Where did God go?

[Flip Jackson]

He seems to be on vacation, at least as far as most people tell me. I get the impression from many religions that God made the earth, made people, led them with prophets and what-not, sent Christ, and directed the formation of the Bible.

Then He became oddly silent....No more prophets, no more revelations, no more scripture, no more guidance. Why not? This seems like a new kind of Deist religion. God guided the world for the first few thousand years, then decided to sit back and watch as we wallow in confusion.

Surely we need direction in this era, perhaps more so than in times before. Does God expect us to know everything we should do based on a rather outdated book? I bet Noah is glad he had direct communication and wasn't relying solely on stories about Adam and Eve.

Here's my question. Why isn't He still directing a church like he used to? Why would He expect us to rely on such an old sourch of knowledge?

[Jack]

Hey! Quit stealing questions from my side of the fence!

You raise a good point, Flip. If god is consistent and never-changing, we should be witnessing miracles that could never be explained by science, the faithful should be talking face-to-face with god occasionally and there should be present day equivalents of Moses and Paul. Why didn't god strike dead those who bring such a bad reputation to his name, like Koresh and Jim Jones? He certainly is said to have done that a lot in the O.T.

I'd agree that he's either changed his character a lot, left town 2000 years ago or never existed in the first place. Go ahead...guess which opinion is mine. :)

[Flip Jackson]

Quote by: Isherwood Hey! Quit stealing questions from my side of the fence! I'd agree that he's either changed his character a lot, left town 2000 years ago or never existed in the first place. Go ahead...guess which opinion is mine. :)

I hate to say it, but your side of the fence often has a lot of good points. I hear there are some pretty wild parties over there, too....

Funny, I thought you were under the opinion that the Flying Spaghetti Monster took over at some point, and has been screwing with people for some time now...... If that isn't your opinion, I would have to say that I have no idea.

[Jack]

I don't really care how many appendages a deity is said to have, until proof exists of his/her/its reality, I'll stick with my present opinions.

[Kuldeep]

Quote by: Flip Jackson He seems to be on vacation, at least as far as most people tell me. I get the impression from many religions that God made the earth, made people, led them with prophets and what-not, sent Christ, and directed the formation of the Bible. Then He became oddly silent....No more prophets, no more revelations, no more scripture, no more guidance. Why not? This seems like a new kind of Deist religion. God guided the world for the first few thousand years, then decided to sit back and watch as we wallow in confusion. Surely we need direction in this era, perhaps more so than in times before. Does God expect us to know everything we should do based on a rather outdated book? I bet Noah is glad he had direct communication and wasn't relying solely on stories about Adam and Eve. Here's my question. Why isn't He still directing a church like he used to? Why would He expect us to rely on such an old sourch of knowledge?

Please go through my post #78 on the thread "Why do you need to believe in something? which might tell you "Where did god go??"

For your ready reference the same is reproduced as follows:

Quote by: Kuldeep Comarison between YOU & GOD!!!!!!!! Quote by: another day What is the difference between your manifestation of all the properties of the universe as god.. and no god at all? There seems to a big difference between what you understood and my view. I never mean "manifestation of all the properties of the universe is a god." Rather, I mean SOMETHING (unknown and beyond conception) has whole universe as one of the properties. The other properties of SOMETHING are unknown and beyond conception with our gifted senses. I shall try to explain with an example, YOU!! You are represented by a particular shape, size and colour of body skin. Then you have outer body parts again having one specfic size and shape of say eyes, ears, hair, arms,legs and like. Coming to inner organs, you are not outwardly represented by those, but are all essential for your existence and survival, e.g. your heart, brain, lungs, kidney, stomach and intestines and the like. Science has then also specified you by specific group of genes, DNA, RNA. So to say you are represented by all your different materials and parts formed out of those. After your death all your material and body parts would remain here only. People like your relatives etc would introduce at that time your unknown property SOUL and pray; May your soul rest in peace!!! All that what I talked about you, including unknown soul, are your properties only. It is rational to tell that YOU are different than any of talked nomenclature. Exactly in the same manner, my hypothetical SOMETHING has this universe as one of its known property. The other unknown property could be CONSCIOUNESS, like you have SOUL as an unknown property. Finally, the way people know you as "another day", my SOMETHING is known as God!!!! Now coming to "No God at all"!!! I tell to all atheists to change their long long held view that GOD does not exist!!!!! It is because: THE WAY YOU EXIST BECAUSE OF OR, WITH THE HELP OF YOUR ABOVE DESCRIBED PROPERTIES, EXACTLY THE SAMEWAY GOD IS EXISTS WITH THE HELP OF HIS JUST ONE KNOWN PROPERTY "THE UNIVERSE"!!!!! Elaboration of the above Capital letters statement is that Your property exist so you exist, sameway universe as god's property exist so God exists. Properties are knowable, while YOU & GOD both not knowable!!!!!!!!!!! Both are just one and the same conscience to be more correct, truthful and rational or what?????? At a certain point it becomes silly to keep clutching to the word god. Obviously there exists something deep at the core of reality that possesses all the qualities of the universe etc. but why is this "god"? When you want your relatives should keep cluching to you as "another day", why you object people keep clutching to the word god??????? You want respect from others so wants my Imaginary God "SOMETHING". You may change his name reversing the alphabits as: GOD-------> DOG!!!!!!!!!!! no problem with my SOMETHING !!!! He won't mind You could also have a different name than "another day", that won't change your properties. God has always meant an actual supreme thinking being. Find a more original word for this spiritual essence or whatever you want to call it. I nominate you to rename "Universal God" or my "SOMETHING" which you think as most original. Yes, God has always meant an actual supreme thinking being, but it the psychlogy of man and not the God!!! Quote: Personally I believe the same thing...there is quite obviously some kind of ultimate core to reality wherein all the magic and mystery of life comes from. Any atheist will believe this. Thanks for your factual view!!! Quote: But to call it god is like calling nature "Mother Nature"...It is merely an unwarranted personification. You are free to put any name as explained above!!! I have put it SOMETHING-----any objection?????? But I guess if it helps you relate to that which is not knowable then it's alright. I agree with you that my SOMETHING is not knowable, but can be known with the help of his known and unknown properties!!!! you might wonder seeing "unknown properties"!!! It has been put there as his other properties which are becoming known by improving our conventional senses, MIND in particular. I can give more detail, but length of post does not permit!!!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Last edited by Kuldeep : Today at 02:32 pm. Reason: Putting title

