I believe 'God' is what gives us the strength to oppose evil. God is not a corporeal being; it is the collective power of love in the universe. People who try to argue atheism because they feel betrayed when a mistaken concept of God doesn't prove helpful to them or to the world are missing the point, I think.
God/love resides in each of us. What we do with that love is our greatest strength. The love we bear each other is what gives us the courage to 'do something' and not allow evil to triumph. It is the only thing that is capable of consistently opposing evil. Individually, good men might be unable to defeat evil, but collectively, we can, if our love is stronger than our fear.
Poem written for this contest: http://allpoetry.com/contest/2408957
Just setting my ideas down so they're clear, and I know what I want to say in the poem. Not sure I actually said it, but I ran out of time.
This column is just my personal notes for a contest poem I wrote. I had a difficult time writing the poem, and I wanted to get my thoughts straight before I wrote my entry. The contest prompt was: "Evil triumphs when good men do nothing." --Sir Edmund Burke
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For my money, I tend to argue the exact opposite to this. Why call it "god" when you can call it love? Or skill? Or luck?
I'm a nurse and I've learnt a fundamental thing. When something goes right, it's "Praise God", and when something goes wrong, it's "the doctor's fault".
The point is, the god you refer to, a god of 'love', of good will, need not exist. You can do good without god. Infact, I prefer when people do good without a god. Some aid workers feed starving children because they are starving, others feed them, and teach them about god. They corrupt their culture and bring Christianity with food.
That's not a 'god' that I want to 'believe' in. -
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What we refer to as deity probably _ought_ to just be called 'love,' because that's essentially what it is (in my worldview, anyway). What pisses me off is people who ask things like, "If God is so benevolent, why doesn't he save the people in Darfur? Why doesn't he keep children from being abused? He doesn't do jack for them, so I don't believe in him." and so on.
I see God (or Godliness) not as an entity that we can beg favors or even mercy from; I see it as a state of maturity that we should all strive to achieve.
Why do we call it God? Because everyone's had the Bible drummed into them from childhood, and its (I believe mistaken) teachings shape our concept of God's nature into something unrealistic and needlessly complicated. I think only when you step away from the Bible and read the works of some of the medieval mystics can you think about it and glean a better understanding of what 'God' is like. That is why I am a deist and not a Christian.
I too dislike organizations which mix charity with catechism. A person should not have to listen to a sermon just to get needed help. -
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I see, so you belief in a god similar to the Einstein god. That is you don't believe in a personal god.
The god you talk about is quite widespread in older texts (as you alluded to). Many older scientists often would talk of a God in nature, of love. It's a mystical approach.
Let me ask you this than. If you can answer it, why do you believe in the god you do? I mean no disrespect, but what I mean is, why have a 'faith' in it and call it a God? I'm reminded of shakespeare "A rose by any other name". What you call god I call love, or goodwill etc. -
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I came to my belief because I read a book called _The Cloud of Unknowing,_ which is a work of medieval Catholic mysticism. It was the first religious text I ever read that made complete sense to me and that felt true on a bone-deep level--far more true than the Bible had ever felt to me. It taught that the only way to understand God is through love.
This idea is mirrored in a lot of philosophies, as you said--Buddhism, for example. It also ties in with the concepts of spiritual alchemy and the Grail quest--the idea that the Grail (or God) is not something to be attained. Rather, the seeker strives to become a wiser and more loving person by virtue of the quest itself. It's self-improvement, but on a much deeper level. The Blessed Angela of Foligno also believed this.
I think that, really, what modern religions try to do is offer a structure to the process of self-improvement. But instead of simply admitting that that's what it is, they couch it in terms of an all-powerful deity who can intervene in our lives. The truth is, the real power comes from ourselves; God is just the perfection that a mystic would strive for.
Unfortunately, most people aren't mystics and don't even understand them or what they are trying to do. *sighs*
Mainly, what I have faith in is the power of deep love. I call it 'God' for convenience's sake.
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i like Burke, from nature abhors a vacuum... he wrote power abhors a vacuum, in political sense...so many useful ideas from his writings... but this is a different matter here with the nature of God... i think we all have moments of revelation...when things suddenly occur to us as truth about God. I believe in God from my Christian upbringing, but something intuitive inside tells me it is true. A moment of revelation for me came when I considered the nature of free will, good vs. evil and realized the same reality yielded both...we are free to create good or evil...the true nature of choice ...and the nature of our minds, that can seek a creator and the answers to questions we do not truly understand... very thpoughtful article...PK
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I used to hang out a lot in the Religion & Spirituality section in Yahoo Answers. I pretty quickly realized that most of the folks there among the Christians and atheists were really rabid in their views. I heard opinions expressed there that I would never have believed possible for one Christian to think of another.
But I did learn a few things while there, which formed some of my current religious thinking. One of these ideas was that, since atheists can love, they are partaking in deity every bit as much as any self-proclaimed religious person is. They don't have to call it 'God' to partake in it.
This is why Buddhism, which is a philosophy rather than a religion, accomplishes the same things and has the same goals that a religion does. That is how I came to believe that many people's concept of God was way off-base. I think 'God' is so much simpler and more beautiful than organized religion would have us believe.
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