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| Topic: There is no God? | |
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Oh my god .. Moe .. Do you think Santa is part of the holy trinity .. God the father .. God the son .. God the Holy Ghost and god the fat man in a red suit . The hilarious thing is .. As a child .. We believe in Santa .. But how many adults continue to believe . In his existence ..as for me ... I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus and when she undressed him .. Whoa .. He looked like a clone of my dad  |
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If you don't have God no amount of explanation from someone who does will ever make sense to you. So where did your idea of God come from in the first instance ? I don't believe I was born with an innate knowledge of God.I was raised a Catholic and fervently believed the message I was indoctrinated with only to discover much of what I believed was merely religious dogma practised by hypocritical followers.I rejected God and religion.Then one day,(thirty years later) I met a real Christian whose lifestyle and explanations changed my life. |
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If you don't have God no amount of explanation from someone who does will ever make sense to you. So where did your idea of God come from in the first instance ? I don't believe I was born with an innate knowledge of God.I was raised a Catholic and fervently believed the message I was indoctrinated with only to discover much of what I believed was merely religious dogma practised by hypocritical followers.I rejected God and religion.Then one day,(thirty years later) I met a real Christian whose lifestyle and explanations changed my life. children don't have a say so in which religion they will be part of... that being said, why is there 200 different religions, and only 1 god? |
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If you don't have God no amount of explanation from someone who does will ever make sense to you. So where did your idea of God come from in the first instance ? I don't believe I was born with an innate knowledge of God.I was raised a Catholic and fervently believed the message I was indoctrinated with only to discover much of what I believed was merely religious dogma practised by hypocritical followers.I rejected God and religion.Then one day,(thirty years later) I met a real Christian whose lifestyle and explanations changed my life. children don't have a say so in which religion they will be part of... that being said, why is there 200 different religions, and only 1 god? My post was in response to the statement that "no amount of explanation from someone who does will ever make sense to you". My response to your question is,that there are thousands of religions and thousands of gods.However if we for a moment can accept that there is only one God and by my definition there can only be "one supreme",you can't have two supremes, there is no contradiction in having different ways of paying homage to that Supreme God.Unless of course that Supreme God says this is the only way I want you to pay homage to me. |
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Oh my god .. Moe .. Do you think Santa is part of the holy trinity .. God the father .. God the son .. God the Holy Ghost and god the fat man in a red suit . The hilarious thing is .. As a child .. We believe in Santa .. But how many adults continue to believe . In his existence ..as for me ... I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus and when she undressed him .. Whoa .. He looked like a clone of my dad Then it would no longer be the Holy Trinity and The Holy Quartet doesn't sound as authentic.Anyway there isn't room for four in Santa's sleigh. 
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If you don't have God no amount of explanation from someone who does will ever make sense to you. So where did your idea of God come from in the first instance ? I don't believe I was born with an innate knowledge of God.I was raised a Catholic and fervently believed the message I was indoctrinated with only to discover much of what I believed was merely religious dogma practised by hypocritical followers.I rejected God and religion.Then one day,(thirty years later) I met a real Christian whose lifestyle and explanations changed my life. children don't have a say so in which religion they will be part of... that being said, why is there 200 different religions, and only 1 god? My post was in response to the statement that "no amount of explanation from someone who does will ever make sense to you". My response to your question is,that there are thousands of religions and thousands of gods.However if we for a moment can accept that there is only one God and by my definition there can only be "one supreme",you can't have two supremes, there is no contradiction in having different ways of paying homage to that Supreme God.Unless of course that Supreme God says this is the only way I want you to pay homage to me. then everyone is right and wrong at the same time? god is better than allah? what about Buddha? and Zeus might have something to say about this, if he's done fighting with Apollo... personally, i think Neptune should have been king of the gods, but being wet made him heavier... but the Scientologists are the only ones that are right, they just keep quiet and wait for the aliens to return... |
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Everybody can't be right and wrong at the same time.However everybody can be wrong and I believe this is much closer to the truth.
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Everybody can't be right and wrong at the same time.However everybody can be wrong and I believe this is much closer to the truth. good answer... even tho i don't believe, i respect most of those who do, as long as they are somewhat human about their beliefs... 
