Does God Exist?, Share your opinions here. Options

I think having a separate entity makes it easier to relate to; it somehow reminds me of the old joke about having to speak out loud so that you can hear what you yourself are saying, rather than just thinking it.

I think having a separate entity makes it easier to relate to; it somehow reminds me of the old joke about having to speak out loud so that you can hear what you yourself are saying, rather than just thinking it.

*nods*

As one who talks to myself all the time, I agree. I used to pray to G-d, but the closer I've gotten to Spirit the more I've come to think it is Spirit within I'm actually speaking to. I have an idea that spark within has contained the knowledge and wisdom I seek all along. I'm learning daily how to access it.

There are two ideas in God Is A Verb by Rabbi Cooper which really helped to clarify this for me. The first is concerning the Shema Prayer. This is an excerpt from the book:

"Shema Yisrael, Adonoy Elohaynu, Adonoy Ehad (Hear, O Isreal, the Lord is Our God, the Lord is One). The way I explain the meaning of this prayer is as follows: Listen Closely (Shema), that part within each of us that yearns to go directly to G-d (Israel--Yashar El), the transcendent, unknowable source of sources (Adonoy) and the immanent, are actually, paradoxically, on and the same (Ehad)."

And this really helped drive the idea home:

"The teaching of the mystery of Ein Sof is that the center of our being, out of which awe arises, is that about which we are awed."

->This phrase comes to mind:
.God created me ,so that i can create him in turn

->and this image:
.Two indentical mirrors facing eachother ,reflecting ...


...this is just my view ...how i see god...

-common words and explanations fail!-


edit:typo

This post has been edited by Wanderer: Nov 25 2005, 06:46 PM

First off allow me to Hello, since I am new here. To be quite honest I have lurking through this site for a while, but decided to join up so that I might be able to express my thoughts and ideas apon this subject with you all since the audiance that I have in my circles seem to be rather limited on this topic, or rather they are more closed minded on it that they will on accept anything differant than what they think.

With that being said...........

Is there a God?? To put it quite simply....no. Now, to back it up with a few rather bleek points. We all agree that all religions have thier own belief's on what God should be. The most basic and simple of ALL OF THESE RELIGIONS IS.... that God loves all his children REGUARDLESS.... Then the question arises....Why does he allow his children to kill themselves?? Why does he allow them to die trying to kill someone that says thier god is better?? Wouldn't a TRUE GOD tell his children that thier life is more important to him than thier death???

Are these the action of a God?? Would you really want a god like that?? That has no feeling, no careing, no attachment to his/her/it's creation???

As to my thoughts on the so called "creation" of God. Someone here made the comparision(sp?) to God and Control. This statement holds very true to me. Lets us go back to a time where Oppression reigned.... 1 person had so much control over the whole that with "his" word your life hung in their hands. Thats a lot of power for 1 man. That same 1 man expected "his" people to do what ever he said, to kill for him, to die for him, to live for him. Nothing else mattered to this 1 person EXCEPT that all of "his people" believed nothing else mattered to them but "him".
Through the oppresion forced apon them they had to come up with a way to break free from this 1 mans grip on thier lives, if not for them then fo thier children. But this was no easy task, as they were a slave race, thay had been beaten into submission. But 1 man, who was all ALONE, with NOTHING around him, was given a "vision", to be better put AN IDEA, a thought. With this idea/thought he was able to get the others to BELIEVE that there was a better life for them. With that 1 idea that man gave his people a BELIEF and at the same time he gave them HOPE.
Over the ages, The concept of this still stands. No matter who you are, what your life dictates, where your path leads you, everyone has to believe in something.
Every Society has used this concept to control its people. The best use of control is blind faith.

But to me...it's all BS anyway. All I know for sure is that the "Devil" has never directly asked me for money.


As for my thoughts on the "nothing" and "something" question.
The only way I can describe it is in the absence of thought is nothing. So at that 1st synaptic firing.... my own exstince went from nothing to something. At the birth of that spark I realized that I was there. In discovering that, I realized that I was in a state of "nothing" untill I had "something" to compare it to.
By that division, the spark is God, eletricity. Now that is something that can never die, just changes form. So all we all are is nothing more that Static Electricity. Put some thought in that one. Pure energy. 2 poles. Positive and Negative energy. Almost makes sence ..... almost..

The most basic and simple of ALL OF THESE RELIGIONS IS.... that God loves all his children REGUARDLESS.... Then the question arises....Why does he allow his children to kill themselves?? Why does he allow them to die trying to kill someone that says thier god is better?? Wouldn't a TRUE GOD tell his children that thier life is more important to him than thier death???

Free Will.

Does God Exist?

