God

[glockman19]

So talking to many who say they believe in a god but don't really know the god they believe in perplexes me.

I believe in God and the God I believe in is of the Old Testament. I believe that the God of the New Testament is the same God.

If you believe in a god, is 'he/she' a god you form in your own image, and you make up your own belief system based on what you believe god to be?.

I believe in the word of god, (the 10 commandments).

do you believe that a god who created you knows the best way for you to live your life, or do you even believe god created man?.

Maybe...maybe not.

If you believe in the God of the Christian bible, do you pick and choose what you want to believe is wrong and right, i.e. adultery, homosexuality, gluttony?.

NO, but my interpretation of the bible may be different than yours, It's the interpretation of the words that lead man to debate and disagree.

I want to better understand those who believe in a god, and what they believe.

I am from a mixed family Jewish/Catholic and went to both Hebrew and Sunday school and parochial high school, Notre Dame, Sherman Oaks.

A simple way to live a healthy life physically and spiritually is to:

Free your heart from hatred,
Free your mind from worry,
Live Simply,
Give More,
Expect Less.

God Bless.

[WASR10]

I believe the Bible to be the complete and only source from which I may learn the truths about God and His will for me. I do my best not to base my faith on anything inward such as my feelings or emotions, because they change so quickly and so often. My faith is based on what I have learned through scripture.

...but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. - John 2-:31

[44fred]

Glockman19
Very interesting, I was raised in a mixed (Christian/Jewish) home as well. Neither parent practiced their faith. I'm guessing if they would have, they wouldn't have gotten married.
This made for a very confusing upbringing. Now 50 years later I become a born again Christian. When I look at my past, I see a lot of waisted time trying to figure out what God had in store for me. I also see that God was in control the whole time putting things in front of me to guide me to Him.
What a journey it's been :-)

[drewness21]

Glockman19
Very interesting, I was raised in a mixed (Christian/Jewish) home as well. Neither parent practiced their faith. I'm guessing if they would have, they wouldn't have gotten married.
This made for a very confusing upbringing. Now 50 years later I become a born again Christian. When I look at my past, I see a lot of waisted time trying to figure out what God had in store for me. I also see that God was in control the whole time putting things in front of me to guide me to Him.
What a journey it's been :-)

Amen to that! I was raised in a Baptist home and was saved at the age of 7. Although one wouldn't have seen my fruits because I lived for myself for 20 years before God gave me a nice wake up call to show me that I should get back on the path he set. So much wasted time with so much i can't take back. People that are gone that I can't witness to.

[MotoriousRacing]

I'm just now, at nearly 50 years of age, developing my personal understanding of God. I find it difficult to completely separate God from 'the ways of the known universe' we call science. Since it is difficult for me to philosophize an eternal universe with no beginning, and since science cannot demonstrate the creation of something from nothing, I believe in ‘divine’ creation. I believe that God is the creator and the creation is God; they are one.

Whether what we know about the universe (mass [matter], collective forces [energy], space and time), is controlled by or merely observed by God, God chose a time to become more involved with the lives of men/women. I believe that time is when mankind became sentient (self-aware).

I believe that once mankind became sentient, God granted us a soul, a Holy Spirit, which is part of the universal collective forces, and therefore eternal. God explained the beginning of this time of God's involvement with mankind as Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, as God communicated to Abram and Moses. God’s involvement allows for free will. Since Adam and Eve were the first sentient beings, they were the first to understand right from wrong and hence committed the first or ‘Original Sin’.

God wants us to be happy, in this life and in our eternity with ‘him’, so mankind needed to be guided toward thoughts and ideas that would put him/her at ease in this world, and continue into eternity. Although sin can be forgiven, some of those that die in sin, will become aware of their sin, and are destined to a lengthy period, or even an eternity of regret, which can easily be equated to our mortal ideas of Hell. Because Abram was leading a happy and just life, which would result in an eternity of peace, God renamed him Abraham, ‘the father of many’, and chose him to guide his descendants to an eternity of peace.

In time, those who were not descendants of Abraham also achieved a high level of self-awareness, and were in need of salvation from a lengthy period or an eternity of regret. Jesus Christ, both man and divine, was ‘sent’ to be the savior of many (all). Mankind was far more advanced now then the time of Abraham, and would need a savior that could provide evidence for the gift of grace, faith. As with modern science, observation (witnessing) by the Apostles of Jesus’ miracles, resurrection and eventual ascension, Jesus provided a path for all Gentiles to achieve grace and everlasting peace.

