Anonymous
Post 04/18/2019 09:03     Subject: Re:I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being
Your problem is that you are trying to find god in your mind or in a church/religion/teaching.

You will never “imagine” god.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2019 09:01     Subject: Re:I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Do you believe in love? Jesus teaches us that God is Love.


Are you really that naïve about Christianity? If God is just Love, then explain all of the requirements for our behavior that God apparently has. The Christian God--for better or worse (mostly worse, IMO)--is MUCH more than just love.

The Christian God judges everyone's souls after they die to determine if they go to heaven, purgatory, or hell. Sound like love to you?


That is dogma not god.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2019 08:57     Subject: Re:I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have trouble wrapping my head around the theory of relativity, the immense vastness of the universe, and subatomic particles that exist in ten different dimensions, but I know they exist.
Just because something is impossible to understand, or that it is understood by most people only in occasional, fleeting moments, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

Also, I agree with some of the reading mentioned here. I think a lot of people learn about God as children, then never bother to learn more as they grow up. So the language many people have for God is the language used to teach children about difficult subjects. Like if you never learned anything more about string theory past middle school or poetry beyond Shel Silverstein. As an adult, these things would seem silly. So God sounds like a loveable spaghetti monster in the sky. Nice, but kind of irrelevant to real, adult life.


Hey, don't rag on Shel Silverstein


Lol... I’m not! But I think it’s a pretty good analogy. If all you really read of poetry was Shel Silverstein, then you would think of it as something nice that you have enjoyed since childhood with some good moral lessons. And someone telling you that they find poetry difficult to understand, but nevertheless important and meaningful to their lives would sound like an idiot or completely insane.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2019 08:41     Subject: Re:I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being
Anonymous wrote:I have trouble wrapping my head around the theory of relativity, the immense vastness of the universe, and subatomic particles that exist in ten different dimensions, but I know they exist.
Just because something is impossible to understand, or that it is understood by most people only in occasional, fleeting moments, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

Also, I agree with some of the reading mentioned here. I think a lot of people learn about God as children, then never bother to learn more as they grow up. So the language many people have for God is the language used to teach children about difficult subjects. Like if you never learned anything more about string theory past middle school or poetry beyond Shel Silverstein. As an adult, these things would seem silly. So God sounds like a loveable spaghetti monster in the sky. Nice, but kind of irrelevant to real, adult life.


Hey, don't rag on Shel Silverstein
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2019 08:40     Subject: Re:I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being
Anonymous wrote:Do you believe in love? Jesus teaches us that God is Love.


Are you really that naïve about Christianity? If God is just Love, then explain all of the requirements for our behavior that God apparently has. The Christian God--for better or worse (mostly worse, IMO)--is MUCH more than just love.

The Christian God judges everyone's souls after they die to determine if they go to heaven, purgatory, or hell. Sound like love to you?
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2019 08:34     Subject: Re:I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being
I have trouble wrapping my head around the theory of relativity, the immense vastness of the universe, and subatomic particles that exist in ten different dimensions, but I know they exist.
Just because something is impossible to understand, or that it is understood by most people only in occasional, fleeting moments, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

Also, I agree with some of the reading mentioned here. I think a lot of people learn about God as children, then never bother to learn more as they grow up. So the language many people have for God is the language used to teach children about difficult subjects. Like if you never learned anything more about string theory past middle school or poetry beyond Shel Silverstein. As an adult, these things would seem silly. So God sounds like a loveable spaghetti monster in the sky. Nice, but kind of irrelevant to real, adult life.
Anonymous
Post 04/17/2019 21:21     Subject: Re:I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Maybe read some medieval and post-medieval mystic theologians (Jewish and Christian). They are all about the unknowability and unimaginability of God. I think it is possible to lead a religious life with a huge question mark in the center.


This. It’s called faith and not certainty and many spiritual figures discuss struggling with doubt. My pastor in college said we aren’t expected to never struggle with doubt, but we should strive for those to be productive struggles. When I have moments of such struggle, I focus on how my religion teaches I should treat others. Absent a deity, treating others well is never wasted.


A pastor's idea of a productive struggle with doubt is one that always returns you to faith.

From a pastor's point of view, doubt that leads to faith in god ending, is unproductive doubt, because it takes you away from church -- and could put the pastor out of business.

PS - religion is not needed to treat others well. There are many non-religious people who are highly ethical - perhaps moreso than some religious people who are arrogant because they think god is on their side. The golden rule is universal and has nothing to do with god.
Anonymous
Post 04/17/2019 21:15     Subject: I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being
animism ftw
Anonymous
Post 04/17/2019 21:09     Subject: I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I used to be like you. Over the years I’ve had several odd, sometimes disturbing, sometimes moving experiences that tell me there is something beyond the known.

Whether you believe it or not, it is always there for you.


I agree. I never feel the presence of Santa Clause, but I always feel the presence of God, no matter where I am. I was raised by die-hard atheists.


Just because you feel it, doesn't mean it's there. But if it makes you feel good and isn't harmful -- go for it.
Anonymous
Post 04/17/2019 21:08     Subject: I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being
Anonymous wrote:I used to think I was really clever and smarter than all the dummies who believed in their flying spaghetti monster or whatever

Now I think that religion has a purpose in my life

Is god a white bearded man sitting on a cloud? Probably not

But there is something


Maybe. Some people feel it, others don't No one really knows
Anonymous
Post 04/17/2019 19:23     Subject: I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being
I used to think I was really clever and smarter than all the dummies who believed in their flying spaghetti monster or whatever

Now I think that religion has a purpose in my life

Is god a white bearded man sitting on a cloud? Probably not

But there is something
Anonymous
Post 04/15/2019 06:43     Subject: I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I used to be like you. Over the years I’ve had several odd, sometimes disturbing, sometimes moving experiences that tell me there is something beyond the known.

Whether you believe it or not, it is always there for you.


I agree. I never feel the presence of Santa Clause, but I always feel the presence of God, no matter where I am. I was raised by die-hard atheists.


^ is it a "supernatural being" though? I think that is the question. Maybe we need to define "being."
Anonymous
Post 04/14/2019 22:29     Subject: I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being
Anonymous wrote:I used to be like you. Over the years I’ve had several odd, sometimes disturbing, sometimes moving experiences that tell me there is something beyond the known.

Whether you believe it or not, it is always there for you.


I agree. I never feel the presence of Santa Clause, but I always feel the presence of God, no matter where I am. I was raised by die-hard atheists.
Anonymous
Post 04/14/2019 21:32     Subject: Re:I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being
Do you believe in love? Jesus teaches us that God is Love.
Anonymous
Post 04/14/2019 19:22     Subject: I simply cannot wrap my head around there being a supernatural being
Ask God to help you believe.