Do you understand God? (The God you believe in)

[Spirit of Light]

There are many OP in RF these days that speak about God in one way or an other.
1.Do you understand God?
2.Do you have good understanding of the teaching given to you? ( according to what religion you believe in and follow)
3.Is there any good reason to try explaining what God is to someone who either do not believe (in same God) or to those who are negative toward anything related to religion and belief?

 

[Rival]

1.Do you understand God?

No.

2.Do you have good understanding of the teaching given to you? ( according to what religion you believe in and follow)

Yes, but I can always learn more.

3.Is there any good reason to try explaining what God is to someone who either do not believe (in same God) or to those who are negative toward anything related to religion and belief?

Not in my opinion (unless asked).

 

[Vinayaka]

In a surface intellectual way, sort of. In any deeper way, no.

 

[shunyadragon]

There are many OP in RF these days that speak about God in one way or an other.
1.Do you understand God?

No.

2.Do you have good understanding of the teaching given to you? ( according to what religion you believe in and follow).

Only in a limited way from the human perspective taking into the context of the human universal experience, which includes all religions and belief systems of humanity over the millennia.

3.Is there any good reason to try explaining what God is to someone who either do not believe (in same God) or to those who are negative toward anything related to religion and belief?

Dialogue among all belief systems regardless is important, but the perspective ancient religions and belief systems that a priori reject alternatives beliefs is not going to be accepted by those that do not believe in God.

 

[Fool]

There are many OP in RF these days that speak about God in one way or an other.
1.Do you understand God?

the awe of love is the beginning of light

2.Do you have good understanding of the teaching given to you? ( according to what religion you believe in and follow)

listening to the mind, conscience, doesn't require a religion. religions arise from an introversion to an extroversion.

3.Is there any good reason to try explaining what God is to someone who either do not believe (in same God) or to those who are negative toward anything related to religion and belief?

hear what the mind says, see how the contradictions can arise in a double-minded love/hate person

 

[Kenny]

There are many OP in RF these days that speak about God in one way or an other.
1.Do you understand God?

In as much as in human capacity, yes. As far as completely understanding the eternal God? I would need eternity upon eternity.

2.Do you have good understanding of the teaching given to you? ( according to what religion you believe in and follow)

Yes in as much as what I have learned. Faith and love being key component and the outward expression of it.

3.Is there any good reason to try explaining what God is to someone who either do not believe (in same God) or to those who are negative toward anything related to religion and belief?

Yes. Do that often. Many have come to know God for the first time and many have increased in learning.

 

[metis]

I don't think saying "I don't know" is a weakness if we don't know. Within the realm of religion, there's very little that's a "gimme".

 

[shivsomashekhar]

There are many OP in RF these days that speak about God in one way or an other.
1.Do you understand God?
2.Do you have good understanding of the teaching given to you? ( according to what religion you believe in and follow)
3.Is there any good reason to try explaining what God is to someone who either do not believe (in same God) or to those who are negative toward anything related to religion and belief?

@Amanaki,

You should know that as a Muslim, you are a non-believer. Your religion is exclusive - meaning, you have to reject the validity of all the thousands of other Gods in the world. You reject Krishna, Rama, Indra, Zeus, Loki, Anubis, Horus, to name a few.

If you view the full spectrum of Gods, you are 99.99% atheist. The difference between you and a full atheist is a very small number.

Why am I saying this? I see your posts are mostly around believer vs. non-believer and you see yourself in the former group. But the fact is, on a common discussion forum such as RF, you belong in the non-believer group.

 

[Nimos]

There are many OP in RF these days that speak about God in one way or an other.
1.Do you understand God?
2.Do you have good understanding of the teaching given to you? ( according to what religion you believe in and follow)
3.Is there any good reason to try explaining what God is to someone who either do not believe (in same God) or to those who are negative toward anything related to religion and belief?

I think you might approach it with the wrong questions.. or at least i think you would get more out of it, if you asked different ones.

Ultimately its about getting closer to the truth, so if a person is 100% convinced that they know God and that all their teachings are spot on correctly understood. That person have no reason for questioning their beliefs, which is potentially a very dangerous state of mind, because such person is convinced that they already know the truth and is therefore less likely to listen to arguments which might challenge their views.

