What is your philosophy on God?

[RaptorWizard]

I found a very interesting post below about different philosophies on God from another thread.

I don't know, but then if I have to say about my relationship with God. I think it would be this:
"I don't believe in God, but I miss him." I am haunted by this certainty: all my life would be spent seeking for a God who does not knows and loves me.

I grew up in a non-religious household. My parents believed in Taoism and most of my relatives subscribed to Buddhism with the occasional one or two Roman Catholics and Muslims. I was never expected to choose a religion, or to believe in a God. I think it is the way Taoism works, you kind of choose and craft your own Way - your spiritual beliefs and values - and this organic and malleable system has sort of framed my own beliefs on God. I don't know with certainty. I kind of believe there is a cosmic force at work; something greater and grander than we could comprehend, it may be God or it may not be. It has the sensibilities of a Spinoza's God. And I think the lack of God and a religious structure for moral conduct and ethics during my childhood and teenage hood kind of influenced me. I am horribly uncertain about my own beliefs and values towards God - the only thing I am sort of certain or would like it to be true: God is a product of human societies and minds - a long history of shaped human perceptions, motives and actions.

When I see this world, laid and constructed so beautifully, I want to believe in a God created world. But I don't know. I like to believe God is a watchmaker, impartial and unconcerned with the trivial affairs of Man. For Man was not a carefully constructed being it created. I think I am afflicted with this curse or this wanting or desire to pursue God; to seek for my spiritual Truth or my Way. I become incredibly envious and sad when I see my religious friends talking about their religion. Because they share or have this private spiritual world that I can never belong to and it feels incredibly lonely and sad. Once, I fasted with my Muslim friend during the fasting month (actually I just felt really bad eating in front of her since she looked so hungry; so I ended up not eating for the whole day) and during the moment when they broke fast, where we were seated in a Muslim eating place, it was incredibly beautiful to hear the Islamic prayers and see them joined during that brief moment that commenced the end of the fasting session. And I feel like I can never truly belong to any part of it.

I read the Bible, some of the Buddhist scriptures, attempts to read the Quran - all in the vain hopes of finding a God that I could love and believe in. But then with churches and organized religions, I don't know, at the end of the day, they are created with human intentions and motives and values and so they are flawed and imperfect interpretations of the Christian God. The different groups have different motives for valuing a belief over another. For example, the Bible states that homosexuality is a sin, but then stealing and lust are also sins and he has never explicitly stated a hierarchy in the sins. So why is there such a huge hooha over homosexuality being a greater sin than the mentioned? I don't know, I think that maybe it is because humans manipulate and bend them for their own purposes. And at the end of the day, even if there was really a God (loving or impartial), our human minds and interpretations blinds us from the real truth. (?) I don't know. Probably explains why I can't seem to subscribe to the Christian God or as a matter of fact, to any other Gods.

But then I am still searching and wandering.

 

[nortia]

"There is no god but God" would have persuaded me. Unfortunate.

-snicker-

Ahem, sorry.

I grew up in an agnostic household of WASPs who called themselves Christian but never went to church. I considered myself an atheist through most of high school, but now I identify most with neutral monism (essentially pantheism). Although there are still so many things I don't know, and possibly wouldn't even be able to comprehend if faced with.

Yet, I think Yoda probably said it best: "[M]y ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.”

The little green guru.

 

[Riva]

Apatheism

Besides if there is / are one / any and we are to succumb to his / their will or at his / their mercy they would / should probably take a more active part in our lives.

What I'm simply trying to say is where on earth is he / are they?

I don't deny the fact that there is a possibility that he / they could exist.

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

Apatheism

Besides if there is / are one / any and we are to succumb to his / their will or at his / their mercy they would / should probably take a more active part in our lives.

What I'm simply trying to say is where on earth is he / are they?

I don't deny the fact that there is a possibility that he / they could exist.

All around us offering unconditional love, but it is up to us to draw near and bask in it.

When you delve into God and spend time contemplating him, your life begins a journey that you could never have imagined or conjured on your own. That is how you know God is real. Try it.

 

[ThatsWhatHeSaid]

All around us offering unconditional love, but it is up to us to draw near and bask in it.

When you delve into God and spend time contemplating him, your life begins a journey that you could never have imagined or conjured on your own. That is how you know God is real. Try it.

That's interesting, because I could say the exact same thing about atheism. I grew up being told that the tenets of Orthodox Judaism were real. At 15 I started to wonder whether it was all bullshit. Once you look at the world and consider the possibility that there is no God, you can't really find room for him anymore. You can never re-see God in life. (Speaking about the conventional, personal God, not an abstract one, which also has problems).

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

That's interesting, because I could say the exact same thing about atheism. I grew up being told that the tenets of Orthodox Judaism were real. At 15 I started to wonder whether it was all bullshit. Once you look at the world and consider the possibility that there is no God, you can't really find room for him anymore. You can never re-see God in life. (Speaking about the conventional, personal God, not an abstract one, which also has problems).