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If you don't have God no amount of explanation from someone who does will ever make sense to you. So where did your idea of God come from in the first instance ? I don't believe I was born with an innate knowledge of God.I was raised a Catholic and fervently believed the message I was indoctrinated with only to discover much of what I believed was merely religious dogma practised by hypocritical followers.I rejected God and religion.Then one day,(thirty years later) I met a real Christian whose lifestyle and explanations changed my life. good for you. i dont think we have the innate knowledge of God either, but what we do have is the innate desire to search for meaning. some choose to find meaning in ourselves, some choose to find meaning outside ourselves. in this process we have the opportunity to gain knowledge about God. it then becomes a choice of acceptance or denial. |
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Edited by
Pansytilly
on
Sat 10/03/15 11:36 PM
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very enlightening commentary via mock rhetoric ... laughing... As always, a bright shining star of humor for purely entertainment value ... giggling... What a wonderfully profound way of expressing meaning by muddying the water with intelligent thoughts put into writing ...laughing..."One world, One love" with such motivated acts
  Santa's clone would be pleased..milk and cookies are on the way...   thank you for the continued contributions of this nature. 
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Edited by
Pansytilly
on
Sun 10/04/15 12:06 AM
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moe, i have looked into some websites regarding your above post on Einstein and the "God letter" he wrote. thank you for providing a prompt from which i can use for research. i do not know if your intention for posting what you did is the same as Einstein's for writing it. here are some links and excerpts... 1.http://harmoniaphilosophica.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/einsteins-god-letter-a-translation-a-fool-the-truth/ First of all, Einstein for decades had been clear and unequivocal about believing in "Spinoza'��s God," and that he did not believe in the "personal" God of the Bible, or that the Bible was divine in origin. His views were consistent over many years and there no other evidence of any departure from such views. And sure Einstein’s beliefs like the "science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind" tells us all we need to know about how that great mind thought: surely not in "boxes" of "yes" and "no" as most people would like him to. The context of the letter appears to be Gutkind's elevation of Jewish "Monotheism," that is a personal God. So it appears reasonable to conclude that in using the word "God" Einstein may have simply referred to the concept of a Monotheistic Personal God, which he had already repudiated. Here is how the letter sounds if you restore the original meaning: "The word God for me is nothing more than the product and expression of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection full of honorable but still primitive legends. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can change it (for me). These refined interpretations are naturally highly diverse and have almost nothing to do with the original text. For me, the unadulterated Jewish religion, like every other religion, is an incarnation of primitive superstitions. And the Jewish people, to whom I gladly belong, and whose mentality I have deep affinity for, has for me however no different kind of dignity than any other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, while a lack of power saves them from the worst excesses. So I can not perceive anything "chosen" to them." 2. http://www.deism.com/einsteingodletter.htm Albert Einstein's "God Letter" Taken in Context by Bob Johnson This thought provoking quote from Albert Einstein makes clear that Einstein rejected Gutkind's Jewish/Bible god but did not reject Nature's God: "I'm not an atheist, and I don't think I can call myself a pantheist. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws. Our limited minds grasp the mysterious force that moves the constellations." 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Albert_Einstein Albert Einstein's religious views have been studied extensively. He said he believed in the "pantheistic" God of Baruch Spinoza, but not in a personal god, a belief he criticized. He also called himself an agnostic, while disassociating himself from the label atheist, preferring, he said, "an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being" Einstein characterized himself as "devoutly religious" in one specific sense as in the following statement: The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the power of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is inpenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms— this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong to the rank of devoutly religious men. 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinozism Spinozism (also spelled Spinoza-ism or Spinozaism) is the monist philosophical system of Baruch Spinoza which defines "God" as a singular self-subsistent substance, with both matter and thought being attributes of such. In Spinozism, the concept of a personal relationship with God comes from the position that one is a part of an infinite interdependent "organism." Spinoza argued that everything is a derivative of God, interconnected with all of existence. Although humans only experience thought and extension, what happens to one aspect of existence will still affect others. Thus, Spinozism teaches a form of determinism and ecology and supports this as a basis for morality. --- i think he had an idea of God that is apart from the definition of organized religion... |
