Nature's God

Personally I don't see any purpose. But I've been wrong before.

Hey! Who are we to judge?We don't even know!lol Isn't that the fun in all this?

okay, i'll post my opinions and beliefs

Do you believe that God had a plan when he decided to great the universe?
i believe that that the universe is eternal. i think it illogical that God as the Creator can eternally not create anything, because no matter how long ago was the universe (this or the "first one") created, God would, as an eternal being, have to existed an eternity before that moment without creating anything.

second, i don't believe that God created the universe, i think he "made" it. if god is infinite, that is- omnipresent, than there is nowhere that he create anything outside of himself, and it is logical that everything that exists is a part of God, God just changing a part of himself into matter we see, or into a matter the souls are made of..

Do you believe that God guided the process of evolution?
yes. i think God created species himself, either by something like abiogenesis, or by making them evolve from other species

he could have done that either directly- "miraculously", or indirectly- by creating the laws by which either of the above options would happen

Does God have plans for all human beings?
yes, not only general, but individual one, but vague ones, not going into minute details..

Can God hear our thoughts and thus hear our prayers?
i believe that being omnipresent, he know everything that is happening and can hear our thoughts

Do you see any merit to praying?
yes, there are the educational effect (depending on the contents of the prayer), and the so-called "rational effect"- that the prayer helps a men to focus on God, and think about him more (often)

Might God ever intervene?
either way, i think that we shouldn't ask of him to.

Do you believe in the afterlife?
yes.

If so, why?
because i believe in a benevolent God.

read the parts of plato's dialogues where socrates talks about immortality of the souls and about the afterlife. helped me

Do you believe that God had a plan when he decided to great the universe? ... Did he intend for human beings to exist in their current state?

Response: Knowledge as to the Creator's plan is a mystery. We can only imagine possibilities as to purpose and expected outcome. As Deists (humans) we acknowledge ourselves as an integral part of creation--a very important part--accepting the premise that we have the ability to reason (and no evidence exists that lower life forms share this ability--at least to the level we understand).

Do you believe that God guided the process of evolution?

Response: As Creator, the Architect of the universe designed physical laws which maintain structure or, if you prefer, organization dependent upon cause and effect to a large degree. Minute change in the smallest molecule can drastically alter objects, including life forms. The physical laws governing creation, as we understand it, have acted and will act upon life forms for as long as they are in existence, thus altering them over time--even eons.

Does God have plans for all human beings?

Response: It would seem reasonable to expect humankind to behave in a manner which promotes the health and well-being of all that is created in nature as a possibility in regards to a plan. However, we have no hard evidence of what the plan might actually be. It could be debated that humankind behaving in a manner which results in chaos on nature's environment (that is, destructive behavior which causes sickness, death, and destruction) as being adverse to a "God Plan". Conversely, promotion of wellness, peace, and benevolent support toward all humankind and nature (i.e., all that is created) seems a reasonable expectation for humans to pursue. Again, the physical laws of cause and effect come into play. How we treat others and nature as a whole will elicit a response-positive or negative, dependent upon our action,

Can God hear our thoughts and thus hear our prayers?

Response: The Creator 'God' can do anything I would expect (not being coy, just using a bit of reason).

Do you see any merit to praying? ... Might God ever intervene? (Not a miracle or anything like that, but perhaps alter events on earth in our favor.)

Response: I agree with an earlier response, i.e., many individuals have stated that prayer is beneficial in their lives, and many feel that intervention occurred. Praying, like meditation, has been shown in medical studies to alleviate stress and anxiety, among other physical and mental symptoms. Prayer, to my knowledge, has not been harmful to anyone, so it can't hurt. However, I doubt that asking for material things, wealth, growing back an amputated limb, sparing a life, a new job, etc. is a viable approach to prayer. Being thankful is a reasonable approach to use when praying since all that we have was made possible by our Creator.

For the past several months, I have been attempting to come up with scientific explanations for an immortal consciousness and "life after death." I am trying to come to the determination that there is an immaterial part of the human mind that can exist beyond bodily death.

