[onlooker]

And I will say your opinion is no more valid than mine OS

[mmasters]

The Universe is a designed structure. It is so finely tuned that if it were one part in one million different it would have ripped apart or have been radically different (http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/designun.html). From the design you can determine it's intent just like you can determine what a skyscraper would be used for or a warehouse would be used for. Greatness and accumulation of knowledge is what god is looking for by the design because it is so well rewarded. Perhaps god is looking for a pet, or some help in managing all the life that is out there.

God also didn't want to deal with the problems of the human race or any other race so he created beings to oversee life, this is what I call god using common sense. I call these beings oversouls. We live many lifetimes, and it is the oversoul which determines where you go based on how you do in this lifetime. It is your true parent. Life tends to be progressive as is evolution so we evolve with the species. That is some of what I have figured out for my upcoming book. Hope it helps.

[Rod_Cloutier]

I'm currently studying a book called 'I am that', which asserts that God is consciousness. We are all conscious, thus we are all part of what God is. A short and totally incomplete summary of this 256 page volume of unspeakably massive content:

http://www.anandavala.info/miscl/I_Am_That.pdf

Ultimately, all is unreal except consciousness. If you identify only with consciousness then all else can pass away and you will be unaffected.

[SeaGypsy]

Essentially what mainstream Hindus believe, but you can still endlessly rephrase & make a motza out of naive westerners, been going on a while now, ho hum.

[Cog]

I accept by faith that God exists because of my observations of how organized the universe and life itself appears to be. I've never built anything by throwing a bunch of parts into a pile and hoping they would somehow organize themselves into a complex machine.

But I am told by scientists that enough rolls of the dice got us to where we are today. Don't buy it since my observations are that to obtain complexity requires a plan and a planner.

[onlooker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'I') accept by faith that God exists because of my observations of how organized the universe and life itself appears to be. I've never built anything by throwing a bunch of parts into a pile and hoping they would somehow organize themselves into a complex machine.

But I am told by scientists that enough rolls of the dice got us to where we are today. Don't buy it since my observations are that to obtain complexity requires a plan and a planner.

[SeaGypsy]

Mine too, I've just read too much to take any particular orthodoxy seriously.

[onlooker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'M')ine too, I've just read too much to take any particular orthodoxy seriously.

[Cog]

If you believe in a higher being and know that there are contrasting viewpoints on who or what that higher being is, would it not behoove you to figure out more about him? Let me put it this way. Most religions are systems of beliefs suggest that there is an existence after our limited one here.

Those religions have a series of tests, goals, works, or systems that require you to do something to obtain that further existence. Then figuring out which of the religious beliefs is the correct one would seem to be the next step to take.

[onlooker]

Tough to "know" more about God

[Cog]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', 'T')ough to "know" more about God

[onlooker]

That would make sense, Precisely to that end, my conviction is that one should be a "good" person to be elevated to a better state or place after this life

[onlooker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', 'T')ough to "know" more about God

[Ibon]

That sense of order in the universe can be held in reverence without a users manual.

[Cog]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', 'T')ough to "know" more about God

[onlooker]

Nothing wrong with that. We all are endowed with a heart and mind to discern what is right or wrong. It is up to each one of us as to whether we ignore or follow what our heart and mind tells us

[SeaGypsy]

The assumption being- those who reject 'religion' haven't studied enough. My perception is that religion is like history- written by the victors. There are other histories, other religions, lost.

[evilgenius]

Ok, so, if there is a God, how does He attain consciousness? Walking, talking human beings have brains with neurons. What does God have? For that matter, what kind of consciousness beyond matter is there? Obviously, consciousness is not matter. If it doesn't require matter to exist, that is one thing. If what we know of as consciousness does require matter, that is quite something else. It forces us to ask what kind of consciousness God could have. There is a 'focus' issue here which has bearing. It also forces us to confront what kind of nature we have, if we are made in His image. We are focused upon this body, and how it goes for us according to its ways. God, therefore, challenges us to expand our consciousness beyond that narrow focus. What does it mean to be made in the image of something that is invisible?

Which is to say, the answer to this question depends upon how you see God. If he is an old man in a flowing robe, then he can't possibly exist. If He is spirit, like Jesus said to the woman at the well, then He would be seeking those who will worship Him in spirit. Jesus said, "in spirit and truth."

[onlooker]

The question of what is God, and where did he come from it seems unfathomable to us humans in accord with our mental faculties. Perhaps, no intelligent beings anywhere in the Universe have the faculties to answer these basic questions about God. But, equally unfathomable is the notion of multiverses which create one after another after another it almost infinite succession. How can that be? And when ,where and how did the original one begin. Quantum physics tells us that things can arise spontaneously at the sub-atomic levels. But can you extrapolate that to say that a Universe can arise spontaneously? I do not see how. In fact, the whole quantum field of study is shrouded in mystery and ambiguity from what little I know. We seem at this stage to be wholly unequipped to answer any of these fundamental questions. So, we are left with preferences. Mine is that God exists and basically was the engineer and architect of this Universe.