them to aspire towards?

 

So two things, I'd like to know how this sounds New Age, and how does it sounds arrogant?

 

BTW, Florduh gets to hold the Horn of the Sacred Antler for his understanding, you however get to sit by the ancient fires with the Flores Hobbit and peer into it for a while longer

 

I think it may be time to bring back my old avatar!

[florduh]

BTW, Florduh gets to hold the Horn of the Sacred Antler for his understanding, you however get to sit by the ancient fires with the Flores Hobbit and peer into it for a while longer

I got lucky.

 

- God

[Eponymic]

Any thoughts?

 

I think God really meant the bible to be a big practical joke. He's been sitting up there laughing for the last two thousand years.

Everytime someone dies and they come before them he says, "Welcome my child... Fooled you!"

[Grandpa Harley]

Girl of sixteen, whole life ahead of her

Slashed her wrists, bored with life

Didn't succeed, thank the Lord

For small mercies

 

Fighting back the tears, mother reads the note again

Sixteen candles burn in her mind

She takes the blame, its always the same

She goes down on her knees and prays

 

I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours

But I think that gods got a sick sense of humour

And when I die I expect to find him laughing

 

Girl of eighteen, fell in love with everything

Found new life in Jesus Christ

Hit by a car, ended up

On a life support machine

 

Summers day, as she passed away

Birds were singing in the summer sky

Then came the rain, and once again

A tear fell from her mothers eye

 

I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours

But I think that gods got a sick sense of humour

And when I die I expect to find him laughing

[Eponymic]

I think it may be time to bring back my old avatar!

 

Yeah, I kinda miss the ol' bugger too.

 

You could do a neat hybrid and put the catholic hat & robes on the prehistoric man.

[Guest Rob Barnes]

When I think of the Bible I cannot help but think of the oceans of theologians whom have to perform constant intellectual gymnastics to make the good book palatable to our 21st century morality. I'm apt to wonder just why the perfect words of the creator of the universe need such remedial surgery?

 

I've heard some say that this is part of what is called "loosing and binding", a rabinical practice that seeks to add fresh insight and interpretation.

 

But whoa, hang on!! These theologians, these rabbi's of the new millenium are just men. Just mammals. So when they claim to have made a new insight, or excavated a new pearl of Biblical wisdom, I think it is entirely reasonable to ask by what authority they can possibly know that what they come up with is true?

 

Couldn't God have got the Bible right the first time around?

[florduh]

Couldn't God have got the Bible right the first time around?

 

I agree. A real god would be clearly understood by and self evident to his creation. The men who wrote the Bible borrowed some older myths and tried to fit them to their society. They pretended to be speaking for a god, but they were either self-deluded or just lying to gain power and prestige. Obviously, any celestial author purported to be so superior to mere mortals would have done a better job.

 

- Chris