Now, the writings of the Apostles are studied to determine how to worship (religions) the gift of grace. Disagreements about in this life about the means to salvation should be inconsequential, as the goal for all mankind is an all-knowing eternity of peace.

[Not a Cook]

MotoriousRacing - I write this with all sincerity and in humility: I respect your right to choose what to believe, but in love have to tell you that the beliefs you set forth above are wrong.

The Bible is accurate and factual. The Genesis account of creation is accurate and factual and literal. God really did create the world in six, literal days, and made the seventh the Sabbath. If science is your focus and is seemingly an impediment to you taking the biblical account at face value, I highly recommend that you acquaint yourself with all the research and resources available from the Institute for Creation Research (online at http://www.icr.org/who-we-are/). They are real scientists, researchers, and educators who will help you understand how science corroborates the Genesis account, not contradicts it. Many today who claim to be unbiased scientists reject the Word of God for unscientific reasons, and then choose to ignore the scientific evidences for believing the Genesis account and become blind to obvious flaws in their own theories. The folks at ICR can point out reasons to believe the Genesis account as a factual, literal, historical record, and they can also demonstrate obvious yet overlooked flaws in theories that attempt to discount the Genesis record.

God has given us His law to show us that we are sinners who deserve destruction. Because He loves us He didn't "sit back" and let us plunge to destruction, but instead He also gave us His Son to to become the propitiation for our sins. He offers salvation by His grace through faith in His Son to all who follow Christ. And it is by following Christ that we get to know God.

Colossians 2:8-9 seems very appropriate, namely:
"Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;"

The only way to get to know Who God really is, and how He really is, is by studying the Bible and following Christ and getting to know Him.

[Lineman101]

So talking to many who say they believe in a god but don't really know the god they believe in perplexes me.

The majority of the world believes in some sort of higher power. But I would argue that only the God revealed in the Judeo/Christian scriptures can ultimately be shown to be the only living God revealed to mankind. The argument can be made in the form of:
Manuscript evidence
Archeology evidence
Predictive prophecy
Statistical probability
The Judeo/Christian scriptures can meet all of the aforementioned items.

If you believe in a god, is 'he/she' a god you form in your own image, and you make up your own belief system based on what you believe god to be?



do you believe that a god who created you knows the best way for you to live your life, or do you even believe god created man?

The eternal God knows all things. Even before a word is on our lips, He knows it. The intentions and thoughts of our mind and our hearts are known to Him. He has promised that His intentions towards me are only good. I believe that; because He cannot lie. And yes, I do believe He created man. He said so in the scripture and again, I believe the scripture can be shown to be reliable and divine. Jesus also said that He created them male and female. I hardly think Jesus was a liar!

If you believe in the God of the Christian bible, do you pick and choose what you want to believe is wrong and right, i.e. adultery, homosexuality, gluttony?



I want to better understand those who believe in a god, and what they believe.

As a Christian, I am humbled by the truth that God has revealed Himself to us. Because of our sin in the garden, we were separated from God. God made the way back to Him through His Son. This is why Jesus came. While we may think that we do God a favor, we do not. For it was God that reached to us. The paradise of God is the place where we fell when we showed God we wanted to do it our way. In Revelation, the last book of the Holy Scriptures, we again see the paradise of God. This time it is for those who want to do it His way. Jesus, the only Way, has made the way back for all of us through His atoning death, burial and resurrection; what will you choose?

[bigmike82]

Odin.

[MotoriousRacing]

MotoriousRacing - I write this with all sincerity and in humility: I respect your right to choose what to believe, but in love have to tell you that the beliefs you set forth above are wrong.

The Bible is accurate and factual. The Genesis account of creation is accurate and factual and literal. God really did create the world in six, literal days, and made the seventh the Sabbath. If science is your focus and is seemingly an impediment to you taking the biblical account at face value, I highly recommend that you acquaint yourself with all the research and resources available from the Institute for Creation Research (online at http://www.icr.org/who-we-are/). They are real scientists, researchers, and educators who will help you understand how science corroborates the Genesis account, not contradicts it. Many today who claim to be unbiased scientists reject the Word of God for unscientific reasons, and then choose to ignore the scientific evidences for believing the Genesis account and become blind to obvious flaws in their own theories. The folks at ICR can point out reasons to believe the Genesis account as a factual, literal, historical record, and they can also demonstrate obvious yet overlooked flaws in theories that attempt to discount the Genesis record.

