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I don't know how everything came into existence. I think it's odd when people claim they do.
I consider God to be consciousness so I have no difficulty imagining how anything came into existence. We have our own consciousness as the analog. How did Harry Potter come into existence? Our ancestors believed that God "spoke" our Reality into existence because they did not know about consciousness. God THOUGHT everything into existence in much the same way we create things in our consciousness, IMO.
Actually, the implications of that particular line of reasoning have been very helpful in dealing with theodicy and the "red in tooth and claw" aspect of our Reality. The details of those implications require too much verbiage to relate here and would be off-topic. Perhaps in another thread..
It's the best way you can communicate your character. The role of your faith in that might be debatable. In my observation, character / virtue and religious faith vary independently of each other. The best you could argue is a weak association, but TBH I don't even see that.
I consider God to be consciousness so I have no difficulty imagining how anything came into existence. We have our own consciousness as the analog. How did Harry Potter come into existence? Our ancestors believed that God "spoke" our Reality into existence because they did not know about consciousness. God THOUGHT everything into existence in much the same way we create things in our consciousness, IMO.
Actually, the implications of that particular line of reasoning have been very helpful in dealing with theodicy and the "red in tooth and claw" aspect of our Reality. The details of those implications require too much verbiage to relate here and would be off-topic. Perhaps in another thread..
I declared God to be as real as the color green and made a God concept. The difference is I don't think I have uncovered some universal secret sauce that should be believed by everyone else.
To be clear, I was not saying I don't see a connection specifically between your faith and your conduct in the world. I'm not even in much of a position to access that without knowing you personally. Nor am I saying that faith never informs conduct in a positive and wholesome way. I was speaking as a general principle. In most cases I think people's virtue is a function of their parenting and personality and life experiences and religion is just one factor that can influence that for good (or ill, depending on the specific religious ideation).
to be clear, i was not saying i don't see a connection specifically between your faith and your conduct in the world. I'm not even in much of a position to access that without knowing you personally. Nor am i saying that faith never informs conduct in a positive and wholesome way. I was speaking as a general principle. In most cases i think people's virtue is a function of their parenting and personality and life experiences and religion is just one factor that can influence that for good (or ill, depending on the specific religious ideation).
I declared God to be as real as the color green and made a God concept. The difference is I don't think I have uncovered some universal secret sauce that should be believed by everyone else.
I personally abhor those who seek to impose their religious views on others, L8!! When it comes to God, there is no truer statement than Jesus's "We know not what we do." Seeking to impose what you think on others is anathema, IMO!!
I personally abhor those who seek to impose their religious views on others, L8!! When it comes to God, there is no truer statement than Jesus's "We know not what we do." Seeking to impose what you think on others is anathema, IMO!!
One good thing is seeing how ridiculous that looks cured me of some codie programming.
Shouldn't this be in the Atheism subforum? An 'Ask a Christian' would be in its own subforum as well. You know, consistency.
Personally, I'm not interested in asking any one. I'll gladly search within myself and by my own means, and access the more superior vertical axis rather than the meager horizontal one of the masses.
It is fine here. Some believers won't venture into the A&A forum, and there is nothing to be gained by posing the questions to other atheists.
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Enjoy your insights Mystic!
