Why God is God Alone, and No One Else

[Ethnikos]

Problem with that is that a young carpenter arrived on the scene and said God has sent him to give messages to the world such as "love one another".
Natch he was killed for saying appalling stuff like that, and people have been wondering whether to believe him ever since..

I agree with your take on it but I see him as presenting a cause worth dying for, not a cause worth killing for.

 

[citizenzen]

Don't.

That's a pretty fundamental change in your stance.

You started out asking that everyone agree with what God is.

And now you're okay with people simply keeping their belief to themself, without agreeing to what God is.

You negotiate almost as well as President Obama.

 

[Ethnikos]

That's a pretty fundamental change in your stance.

You started out asking that everyone agree with what God is.

And now you're okay with people simply keeping their belief to themself, without agreeing to what God is.

You negotiate almost as well as President Obama.

I'm not dictating something and I am not presenting the solution myself but asking if it would be possible to stop fighting and people believing they are righteously killing people in the name of their God.

 

[dafydd]

I'm not dictating something and I am not presenting the solution myself but asking if it would be possible to stop fighting and people believing they are righteously killing people in the name of their God.

It has never been possible to stop it. How do you suggest we go about it? What would be your first practical step? An educational program to teach people that there are no gods? That would be a good start.

 

[RandFan]

Problem with that is that a young carpenter arrived on the scene and said God has sent him to give messages to the world such as "love one another".
Natch he was killed for saying appalling stuff like that, and people have been wondering whether to believe him ever since..

If he existed it is unlikely he ever said that according to Biblical scholars. It certainly wasn't new or unique to Christianity.

More importantly it raises a very important question, why did god wait so long? Why didn't humans before Christ deserve that message?

When I look at the history of social and moral progress I don't see god anywhere. I see humans struggling to figure out the best way to balance the needs of society and the needs of the individual. Our greatest advances came long after Ancient Civilization. Prohibitions of slavery. Prohibitions of cruel and unusual punishment. Recognition that life is a fundamental right. Freedom of speech. The right to liberty. Women's rights. Minority rights. Recognition that ALL humans are entitled to the same rights.

I don't see god having anything to do with any of that. No prophets gave us such cherished rights. We struggled, agonized, debated and had to rely on trial and error.

Where was god?

 

[catsmate]

Is it possible for people to agree there is one God?

Can people give up partisanship enough to agree that God is
far away somewhere, in a place we can not go, and that God
does no come here and that we can not know His name?

Would the world be a better place if we could?

Are you are asking is it possible for people to accept this "one God"? Well only if you provide proof of its existence.

 

[dafydd]

Are you are asking is it possible for people to accept this "one God"? Well only if you provide proof of its existence.

And the proof will have to be provided in every language in the world.

 

[Mudcat]

And the proof will have to be provided in every language in the world.

And related in an easily understood way with no room for any misunderstanding what so ever.

 

[dafydd]

And related in an easily understood way with no room for any misunderstanding what so ever.

Ethnikos has no chance then.

 

[Mudcat]

I agree with your take on it but I see him as presenting a cause worth dying for, not a cause worth killing for.

That last part of the sentence is the first part of people's mentalities that would needed to be changed. Instead of worth 'killing or dying' for, it should be worth living for.

 

[Mudcat]

Ethnikos has no chance then.

Not my problem

 

[Hokulele]

You know like an infinite amount more than me on the subject so I would ask you, isn't there somewhere an ultimate God who all the gods are the children of?

Not always. Shinto is a very good example of a religion that incorporates a very different notion of "gods" (kami), and to practitioners of Shinto, the creation of the universe and people was sort of a committee decision, not a single act by one being. You do have to be careful to avoid the fallacy of translation. Kami is not really the same thing as god.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto

Many indigenous religions are inherently polytheistic, or naturalistic, which doesn't match your world view at all.

 

[NobbyNobbs]

Ok, you've done it. We're all convinced. There is One True God, who shall not be named, who is Creator of All, lives outside the Universe, and does not affect our lives. He is the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, now and forever, hallelujah, amen.

Will you leave us alone now?

 

[MontagK505]

I for one think it's a far better idea to agree to disagree and learn to live with one and another, because in the end people are going to believe what they wanna believe regardless of any facts put in front of them.

[/thread]

It's possible that some people may not believe because of the facts put in front of them.

 

[Mudcat]

It's possible that some people may not believe because of the facts put in front of them.

That is a possibility, yes.

 

[MontagK505]

not existing is not really work

I can imagine a really lazy god constantly struggling not to exist.

 

[dafydd]

I have a faint suspicion that there may be a few problems inherent in getting everyone in the world to believe in the same god. Lots of babies are born every day, just to name one. Would they all be brainwashed at birth?

 

[MontagK505]

I have a faint suspicion that there may be a few problems inherent in getting everyone in the world to believe in the same god. Lots of babies are born every day, just to name one. Would they all be brainwashed at birth?

The greater the number of people you are trying to get to agree on anything the less likely that is to happen. The best you can hope for, is a consensus that makes everyone equally unhappy. The most likely outcome is one or two people pressure the others to agree. This gives the illusion of consensus.

 

[Leumas]

I'm not dictating something and I am not presenting the solution myself but asking if it would be possible to stop fighting and people believing they are righteously killing people in the name of their God.

Ethnikos.....you would make a VERY VERY bad doctor.....also very bad philosopher.

You want to stop people fighting......but you are not RECOGNIZING the CAUSE.


You are discussing and agonizing and searching for a cure to the SYMPTOM....but are not philosophical or thoughtful enough to realize that the CAUSE is NOT religion.


To prove it to you.....

Ireland....same god.....500 year war.
WWI and WWII ..... nations of the same god....killed millions of each other despite being believers in the same god
Iraq-Iran war..... same god....
Iraq-Kuwait.....same god
30 years war
100 years war
Spanish-English wars​

You may argue that some of the above were the same god but different flavors of worship......WELL.....that proves my point even further.....

If the Anglican church and the protestant church could split off from the catholic church and have the SAME GOD but then disagree on how to love this very same god of love and peace to the extent of KILLING AND EXTIRPATING each other...what hope is there?

Look at the PROTESTANTS.....how many different CREEDS of protestants there are.....they all started out from the VERY SAME CREED......the same god.....the same SCRIPTURES.....the same ideology (hate for catholics)......YET they all now disagree and have even fought each other.


So THE HINDRANCE TO PEACE IS NOT RELIGION.......religion is only ONE OF THE TOOLS that are used by the VITIATORS to rally the FEEBLE MINDED......so are things like

Nationalism.....Patriotism.....Tribalism.....King..... Country..... RACE.....Color......Family.....MONEY.....Way Of Life..... Democracy..... Communism......​

The list goes on and on......

If you eliminate all of the reasons that have so far in history been used to RALLY PEOPLE BEHIND WARS.....all you are going to get is a NEW REASON invented by the VILE to rally the MORONS behind to JUSTIFY killing others and still go to sleep with a clean conscience.

Are you intelligent enough to realize that you are barking up the wrong tree...........

IT IS NOT religion that is the CAUSE of wars and hate and killing..... religion is only a rallying point.​

The cause of wars and killing and violence and all the vitiations and rapine and extirpations and heinous vileness............is GREED ….. that is to say HUMAN NATURE. To cure a problem…look for the real cause not a secondary cause or a symptom.

 

[dafydd]

Ethnikos,the first step in uniting the world would be to eradicate the belief in gods.