Boss
Take a Memo:
I am constantly amazed here by the somewhat shallow and immature notions of God. I constantly see young wannabe atheists making snarky comments about "the invisible sky man" and such. I see people who have no inkling of an idea about the Bible, parsing out stories or scriptures to ridicule and reject because they've taken things completely out of context or fail to understand the usage of a metaphor in telling ancient stories.
I am not a Christian but I do respect the Bible as a great source of inspiration and valuable guidebook on how to live. I realize a lot of people feel differently, and I respect the fact that they have chosen to place their faith in what they believe to be the word of God. In many respects, the philosophies espoused by Jesus Christ are very much in line with my own beliefs in spirituality. I find nothing particularly contradictory with what Jesus taught.
I guess my real disagreement comes with the concept of sin. I've never understood how an omnipotent God would be concerned with what humans do. In my spiritual beliefs, what are often viewed by others as "sins" are sometimes actions which can disturb or disrupt positive spiritual nature. There is no repercussion from sin other than being detrimental to spiritual positiveness. If these disruptions and detriments continue for an extended period of time, they result in atrophy or despoliation of the human spirit. Across vast populations over time, this results in the collapse of civilization.
So what exactly IS God? Well, let us begin with what God certainly isn't. God is not an invisible person living on a cloud in the sky. God doesn't have a long white gown and beard or speak in a Charleton Heston voice. God isn't a "he" or "she" and has no human physical attributes. There is no proof that anyone has actually seen God, and this makes perfect sense because God is not required to have physical presence.
The best way I can define God is as an energy force. Now people will say, but an energy force can be confirmed by physics and science. Not necessarily true. 96% of our universe is made up of dark matter and dark energy, which completely baffle our concept of physics. Dark matter has gravity but occupies no space. This defies every conventional wisdom science has had about gravity and matter, as well as the laws and principles of physics. Dark energy is the most powerful energy in our universe. Even light can't escape it.
Now if we understand and comprehend how human vision works and that reflection of "light" is actually what we "see" in reality, then it isn't hard to understand, if there is an energy more powerful than light itself, then certainly things can exist that we don't see. And if dark matter defies the laws of physics as we know them, then it's entirely possible for things to exist that physics does not or cannot explain. I believe God falls into this category.
One of the more ludicrous arguments against God is the atheistic chortle, "who created God?" Well, who created gravity or electromagnetism? Who created dark matter and dark energy? Who created logic or reality? May as well be asking those questions. It seems that we accept all kinds of things that do exist without an explanation as to why. God explains why everything exists. This does not mean that we throw up our hands and say "god did it" but it also doesn't mean we shrug and say "just because" either. Science has been instrumental in showing humans how things work, but lost in the myopic nature of that is WHY things work. Why DO we have sets of uniform principles we can define as physics? Why DO certain atoms and protons behave in particular ways or certain elements react particular ways in compound? Why does gravity exist? Why does logic and reality exist?
Most attacks I see on God come from a vitriolic contention with religion. People are so angry at a religious teaching or philosophy, they have decided to not only abandon it, but wage all-out war on it in every conceivable way possible. This includes absolute mockery and ridicule to the point of being absurd. Religion is a creation of man. It is evidence of mankind's intrinsic and irrefutable spiritual connection. It is a way for human beings to try and comprehend something way beyond their ability to comprehend, and in doing so, they often create 'humanistic' incarnations of "God" to help them understand. This leads to a belief in a God who punishes, condemns, loves and hates, forgives and cares. It is possible for God to exist without any of those attributes or without conforming to any preconceived notion offered by man-made religious belief.
For all of human history, we have had an inseparable connection to spirituality. It is clearly from this profound ability to connect to something greater than self, man has achieved the level of technological advancement we see today. Even the most devout believers in evolution have to admit, humans have far surpassed all other living organisms on this planet. There is no natural rationale to explain this, other creatures are better hunters, have better vision, smell, taste, touch, hearing... have cognizance and reasoning abilities, have bigger brains and more cerebral cortex, supposedly had a bigger head start on humans. Why did nothing else living on this planet ever evolve to the extent of human beings? Easy... the one attribute we possess that no other creature has... Spirituality.