Basically this is what you are asking people about in question (1) and (2) as I see it, how convinced are people?

Question (3) is the one I find the most interesting, because if people answer "No, it is not worth it." they have pretty much given up all scepticism and critical thinking and will purely feed their already established beliefs with biased information, that constantly confirm what they already believe. Which will push them further and further towards being completely convinced, because obviously all the information they are given or learn, confirms their current beliefs.

Furthermore, if we are talking truth as being the ultimately goal, it should be able to handle any negativity or ridiculous coming its way. Because you can't reason or manipulate with the truth no matter how hard you try. Obviously we can fool ourselves into believing something might be true, but then again that wouldn't be true.

So I think the questions would make more sense, if asked in relation to truth:

1) How important is truth to you?
2) Do you think that some teachings can be right while others wrong? If so, how do you evaluate which is which?
3) Do your religious teachings reflect your view of God? and if not. How well do you know God? or why do you think that God allowed such things to be written in his name?

If people answer "Not, very important" to question (1), then there is basically no foundation for reason. Anything could potentially fly in such person's mind.

Question (2) and (3) is to actually test whether or not people are truly interested in getting closer to the truth. Because there is no other way to evaluate things unless one is willing to explore and seek explanations and knowing how to evaluate claims against each other using some sort of neutral method.
So if a person, say that they are seeking truth, but have no neutral method for doing so, and only look at one source (religious teachings or explanations). Then they are not neutral in their investigation and therefore, not truly seeking truth.

 

[Spirit of Light]

@Amanaki,

You should know that as a Muslim, you are a non-believer. Your religion is exclusive - meaning, you have to reject the validity of all the thousands of other Gods in the world. You reject Krishna, Rama, Indra, Zeus, Loki, Anubis, Horus, to name a few.

If you view the full spectrum of Gods, you are 99.99% atheist. The difference between you and a full atheist is a very small number.

Why am I saying this? I see your posts are mostly around believer vs. non-believer and you see yourself in the former group. But the fact is, on a common discussion forum such as RF, you belong in the non-believer group.

I did not ask for me, i asked a question to everybody who has a religioues belief or not.
Just because i am a muslim does not mean i dont want to hear what others say.

Actually after i converted it has become more fun to be in RF because i have nothing to prove to others anymore. I am free as a muslim

 

[Father Heathen]

I don't think saying "I don't know" is a weakness if we don't know. Within the realm of religion, there's very little that's a "gimme".

I imagine the mystery would bee an important part of the experience, as would the pursuit of discovery. I doubt god would want to be summed up as a pitiful pile of ***-pulled presumptions.

 

[icehorse]

There are many OP in RF these days that speak about God in one way or an other.
1.Do you understand God?
2.Do you have good understanding of the teaching given to you? ( according to what religion you believe in and follow)
3.Is there any good reason to try explaining what God is to someone who either do not believe (in same God) or to those who are negative toward anything related to religion and belief?

#1 - Yes. Humans (and perhaps other species?), seem to have a need to invent supernatural beings called "gods". We've invented thousands of them over the years.

#2 - If ANYTHING in the teachings of your religion runs at all contrary to the Golden Rule, then IMO, you've picked a bad set of teachings.

#3 - Sure, communicating with each other is usually a good idea. Much better than killing each other

 

[metis]

I imagine the mystery would bee an important part of the experience, as would the pursuit of discovery. I doubt god would want to be summed up as a pitiful pile of ***-pulled presumptions.

Yep. And since my background is one in science, we tend to make lousy true-believers.

 

[George-ananda]

1.Do you understand God?

As an Advaita (non-dual=God and creation are not two), God/Brahman is a mystery our thinking minds can't get behind.

2.Do you have good understanding of the teaching given to you? ( according to what religion you believe in and follow)

I would say 'Yes' to that question. I feel have a good grasp of the basics of Advaita from the many teachers.

3.Is there any good reason to try explaining what God is to someone who either do not believe (in same God) or to those who are negative toward anything related to religion and belief?

Yes for those receptive I think there is good reason to share my views as they have aided and improved my life. I learned from others myself (not born into this tradition) and am immensely grateful to my teachers and influences.