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moe, i have looked into some websites regarding your above post on Einstein and the "God letter" he wrote. thank you for providing a prompt from which i can use for research. i do not know if your intention for posting what you did is the same as Einstein's for writing it. here are some links and excerpts... 1.http://harmoniaphilosophica.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/einsteins-god-letter-a-translation-a-fool-the-truth/ First of all, Einstein for decades had been clear and unequivocal about believing in "Spinoza'��s God," and that he did not believe in the "personal" God of the Bible, or that the Bible was divine in origin. His views were consistent over many years and there no other evidence of any departure from such views. And sure Einstein’s beliefs like the "science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind" tells us all we need to know about how that great mind thought: surely not in "boxes" of "yes" and "no" as most people would like him to. The context of the letter appears to be Gutkind's elevation of Jewish "Monotheism," that is a personal God. So it appears reasonable to conclude that in using the word "God" Einstein may have simply referred to the concept of a Monotheistic Personal God, which he had already repudiated. Here is how the letter sounds if you restore the original meaning: "The word God for me is nothing more than the product and expression of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection full of honorable but still primitive legends. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can change it (for me). These refined interpretations are naturally highly diverse and have almost nothing to do with the original text. For me, the unadulterated Jewish religion, like every other religion, is an incarnation of primitive superstitions. And the Jewish people, to whom I gladly belong, and whose mentality I have deep affinity for, has for me however no different kind of dignity than any other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, while a lack of power saves them from the worst excesses. So I can not perceive anything "chosen" to them." 2. http://www.deism.com/einsteingodletter.htm Albert Einstein's "God Letter" Taken in Context by Bob Johnson This thought provoking quote from Albert Einstein makes clear that Einstein rejected Gutkind's Jewish/Bible god but did not reject Nature's God: "I'm not an atheist, and I don't think I can call myself a pantheist. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws. Our limited minds grasp the mysterious force that moves the constellations." 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Albert_Einstein Albert Einstein's religious views have been studied extensively. He said he believed in the "pantheistic" God of Baruch Spinoza, but not in a personal god, a belief he criticized. He also called himself an agnostic, while disassociating himself from the label atheist, preferring, he said, "an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being" Einstein characterized himself as "devoutly religious" in one specific sense as in the following statement: The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the power of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is inpenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms— this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong to the rank of devoutly religious men. 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinozism Spinozism (also spelled Spinoza-ism or Spinozaism) is the monist philosophical system of Baruch Spinoza which defines "God" as a singular self-subsistent substance, with both matter and thought being attributes of such. In Spinozism, the concept of a personal relationship with God comes from the position that one is a part of an infinite interdependent "organism." Spinoza argued that everything is a derivative of God, interconnected with all of existence. Although humans only experience thought and extension, what happens to one aspect of existence will still affect others. Thus, Spinozism teaches a form of determinism and ecology and supports this as a basis for morality. --- i think he had an idea of God that is apart from the definition of organized religion... i agree, but we have to remember that they might not be his true thoughts, as people in his time were persecuted for not buying into the christian dogma of the times... things were way different back then... |
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Edited by
Pansytilly
on
Sun 10/04/15 01:21 AM
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moe, i have looked into some websites regarding your above post on Einstein and the "God letter" he wrote. thank you for providing a prompt from which i can use for research. i do not know if your intention for posting what you did is the same as Einstein's for writing it. here are some links and excerpts... 1.http://harmoniaphilosophica.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/einsteins-god-letter-a-translation-a-fool-the-truth/ First of all, Einstein for decades had been clear and unequivocal about believing in "Spinoza'��s God," and that he did not believe in the "personal" God of the Bible, or that the Bible was divine in origin. His views were consistent over many years and there no other evidence of any departure from such views. And sure Einstein’s beliefs like the "science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind" tells us all we need to know about how that great mind thought: surely not in "boxes" of "yes" and "no" as most people would like him to. The context of the letter appears to be Gutkind's elevation of Jewish "Monotheism," that is a personal God. So it appears reasonable to conclude that in using the word "God" Einstein may have simply referred to the concept of a Monotheistic Personal God, which he had already repudiated. Here is how the letter sounds if you restore the original meaning: "The word God for me is nothing more than the product and expression of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection full of honorable but still primitive legends. