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Author | Topic: What is God's Purpose for being? | |||||||||||||||||||
arachnophilia Member (Idle past 1374 days) Posts: 9069 From: god's waiting room Joined: |
according to ancient traditions, a spirit's name is its duty and function. if you know its name, you can control it. this is probably what moses had in mind when he asked god what his name was. but god answered moses in a sort of play on words. the name god told moses was an obscure form of the verb "to be."
so god's purpose for being is being. according to the bible, anyways.
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arachnophilia Member (Idle past 1374 days) Posts: 9069 From: god's waiting room Joined: |
But what is wrong with that for us? Christians claim all things need purpose... Why doesn't God? i don't understand. why does anything need purpose? meaning? let alone god who defines other purposes and meanings? similarly, i discovered the meaning of life at some point in high school. namely, to live it and quit worrying about its meaning.
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arachnophilia Member (Idle past 1374 days) Posts: 9069 From: god's waiting room Joined: |
Christianity is a FACT-ual religion. It is not based on the philosophies of man modern christianity is based on the philosophies of the apostle paul, who last time i checked was a man. it's also partly founded on the philosophis of jesus of nazareth who was at the very least half man.
we all know where Joseph Smith, Buddha, and Muhammads bodies are buried even thought joseph smith was a hack, he never claimed to be a god. neither did muhammad or siddhartha. and to my knowledge we do not know where those two are buried.
a man who claims to be God of Israel which is blasphemy, punishable by death. jesus also doesn't make this claim in 3 out of the 4 gospels in the nt.
And the God who fullfilled hundreds of consistent and vividly descripted prophecies in the books of Isaiah, Ezekial, Zechariah, and many more take this to the prophesy thread. i know lots of unfulfilled prophesies.
no book in the world even BEGINS to come close to the credentials of christianity. I repeat.. A FACT-ual religion. now this is just a preposterous statement. this book makes a number of claims that clearly contradict any evidence we have. it leaves out important info, and tends to just make stuff up. on top of that, we don't have any evidence that jesus even existed, let alone rose from the dead. we also don't have any proof of abraham, isaac, jacob, or moses.
ISLAM: Founded by Muhammad. Islam scripture combines much of Judaism, christianity, and adds the writings based on Muhammads teaching (the Quran). Why does it have to be an off-shoot of the Bible? Why cant it have its own belief system, without having to rely on our Lord God of Israel and Gentiles? one could reasonably ask the same thing of christianity, especially with the way it tries to fulfill the wrong ot prophesies.
Can we believe that this so called 'copy-cat' of the Bible is a better, or clearer revelation? I hardly recall debating in any forums about why the Quran 'cant' or 'isnt' the word of God? Why? Why is it that all day long for 95% of the time, do we argue and debate why the Bible 'cant' or isnt' the word of God. Think about that for a while because we KNOW who wrote the quran: muhammad. we also know who a lot of the authors of the bible were, but christians are less willing to accept that bible was written by people.
Islam denies the deity of Christ. Quite possibly the worst sin of all. other way around buddy. christ was made in the image of god, and worshipping an image of god is idolatry.
quote: quote: quote: And he was God quote: doesn't sound like it to me.
no standard of morality or authority actually, buddhism as well as hinduism have STRICT moral standards. your actions in this life are said to impact what role you play in the next.
Every man is equal and in charge of their own life (survival of the fittest). those two are not equatable. at all. if everyone is equal, there is no fittest.
Yet Buddha believes we should all listen to his opinion? Why? Because it makes me feel good inside? the first teaching of buddhism is that all life is suffering. sound pleasant? the second is that suffering is caused by desire. the third is that suffering can be removed by removing desires. and the fourth is that buddhism is the way to do it. it teaches that we should give up material wants, and help those around us. sounds like something jesus would say, actually.
Christianity believe everyone is sinful, and need redemption. This makes us personally responsible for our actions, and we live our lives as the only man in history who has been as righteous in character, soul, and teaching. in my personal experience, christianity plays into the guilt complex. its followers exhibit almost an abused-wife syndrome. we're told that we're born sinful, even though the bible doesn't say any such thing. we're told that we can't be perfect in the eyes of god, even though the bible lists a number of men called perfect by god (who did, btw, sin). and, more importantly, modern christianity gives people an "out" for their actions: if i did something good, praise jesus. if i did something bad, satan made me do it. how does that teach personal responsibility?
Buddhism is simply the original religion that new-age philosophy as arisen from. Among other ancient eastern religions. There are no answers with religions like these. There is no evidence for inspiration. Merely men and women who wish everybody and everything is God. We dont die, we just reorganize. Its simple philosophy that we never ever bother debating. actually, i've found a lot of truth in buddhism and especially taoism. if i wasn't a christian or a jew, i would have been one of those two. perhaps maybe would should read some hindu or buddhist literature before making this claim.
But with christianity, it is not a search for God. But a personal relationship with God. i don't see god anywhere. where is he? i'd like to get to know him. my religion has ALWAYS been a quest for truth, a search for god. the idea that you've found him and know everything there is to know about him is blasphemy. how can your puny finite mortal mind contain all there is to know about god? impossible! everytime i think i've found more, and that i know god, i find there is so much more that i don't.
Thats why you need to keep studying the world-religions, have you read the bhagavad-gita's? the tao te ching? the quran? the book of mormon? the epic of gilgamesh? norse and greek mythology? the bible? your ideas of them all seem to indicate that you haven't read any of them.
Alot of religion these days are not taking the doctrine of 'inherently evil' or 'sinful nature' seriously enough to provide a change in action, to good. But merely find your inner-godhood and then youll be a god. quote: quote: the bible says we have a bit of god in us. perhaps you shouldn't be so insulted at ideas that are also very judeo-christian.
But what if my inner-godhead is raping girls? If it makes me happy, why cant i do it? have you read this chapter?
quote: or this one?
quote: Then they try to bring goodness and say well thats bad because it hurts people. Says who? Whos authoritive standard of morality are we basing this philosophy on? and in the bible it's god? what about the above verse? what about where god tells the hebrew people to steal from the egyptians before they leave? what abotu where he tells them to kill all the canaanites?
So that leaves us with a bunch of religions who are simply searching for God, or for truth, or for meaning. Yet do we sit here discussing and debating these religions? Not to my recollection. no, because these "religions" don't go about telling everyone else that they're the only right one and that they should be taught in schools.
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arachnophilia Member (Idle past 1374 days) Posts: 9069 From: god's waiting room Joined: |
this was sort of common problem i had on another board. they called me a deist because i believe that we don't need god for meaning, purpose, or even creation. and yet i still believe in god. this puzzled a lot of them.
but i view faith as something special, on top of what i know factually. god, to me, doesn't exist to create or validate my life somehow. god exists because he does.
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arachnophilia Member (Idle past 1374 days) Posts: 9069 From: god's waiting room Joined: |
Your point about idolatry brings to mind a question I've had for a very long time. Why do catholics elaborately, spectacularly, and consistently make and pray to "graven images"?? As with most things christian I have the cynical pov that they have rationalized it in some way, but somehow I've not heard what it is. Do you know? the roman catholic church original made images as a form of education: bibles were just as rare as the people who could have read them. people needed pictures, icons. they do not actually worship the icons as deities. but then again, neither did any of the people the bible calls idolatrous. the golden calf, for instance, is nor more an idol than the cherubim on the ark of covenant. nobody in the middle east at that time worshipped idols, although some USED them in worship or offering much like the catholic church.
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