Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
A panEntheistic God as described and revealed by Jesus. Yes. My atheism was erased during deep meditation. I encountered an overarching consciousness that was not mine but of which I am a part with a multitude in a Oneness that's unconditionally accepting and loving. Its character matches the Holy Spirit as revealed by Jesus as our Father who IS agape love.
If you're curious about why I suspected you've had a spiritual experience during intense meditation...
I'm not going to beat around the bush with you, and I don't intend to try to change your mind. I'm just going to give you my observation and leave it at that. I'm not claiming what I say is totally accurate for you, but you seem to fit into this category.
I've had conversations with several people who've experienced the spiritual realm (usually during intense meditation) and they can no longer deny its existence (materialism is false), but they refuse to believe in the God of the Bible. As a ‘Spiritual but not religious' workaround they invent their own idiosyncratic view of God is, to comfortably explain what they've experienced and cannot deny. I can understand the appeal of preferring a romanticized version of God that is more comfortable, one that doesn't involve the inconvenient concepts of objective morality, judgement and hell, but is it actually the truth? It seems to come down to a preference for a comfortable belief over an uncomfortable truth.
Does any of what I've said ring true for you?
Do you consider yourself a truth-seeker?
Quote:
One reason why many people find Creative Evolution so attractive is that it gives one much of the emotional comfort of believing in God and none of the less pleasant consequences. When you are feeling fit and the sun is shining and you do not want to believe that the whole universe is a mere mechanical dance of atoms, it is nice to be able to think of this great mysterious Force rolling on through the centuries and carrying you on its crest. If, on the other hand, you want to do something rather shabby, the Life-Force, being only a blind force, with no morals and no mind, will never interfere with you like that troublesome God we learned about when we were children. The Life-Force is a sort of tame God. You can switch it on when you want, but it will not bother you. All the thrills of religion and none of the cost. Is the Life-Force the greatest achievement of wishful thinking the world has yet seen?
From Mere Christianity
Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis
If you're curious about why I suspected you've had a spiritual experience during intense meditation...
I'm not going to beat around the bush with you, and I don't intend to try to change your mind. I'm just going to give you my observation and leave it at that. I'm not claiming what I say is totally accurate for you, but you seem to fit into this category.
I've had conversations with several people who've experienced the spiritual realm (usually during intense meditation) and they can no longer deny its existence (materialism is false), but they refuse to believe in the God of the Bible. As a ‘Spiritual but not religious' workaround they invent their own idiosyncratic view of God is, to comfortably explain what they've experienced and cannot deny. I can understand the appeal of preferring a romanticized version of God that is more comfortable, one that doesn't involve the inconvenient concepts of objective morality, judgement and hell, but is it actually the truth? It seems to come down to a preference for a comfortable belief over an uncomfortable truth.
Does any of what I've said ring true for you?
Do you consider yourself a truth-seeker?
I am absolutely a truth seeker. Your attempt to suggest that the consciousness I encountered was the Bible God is dead on arrival. The consciousness I encountered was in no way remotely similar to the God described in the OT and believed in by the original Jesus followers who incorporated their savage and barbaric beliefs and fear of God into the Jesus narrative. The attempted merger of Christ's revelation about the true nature of God with the OT descriptions of God's nature and motives produced so many contradictions and inconsistencies that the theology has twisted in the wind ever since trying to reconcile them. The consciousness I encountered matched perfectly the God as revealed and demonstrated unambiguously by Jesus, period.
All the primitive savagery and barbaric beliefs about God are completely bogus, IMO. The God of Jesus who IS agape love would never establish an eternal hell or annihilation for ANY of His children for ANY reason! Chastisement and reaping consequences for whatever we sow are entirely the result of our choices NOT God's judgment or punishment. The Bible God is a primitive and barbaric meme born of savage and ignorant minds. The interpretations are simply devoid of intelligent rationale based on the misguided belief that everything written by our ignorant primitive ancestors is the word of God - as a sign of faith in God.
I can remember Kidbrick from way back when - he may even be around under a different name, and But I can't swear it was him. And the names escape me now. But I do recall that the term 'Darwinist pondslime' was particularly associated with the evolution debate when it was still freely permitted - until quite recently.