No.

This post has been edited by BlackSorcerer: Dec 6 2005, 08:20 AM

No

doesn't add anything to the discussion, I presume you have reasons for this answer, could you enlighten us?

*shrugs* The original post asked for opinions, so I gave mine.

I have seen no evidence of the existence of a "god", nor do I have need of one. The main reasons for religion are:

1. An explanation of how and why we are here

2. Reassurance that there is something after this life - that humans are somehow special.

I have no burning curiosity about how or why we are here. We Are Here. The only thing that matters is how the time on Earth is spent. It is all conjecture and "belief" anyway. No one knows, or will ever know, how and why humans came about. Ergo, why waste precious moments of one's life thinking, debating, and fighting about it?

I have no 'need' of a belief that humans are special and will somehow live on after physical death. Death doesn't frighten me, and I've never had the need to feel 'special'.

Therefore, I have no need of a god or any kind of religious construct.

Greetings!
Welcome to the Forum!
I find it interesting that you would spend time on a Forum about occult topics which are mainly based on some sort of religous views. No put down intended! It's sort of like going into a Southern Baptist church and proclaiming Atheism! Granted the row it would cause (and, yes, debate) would be entertaining but only for that sake. We here try to embrace everyones views with tolerance, and if that cannot be, then silence is a virtue...
Thanks for your opinion! I hope that you will take time to post on other threads as well! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

Oh, I not only spend time on occult/magic/pagan-type sites, I own one and moderate at two others. lol

How I see things is often considered odd by others, but it works for me. I do not have a religion, per se, I have a philosophy. However, I consider myself pagan, oddly enough. My reasoning behind this is: I don't actually know. I don't "know" that there isn't a god, being, pantheon of gods, etc. Ergo, atheism would be a bad fit for me. So, I just stick with "Pagan" since I know 100% that I do not and will not follow one of the Abrahamic paths.

Also, I practice my own form of Chaos magic, and where else am I to find like-minded people but on occult or pagan websites? I know a few of the members here, and this site was recommended to me by one of them. I'm still exploring and deciding if this place is a "fit" for me or not. I'm not doing too well apparently, since I've managed to get one topic locked already.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)
I can relate.....I don't consider myself believing in onegod (or many for that matter)...which is difficult when practicing Ceremonial Magic! LOL!"God(s)" have always proven to be a sticky issue.Whereas I do believe in myself...um, er....*shrugs* which can lead to some rather humorous discussions about God/NoGod, Assumption of Godforms, et al. Faith plays an interesting part in this....and as an underachiever with a poor selfimage and shaky selfconfidence this 'faith' is either very good or near nonexistant... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/uglyhammer.gif)
(About the locked topic...it was rapidly approaching mush with one liners and chitchat...time for retirement) You can find a similar topic in Esoteric Discussions...
As a newbie here, please read the guidelines as to what is acceptable, etc. Look forward to reading more of your opinions/posts! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

What is God?

We can argue about the existance of God but until we can conclude what it is we can't go about trying to proove it exists. But thats proof of the subject. Since I don't have to proove anything with my opinion I can say whatever I want about the existance of God.

To me God is not a being. It is not a thing, or person, or anything on our level of being. Its the all of everything including nothing. God, which I personally identify as diety, is the whole. The singularity of all of reality. Not just the stars and planets and all forms of energy and matter, but also in our conscious existance. What we dream of and imagine. Deity is both fact and fantacy. Diety exists in us as it does everything else. It is of us and we are of it. We utilize this force of everything in the form of will. We create and destroy, suffer and transend as conscious beings capable of manifesting our own realities. In the likeness of diety is self.

So to me God exists. It exists as the whole of all that is, fact and fantacy.

What kind of 'God' we believe in tells us a lot about ourselves. It seems strange how some people can worship God and take hostages and kill and maim others, whilst followers of the same God follow a path of peace. It appears that we project a lot of our own feelings and prejudices etc onto God, or choose to submit to the prejudices of others (Dogma) of a religion.

Does God exist? I practice ceremonial magick, I relate to the structure, and ritual of the practice. All things are done in order, until a level of maturity is developed within the mage, and he then can begin to "coustomize" or tailor his rituals to his specific path. I often read about those who doubt the existance of God, and speak of "pre-christian" spirits and the like. But, the spirits pre-date all "religions" would you not agree? And all spirits have their rulers or ordinates, so is it not plausable that there must be "someone" at the top of the food chain? wether you are a right, or a left hand pather, both paths originate from the same source; just as the pillars of mercy and severity belong to the same tree. These are merely the two extreme opposites of the same scale, in the center is the balance. Kind of like a battery, it's a power source... on one side positive, the other negative, but still one battery! So it is not a matter of wether or not God exists, it's a matter of misunderstanding the true nature of God due to the lies or untruths propigated by the "churches" to keep themselves in a position between God and humanity to ensure the "necessity" of the church. Wether refered to as God, or Supreme Intelligence, or Archtitect of the universe or what have you... He is! (my point of view anyhow) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/Animals_6.gif)

MODSQUAD - I have merged this into the 'Does God Exist? thread Mediocracy

This post has been edited by mediocracy: Dec 14 2005, 01:26 AM

well my post is a bit off your subject but as this thought came to my mind, i would post it as a reply to your post...