God has given us His law to show us that we are sinners who deserve destruction. Because He loves us He didn't "sit back" and let us plunge to destruction, but instead He also gave us His Son to to become the propitiation for our sins. He offers salvation by His grace through faith in His Son to all who follow Christ. And it is by following Christ that we get to know God.

Colossians 2:8-9 seems very appropriate, namely:
"Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;"

The only way to get to know Who God really is, and how He really is, is by studying the Bible and following Christ and getting to know Him.

Catholics do not feel the need to be fundamentalist. Jesus spoke in parables, did he not?

[Not a Cook]

Catholics do not feel the need to be fundamentalist. Jesus spoke in parables, did he not?

Um, not quite sure what you're trying to say here. Are you trying to say Catholics don't believe the Genesis account is literal? I know Catholics who believe it is literal, and I also know Catholics who don't even know what the Bible says. How is either relevant to what I wrote (and to which you were replying)?

And "yes", sometimes Jesus spoke in parables. Many times He didn't. Again, not sure what you intended to say here.

[MotoriousRacing]

Catholics do not feel the need to be fundamentalist. Jesus spoke in parables, did he not?

Um, not quite sure what you're trying to say here. Are you trying to say Catholics don't believe the Genesis account is literal? I know Catholics who believe it is literal, and I also know Catholics who don't even know what the Bible says. How is either relevant to what I wrote (and to which you were replying)?

And "yes", sometimes Jesus spoke in parables. Many times He didn't. Again, not sure what you intended to say here.

Catholics are 'allowed' to believe in biological evolution. For Catholics, many doctrines are "both/and", not "either/or". As a Catholic, I can believe both creation and evolution, rather than having to choose either/or. Fundamentalism, or a strict adherence to the words in the Bible, is a Protestant idea, not a Catholic idea, although Catholics are free to believe in a 'young earth' creation. You refuted my personal believe regarding creation and claimed I must believe in creation, as a literal account, based on the Bible. It is therefore relevant for me to say that I do not need to believe in Fundamentalism.

Given that a parable is NOT literal doctrine, and Jesus spoke in parables, why would one require strict adherence to the words in the Bible? Since you seem to believe I must take everything in the Bible at face value (literal), it is relevant to say that even Jesus' teachings were not all literal.

[BLACK LION]

My conviction is...
GODs plan for our lives has already been preset...its called divine providence.
To some, this means he is actively working in our lives...to me , it means that the order of things has already been set in place and that is evident in nature and all that is natural. I do not beleive GOD is actively planning or changing anything in anyones life. I believe GOD is no longer an active medium in our lives as he was before the coming of Christ. I do believe there is a plan and there has always been a plan but we as humans have something no other creature has and that is a free will...this is what makes us so precious and our souls so coveted. We have the freedom to choose our fate and to make our own destiny so I dont believe that any strings are being pulled by GOD to steer you in the right direction spiritually, emotionally, finacially or what have you.
This is where JESUS comes into play. I believe JESUS is our ONLY line of communication to GOD.
I believe that once you open the door to him and let him in your heart and fill yourself with the SPIRIT you have re connected the severed line and are now under what I like to call the "protection plan". I DO believe that JESUS and the SPIRIT play an active role in peoples live once they have opened that line of communication but they still cannot influence your free will. It is up to the individual to choose BUT once the belief in CHRIST is solidified one cannot help but know and understand and although that knowledge forces accountability it also forces responsibility. I am not a righteous person, I am dirty and scarred and fall back consistently each day but that is the point of the fight....its the action or the act of trying to be right that makes us acceptable even though there is another faceplant right around the next corner. The whole point is to TRY to be like JESUS, even though we will never come close. There is a quote from the movie Man of Steel that reminds me of this... "You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders."
FAITH is what is is and requires no explanation...only action. Never mistake FAITH for Religion... religion is merely a comic book meant to entertain people while the truth slips oput the back door unnoticed.

[BLACK LION]

withdrawn.

[kircher21]

[Aldo The Apache]

OP. Who or what god are you referring to? So far I've only seen Christian/Catholic chiming in. But are those religions and their interpretations specifically who you are forwarding the query to?
I'd like to see and read the Muslims of Islam point of view too. Along with Buddhists, Taoism and other eastern type of religion or eastern philosophy.
I think you'll find a worlds-worth of interesting flavors than just narrowing it down to 1 form of religion. Afterall, variety is the spice of life. As they say.