Well, you are in your early 20's, aren't you? Not to be dismissive, but I think intellectuals tend to have an atheistic phase, if you will, from like 20-40, then midlife hits and problems mount and you realize no matter how good your life is, or how much money you have, you still feel empty. Then if you're lucky, you find God, in some form of spirituality or religion, or self-help book. I bet you'll re-embrace your roots again once you've lived a while longer.

 

[ThatsWhatHeSaid]

Well, you are in your early 20's, aren't you? Not to be dismissive, but I think intellectuals tend to have an atheistic phase, if you will, from like 20-40, then midlife hits and problems mount and you realize no matter how good your life is, or how much money you have, you still feel empty. Then if you're lucky, you find God, in some form of spirituality or religion, or self-help book. I bet you'll re-embrace your roots again once you've lived a while longer.

I'm 32 and I've been an atheist since 15. I don't think it's a phase. I do think people feel empty, but the question is how they go about filling that void. Some people study it, contemplate it, merge with it. Other people fill it with stories that soothe them, regardless of whether they're true or not. Ironically, I think being born again and finding solace in religion is the phase, not the other way around.

 

[King sns]

An Atheist meets God

Lol!! This video is hilarious. Definitely a monotheist, tried to intellectualize my way out of that one but couldn't. I celebrate Christian holidays kind of. Sometimes I give up stuff for lent even because it's a healthy thing to lose your worldly vices once in a while. That and we seem to all agree that sacrifice is a good thing. But not lives.

It's too 4AM for me to go into great detail on this. I need to go to bed.
Good night.

 

[Glycerine]

Agnostic with atheistic leanings.

 

[Stephano]

I like the idea of one higher being that controls the environment. Evolution could be a great example to prove this. I don't belive in a personal god, who listen to someone's prays, more in an intelligent computer system, that formed the laws of nature. Would this be Pantheism or something like that? Though i voted atheism since i technically don't belief in god.

 

[RaptorWizard]

I like the idea of one higher being that controls the environment. Evolution could be a great example to prove this. I don't belive in a personal god, who listen to someone's prays, more in an intelligent computer system, that formed the laws of nature. Would this be Pantheism or something like that? Though i voted atheism since i technically don't belief in god.

The computer system hypothesis means God's creation is in essence a program or a hologram of sorts, and as such, it could theoretically be hacked, hence the grand design of the matrix could be altered. As far as its relation to Pantheism goes, it would indeed mean that all of existence has its roots orginating from the same source, that being the mind of God, a pantheistic conception.

So yes, I think your idea best fits the category of Pantheism.

 

[Stephano]

The computer system hypothesis means God's creation is in essence a program or a hologram of sorts, and as such, it could theoretically be hacked, hence the grand design of the matrix could be altered. As far as its relation to Pantheism goes, it would indeed mean that all of existence has its roots orginating from the same source, that being the mind of God, a pantheistic conception.

So yes, I think your idea best fits the category of Pantheism.

"computer system" is maybe the wrong term. I thought about something like a non-material power that is responsible for the universe as we know it today. The summary of all physical laws maybe. That's god to me and he's not like a human being with feelings and debilities. So, yes Pantheism seems to fit well.

 

[murkrow]

I put panentheist but it's the first time I've heard that term.

I think God is the predescribed being, the experience before thought, the only truth.

So I didn't pick pantheism because I do think our thoughts exist and therefore are part of the universe, though they're definitely not universal or godly.

 

[RaptorWizard]

World Religions - Which ways do you walk?

 

[WALMART]

 

[Little_Sticks]

I believe God is a sad clown. It explains everything.

 

[The Iron Giant]

I'm an atheist.

 

[Mole]

It depends on which God.

Is it the God Poseidon, or the God Zeus, or perhaps Brahma, or Allah, or Yahwah, or even the Trinity?

The Ancient Greeks were the first to come to the conclusion that the Gods represented natural forces and so science was born.

 

[ygolo]

I think panentheism captures best my philosophy towards God. But there are certainly elements of all the choices.

As far as religions go, I most strongly identify as Hindu. But I come from a Hindu tradition that believes that all sincerely followed paths seeking truth (including Atheism) lead eventually to God.

I am quoting my response in the other thread.

 

[Comeback Girl]

I didn't know about the concept of God, until someone explained it to me when I was eight years old. I thought it was odd. I still find it hard to believe, but I don't really care about if God does or doesn't exist. I know that the idea of God is now very widespread and everyone has heard of it, but let's say we'd live in a world where this idea would only be known amongst religious people. In that case I'd be curious what adults who never heard about God would react like if someone explained it to them. I think the idea of God could only make sense if you grew up in an environment where many people believed in it.