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Thread: The God thing.

  1. #1
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    The God thing.

    Although I believe in God, he is not the fluffy, bunny sort of God that so many so-called Christians say that they relieve in. My God would look at the antics of those who proclaim their faith in Him in every hypocritical statement and sales effort that they make and probably not bother to do anything about it.

    If you believe that it is possible to have a conversation with God, here are a couple of posts in one of my blogs. Don't bother reading them if you do not think itt is possible to have a conversation with God, you will just think I am mad.Whether it was God providing the responses or not is really quite immaterial. There is nothing that says that He cannot guide me in the responses.
    God and sins | Ask Old Coot
    A short conversation with God | Ask Old Coot

    There are some people about who seem to think that putting a religious slant on their hypocritical sales pages will get them more customers. Unfortunately, there seems to be so many rabidly religious credit card holders out there that they are making a fortune off their victims.

    It always puzzles me how they square the worship of God with their subservience to Mammon. So many members of too many sites and forums will not see the contradiction in the actions of these opportunistic heathens. Maybe they won’t like my God but at least I have one.

  2. #2
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    Re: The God thing.

    Arthur’s, notions of God seem to be more honed than when he and I spoke about the matter in some depth at Adlandpro in 2006. I agree with a lot which he said then and I still do.

    I have never forgotten my “date" with Arthur. The “oldcoot” and the “old trout” agreed that we did not want forgiveness for our sins, that we would rather stay in the other place and chat about the best books we had read and the sins which we had thoroughly enjoyed in the course of our earthly lives.

    It is inconceivable that the author of this God and Sins material should have been a very popular Adlandpro member once upon a time. He was once elected as Person of The Week. No wonder that we are both ranting and raving here. How things change!

    Arthur’s conversations with God could be what I call talking to the trees! I prefer talking to my cats but I tend to think of God in the same way the ancients viewed Gaia . If you talk to one unit of Gaia, you talk to all Gaia. I find it easier to understand Isaac Assimov's conception of Gaia than the Apostle Paul's . As for The Book of Revelations. No comment.
    Last edited by path2prosperity; 02-07-2011 at 08:12 AM.

  3. #3
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    Re: The God thing.

    Quote Originally Posted by oldcoot View Post
    Although I believe in God, he is not the fluffy, bunny sort of God that so many so-called Christians say that they relieve in. My God would look at the antics of those who proclaim their faith in Him in every hypocritical statement and sales effort that they make and probably not bother to do anything about it.

    If you believe that it is possible to have a conversation with God, here are a couple of posts in one of my blogs. Don't bother reading them if you do not think itt is possible to have a conversation with God, you will just think I am mad.Whether it was God providing the responses or not is really quite immaterial. There is nothing that says that He cannot guide me in the responses.
    God and sins | Ask Old Coot
    A short conversation with God | Ask Old Coot

    It always puzzles me how they square the worship of God with their subservience to Mammon. So many members of too many sites and forums will not see the contradiction in the actions of these opportunistic heathens. Maybe they won’t like my God but at least I have one.
    The concept of monotheism has never rung true with me, I am more inclined to the concept of a pantheon of Gods. In that respect, I am a pagan rather than a Christian but I live in Christendom and there is no way that I would want to live in a country governed by any other religious leaders. I have read Michael Bagent’s books about the historical Jesus and the biblical Jesus. Some more books to chat about when we keep our “date”

  4. #4
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    Re: The God thing.

    Personally, I do not want to be governed by any religious leader(s). or do I desire or need a government with any religious inclination(s). Politics has nothing to do with religion and and has no role or place in politics or in government.

    When the Founders wrote the nation's Constitution, they specified that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." (Article 6, section 3) This provision was radical in its day, giving equal citizenship to believers and non-believers alike. They wanted to ensure that no single religion could make the claim of being the official, national religion, such as England had. Nowhere in the Constitution does it mention religion, except in exclusionary terms. The words "Jesus Christ, Christianity, Bible, and God" are never mentioned in the Constitution.......not once.

    One of the most common statements from the "Religious Right" is that they want this country to "return to the Christian principles on which it was founded". However, a little research into American history will show that this statement is a lie. The men responsible for building the foundation of the United States had little use for Christianity, and many were strongly opposed to it. They were men of The Enlightenment, not men of Christianity. They were Deists who did not believe the bible was true.

    The Declaration of Independence gives us important insight into the opinions of the Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson wrote that the power of the government is derived from the governed. Up until that time, it was claimed that kings ruled nations by the authority of God. The Declaration was a radical departure from the idea of divine authority.

    None of the Founding Fathers were atheists. Most of the Founders were Deists, which is to say they thought the universe had a creator, but that he does not concern himself with the daily lives of humans, and does not directly communicate with humans, either by revelation or by sacred books. They spoke often of God, (Nature's God or the God of Nature), but this was not the God of the bible. They did not deny that there was a person called Jesus, and praised him for his benevolent teachings, but they flatly denied his divinity. Some people speculate that if Charles Darwin had lived a century earlier, the Founding Fathers would have had a basis for accepting naturalistic origins of life, and they would have been atheists. Most of them were stoutly opposed to the bible, and the teachings of Christianity in particular.

    Just as Congress removed Thomas Jefferson's words that condemned the practice of slavery in the colonies, they also altered his wording regarding equal rights. His original wording was: "All men are created equal and independent. From that equal creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable." Congress changed that phrase, increasing its religious overtones: "All men are created equal. They are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights."

    If the Christian Right Extremists wish to return this country to its beginnings, so be it... because it was a climate of Freethought. The Founders were students of the European Enlightenment. The Founding Fathers would turn in their graves if the Christian Extremists had their way with this country.

    "Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced an inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth." Thomas Jefferson

    "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." Benjamin Franklin

    "What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not." James Madison

    "I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved-- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!" John Adams

    "Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which only the strange belief that it is the word of God has stood, and there remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, and traditionary or invented absurdities, or of downright lies." Thomas Paine

    "Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by the difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be depreciated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society." George Washington
    Last edited by A Life Aloft; 02-07-2011 at 11:42 AM.

  5. #5
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    Re: The God thing.

    Quote Originally Posted by A Life Aloft View Post
    Personally, I do not want to be governed by any religious leader(s).
    Neither do I ALO.

    I used the word governed instead a saying something else. What I intended to say is connected to the secular duties performed by clergy in UK. I have attended quite a lot of funerals including an atheist one and I don't want to waste time and money looking for an agnostic funeral service in UK. I don't often get involved in these religious/political discussions but "oldcoot" is a very good "mate" and old sparing partner of mine, so I had to answer him.

    When I am dead there is nothing I can say, so apologies for saying it now and getting my proverbial "knickers in a twist"

    I had a few days off my secular day job and I have spent more time than usual trying to get to know all these new people in this new cyberspace community.

  6. #6
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    Re: The God thing.

    Hi AOA

    I have just re read your excellent article and it is very informative. I am pleased that most Americans are not seeking a Jehovah's Witness style imagained theocracy.

    I don't intend to comment on the matter again.

  7. #7
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    Re: The God thing.

    Watch the full version of Avatar, ignore all but the NaV'i philosophy and two important statements:-
    1 - We will fight terror with terror
    2 - If someone has something you want, you make an enemy of him
    look at the conntext and compare with what is happening in the world today.

    Read Jean Auel's series of books, Earth's Children (the final book comes out at the end of March)

    The truth lies somewhere between the two.

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