I share your point of view.. science till now is too weak to comprehend such things like how the universe actually works.... there are many things in the universe that science cant explain... the simplest example that can come to my mind is that
Dual Nature of the Electron

Depending on the experimental circumstances, EM radiation appears to have either a wavelike or a particlelike (photon) character.
The above statement is a scientific statement and supported by a principle:The Uncertainty Principle...

So for the time being no one will be able to really prove and acknowledge the existence of God... But as the world is actually going too much on the destruction path, God will surely come in form of incarnations to help humanity... In the form of jesus, Krishna...
But still perhaps science will not wish to acknowlege the miracles and only time will tell if
one day everyone whether the left hand or right hand will acknowledge that they form part of the same body! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hands.gif)

well my appologies for having gone a bit off subject....

MODSQUAD - I have merged this into the 'Does God Exist? thread Mediocracy

This post has been edited by mediocracy: Dec 14 2005, 01:26 AM

well, i believe god exists. no offense to any christians, but he is a dictator. he says to love all, yet he basically hates everyone that does not follow him. and honestly, i cant see myself believing in a god that hates gay people. i'm mean, come on!! gay people? the whole christian religion is way to strict to follow perfectly, and that's exactly what they try and get you to think. that your not perfect. oops, getting off topic. but i believe that god exists, and he exists to make you miserable. they whole religion is basically keeping you from being happy. if you dont agree with what i say, then ignore it, i dont know what makes you happy, i'm speaking for myself.
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<font color="red">ALLEHELGONS DOD I HELVEDS RIKE!!!</font>

Well, if you had children, and they disobeyed you, and trated you like crap, and never listened to you, and were out of control, would you want them in your house? God doesn't hate gays, 'people' hate gays. Yes, I believe in the christian god and the christian concept of heaven, being a catholic myself, but that doesn't mean I don't think they aren't other gods up there. Appollonius of tyana was a pagan philosophy who was also said to be born of a virgin mother, preached around the same time of jesus, and when he died of old age he was seen to be lifted up by a choire of 'heavenly' creatures. Anyway, everything on the earth (I'm talking about everything natural) is perfect for there not to be some kind of divine being, and if evolution is 'correct' then who's to say god didn't set that up as well? What I don't agree with are all the human characteristics given to god by us. Don't take the bible by word literally, what we call shit today, may be another name for gold in a few hundred/thousand years ;-).

.::Sempre Bene::..::Chris::.
-Fiat Lux

To me, The God exists.
But then, so does The Goddess.

However, I do not consider The God to be what many others do: the singular end all, be all, jealous, petty, old dude sitting somewhere, over the rainbow, on a self-righteous throne, doling out either condonement or condemnation.

I do not devote any attention for upholding, praising, appeasing, validating, worshipping (or what have we) that notorious kind of biblical, koranic, etc... tyrant.

i have thought about God for so long and i never liked the whole idea that God is a guy in the sky saying that you will come to heaven and you will go to hell, i have always believed in God, i now believe that there are many different entities that are Gods and each teaches us new things. i am glad i found this post. reading others point of view is very helpful and interesting.

This post has been edited by Night: May 17 2006, 04:21 AM

No need to have astral senses to find God...

Put a smile on a miserable.... You will find God in the smile (IMG:style_emoticons/default/Symbols_1911.gif)

those who have really done it know what i am talking about... I wont go deeper (IMG:style_emoticons/default/1238.gif)

Personally, I think religion is just a thing to store energy in. Think about it. Millions and millions of people pray to God. This energy used to pray to God collects and builds up, waiting to be tapped by people who can, like people who use magick. However, I also believe that there is a higher being who made all this possible. Earth is EXACTLY the right distance from the sun to support life. Things had to go EXACTLY right to bring upon life to this place. And if you are true believer in magick, you do not believe in coincidences.

IMO, GOD is the conscious universe that expresses itself through probability.
But then what do the spirits and daemons know when they become complacent at the utterance of "In the name of God...etc?

This post has been edited by Sojrn: May 26 2006, 10:22 PM