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can change it (for me). These refined interpretations are naturally highly diverse and have almost nothing to do with the original text. For me, the unadulterated Jewish religion, like every other religion, is an incarnation of primitive superstitions. And the Jewish people, to whom I gladly belong, and whose mentality I have deep affinity for, has for me however no different kind of dignity than any other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, while a lack of power saves them from the worst excesses. So I can not perceive anything "chosen" to them." 2. http://www.deism.com/einsteingodletter.htm Albert Einstein's "God Letter" Taken in Context by Bob Johnson This thought provoking quote from Albert Einstein makes clear that Einstein rejected Gutkind's Jewish/Bible god but did not reject Nature's God: "I'm not an atheist, and I don't think I can call myself a pantheist. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws. Our limited minds grasp the mysterious force that moves the constellations." 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Albert_Einstein Albert Einstein's religious views have been studied extensively. He said he believed in the "pantheistic" God of Baruch Spinoza, but not in a personal god, a belief he criticized. He also called himself an agnostic, while disassociating himself from the label atheist, preferring, he said, "an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being" Einstein characterized himself as "devoutly religious" in one specific sense as in the following statement: The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the power of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is inpenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms— this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong to the rank of devoutly religious men. 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinozism Spinozism (also spelled Spinoza-ism or Spinozaism) is the monist philosophical system of Baruch Spinoza which defines "God" as a singular self-subsistent substance, with both matter and thought being attributes of such. In Spinozism, the concept of a personal relationship with God comes from the position that one is a part of an infinite interdependent "organism." Spinoza argued that everything is a derivative of God, interconnected with all of existence. Although humans only experience thought and extension, what happens to one aspect of existence will still affect others. Thus, Spinozism teaches a form of determinism and ecology and supports this as a basis for morality. --- i think he had an idea of God that is apart from the definition of organized religion... i agree, but we have to remember that they might not be his true thoughts, as people in his time were persecuted for not buying into the christian dogma of the times... things were way different back then... he was jewish...and as stated, he wrote that letter in reference to his Jewish roots and the opinion of Gutkind regarding God in reference to the Jewish people and belief. but basing on the other stuff he said...he wasn't referring to Christianity either, as Jesus, altho mentioned, was not a big part of his discourse. the way i read it, his search was for truth...neither denying nor accepting God completely, but continually reflecting on the truth of who or what God is, apart from any arbitrary religious dogma. and he was never careless in his opinions, or lack of opinions about God or religion. and he was actually somewhat able to differentiate God from people's idea of God as a "moral" being based on human idea of morality. |
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Edited by
Frankk1950
on
Sun 10/04/15 01:13 AM
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moe, i have looked into some websites regarding your above post on Einstein and the "God letter" he wrote. thank you for providing a prompt from which i can use for research. i do not know if your intention for posting what you did is the same as Einstein's for writing it. here are some links and excerpts... 1.http://harmoniaphilosophica.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/einsteins-god-letter-a-translation-a-fool-the-truth/ First of all, Einstein for decades had been clear and unequivocal about believing in "Spinoza'��s God," and that he did not believe in the "personal" God of the Bible, or that the Bible was divine in origin. His views were consistent over many years and there no other evidence of any departure from such views. And sure Einstein’s beliefs like the "science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind" tells us all we need to know about how that great mind thought: surely not in "boxes" of "yes" and "no" as most people would like him to. The context of the letter appears to be Gutkind's elevation of Jewish "Monotheism," that is a personal God. So it appears reasonable to conclude that in using the word "God" Einstein may have simply referred to the concept of a Monotheistic Personal God, which he had already repudiated. Here is how the letter sounds if you restore the original meaning: "The word God for me is nothing more than the product and expression of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection full of honorable but still primitive legends. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can change it (for me). These refined interpretations are naturally highly diverse and have almost nothing to do with the original text. For me, the unadulterated Jewish religion, like every other religion, is an incarnation of primitive superstitions. And the Jewish people, to whom I gladly belong, and whose mentality I have deep affinity for, has for me however no different kind of dignity than any other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, while a lack of power saves them from the worst excesses. So I can not perceive anything "chosen" to them." 2. http://www.deism.com/einsteingodletter.htm Albert Einstein's "God Letter" Taken in Context by Bob Johnson This thought provoking quote from Albert Einstein makes clear that Einstein rejected Gutkind's Jewish/Bible god but did not reject Nature's God: "I'm not an atheist, and I don't think I can call myself a pantheist. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws. Our limited minds grasp the mysterious force that moves the constellations." 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Albert_Einstein Albert Einstein's religious views have been studied extensively. He said he believed in the "pantheistic" God of Baruch Spinoza, but not in a personal god, a belief he criticized. He also called himself an agnostic, while disassociating himself from the label atheist, preferring, he said, "an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being" Einstein characterized himself as "devoutly religious" in one specific sense as in the following statement: The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the power of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is inpenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms— this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong to the rank of devoutly religious men. 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinozism Spinozism (also spelled Spinoza-ism or Spinozaism) is the monist philosophical system of Baruch Spinoza which defines "God" as a singular self-subsistent substance, with both matter and thought being attributes of such. In Spinozism, the concept of a personal relationship with God comes from the position that one is a part of an infinite interdependent "organism." Spinoza argued that everything is a derivative of God, interconnected with all of existence. Although humans only experience thought and extension, what happens to one aspect of existence will still affect others. Thus, Spinozism teaches a form of determinism and ecology and supports this as a basis for morality. --- i think he had an idea of God that is apart from the definition of organized religion... i agree, but we have to remember that they might not be his true thoughts, as people in his time were persecuted for not buying into the christian dogma of the times... things were way different back then... he was jewish...and as stated, he wrote that letter in reference to his Jewish roots and the opinion of Gutkind regarding God in reference to the Jewish people and belief. but basing on the other stuff he said...he wasn't referring to Christianity either, as Jesus, altho mentioned, was not a big part of his discourse. the way i read it, his search was for truth...neither denying nor accepting God completely, but continually reflecting on the truth of who or what God is, apart from any arbitrary religious dogma. and he was never careless in his opinions, or lack of opinions about God or religion. and he was actually somewhat able to differentiate God from people's idea of God as a "moral" being based on human idea of morality. yes, of course he was Jewish, but back then, if anyone openly stated they didn't believe in a god, they could have very easily ended up in jail or dead... that was not acceptable in that era... the US was a Christian country, ruled by Christians, like it or not...Freedom of religion was in the constitution, but they understood it more as "better have a religion"... so that's why i said it might not have been his true thoughts, but something that would have been acceptable to not get persecuted... but that's my theory, it may be exactly as quoted... |
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Edited by
Pansytilly
on
Sun 10/04/15 01:51 AM
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moe, i have looked into some websites regarding your above post on Einstein and the "God letter" he wrote. thank you for providing a prompt from which i can use for research. i do not know if your intention for posting what you did is the same as Einstein's for writing it. here are some links and excerpts... 1.http://harmoniaphilosophica.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/einsteins-god-letter-a-translation-a-fool-the-truth/ First of all, Einstein for decades had been clear and unequivocal about believing in "Spinoza'��s God," and that he did not believe in the "personal" God of the Bible, or that the Bible was divine in origin. His views were consistent over many years and there no other evidence of any departure from such views. And sure Einstein’s beliefs like the "science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind" tells us all we need to know about how that great mind thought: surely not in "boxes" of "yes" and "no" as most people would like him to. The context of the letter appears to be Gutkind's elevation of Jewish "Monotheism," that is a personal God. So it appears reasonable to conclude that in using the word "God" Einstein may have simply referred to the concept of a Monotheistic Personal God, which he had already repudiated. Here is how the letter sounds if you restore the original meaning: "The word God for me is nothing more than the product and expression of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection full of honorable but still primitive legends. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can change it (for me). These refined interpretations are naturally highly diverse and have almost nothing to do with the original text. For me, the unadulterated Jewish religion, like every other religion, is an incarnation of primitive superstitions. And the Jewish people, to whom I gladly belong, and whose mentality I have deep affinity for, has for me however no different kind of dignity than any other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, while a lack of power saves them from the worst excesses. So I can not perceive anything "chosen" to them." 2. http://www.deism.com/einsteingodletter.htm Albert Einstein's "God Letter" Taken in Context by Bob Johnson This thought provoking quote from Albert Einstein makes clear that Einstein rejected Gutkind's Jewish/Bible god but did not reject Nature's God: "I'm not an atheist, and I don't think I can call myself a pantheist. