Some religious and I guess "philosophical" and some science questions

Hey people! Hope you are having a great day. I have some questions.

I was raised Catholic (loosely) and went to Catholic school for 1st through 5th grade (my parents didn't want me there but it was either that or I got held back in KINDERGARTEN for bad language skills). To give that some context I spent almost all of my life as a 4 year old with family in Italy and I came back not speaking very much English. After 5th grade it was all public school for me (which IMO wasn't MUCH different except for no more uniforms and no religion class)

So that was just to give context. raised religious but not super religious. Church but not steadily. I'm pretty sure I broke most of the rules of Catholicism already so I basically just Identify as a follower and believer of Christ. and to be fair, if we were back in those days, He probably wouldn't let me in his apostle crew because I've never been anywhere near as selfless as JC was.

My general belief system is that I do believe in the afterlife and I don't believe that God cares what religion you are, but your actions. (and if there is NO afterlife, then I guess I wouldn't know anyway right?)

Ok so that being said, here are my questions:

Regarding "God created us in his image".
Isn't that being a little cocky? To assume we are anything like GOD? It also doesn't fall in line with the theory of evolution (which is proven). How do you know there aren't other races out there in the galaxy that were worshipping god way before we were? There is already one other planet in our solar system that at one time, was supposedly as inhabitable as the earth and we are just one of many solar systems.

This brings me to my next question. If God created us in his image and created the earth in 7 days or whatever they say, isn't that also cocky? To think a God would even need 7 days to do that? Just sayin! Also many seem to think we are special and the only life in the universe. Isn't that short changing God? He let there be ALL those billions (possibly) trillions of other planets just for them to all be empty husks? That seems rather inefficient to me.

The main reason why I DO believe is because of science. I do not believe matter could have created itself. My beliefs are more along the lines of God created matter and laws of physics and rolled the dice. That's just my beliefs.

Also do people still believe in original sin? Do you really think someone can go to hell for not having blessed water poured on them?

Anyway, what say you? and Happy Thursday and God bless.

Also, when refer to him as a HE, don't get offended please. I think there is just as much chance of God being a she or having no gender at all, but its just how i'm used to saying it. Kind of like when you see a really nice car or nice boat you would say "She's a beauty".

Cheers!

 

I do not know if I can offer satisfactory explanations, if you are going to insist they be consistent with an idea that the Bible is God's honest truth, about everything. But we'll unpack that, a little at a time. Can you accept that ideas in the Bible are presented metaphorically, using symbolism? If so, I have thought of God as being All, and ourselves as being like cells, within that entity of Creation. On the one hand, cells are, individually, not very important, to a complex organism-- we're shedding more skin cells than we could count, on a constant basis. The number of blood cells your body destroys, is staggering. Also, note, that though cells interact with the body & the other cells around them, that doesn't mean that they really have a full picture of the being, of which they are a part-- much as the essence of what life is about, and the nature of God, remain mysteries to us.

Yet, every cell in the body contains the DNA which is the repository for all the information needed to both maintain, and to reconstruct, the whole being. I wonder if, in a way, we might have that knowledge of the Whole, locked inside us. Anyway, my point is that, if we are metaphorically cells within the All-Being of God, if the universe, or multiverse, may be thought of as God's "body," then, in that way, mankind could be thought of as emulating God's image, with our own bodies.

However, more than one thing can simultaneously be true. I think much of what is in the Bible, refers to extraterrestrials; such is the case, with the "made...in His own image," line. However, that does not mean that the analogy of God Being like an organized, multicellular Creature, of having a Body, as we do, could not also hold true.

This is a line that I think cannot be taken as literally, as even your first, questioned quote. I always just figured that, to an immortal Essence, the billions of years, required to bring about the universe, the Earth, and the human race, might seem the way a week seems to us. But really, I think the story is just meant as a way to cement the concept of a 7 day, weekly cycle.

