why would god want us to worship him?

xingu wrote:

If you believe that God is a God of love, unconditional love for all mankind, than do you believe the God in the Bible is real or something created by those who wrote the Bible?

The view of God in the bible was mostly created by men.

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If don't believe he is real than where did you get your God from?

My view of God comes from a combination of my own experience, the recorded experiences of others, and a critical reading of a wide range of spiritual texts from different traditions, both ancient and new.

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cicerone imposter wrote:

Please identify your "god."

Define, describe, what, how, when, where, and who?

My God is impersonal. It is the unified field of consciousness that is the source of our existence. Even though impersonal, God can be experienced by humans either spontaneously, or through spiritual practice. God has the qualities of deep peace, energy, love, bliss, and intelligence, or at least that is how God is experienced. Because of the resistance of human minds to think in the pure abstract, and the tendency to personalize, God is often portrayed or experienced as an anthropomorphic form or personality. That has caused a great deal of confusion. We tend to project human forms on our experiences, like looking at a cloud and seeing a human face.

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Because of the resistance of human minds to think in the pure abstract, and the tendency to personalize, God is often portrayed or experienced as an anthropomorphic form or personality.

Very difficult for most people to do; think in the abstract. Perhaps, if this is the way God is, it chooses to remain obscure so humans may go about their business without his interference.

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IFeelFree wrote:

cicerone imposter wrote:
Please identify your "god."

Define, describe, what, how, when, where, and who?

My God is impersonal. It is the unified field of consciousness that is the source of our existence. Even though impersonal, God can be experienced by humans either spontaneously, or through spiritual practice. God has the qualities of deep peace, energy, love, bliss, and intelligence, or at least that is how God is experienced. Because of the resistance of human minds to think in the pure abstract, and the tendency to personalize, God is often portrayed or experienced as an anthropomorphic form or personality. That has caused a great deal of confusion. We tend to project human forms on our experiences, like looking at a cloud and seeing a human face.

How do you know that what you are experiencing is "God", and not a need for an increased dose of Abilify?

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stlstrike3 wrote:

IFeelFree wrote:
cicerone imposter wrote:
Please identify your "god."

Define, describe, what, how, when, where, and who?

My God is impersonal. It is the unified field of consciousness that is the source of our existence. Even though impersonal, God can be experienced by humans either spontaneously, or through spiritual practice. God has the qualities of deep peace, energy, love, bliss, and intelligence, or at least that is how God is experienced. Because of the resistance of human minds to think in the pure abstract, and the tendency to personalize, God is often portrayed or experienced as an anthropomorphic form or personality. That has caused a great deal of confusion. We tend to project human forms on our experiences, like looking at a cloud and seeing a human face.

How do you know that what you are experiencing is "God", and not a need for an increased dose of Abilify?

I don't know. I can only infer based on the quality of my experiences, their effect on me, and what I have gathered from a critical reading of the spiritual literature. It is conceivable that I will be proved wrong at some point and diagnosed with a brain tumor, or a mental illness, etc. Until that happens, I am inclined to believe my experience.

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I don't think god interferes in anything. It's only in the imagination of those who would allow this kind of thinking that makes them think he has influence in lives or nature. There is no reason to think otherwise; prayer or no prayer - whatever is meant to be will happen.

Those who think introspection has value may benefit those who make the effort, but there is nothing to confirm such is the case; the outcome will always be the same - except it may help with self delusion. Sine it harms no one, there is no benefit or penalty to anyone except the self-perception of "well being."

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cicerone imposter wrote:

I don't think god interferes in anything. It's only in the imagination of those who would allow this kind of thinking that makes them think he has influence in lives or nature. There is no reason to think otherwise; prayer or no prayer - whatever is meant to be will happen.

Many believe that God does not (as a rule) interfere in the world, but effects the world through us. There have been many individuals who have experienced a spiritual awakening and then brought many far-reaching positive influences to those around them. Obvious examples include Gandhi, Mother Theresa, St. Francis of Assisi, Gautama Buddha, etc.

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Those who think introspection has value may benefit those who make the effort, but there is nothing to confirm such is the case; the outcome will always be the same - except it may help with self delusion. Sine it harms no one, there is no benefit or penalty to anyone except the self-perception of "well being."

There have been numerous medical studies of the physiological and psychological effects of spiritual practices such as meditation, breathing exercises, yoga, vegetarianism, Buddhist mindfulness, Tai chi chuan, etc. These studies have provided considerable evidence of the benefits of these practices.

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If meditation is beneficial, it does not need to be religious' based; most humans need a "quiet" time to be free from the daily demands of our life.

There will always be humans with extra-ordinary capacity for generosity, kindness, and charity of their lives and treasure. That some may have performed their contributions to humanity through a religious sect is not surprising; they always have a captive audience. That does not take away from their personal selflessness and contribution to humanity.