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws. Our limited minds grasp the mysterious force that moves the constellations." 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Albert_Einstein Albert Einstein's religious views have been studied extensively. He said he believed in the "pantheistic" God of Baruch Spinoza, but not in a personal god, a belief he criticized. He also called himself an agnostic, while disassociating himself from the label atheist, preferring, he said, "an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being" Einstein characterized himself as "devoutly religious" in one specific sense as in the following statement: The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the power of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is inpenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms— this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong to the rank of devoutly religious men. 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinozism Spinozism (also spelled Spinoza-ism or Spinozaism) is the monist philosophical system of Baruch Spinoza which defines "God" as a singular self-subsistent substance, with both matter and thought being attributes of such. In Spinozism, the concept of a personal relationship with God comes from the position that one is a part of an infinite interdependent "organism." Spinoza argued that everything is a derivative of God, interconnected with all of existence. Although humans only experience thought and extension, what happens to one aspect of existence will still affect others. Thus, Spinozism teaches a form of determinism and ecology and supports this as a basis for morality. --- i think he had an idea of God that is apart from the definition of organized religion... i agree, but we have to remember that they might not be his true thoughts, as people in his time were persecuted for not buying into the christian dogma of the times... things were way different back then... he was jewish...and as stated, he wrote that letter in reference to his Jewish roots and the opinion of Gutkind regarding God in reference to the Jewish people and belief. but basing on the other stuff he said...he wasn't referring to Christianity either, as Jesus, altho mentioned, was not a big part of his discourse. the way i read it, his search was for truth...neither denying nor accepting God completely, but continually reflecting on the truth of who or what God is, apart from any arbitrary religious dogma. and he was never careless in his opinions, or lack of opinions about God or religion. and he was actually somewhat able to differentiate God from people's idea of God as a "moral" being based on human idea of morality. yes, of course he was Jewish, but back then, if anyone openly stated they didn't believe in a god, they could have very easily ended up in jail or dead... that was not acceptable in that era... the US was a Christian country, ruled by Christians, like it or not...Freedom of religion was in the constitution, but they understood it more as "better have a religion"... so that's why i said it might not have been his true thoughts, but something that would have been acceptable to not get persecuted... but that's my theory, it may be exactly as quoted... ok...i can understand that... it is a matter of speculation and interpretation....like the bible or any religious text...like God...like many other things....taken to mean one thing or another...could be real or imagined... and that is the answer to your question of why even just one God and one bible...there are many religions/sects stemming from it... one Einstein, one letter... many ways of looking at it... all dependent on context and intent and extent of interpretation and misinterpretation. a theory based on a reality |
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Ok ... Who stole my raisin cake .. Laughing "though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes."... God still loves the faithless .... The book of Hosea is a biblical love story  There is hope for those without faith.. Moe .. Did you partake of the sacred raisin cake.. I think that is biblical slang for ***** to quote the great " The Rock" from WWE, i would partake in the sacred pie... but no strudel... the strudel would be all for you... |
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Edited by
Annierooroo
on
Sun 10/04/15 04:55 AM
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I believe we have been giving a free will to believe what we want to believe.
I have seen at an early age how religion being forced on to people can set them down a dangerous path but I have also seen what happens when there is free will and the person can chose. I hate judging and criticising others because of who they are and what they believe. I have learnt you can not blame God for the way people treat others even if they are doing it in his name. God is of love, people have a choice to how they behave. For me through experience I have learnt to observe how christians live their lives. If they don't show the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-26 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Then I personally by my choice will walk away. I know I am not perfect and yes I fall short many times. I try to live my life according to the will of God. Yes not only do I read the Bible but I also hear what the Lord says to me. John 10:27 New King James Version (NKJV) My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I have to be honest I am not one to preach. I am the type that want my actions to speak louder than my words. I also believe that the word has been preached many times and the preacher has not practise what they live by and many have been wrong done because of it. I am not ashamed of what I believe and how I live my life. I respect what others believe I was interested in this post because I wanted to understand why. Thank you for sharing how you feel. |
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