:p~`~~~~

Metis

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Re: :p~`~~~~

« Reply #15 on: December 16, 2009, 10:47:43 AM »

Quote from: kwd111 on December 16, 2009, 10:36:43 AM

Quote from: Metis on December 16, 2009, 10:21:40 AM

I have long found it "interesting" in that there are so many people who mouth that God is well beyond our comprehension, but then they turn around and describe in some detail what God is about and supposedly wants.

Anyhow, I've missed you and your posts as well, so don't be so "invisible", OK?

Certainly God is beyond our comprehension. Can the pot ever fully understand the Potter?

However, where He has declared His will, one certainly can describe in some detail what God is about and wants.

Example:

Isa 58:6-7 "No, the kind of fasting I want calls you to free those who are wrongly imprisoned and to stop oppressing those who work for you. Treat them fairly and give them what they earn. 7 I want you to share your food with the hungry and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help. NLT

This scripture alone details quite a bit of what God wants and what He is about.

But that's assuming that the scripture is accurate, of course. We would face the same kind of question if we quoted from the Qu'ran, the Gita, the Pali Canon, etc.

But it goes beyond that in that pretty much all of the holy scriptures found in almost all religions generally portray God or the Gods in rather anthropomorphic terms, and yet many people realize that this may create quite a distortion. For example, if someone sits "at the right hand of God", does this mean that God actually has a right hand? Does God "think" the way we think? I know that there are quite a few theologians who tend to think that these anthropomorphic depictions are as such so that it's easier for us, as humans, to relate.


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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

kwd111

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Re: :p~`~~~~

« Reply #16 on: December 16, 2009, 10:53:10 AM »

Quote from: Metis on December 16, 2009, 10:47:43 AM

Quote from: kwd111 on December 16, 2009, 10:36:43 AM

Quote from: Metis on December 16, 2009, 10:21:40 AM

I'm sure that opinions can run the full gamete on this one. My personal opinion is that it seems somewhat inconceivable that the God who created all things would then sit back and not want to communicate to the very one that was created as another speaking spirit.

Does He think the way we think? Of course not for His thoughts are higher that ours (as He said). But when He does speak (of course I stand that when the Tannakh says He spoke... it was really Him that spoke it) - at that point we can know His will and thoughts that are higher than ours.


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Metis

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Re: :p~`~~~~

« Reply #17 on: December 16, 2009, 11:05:39 AM »

Quote from: kwd111 on December 16, 2009, 10:53:10 AM

Now, you must of course realize that the above is based on certain assumptions. For example, you say there is a God (assumption #1), which implies there are not other Gods (assumption #2), and that this God communicates (#3), and that the Tanakh is from God (#4).

Now, if you were a devout Muslem, would you be saying the same? or a Hindu? Does God (or the Gods) communicate with Muslems and Hindus as well? And if we say we "believe", what is this belief based on?

These questions are rhetorical, so there's no need to answer them. My point is that we tend to make assumptions about God even though many of us recognize that God or the Gods, if they exist at all, are probably well beyond our ability to understand them. Or we could take Einstein's approach and say that scientific research is actually the best way to try and understand God. Maybe-- just maybe-- the results of scientific research may be more "divinely inspired" than all the holy books in all the religions.