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cicerone imposter wrote:

If meditation is beneficial, it does not need to be religious' based; most humans need a "quiet" time to be free from the daily demands of our life.

True. Many spiritual techniques do not need to be connected with religion. There are any number of techniques that are taught without the trappings of religion.

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There will always be humans with extra-ordinary capacity for generosity, kindness, and charity of their lives and treasure. That some may have performed their contributions to humanity through a religious sect is not surprising; they always have a captive audience. That does not take away from their personal selflessness and contribution to humanity.

True. Some have been associated with religion, others have not. It seems that all of the great individuals who've expressed extraordinary "generosity, kindness, and charity" have experienced some kind of awakening or personal transformation.

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IFF: True. Some have been associated with religion, others have not. It seems that all of the great individuals who've expressed extraordinary "generosity, kindness, and charity" have experienced some kind of awakening or personal transformation.

"That some of them experienced some kind of "awakening or personal transformation" is a positive for those people. Some people who experience "awakening or personal transoformation" may turn into suicide bombers.

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cicerone imposter wrote:

"That some of them experienced some kind of "awakening or personal transformation" is a positive for those people. Some people who experience "awakening or personal transoformation" may turn into suicide bombers.

I would put suicide bombers in the category of mental conditioning and brainwashing. Suicide bombers are created by reinforcing a rigid ego-based view of separateness.

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IFF: I would put suicide bombers in the category of mental conditioning and brainwashing. Suicide bombers are created by reinforcing a rigid ego-based view of separateness.

How do you separate the brainwashing between the parents who teach their children to attend church and follow its precepts and the suicide bomber? Are there two kinds of brainwashing?

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cicerone imposter wrote:

IFF: I would put suicide bombers in the category of mental conditioning and brainwashing. Suicide bombers are created by reinforcing a rigid ego-based view of separateness.

How do you separate the brainwashing between the parents who teach their children to attend church and follow its precepts and the suicide bomber? Are there two kinds of brainwashing?

They could both be considered a type of mental conditioning, although in the case of the suicide bombers it is much more aggressive. Also, the parent teaches the children out of love. The suicide bomber is trained out of a desire for revenge, power, hatred, etc.

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When you talk about "aggressive," how about those Christians who deny gays and lesbians equal rights (or "marriage"), and those working to include ID in our science curriculum?

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cicerone imposter wrote:

When you talk about "aggressive," how about those Christians who deny gays and lesbians equal rights (or "marriage"), and those working to include ID in our science curriculum?

Those are also examples of people acting on the basis of certain misguided mental concepts (gay is bad, evolution is bad), instead of getting in touch with their "humanity".

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Christians who deny gays and lesbians equal rights (or &quot
How about politicians and others with a political agenda (including the "moral maj (I mean minority) being the ones doing so rather than Christians. Christians are supposed to be neutral. (John 17:16)

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Re: Christians who deny gays and lesbians equal rights (or &

hankarin wrote:

How about politicians and others with a political agenda (including the "moral maj (I mean minority) being the ones doing so rather than Christians. Christians are supposed to be neutral. (John 17:16)

This is about the funniest post I've read all day. Thanks for the laugh. Politicians with a political agenda. LOL

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Why should beauty be admired?

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God is all things true, which goes beyond our human comprehension. It's not about ego, it's about truth. God is worthy to be praised and worshipped and really nothing else is, therefore truthfully we should worship Him. In an earthly analogy, it's like Bill Gates trying to give us his inheritence and we want to settle on a big screen TV. The best is there to be given and hopefully thanked, but we choose to ignore Him.
On the subject of hell. How many of us know when a murderous, rapist, terriorist should pay for their crimes, and we are angry when they get off light or worse yet serve no time? We want justice. Because God is the greatest judge, (and gives plenty of opportunity for repentance) if someone truly refuses to follow the laws, they must be punished. God doesn't do this gleefully, but it is the just and right thing to do.

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@OGIONIK,

God is all things true, which goes beyond our human comprehension. It's not about ego, it's about truth. God is worthy to be praised and worshipped and really nothing else is, therefore truthfully we should worship Him. In an earthly analogy, it's like Bill Gates trying to give us his inheritence and we want to settle on a big screen TV. The best is there to be given and hopefully thanked, but we choose to ignore Him.
On the subject of hell. How many of us know when a murderous, rapist, terriorist should pay for their crimes, and we are angry when they get off light or worse yet serve no time? We want justice. Because God is the greatest judge, (and gives plenty of opportunity for repentance) if someone truly refuses to follow the laws, they must be punished. God doesn't do this gleefully, but it is the just and right thing to do.

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why would god want us to worship him?

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