I am not a Christian but I do respect the Bible as a great source of inspiration and valuable guidebook on how to live. I realize a lot of people feel differently, and I respect the fact that they have chosen to place their faith in what they believe to be the word of God. In many respects, the philosophies espoused by Jesus Christ are very much in line with my own beliefs in spirituality. I find nothing particularly contradictory with what Jesus taught.
I guess my real disagreement comes with the concept of sin. I've never understood how an omnipotent God would be concerned with what humans do. In my spiritual beliefs, what are often viewed by others as "sins" are sometimes actions which can disturb or disrupt positive spiritual nature. There is no repercussion from sin other than being detrimental to spiritual positiveness. If these disruptions and detriments continue for an extended period of time, they result in atrophy or despoliation of the human spirit. Across vast populations over time, this results in the collapse of civilization.
So what exactly IS God? Well, let us begin with what God certainly isn't. God is not an invisible person living on a cloud in the sky. God doesn't have a long white gown and beard or speak in a Charleton Heston voice. God isn't a "he" or "she" and has no human physical attributes. There is no proof that anyone has actually seen God, and this makes perfect sense because God is not required to have physical presence.
The best way I can define God is as an energy force. Now people will say, but an energy force can be confirmed by physics and science. Not necessarily true. 96% of our universe is made up of dark matter and dark energy, which completely baffle our concept of physics. Dark matter has gravity but occupies no space. This defies every conventional wisdom science has had about gravity and matter, as well as the laws and principles of physics. Dark energy is the most powerful energy in our universe. Even light can't escape it.
Now if we understand and comprehend how human vision works and that reflection of "light" is actually what we "see" in reality, then it isn't hard to understand, if there is an energy more powerful than light itself, then certainly things can exist that we don't see. And if dark matter defies the laws of physics as we know them, then it's entirely possible for things to exist that physics does not or cannot explain. I believe God falls into this category.
One of the more ludicrous arguments against God is the atheistic chortle, "who created God?" Well, who created gravity or electromagnetism? Who created dark matter and dark energy? Who created logic or reality? May as well be asking those questions. It seems that we accept all kinds of things that do exist without an explanation as to why. God explains why everything exists. This does not mean that we throw up our hands and say "god did it" but it also doesn't mean we shrug and say "just because" either. Science has been instrumental in showing humans how things work, but lost in the myopic nature of that is WHY things work. Why DO we have sets of uniform principles we can define as physics? Why DO certain atoms and protons behave in particular ways or certain elements react particular ways in compound? Why does gravity exist? Why does logic and reality exist?
Most attacks I see on God come from a vitriolic contention with religion. People are so angry at a religious teaching or philosophy, they have decided to not only abandon it, but wage all-out war on it in every conceivable way possible. This includes absolute mockery and ridicule to the point of being absurd. Religion is a creation of man. It is evidence of mankind's intrinsic and irrefutable spiritual connection. It is a way for human beings to try and comprehend something way beyond their ability to comprehend, and in doing so, they often create 'humanistic' incarnations of "God" to help them understand. This leads to a belief in a God who punishes, condemns, loves and hates, forgives and cares. It is possible for God to exist without any of those attributes or without conforming to any preconceived notion offered by man-made religious belief.
For all of human history, we have had an inseparable connection to spirituality. It is clearly from this profound ability to connect to something greater than self, man has achieved the level of technological advancement we see today. Even the most devout believers in evolution have to admit, humans have far surpassed all other living organisms on this planet. There is no natural rationale to explain this, other creatures are better hunters, have better vision, smell, taste, touch, hearing... have cognizance and reasoning abilities, have bigger brains and more cerebral cortex, supposedly had a bigger head start on humans. Why did nothing else living on this planet ever evolve to the extent of human beings? Easy... the one attribute we possess that no other creature has... Spirituality.
lol