The Hitler accusation was pretty frequent, too... and we used to post
Since that apologetic (extra Biblical historians attest to Jesus) popped up every other page.
Great days they were, Campbell 34 and his Ark -threads. We don't get the Ark (s) ) at all now, since they got their fingers burned over the Nami Scami ..we shall not see their like again
Now where are my pipe and slippers...and where did I put my coffee....mumble...
I did some forum searches for the expressions you listed, looking for the earliest references to them to find example of them being "frequently used by Christian posters to abuse disbelievers" as you claimed.
Quote:
TRANSPONDER: The three favorite expressions... 1. Goddless bastards
2. Satanic hellspawn
3. Darwinist pondslime
... were coined long ago when such terms were frequently used by Christian posters to wound and abuse disbelievers. Whether or not using the terms ourselves took the puff out of th e Theiopologetic sails I don't know. But, as you say, we don't hear it so much, these days.
Post #428: https://www.city-data.com/forum/reli...l#post57988486
The search results are very interesting, wouldn't you agree? Maybe your memories are inaccurate?
1. The earliest occurrence of the term “Goddless bastards” was used by you in 2010: 08-04-2010 TRANSPONDER [‘Arequipa’ at the time] I only wish that you were surrounded by we goddless bastards who would take you for what you are and 'judge' would not even be in the equation. There would be no element of being forgiving or merciful as we do not even see that there was any wrong done.
But unfortunately it will be a long haul before people can come out and admit they really don't believe and would rather not bother with church -going and so we can only offer our little community here and what support we can on the end of a cable.
2. The earliest occurrence of the term “Satanic hellspawn” was used by you in 2017: 11-28-2017
TRANSPONDER: Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal View Post
Do atheists/agnostics from this forum actually go into the other Religion and Spirituality forums to argue against whatever religion is being discussed, the way other posters come here? And, NO, I have no wish to actually read the other forums.
I rarely go into the Christianity, Islam, or Judaism forums. I sometimes pop into Buddhism as I used to be a Theravada Buddhist, once. I once bombed and strafed Christianity as I get into the Press of Pikes in R/S and even after we goddless bastards really Owned R and S, I would pop into Christianity when they threw down the gauntlet "Evolutionsists! Prove that the Bible is wrong!" type of thread. Well, they were asking for it .
But since then it has been made clear that visits from the satanic Hellspawn are not welcomed, and indeed The A/A annexed territories of R and S will do us fine, I tend to avoid looking in Christianity, anyway. And it's pretty much all deluded rubbish, anyway.
On the other hand, we early welcome any Bible apologist who wants ro come and tame the meat -eaters in A/A. We are getting weak through lack of fresh meat. Given that they want to discuss and debate and argue rather than staff their fingers in their ears and preach at the tops of their voices.
Note: the first occurrence of the term "hellspawn" was used by you in 2009
----
3. The earliest occurrence of the term “pondslime” was used by you in 2011: 7-5-2011 TRANSPONDER: If the Cretaceous extinction had never happened, we would now be bipedal raptors with larger brains arguing about whether the Great Invisible Raptor in the Sky made us in His image or we evolved from pondslime, as the raptors in the white coats keep telling us.
I am absolutely a truth seeker. Your attempt to suggest that the consciousness I encountered was the Bible God is dead on arrival. The consciousness I encountered was in no way remotely similar to the God described in the OT and believed in by the original Jesus followers who incorporated their savage and barbaric beliefs and fear of God into the Jesus narrative. The attempted merger of Christ's revelation about the true nature of God with the OT descriptions of God's nature and motives produced so many contradictions and inconsistencies that the theology has twisted in the wind ever since trying to reconcile them. The consciousness I encountered matched perfectly the God as revealed and demonstrated unambiguously by Jesus, period.
All the primitive savagery and barbaric beliefs about God are completely bogus, IMO. The God of Jesus who IS agape love would never establish an eternal hell or annihilation for ANY of His children for ANY reason! Chastisement and reaping consequences for whatever we sow are entirely the result of our choices NOT God's judgment or punishment. The Bible God is a primitive and barbaric meme born of savage and ignorant minds. The interpretations are simply devoid of intelligent rationale based on the misguided belief that everything written by our ignorant primitive ancestors is the word of God - as a sign of faith in God.
