# where is god?



## sokmunki (Jul 8, 2009)

originally posted: 15 sep 08

x this is a reply to some rather fantastic video work. The video - which i may post later - showed the word Allah "written" in various things in nature - a stone, a cactus, a squash, a honeycomb... it looked very real but just a little too real. anyway, the comments were a LOT more interesting than the video:

"Science relies on observable fact. Something HAS to be observable in order for holistic science is being used to come to a logical deduction."

"Science doesn't just start "Making s**t up" and threaten people with eternal damnation if they don't buy it. Look up the scientific method and see how it's done."

"Amazing that religious people can persecute science but ignore the gigantic gaps in their own biblical rhetoric."

reminder: science was CERTAIN not too long ago, that, based on observable "facts", the earth was flat and the sun revolved around it. i don't think the question of what happened if one ventured to the "edge" of the earth was settled before the whole idea was disproven. i don't want to open my own "does God exist" argument - i'm "pro-God" by the way - i merely want to point out the "observable fact" that people tend to become so very close-minded about their beliefs. and, i have to say, while it is good to have an open mind, be careful that it is not so open that your brain "falls out". balance.

i think one should always question one's beliefs. i believe the way i believe because i questioned. my belief grows stronger thru questioning... well, thru the answers actually... but it starts with the questions. even though science has made truly INCREDIBLE leaps forward in the last couple of centuries, we still get in the mindset of 'well, we KNOW such and such is true so...' 

just take the whole earth is round thing for example. how do you know the earth is round? because someone told you. and you took it on "faith". some of you might say that you have faith that the earth is round based on all the evidence from credible sources like the NASA, scholar types, or... cough... The Government. you, yourself, actually have no tangible proof. have you traveled around the world taking measurements? what have you done to prove it to yourself? "copied" someone else's answers?

i would say most people, though, actually have faith that the earth is round because "everyone else" believes it. what would happen if you said "i don't think the earth is round"? people would point at you and laugh. when Galileo made claims that the earth was round, the... more coughing... Roman Catholic Church 'arrested' him, which brings us back to the church. like i said, i'm very pro-God, but it drives me crazy that so many church leaders think they KNOW "such and such" is true. i think a good example for this would be extraterrestrials - life on other planets. science grows closer every day to being capable of searching for and finding evidence of ET. science has found hundreds of other planets out there that may be able to support life. i can just see the scientific community making an announcement that they "may" have found life on another planet and then i can see the religious community being up in arms because the Bible "said" God created Adam and Eve, not Adam, Eve, and ET. i'm not a Bible scholar, but i don't remember reading anywhere in the Bible that God DIDN'T make anyone, or anything, else. in fact, i vaguely remember a few verses about "others" and "giants" and that sort of thing. i think the Mormons claim one of those... 

i believe the Bible was inspired by God. in fact, II Timothy 3:16 says, "all scripture is inspired by God..." however, the translation of the Greek MEANING of the phrase is "all scripture is God-breathed". so what's my point? it's the same thing. no, it's not. one phrase says the Bible was breathed INTO man (to be written down), and the other phrase says God breathed it out and man was there desparately trying to jot it all down. one translation implies the Bible was written under divine influence - the other implies the Bible was written in the same way a reporter writes a story. i subscribe to the reporter theory and many Christians have tried to 'correct' me and even have scolded me saying the the Bible is the perfect word of God. i'm sorry, but i firmly believe that ANYthing mankind has touched is tainted and imperfect and i think God would agree with me on that one. 

one argument i almost always get is "if you don't believe the Bible is infallible, then how can you believe what it says about Jesus dying on the cross?" i think it's like if CNN did a story about a woman who had her home repossed because she was on social security and she couldn't afford to pay the property tax. everyone would be up in arms. but then, we find out that CNN didn't tell the whole story. we find out the woman was running a crack house and she was slicker than John Gotti so the only thing the authorities could get her with was property tax. so then we point our fingers at CNN. just because they were wrong on the story of the woman doesn't mean they were wrong when they reported the events of september 11th. sure we can verify their stories through multiple sources, but you get the picture: just because one detail is wrong or a little off, doesn't mean the major events didn't happen. i think the 'all or nothing' train of thought is brainwashing and is a dangerous road. 

i think the purpose of the Bible is to get you started or to get you unstuck - it's like a guide written by Christians who have gone before us - but we could get along without it. (here come the flames) 
i think God intended for us to have a constant minute to minute relationship with him (or her - i think God is more of an "it" actually). sure we can follow an instruction manual - they usually help - but nothing compares to timely, accurate guidance for the situation staring you right in the face. i think God gives that to us through what we call conscience. so, when we find out that ET "might" exist, those who rigidly follow the "instruction manual" or worse, those who try to INTERPRET the "instruction manual" may have a very difficult time understanding things - they will probably feel confused and confused people usually make poor decisions and get frustrated and defensive - note: Salem Witch Trials. whereas the people who have a more fluid, constant relationship with their "creator", with the "one", will have an easier time 'deciding' how they feel about things. 

on the other side of the coin, those of the scientific community who follow the same kind of rigid instruction manual way of thinking will likely hear the loud voice of their religious community counterparts saying "the Bible doesn't say anything about ET so you're sinners!" this is the kind of thing that leads the scientific community to make comments like those above.

the answers lie within us. whether atheist, scientist, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or even Mormon (by the way, we can't deny that there is a lot to learn from the Mormons even if they are a "little" on the fanatical side) when we staunchly support the rigid, earthly, limited, box-bound beliefs conjured by mankind in the name of science, philosophy, or religion we are creating walls between us and the answers - between us and our Creator - between ourselves. 

God is fluid and wave-like and simply cannot be understood by us, not at this point, but we can understand FAR MORE than we understand now by letting the walls come down and by searching - by realizing that what we are looking for is in our hearts, God's most holy temple.


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