An alternate theory, would be that all physicality is a manifestation, of the underlying Energy, Spirit, Consciousness, of God. I could go into variations on this idea, as well as on that of God being like both a body, which includes all the universe, as well as being something else besides, such as the brain, of that body. But I will stick to an interesting idea of the famed psychologist, C.G. Jung. He believed that Creation was God's search, for an appropriate physical form to express Itself. You see, Jung believed God is an all-powerful force, but did not accept the idea of God as being all-knowing. So God had to experiment with different forms, before he came up with the human form. Probably not correct, but an interesting idea. Though, even if we were genetically manipulated by an alien species, if that species, also, was humanoid, then there could be some level of truth, to Jung's speculation.

 

I would suggest that you're facing up to the extreme contrast between religion and philosophy. Despite routinely being considered together (hence his sub-forum after all), I see them as almost exact opposites.

Philosophy is about asking questions, considering what could be and, significantly, accepting that we won't necessary reach any definitive answers but that there is unique value in asking them all the same. Religion is about giving people definitive answers, declaring what is precisely so people don't need to consider what could be.

Philosophy developed naturally from the imaginative intelligence humans developed, while structured religion was consciously created as a tool to help form and manage communities and societies (be that with good or bad underlying intentions). That is why the religious stories, myths and claims so often contain fundamental logical flaws, as your examples point out, even if there was any real meaning or validity to the underlying concepts.

 

To your first question a lot of people really want to be absolutely literal with Cherry picked Bible verses.
But we're talking about an original text that was written as poetry. So being created in his own image could mean all manner of things. I personally like the idea that it was that we were given the heart that could love.

Yeah the evolution question is won a lot of people really get hung up on but it's not an issue for me I don't believe that God created the Earth in 7 days and that was 6,000 years ago. Are you accept the theory of evolution and doesn't disprove God at all it disproves the literalness of the creation story but I never took it literally in the first place.

Original sin is one of those things that I don't take literally. I don't think that my mother giving birth to me is punishment for Eve convincing Adam the apple I think it was an explanation of why God would let child breath hurt so much before there was a lot of science to explain it.

Also God let us create an epidural why would he let us get out of the sun after punishing us for eons.

I think original sin really speaks to the nature of sinfulness. I think you could be one of Christ's disciples he did not identify with people who are perfect he identified with sinners and it's exactly people like you that he chooses.

 

I don't believe in a creator God just based on what we now know about time in physics. The mostly likely scenario is that we are in a "block universe" where the past, present, and future are equally real, and this is where most physicists land today with what they call the B-theory of time and the model of eternalism. It would mean that the passage of time is something of an illusion. It gives me some comfort in that, in a sense, this is a kind of immortality.

But if physicists are right about time, and the proven relativity of time seems to show that they are, then I don't think it makes sense for the universe to have a creator. The whole idea of causality involves time. To say that the universe needs a cause would be to say that time exists within time and that causality needs a cause.

Anyway, rambling, but that's not to say that God doesn't exist. Hell, this timeless universe I'm talking about could be God. It seems to have many of the qualities we associate with it, aside from sentience, and there are some interesting theories out there that indicate that, hey, maybe it is sentient. We've talked about panpsychism in this subforum before, after all.

 

Darthcervantes:

Can you provide scriptural support for your belief in an afterlife? If so, please name the Bible book, chapter, and verses where it indicates dead people are still alive somewhere else. I will address other parts of your opening post later.

Alter2Ego

 

Darthcervantes:

The fossil record disputes the theory of evolution. By the way, a theory is merely an educated guess. A theory is never a FACT.

Alter2Ego

 

John 3:24 gives a clue as to the answer to this question.

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.: and they that worship him must him in spirit and in truth.

Whatever a spirit is, is what God created us in. The narrative of Genesis describes Adam as a three part being -- body, soul and spirit. Adam, through his disobedience, forfieted the created part (spirit), which Jesus Christ made available again through his sacrifice and resurrection. First witnessed on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 when the Apostles who first received the gift of holy spirit.