I didn't say you encountered the God of the bible, just an experience of the spiritual realm.
The spiritual realm is populated with various spirits. Did you encounter an "angel of light"?
Why are you so confident that the consciousness you encountered "matched perfectly the God as revealed and demonstrated unambiguously by Jesus, period." How would one verify if the experience you had was "of God"? Could it have been a trickster entity that inhabits the lower frequencies of the spiritual realm? It would be important to know for sure.
I didn't say you encountered the God of the bible, just an experience of the spiritual realm.
The spiritual realm is populated with various spirits. Did you encounter an "angel of light"?
Why are you so confident that the consciousness you encountered "matched perfectly the God as revealed and demonstrated unambiguously by Jesus, period." How would one verify if the experience you had was "of God"? Could it have been a trickster entity that inhabits the lower frequencies of the spiritual realm? It would be important to know for sure.
I am absolutely convinced I entered the spiritual realm - aka an altered state of our Reality. The overarching consciousness matched the descriptions of the Holy Spirit described in the Jesus narrative and the unconditional love and acceptance demonstrated unambiguously by Jesus despite horrendous scourging and crucifixion. I encountered no kind of light, an angel, or otherwise. I encountered a loving and accepting consciousness that was NOT mine but encompassed mine and a multitude of others. Words are simply not adequate to describe and relate the encounter or the "knowing" that accompanied it. But for me, it was unmistakable, utterly joyful, and erased my atheism instantly. Any resemblance at all to a God who would require a blood sacrifice of an innocent ANYTHING to appease His vengeance for ANY reason or to allow Him to forgive anyone is not remotely tenable.
. I can understand the appeal of preferring a romanticized version of God
that is more comfortable,
one that doesn't involve the inconvenient concepts of objective morality, judgement and hell, but is it actually the truth?
It seems to come down to a preference for a comfortable belief over an uncomfortable truth.
Comfort?
Well, my friend..if and when God comes to you up-close and personal - then tell me if you
saw any judgment or punishment in Him.We'll talk seriously then.
If you're curious about why I suspected you've had a spiritual experience during intense meditation...
I'm not going to beat around the bush with you, and I don't intend to try to change your mind. I'm just going to give you my observation and leave it at that. I'm not claiming what I say is totally accurate for you, but you seem to fit into this category.
I've had conversations with several people who've experienced the spiritual realm (usually during intense meditation) and they can no longer deny its existence (materialism is false), but they refuse to believe in the God of the Bible. As a ‘Spiritual but not religious' workaround they invent their own idiosyncratic view of God is, to comfortably explain what they've experienced and cannot deny. I can understand the appeal of preferring a romanticized version of God that is more comfortable, one that doesn't involve the inconvenient concepts of objective morality, judgement and hell, but is it actually the truth? It seems to come down to a preference for a comfortable belief over an uncomfortable truth.
Does any of what I've said ring true for you?
Do you consider yourself a truth-seeker?
Is is kind of true for us all.
So how do we determine reliability? what process can we deploy that limits the number of possible choices?
Its not really about finding the full truth yet, we are just way to far from that, but we can see clearly less valid ones. A god thing wiping out a city to "cleans the earth", just doesn't hold up.
Comfort?
Well, my friend..if and when God comes to you up-close and personal - then tell me if you
saw any judgment or punishment in Him. We'll talk seriously then.
Sadly, I suspect it does take an up-close and personal encounter to override the societal conditioning to a tyrant God commanding obedience instead of a Father wanting us to love Him and one another.
Sadly, I suspect it does take an up-close and personal encounter to override the societal conditioning to a tyrant God commanding obedience instead of a Father wanting us to love Him and one another.
Or this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arach Angle
... but we can see clearly less valid ones. A god thing wiping out a city to "cleans the earth", just doesn't hold up.
It just takes a small taste of love and a little smack upside the head with a fallible and errant Bible to start to get a clue that the two things are in conflict with each other.
Sadly, I suspect it does take an up-close and personal encounter to override the societal conditioning to a tyrant
God commanding obedience instead of a Father wanting us to love Him and one another.
Why is that sad? Rhetorical.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) at all now, since they got their fingers burned over the Nami Scami ..we shall not see their like again