 

[sun rise]

@Rival spoke for me. A few extra words:

1.Do you understand God?

No. God is beyond my limited mind.

2.Do you have good understanding of the teaching given to you? ( according to what religion you believe in and follow)

Good understanding? No. To me the salient question is "good enough understanding". My understanding is good enough to for me to stumble onward with more understanding coming the further I go.

3.Is there any good reason to try explaining what God is to someone who either do not believe (in same God) or to those who are negative toward anything related to religion and belief?

If someone asks, even from a vague interest, I'll say or write something. But usually the one who asks the question is not interested in a seriously detailed answer.

 

[Quintessence]

Do I understand the gods?

Yes, to the extent which I can. Seeking knowledge about the gods is essential to my religion, in fact. It's what motivated me to get a post-graduate degree in the sciences too, as studying nature is literally studying the gods for me. I suppose that isn't limited to the sciences - all fields of study help us to know of the gods.

Do I have a good understanding of the teachings given to me?

Generally, yes. That said, there is so much to know and so much to learn nobody is an expert in everything. Through experiencing life - and inevitably the gods - I get to know them better each and every day. The pursuit of knowledge and understanding never ends in my religion.

Is there any good reason to try and explain what the gods are to someone who doesn't believe?

Honestly a weird question. The gods are whatever a people or culture chooses to deify. Nothing more, nothing less. The nature of the gods depends on what one deifies. The only thing to "believe in" is to determine what one deeply and profoundly values. Those are one's gods, whether or not that word is put to it. I'm not aware of any human who lacks deeply-held values.

Is there any good reason to try and explain what the gods are to those who are negative towards anything related to religion and belief?

If the intention was to speak of anti-theist and anti-religion prejudice - the extreme iteration of this - then yes. Those sentiments emerge from a combination of ignorance about religion and theism as well as narrow conception of what those two things are on the global scale across cultures and historical eras. As for more well-reasoned and specific criticisms that tend towards the negative, having those dialogues is important and healthy too.

 

[Eyes to See]

There are many OP in RF these days that speak about God in one way or an other.
1.Do you understand God?
2.Do you have good understanding of the teaching given to you? ( according to what religion you believe in and follow)
3.Is there any good reason to try explaining what God is to someone who either do not believe (in same God) or to those who are negative toward anything related to religion and belief?

Greets Amanaki. Good questions. Replied by making a video with the answers to the OP if you don't mind. Just changing things up a little:

 

[Spirit of Light]

Greets Amanaki. Good questions. Replied by making a video with the answers to the OP if you don't mind. Just changing things up a little:

@Eyes to See
Thank you so much for this amazing video you made.
You answer those questions so well, with the use of bible verses. You have also a deeper understanding of the gospel, from your video i realize you will be a very good discussion partner for me in RF.

Of course we will have certain aspects of our beliefs we will find differences in some ways. But that only make it more interesting when discussing.

 

[blü 2]

There are many OP in RF these days that speak about God in one way or an other.
1.Do you understand God?
2.Do you have good understanding of the teaching given to you? ( according to what religion you believe in and follow)
3.Is there any good reason to try explaining what God is to someone who either do not believe (in same God) or to those who are negative toward anything related to religion and belief?

1. I understand the idea of conceptual / imaginary gods with as much clarity, I dare say, as most. I have no idea what real being the word 'God' is intended to denote, and no one else seems to know either.

2. I don't believe any of the religions I'm familiar with teach a single coherent message. It's notorious that Christians, for instance, routinely have less knowledge of what their book says than many of us looking on do. (The Trinity is an effortless example.) instead, with each of the Abrahamic religions you see them evolve to serve the expectations / culture of their congregations, not least their contributing members. You can shop around to find a church that says what you want to hear (not any single viewpoint that in any objective sense accurately reflects their book, because there isn't one). Mind you, it's hard to think how these days it could be otherwise.

 

[Pipiripi]

Yes, I understand God very clear. He have gives us His 10 Commandments. But the devil has changed day of worship.
My God says that the Saturday Sabbath is His day.
Satan says that He has changed the Saturday Sabbath to Sunday.
I follow my God with His rest day, the Saturday Sabbath.