Response: If you discover it, please let us know. lol Still, many of us do believe that life continues in some form. To my knowledge, no scientific evidence exists to support life after death. Perhaps you have read about individuals claiming to have experienced life after death phenomena? While some of the accounts given are extremely interesting, science has yet to affirm such phenomena as a life after death event. Science has yet to even get a handle on consciousness and much about the brain's ability to form thoughts, dreams, and such remain a mystery. Could there be some connection between consciousness (some call it soul) and afterlife? Until scientific evidence surfaces to this end, the best we can do is apply reason to possibilities.

Do you believe in the afterlife? If so, why? If not, please don't tell me why. I seek to live in ignorant bliss.

Response: I realize that you asked not to receive a response and remain in ignorant bless (lol), but I'd like to share this with you. Personally, I don't know that I can aver "belief", but I certainly "hope" that the persona that I am continues. I feel that Thomas Payne describes the idea eloquently. I so strongly agree with the words of Thomas Paine that I wish they had been my originality (except for Paine's use of the term "he"). Specifically, Paine stated: "I trouble not myself about the manner of future existence. I content myself with believing, even to positive conviction, that the power that gave me existence is able to continue it, in any form and manner he pleases, either with or without this body; and it appears more probable to me that I shall continue to exist hereafter than that I should have had existence, as I now have, before that existence began."

I was once asked if I wanted to live forever, thinking hard about it I came to the conclusion of NO... think about it, you would know everything, have done everything and what would there be left to do or experience? there would be no journey...

"If in order to be on this journey I must forget the last, then so be it, I dont remember a before now"- Amy

Greetings JosephSharon

Do you believe that God had a plan when he decided to great {create} the universe?

Yes in that I believe God is a part of creation.

Did he intend for human beings to exist in their current state?

Yes if their current state means a somewhat intelligent being with free will.

Do you believe that God guided the process of evolution?

Actively guided, as a plant or animal breeder does when developing a new strain, no. That he set the broad outlines and predetermined the outcome, a somewhat intelligent being with free will, and created the conditions that would result in that outcome, yes.

Does God have plans for all human beings?

Individual plans? Yes in that man being a part of creation has a purpose on earth, but not in that we are little more then puppets on strings.

Can God hear our thoughts and thus hear our prayers?

Yes. I think that God notes every sparrow that falls and every blade of grass, and every aspect of creation, including man, because God is creation.

Do you see any merit to praying? Might God ever intervene?

Yes and yes, although I would qualify intervention. I do believe there is a natural order to the universe and through various methods, among them prayer, we can move to be more, or less, in harmony with that order. And I think this harmony can have an impact on our lives.

Do you believe in the afterlife? If so, why?

I have observed things in my life that have no other rational explanation other than a belief that an intelligence, or soul, exists after the physical body has died.

Part of your questions and the difficulty in answering them comes from understanding the nature of God. I don't, nor do I claim to, nor am I sure if any human fully can. But I do think the concept of God as a separate physical, spiritual, or intellectual being is not complete. I think God exists in harmony with, and as a part of, his creation, in ways we can't completely comprehend. He is both creator, and created, and contains aspects of both.

We are limited by physical bodies that define the boundries of our existence and it is difficult to comprehend a being that is not. For example our physical existence limits our perception of time as a fixed progression, moving at a constant speed in a straight line, never deviating, yet we know, conceptually, from Einsteins theories that the other times exist parallel to the one we are in. The past and future have happened, are happening, and will happen again and again, yet our perception is limited and therefore we tend to limit Gods abilities by our perception. Why? Why can't God, or us when we leave this physical existence, see all times at one? I am not stating this is true, just that we need not limit Gods capability by our own understanding and perspective.

Now extend this to creation. Does God know the end before the beginning, the outcome before the start? Seeing all times at once does this state that the outcome is preordained or simply that each moment is structured as it is and each outcome preordained only in that it has already happened?

Now apply the same concept to creation, or nature. Not being bound by a physical existence that separates man, to a degree, from each other, and nature, is God separate from nature or a part of nature? And is man, in a spiritual sense, not also connected to God the same way?

I don't have answers to the above, just questions. But I will state that man is tredding down a futile path in that, having created God in his image, despite endowing him with super powers, has therefore placed on him the same limitations man has on himself. As long as we continue to regard God and the nature of God based on the conceptual image man has created of him we are doomed to failure to begin to understand him.

Peace - Yehya