I love to have more questions on the subject!!!!!!

[Compugasm]

February 15 is John Frum Day, on the remote island of Tanna in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. On this holiest of days, devotees have descended on the village of Lamakara from all over the island to honor a ghostly American messiah, John Frum.

"As anthropologist Kirk Huffman, who spent 17 years in Vanuatu, explains: “You get cargo cults when the outside world, with all its material wealth, suddenly descends on remote, indigenous tribes.” The locals don’t know where the foreigners’ endless supplies come from and so suspect they were summoned by magic, sent from the spirit world. To entice the Americans back after the war, islanders throughout the region constructed piers and carved airstrips from their fields. They prayed for ships and planes to once again come out of nowhere, bearing all kinds of treasures: jeeps and washing machines, radios and motorcycles, canned meat and candy."

People are gullable.

[Flip Jackson]

That's definately interesting Compugasm. John Frum day.

Kuldeep, I'm not really sure what you were getting at. I have a hard time reading your posts. They are extremely long, sometimes sentence structure is wonky, and I didn't read the context to some of your remarks from the other thread.

If you are saying that your "something" is still around, and we know this because we are around, then alright. You would have to clarify in simpler shorter remarks if you wish me to follow any better than that.

And I'm not saying there isn't a God around anywhere. I mostly aimed the question at people who feel God guided us until Christ was crucified. I was just wondering what they think He is doing now. Why leave us by ourselves when we are armed with nukes?

[underbear1]

" The three men I admire most
the Father ,Son, and Holy Ghost
they took the last train for the coast
the day the music died"

[Jack]

Finally, the way people know you as "another day", my SOMETHING is known as God!!!! Now coming to "No God at all"!!! I tell to all atheists to change their long long held view that GOD does not exist!!!!! It is because: THE WAY YOU EXIST BECAUSE OF OR, WITH THE HELP OF YOUR ABOVE DESCRIBED PROPERTIES, EXACTLY THE SAMEWAY GOD IS EXISTS WITH THE HELP OF HIS JUST ONE KNOWN PROPERTY "THE UNIVERSE"!!!!! Elaboration of the above Capital letters statement is that Your property exist so you exist, sameway universe as god's property exist so God exists. Properties are knowable, while YOU & GOD both not knowable!!!!!!!!!!! Both are just one and the same conscience to be more correct, truthful and rational or what??????

"Or what??????" is exactly right. What you posted, twice, makes no sense. Perhaps it's a language/cultural disfunction. Whatever it is, it has caused your post to be, twice, incomprehensible.

[Jack]

Quote by: Sinner (from another thread) because you church didn't exist until 19th century

So obviously Sinner doesn't believe god is doing anything worthwhile these days either. It would seem god either lost interest or said all he had to say 2000 years ago. Even some of his followers don't expect anything from him now.

[Flip Jackson]

Underbear, that is genius. Guess He is on vacation then. Catching some rays, hitting some gnarly waves, and the like.

Isherwood, you have a point. For some reason, if God decided to say anything after the Bible, it would be met with condemnation. Apparently an all-knowing God can teach us everything we need to know in one relatively small book. Heck, I'm pretty sure we have even lost parts of it over the last few thousand years, but it is still all we need to know.

This idea baffles me. Perhaps he found a project more worthwhile once he saw the direction we were headed....

[lili462]

Thats one of the greatest points i've ever heard Flip. i myself believe in a higher power but not necessarily the one depicted in the bible and by whomever else. so i cant really reply on this topic much..but i just wanted to tell you thats a brilliant point.

(Metatron explains when God went missing.)
Metatron: You know those... constitutionals He likes to take?
Bethany: Constitutionals?
Rufus: I think we're beyond euphemisms at this point. God's a Skee-Ball fanatic.

sorry i found that appropriatley funny for this topic

[Kuldeep]

Quote by: Flip Jackson If you are saying that your "something" is still around, and we know this because we are around, then alright. You would have to clarify in simpler shorter remarks if you wish me to follow any better than that.

