Where is God?

[Cronus Protagonist]

If there were such a thing as a god, wouldn't god want to be living right here and now as life unfolds in a relevant conversation of living consciousness? Wouldn't god be here, rather than there? Wouldn't god be living with you, us? Wouldn't god be present and relevant?

If so, where is god?

[mrbscott19]

1. Maybe

he forgot to take a left at Albuquerque?

[tularetom]

2. So you're tellin me he's not in Pismo Beach

[Buzz Clik]

6. +1

Another fan.

[MineralMan]

16. That was a false rumor.

He's actually at Avila Beach, keeping an eye on Diablo Canyon. For $50, I'll tell you which bar he hangs out in in the evenings.

[Buzz Clik]

5. Bugs reference.

Best running gag ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8TUwHTfOOU

[Scuba]

3. She's in heaven, dreaming up more ways to make people suffer. n/t

[Buzz Clik]

4. Epic Fail.

It's so funny when people who have no interest or knowledge of a subject post a question that has been asked for centuries as if they are saying something truly profound.

[trotsky]

7. Or maybe it's just because the theologians who "answer" these profound questions...

haven't really answered them at all. Nah, let's point and laugh at a non-believer asking a question so we make ourselves feel superior! Yeah!

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[trotsky]

9. Booyah!

And it's Buzz Clik, out to prove that HE'S the one who's REALLY so damned smart, and everyone else is a "shit flinging idiot!"

I bow to you, BC. You are clearly the intellectual superior of us all.

[polmaven]

10. I could not agree more.

This type of immature understanding of this particular subject is resoundingly obvious.

[Cronus Protagonist]

11. I yearn for your lofty roost

However, I feel the stench up there must be something awful; look at your turned up nose.

[Buzz Clik]

12. Weak.

If you're interested in the subject, study it.

[cleanhippie]

24. Total cop out. Weaker.

[polmaven]

13. You're right, of course...

Ignorance of any subject is much more desirable than knowledge if one wishes to discuss it intelligently.

[trotsky]

14. Well then, why don't you give your intelligent answer and we can discuss it? n/t

[polmaven]

15. Well, no, actually.

I doubt intelligent discussion could be had with someone who thinks I believe in a God who is an old white male with a long beard, sitting on a cloud in the sky. That, of course, is not who/what God is. God is with/within us. God is all around us. God is love. God is service to others. God is NOT an "entity".

The question of why God "allows" bad things to happen to good people has been debated for eons, and it will not be fully answered by belief that God is a dictator who wants to direct where every raindrop will fall on earth.

We have been discussing faith and theology in this world for thousands of years, and I doubt it can be settled here at DU, but to constantly put down people of faith based on the childhood understanding of what we believe about God is not helpful.

[trotsky]

17. Oh, OK.

Didn't realize there was anything in the OP that "put down people of faith" - if that's the case, perhaps we should alert it since that kind of behavior is forbidden on DU by the rules.

Do you want to alert, or shall I?

(BTW - you should probably e-mail Gov. Rick Perry of Texas to inform him of his ridiculous childhood "belief that God is a dictator who wants to direct where every raindrop will fall on earth.")

http://governor.state.tx.us/news/proclamation/16038

[polmaven]

18. Governor Perry is indeed

one of those types of people. The majority of the people of faith in this country - beleive it or not - are not of that opinion. Those are simply the loudest and most "covered". Most of us don't crave that kind of attention and publicity.

[trotsky]

19. "The majority of the people of faith in this country - beleive it or not - are not of that opinion."

I have news for you: believe it or not, the majority of believers in this country ARE of that opinion. I realize this comes as a major shock to the liberal believers in the minority. The reason you aren't heard from as much is because there truly aren't as many of you.

[polmaven]

21. Well, I guess that is something

on which we will have to agree to disgree.

[trotsky]

22. Poll: 83% say God answers prayers, 57% favor National Prayer Day

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-05-05-prayer05_ST_N.htm

You can disagree, but that makes you wrong.

[polmaven]

27. Neither of those indicate

a majority of wing nut fundementalists, but again - if you want to believe what you do you certainly have the right to do so. I have the right to beieive what I beleive. If I am wrong to believe differently than you, well - so be it.

[trotsky]

30. Didn't say they had to be wing nut fundamentalists.

And neither did you.

You said that it was a childlike belief that a god can or wants to control where rain falls. But that is essentially what people are asking for in prayer. And I guarantee you, a majority of believers (as shown in my link) believe that god answers their prayers.

So while you have a "right to beieive what (you) beleive," you're still wrong.

[sudopod]

32. This thread

[trotsky]

33. LMAO! n/t

[cleanhippie]

40. EXACTLY! Too bad this point seems to go flying over so many heads.

[cleanhippie]

25. I hate to break it to you, but there are BILLIONS of believers that disagree with you.

What makes YOUR definition of god the right one and everyone elses the wrong one?

