Asking God some questions

Wescli Wardest wrote: Why would it be God’s place to interfere with the works of the universe?

Playing devil's advocate for a moment (because I don't believe in the traditional god anyway), why wouldn't he/she interfere with their works?

Wescli Wardest wrote: What I have failed to grasp is how any one person can judge another for believing something to be true.

Simple Sir Wescli.

When their *something* they believe to be true can be harmful to them. Cases in point:

1) a person praying to god to heal them and refusing to go to the doctor when science has discovered a known cure.
2) a person believing that their prayers keep their children safe and so they pay little attention to them
3) a person believing that abstaining from food for 24 hours will somehow make god happy and bless them in their financial struggles (a very typical Mormon response I've seen numerous times)

Now, it depends on the person if I decide to approach them or not. If they are asking for help (or hinting that they want help but don't outright say it) I will tell them why I judge their beliefs (that they hold to be true) erroneous. If they don't ask for my help and are happy in their fantasy, I leave them be.

I don't think any of us can really say they know for certain whats going through anythings mind when it is dieing. Affection and recognition are not unique to the human specie and neither is memory. These are the chief associations for stuffs such as regret, sorrow, hope and love. They may expeince them differently, but some manifistation of these takes place and not just at dieing. Throughout their whole life.

why wouldn't he/she interfere with their works?

That is a good question.
And many people believe that “God” would and does intervene and interfere. And as jestor pointed out by citing Tolle,

The word God has become empty of meaning through thousands of years of misuse. I use it sometimes, but I do so sparingly. By misuse, I mean that people who have never even glimpsed the realm of the sacred, the infinite vastness behind that word, use it with great conviction, as if they knew what they are talking about. Or they argue against it, as if they knew what it is that they are denying. This misuse gives rise to absurd beliefs, assertions, and egoic delusions, such as "My or our God is the only true God, and your God is false," or Nietzsche's famous statement "God is dead." The word God has become a closed concept.

I feel that people have become attached to ideas and have not spent the time to experience “God” and develop a relationship based on mutual understanding. This could be compared to being similar to the same way a young person my fall in love with an actor. They form ideas and opinions based on what snippets of information they have gathered and structure a belief system about what the person might do, think or feel about something. Then the ideology takes over and the individual is elevated to benevolent status. (Hero Worship)

What we have to consider is that each person’s interpretation of “God” is different. The Creating Force which has a hand in all life, that which was, may be sentient as we understand the word to mean or it may be something beyond our realm of comprehension. In the Kybalion, there is a good explanation of, or way of looking at it, that many don’t consider. People believe a creating force would look after us because that would be it’s nature. But that would mean that the “nature” governed the Creating Force and so there must be a higher cause. If the Creating Force is the higher cause, then nothing can govern it but it. And It “is.”

So to answer the question, I would ask, “What do you feel about how your beliefs represent the truths of the universe and have you experienced those beliefs?”

When their *something* they believe to be true can be harmful to them.

I still do not judge the individual for believing what they know to be true. I admire their conviction and pity their suffering. If I can show that there is another truth available to them by my action and beliefs then perhaps their eyes could be opened to the countless possibilities the universe offers. But I do not judge the individual. Sure, I may NOT be a fan of their beliefs or practices. If all you have ever known is to draw water from a well and you believe it is the best and truest way to live, I can not condemn you for not accepting indoor plumbing into your life. I can show you that there is another way and if you choose not to take part in it, I can pity the troubles you will put yourself through for your belief and admire your resolve. (Even if a part of me feels it is misguided, it is yours to have.)

Does that make any sense, or am I just rattling on pointlessly?

Wescli Wardest wrote: I feel that people have become attached to ideas and have not spent the time to experience “God” and develop a relationship based on mutual understanding. This could be compared to being similar to the same way a young person my fall in love with an actor. They form ideas and opinions based on what snippets of information they have gathered and structure a belief system about what the person might do, think or feel about something. Then the ideology takes over and the individual is elevated to benevolent status. (Hero Worship)

Excellent...

Wescli Wardest wrote:
Does that make any sense, or am I just rattling on pointlessly?

Haha, no. You are not rattling on pointlessly. I understand what you mean.

Pain is a very deep concept.

We all hate it, but why?

through pain our true selves can be revealed.

Through pain we find empathy.

Through pain we know we are alive.

To me, in my own life, pain is what makes life beautiful.

suliskveteba wrote: Pain is a very deep concept.

We all hate it, but why?

I'd guess our mind thinks pain is driving away consciousness, and therefore control, and to a greater extent our own self. The projection of that then being pain leads to (probably wrongly) death, or departure of the self entirely from the physical. We'd hate something which was trying to kill us, so it's the same thing probably just at a smaller scale.

Pain though can be a good test in dislocating our perception from instinct, but I'm not sure what else it achieves unless I was looking for some way to empower deeper emotions - since I'd think pain is perceived as a sacrifice (of part of the self).

Most people though experience pain for reasons out of their control and therefore the experience of it seems out of control too, at least initially. Perhaps they look to some omnipotent manifestation because by definition it cannot lose control.... but are left wondering about the nature of its usage of such omnipotency.

I have always thought of pain as a teaching tool. That sounds odd I know… but bare with me a second.

Whenever something hurts, we avoid it. Hot stove, smashing a finger... ouch, don’t do that again!

But it doesn’t just teach us how to avoid things that are painful, like a bad relationship. Once we have been hurt, we tend to guard ourselves against being hurt again. And that pain can create a fear in us. It is in overcoming such things that we really do become better people and are able to form stronger connections.

So, without pain, without a negative motivator, several of life’s best pleasures and most worthwhile pursuits could be lost or worst yet… taken for granted. I guess it’s all about balance.

“Only in the darkness can you see the stars.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

Although it may have hurt, I am grateful for the pain I have endured in my life. I have learned many lessons from it. I have learned to appreciate things that I would have never noticed before. It has made me who I am today and hopefully that is a better person.


@ Adder… you should talk more about what you were saying. It sounds really interesting, but I guess it is just above me; because, I am having a hard time getting what you mean. And I know you are a pretty smart cookie, so I do want to understand what you’re talking about.

Brenna wrote:

Learn_To_Know wrote: If he does as much as they claim he does, why are the big problems avoided so neatly by him?

Because hes busy running the entire universe? of which we are a very very small part? Maybe they arent big problems when youre looking at things on a grander scale...

Or perhaps all the problems are big problems to Him, and therefore, they get sorted into an order we don't understand? Or because all the "big problems" as seen through human eyes are human problems, caused by people, continued by people, solvable and preventable by people?

My vote is both.

Maybe we are not yet able to understand the answers.

I find "talking" to god a very gratifying.