Precisely I mean that!

I have proved to atheists that God is as real as We are. Description of example "YOU" had made the post long. I am sorry for you to develop stress while reading my post.

Summing up the post again I wanted to say " We exist due to our properties, organs and body etc. Similarly God certainly exists since, Universe exists as God's property ". Also, "the absolute reality" of Us and God both, is not easily knowable by our known scientific techniques. Therefore "the absolute reality" looks mistry to us!!!

Thus statement "No god or God does not exist" is cent percent wrong as claimed by most of atheists.

And I'm not saying there isn't a God around anywhere.

You are telling the truth only!!! But, I feel, God is not like someone like us living in heaven or anywhere else!! He is everywhere in the Universe, the way we are everywhere in our body. :confused: ?

I mostly aimed the question at people who feel God guided us until Christ was crucified. I was just wondering what they think He is doing now. Why leave us by ourselves when we are armed with nukes?

Their thinking is based on faith and not on logic. So, God has not left us by ourselves. To the extent, I feel even development of nuke arms is also property of God only!!!! :eek:

[Kuldeep]

Quote by: Isherwood "Or what??????" is exactly right. What you posted, twice, makes no sense. Perhaps it's a language/cultural disfunction. Whatever it is, it has caused your post to be, twice, incomprehensible.

Sorry for that incomprehensible expression twice! My next post above in response to Flip, might make some sense to you and clear the doubt. I am also reproducing the Capital letter sentence of my ref. post again after a bit of modification. Now it may be clear!!!

THE WAY YOU EXIST BECAUSE OF YOUR PROPERTIES (BODY), EXACTLY SAMEWAY, GOD EXISTS DUE TO HIS KNOWN PROPERTY "OUR UNIVERSE"!!!!!

I am ready to retry!!! I have learnt patience pays!!! :)

[Plasma Snake[D]]

Thats why the religiious cannot take the Bible literally, you have to take its advice as if its talking in metaphors or analogies or something. Mainly, the bible is good advice one should follow if one wants to have a good reputation among your peers and if you want to grow to live to be old. The poetic language I think was first made clear to me by that famous book Fight Club. As you all know, in the book the author raises some interesting ideas, like the fact that the model for God for a subjective observer is their father. This led me to think that maybe the state or the concept of "God" has a lot to do with "power". We all strive to become God, we were created in his image, etc. The clues all point to this. I mean, our fathers have total control over us it seems, just like we like to think God does. well, whatever I hope you get the point. Supposedly the belief in any grandiose entity is good for healthy personal development. If one has little faith or no faith then that can point to some type of deficiency in one's personality(6 billion people cant be wrong!)

[Osborn F Enready]

Where did God go?

He could be vacationing in Hell, at least if he exists. I bet if God does exist, he has caller ID and just doesn't want to talk to the misguided who think he prefers any nation over another.

[another day]

"THE WAY YOU EXIST BECAUSE OF YOUR PROPERTIES (BODY), EXACTLY SAMEWAY, GOD EXISTS DUE TO HIS KNOWN PROPERTY "OUR UNIVERSE"!!!!!"

I'm sorry but this is just silly babble....

Where is the connection with the known property of the universe and the imagined idea of a god? You try to phrase it in this clever way but it makes no sense. It's not proof of a god nor is it even legible.

[Boetie]

God is over at science and technology.

You will find geology over at philosophy and religion, I believe astronomy is over there too. Some feel they're not considered science.

[Paul]

In 1983 I became very dishearted by churches, christianity, and by religion. Most of you may know some history of christianity and other religions.


Near the end of February of 1983 some thing very strange happened to me, I was in a state of helplessness, my cup was empty and I felt alone. With extreme anger I cried out, "OH GOD, WHERE ARE YOU!? COME DOWN AND LET WORLD KNOW THAT YOU CARE! WHERE IS YOUR LOVE!?

Can you see and hear of all the things that have happened and are happening!?" Those that have a mind to process what they see and hear would think that YOU are sleeping, or do not even exist, or are on vacation, or just don't care, by letting all the suffering and destruction happen on this earth.

Why all the abominations that have happened in Jesus' name that are to bloody and wicked to mention? OH GOD, why all the conflicts and division within Christianity?

Countless numbers of Christian churches with their various false religious doctrines and false religious preaching using the name of Jesus as its foundation, and at the same time seeing and hearing of ALL the suffering, and also seeing the destruction of the environment from all kinds of pollutants which causes suffering to ALL livings things. And also, the weapons of mass destruction that mankind have used and will use against each other again to the point of ANNIHILATION, which is M.A.D. IF THEY ARE NOT STOPPED, HUMANITY IS FINISHED,

OH GOD! LISTEN TO THE CHILDREN CRY!, OH GOD! WHY DON'T YOU DO SOMETHING!"

I got answer, but nobody believes me.

Yours truly with love, Paul

[Morgan_Freeman]

Not to spoil your fun, guys, but the Bible explains God's absence pretty well.