[polmaven]

35. Not adult believers.

That is the childhood explanation. What makes me think this? 2 things. 1) I grew up - 2)when I was in my early teens, and was taking confirmation classes at Sunday school, my pastor taught us the adult version, just as my current pastor teaches the young confirmands now.

[cleanhippie]

38. Perhaps you missed my point.

You were "taught" your pastors version. There are a billion other people with a billion other versions of what they were "taught". What make YOUR version the "right" one?

[polmaven]

41. The "version" I was taught

is the prevailing belief of mainstream Protestantism. It has been for centuries. I can't speak of Catholicism, but I really doubt their beliefs are that far away from ours. There are not "a billion" adults who actually imagine God to be an old white man with a long white beard, sitting on a cloud and directing everything that happens on this earth.

[Paradoxical]

43. Anything you were taught could not possibly be God.

"The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.

The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things."

[darkstar3]

44. "The prevailing belief of mainstream Protestantism"

Prove it. I was brought up in Protestantism, and trust me when I say your version is not what I was taught. Prove your claim. Show me numbers.

[cleanhippie]

46. Well, I think you just proved my point.

You seem unable to accept that there are many different versions and concepts of god, not just yours, and that yours is not either "right" nor "wrong", as is any other.

[Buzz Clik]

29. LOL! +1

[cleanhippie]

23. Well, by all means, please, explain the MATURE understanding then.

You seem to have the "mature" answer, so lets have it.

[polmaven]

36. Well maybe the mature thing

would be to read the replies.

[cleanhippie]

39. So, IOW, you are not mature and will not post the mature version.

Got it, thanks.

[PassingFair]

28. Yeah. The poster must be one of those "New Atheists"...

Asking questions.

Talking out loud.

How immature.

:eyes:

[Deep13]

50. "asked for centuries"

But never answered.

[GliderGuider]

20. Let's try a serious reply. While I believe there are no gods, I think you got it right when you say

"living right here and now as life unfolds in a relevant conversation of living consciousness"

That's a truly excellent description. It can apply to any sense of the absolute that arises from our consciousness and sense of self. Whether we label it as conscience, wisdom, empathy, mindfulness, the Absolute, Oneness or God, that perception arises from the same place in all of us - from our "conversation of living consciousness" with ourselves, other people and the universe we live in.

In this sense we are each gods, as we create our inner universes and give ourselves a place in what we perceive to be the outer universe.

[Cronus Protagonist]

26. I didn't want to tip my hand, so I'm glad your brought that up

In your response you posit the view that we each are gods and I keep winding up there myself when I ponder this topic. If there are god(s), are we not made in their image?

And if gods are omnipresent, they are here with us. Why, I think perhaps we are all gods. Out of the millions of sperm that could have fertilized my mother's ovum, I was the one most exalted; the one who got to live, and thereby to love.

Noting my own exalted position in the grand scheme of things provides a very neat, simple solution to the dilemma created when we look around us for evidence of god; look in the mirror. And it brings up further questions about our power to create, to live, to invent. Are we not, as a species, omniscient, omnipresent? And I wonder, are we immortal? Is death a transition rather than an end?

My head is swimming with possibility.

[GliderGuider]

31. That leads straight down the rabbit hole whose entrance is extended meditation on the question

"Who am I?"

It's a very worthwhile place to go.

[Festivito]

34. You seem to mean relevant to yourself.

Kinda have a big head there dontcha?

[Cronus Protagonist]

37. I cower at the size of your head, o enlightened one

Perhaps some day, with another twenty years of study on the subject, I may reach your exalted peak. In the meantime, please continue to pity me.

[Festivito]

45. Still not relevant, relatively head-ing without relating.

Good luck.

[Paradoxical]

42. Infinity is a paradox. Where is God? Nowhere and everywhere

All at once. From the beginning to the end.

The Alpha is the Omega. The cycle continues onwards forever.

God is an impossibility.

[El Supremo]

47. The Quakers believe that he is the inner light within us all from birth. He is in our conscience. n/...

[LAGC]

48. What I don't get is...

God supposedly graced us with his presence by smiting us and committing genocides against us thousands of years ago, where the fuck has he gone off since?

Do we really need another schizophrenic prophet like Moses or Mohammed to be the only ones to hear God speak? You'd think he'd make his presence widely known to everyone, as in his voice audible and his powers apparent.

He almost acts like he doesn't want us to believe in him.

Maybe that's the ticket.

[Deep13]

49. Well sure, except right now God lives on planet 6 of star 543,985,005 of galaxy M64.

He'll be there for the next 152 terrestrial years before moving on to star 543,985,006.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

51. Scientists often think God is in physics and math.

"I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a god who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings." ---Albert Einstein

"God created the integers, all else is the work of man." -- Leopold Kroneker




I don't know where god is or if there is one, I have seen no evidence of him/her/it/them.

[struggle4progress]

52. Ubi Caritas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9e_QO1ATho

[HolyCity2012]

53. Al Franken Talks About God.

U.S. Senator Al Franken's address on June 27, 2010, to attendees of the 2010 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association.


Part I


Part II