Evolution deals with the body, not the spirit.

Anything is possible, but it doesn't negate our position in God's universe.

2 Peter 3:8 addresses this question.

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Genesis shouldn't be taken entirely literally.

The original sin involved the reason why Eve was given to Adam. Adam chose to ignore one of the reason for Eve, thus snubbing his nose at God's purposes.

 

Delete

 

Used to adamantly believe in evolution but had an experience that lead me to research opposing views and realized the intimidation targeted to those in that segment of the scientific community. Even finding something that might question the worshiped theory can ruin a career. I absolutely believe in the Biblical historical events as written. Asking for understanding through prayer is more effective the getting insight through pastors, priests, experts or scripture alone..

I believe that being created in God's image sets us apart from his other creation and allows us to have a personal relationship with our creator. Being in God's image is not being God like. It's simply an image.

I do believe in original sin but my view of baptism is what fundamental Baptists believe....its an announcement of your faith when a person is spiritually reborn.
Children who die before they reach the of age to make a choice enter into heaven.

 

Then why do we share 98% of the same DNA as chimps? and I still believe some superior being/entity had a hand in all, but, what about homoerectus and all the other branches of humans before us? oh and the Neanderthals. I don't think that information can be shoved under a rug.

 

Why shouldn't we? Dogs share about 84% of our DNA. That explains why women call us men hound dogs.

 

With respect, I think that is part of the problem. Nobody should be "adamantly believing" in evolution, or any other scientific theory or principle. Also, the fact you appear to have flipped from one "adamant belief" to another suggests they're not as "adamant" as you'd like to believe.

 

Most people like to believe they're firmly confident in their beliefs. Changing the mind is a human feature that we should welcome. And until new evidence springs forth, I see nothing wrong about claiming you're "adamant" in your pov. Now if someone switches back and forth often, they might have a problem.

 

A near death experiencer named Aurora Rey from Iran was shown that there are Fourteen Elohim...... they are the Seven Spirits of God that are mentioned several places in the Bible but.... they are twins..... a male and a female pair.

She was shown that a spark..... like a tiny clone of one of these Fourteen Elohim are in each and every human being....... from the least to the greatest.

I actually wrote up a blog to summarize what I felt I was finding out about all of this.

www.CarbonBias.blogspot.ca


26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.


I believe that the Afterlife is actually rather complicated... with many, many, many, many levels to it...... there is a place for all of us.


www.near-death.com

The NDE of Mellen Benedict... part five.. goes into detail on the many heavens that he was shown.

 

My apologies......
I should have remembered this particular near death experience account first......

considering the context of your questions but..... at least I did finally remember this one!

The near death experience of Dr. Gloria Polo has me considering Catholicism again

Dr. Gloria Polo is shown that there is truth in every major teaching of Roman Catholicism.....

every one of them!!!!!!

but..... I believe that Messiah Yeshua - Jesus in His resurrected state wants you to meet Thomas Aquinas.... in the afterlife!

No kidding!

Could the brilliant Christian writer of The Final Quest been Thomas Aquinas?

I am fairly certain that Pastor Rick Joyner could be termed Charismatic Catholic.... he is not merely Pentecostal or Evangelical Christian. The man is off the scale brilliant!!!!

But actually he is just an ordinary guy like you and I... but the Holy Spirit gave him a good memory and a shocking series of dreams that explain the afterlife!



http://64.71.77.248/fq-protestant/tc-en.html

 

The ancient Book of Jasher states that about a third of the humans at the tower of Babel were turned into chimps......

and another third were turned into Elephants........

Actually... I remembered something else that I believe Messiah Yeshua - Jesus in His resurrected form wants you to read at this time.....

http://www.politicalforum.com/index...-alternative-universe.610709/#post-1074295167

One near death experience in six, according to Dr Ken Ring, involves a meeting with a previously deceased pet!

The Jan Price meeting with her previously deceased Springer... a dog.... became one of my daughter's favourite near death experience accounts.