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What knowlegde about gods would be more acceptable to you?

Coriolis

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Interesting. Although, I don't agree with your POV, I respect that you seek out the sacred, however "spiritually promiscuous" it may sound on first glance.

Speaking of sacred spaces, have you read Mircea Eliade's book: The Sacred and the Profane?
No. Do you recommend it?

As for spiritual promiscuity, I see no reason to place limits on God, or where/how I might be able to interact with him.
 

Mole

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I would, yes. If you're into the anthropology of religion.

Placing limits on yourself would be the objective, not on God.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, and we have noticed dictators are taken with the absolute power of God, and wish to emulate it.
 

Coriolis

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Placing limits on yourself would be the objective, not on God.
"I can seek God only here and not there" seems an unproductive limitation to place on myself, especially if God is just as likely to be there as here.
 

Earl Grey

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If you are believer how would you react that all what you believe was BS and wasting your life?

Just a tiny two cents, I generally see religion as a way of life and a philosophy to follow. If you commit to everything there will be no regrets.
It is only a 'waste' if the religion/guide to life was followed only for the sake of reward. "I did this so I won't burn in hell/so I'll enter heaven/so my sins would be erased!"

Even if the general philosophy or the story of the deity, person, etc you follow was false, the fact remains that you have done in your life the things you believed in, till the time the 'real God' shows up, did you not. That much is real and not BS.


And if you are non-theist how would you react that there is a proof there are some being/s above us watching every single move?

Personally agnostic, and if there was a God I'd be happy. I'd just hope that He would be as I thought He would be.
 

Qlip

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I'd be overall happiest if there were gods and they were just. But there aren't, and we're motes of dust.
 
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"I can seek God only here and not there" seems an unproductive limitation to place on myself, especially if God is just as likely to be there as here.

You can seek God anywhere you'd like, but to worship God communally we attend the sacred spaces. Obviously, we were talking about different things. Seeking vs Worship. Anyone can seek. It takes commitment to worship.

Are you in an "open" marriage where either of you are free to seek out different sexual partners?
 

Coriolis

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You can seek God anywhere you'd like, but to worship God communally we attend the sacred spaces. Obviously, we were talking about different things. Seeking vs Worship. Anyone can seek. It takes commitment to worship.

Are you in an "open" marriage where either of you are free to seek out different sexual partners?
No. Your point? Wherever I worship, whomever I am with while doing it, I am worshipping the same God. There is no cheating or infidelity involved, unless to human religious institutions that insist on exclusivity and try to place boundaries on our experience of the divine. Of all the religious groups I have personally engaged with, the only ones to do that have been Christian.
 
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No. Your point? Wherever I worship, whomever I am with while doing it, I am worshipping the same God. There is no cheating or infidelity involved, unless to human religious institutions that insist on exclusivity and try to place boundaries on our experience of the divine. Of all the religious groups I have personally engaged with, the only ones to do that have been Christian.

My point is that it sounds like you give your husband more exclusivity than God. What's sacred to you is your marriage, perhaps even your MBTI score, or the rules of this forum, but God is relegated to an admixture of sacred and profane spaces depending on your mood (presumably), or what is convenient for you(?). I don't know. :shrug:

If every space can be sacred, then what exactly does it mean to be sacred?

How do you worship/commune with God?

 

Coriolis

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My point is that it sounds like you give your husband more exclusivity than God. What's sacred to you is your marriage, perhaps even your MBTI score, or the rules of this forum, but God is relegated to an admixture of sacred and profane spaces depending on your mood (presumably), or what is convenient for you(?). I don't know.
Not at all. I have only one husband, and I have only one God. My husband doesn't stop being my husband just because we travel to Spain or go camping in the woods. God doesn't stop being God just because I approach him in a Hindu temple, or by myself in the forest.

And please do not trivialize my worship experiences by tying them to moods or convenience. Where and when I worship is driven primarily by what I find meaningful and effective. I also take advantage of opportunities that present themselves to experience worship in new and unfamiliar settings, as I find I learn a great deal from that.

If every space can be sacred, then what exactly does it mean to be sacred?
Every space can be sacred, because there is no space that is off-limits to God. We make it sacred by deliberately devoting that space and time to worship, especially the sort of communal worship you referenced earlier. Permanent structures dedicated to worship like churches and temples are readily recognized as sacred space, but it is not hard to create sacred space in, say, a home or an outdoor setting. Creating sacred space is a broad topic closely tied to ritual and symbolism - I have pastor friends who spent entire seminary courses on this. Every religious group will do this in their own way. Engaging the physical senses is a common method: surrounding the worshipper with sights, sounds, smells, etc. that are associated specifically with the worship experience. This helps break the connection with everyday cares and thoughts, allowing the person to focus more fully on God. Performing a repeated (i.e. ritualized) set of actions, prayers, or songs is often part of this . Of course these are all crutches, and someone well-practiced in their spirituality will be able to create sacred space quite readily with nothing but their own prayerful intentions.

How do you worship/commune with God?
This is a very personal question, and I'm not sure I will be able (or perhaps even willing) to answer it to your satisfaction. A key component of it on an individual level is for me to be able to focus single-mindedly on God, to the exclusion of all else, and simply open myself to hearing/feeling/experiencing God. It is very much a "listening" activity rather than a "speaking" one. It is also very much non-verbal. I appreciate the written word as much as the next person, but to me, communing with God transcends words - not that they are useless and have no place, but it goes far beyond that. (One thing I find about most Christian worship is that there is far too much talking, and by far too few people.)

Pagan worship always starts with a series of ritual steps that serve to create (or finish creating) that sacred space. As soon as that sequence starts, it works to disconnect us from that everyday reality, pointing our focus toward God. We invoke God using very vivid and poetic imagery, which has both the common element of what we hear, and the individual view in our own mind's eye. We reverse these steps at the end of worship, returning ourselves to "ordinary" space and time.
 

Mole

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My point is that it sounds like you give your husband more exclusivity than God. What's sacred to you is your marriage, perhaps even your MBTI score, or the rules of this forum, but God is relegated to an admixture of sacred and profane spaces depending on your mood (presumably), or what is convenient for you(?). I don't know. :shrug: If every space can be sacred, then what exactly does it mean to be sacred? How do you worship/commune with God?
When we are.dependent on our Mom, yet want to be respected for our independence, we find it can't be done, the circle can't be squared, we.get no respect, not enven from ourselves, and in our humiliation we seek to humiliate others by insulting them.
 

Maou

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If there is proof of a god, I would want to very much know more about it. What kind of god is it? Omnipotent? Just an observer? Will actually send me to hell?

I would base my course of action on the answers. Hopefully directly communicate with it. Possibly try to convince it to give me some powers. :D
 
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