What is God's highest priority?

[PearlSeeker]

According to Genesis we are Not accidentally here but for the purpose of Genesis 1:28 to populate Earth, take good care of Earth and live forever on Earth.

In the Genesis account God was slandered so the passing of time was needed for us to be born and think who we would like as Sovereign over us and to clear the name of God - Hallowed be God's name........

Today this is an useless answer. According to the Theogony the world began with the spontaneous generation of four beings... and according to other ancient mythological accounts something else happened...

 

[Trailblazer]

I respectfully suggest that an unknown god, who accordingly has no following, is entirely irrelevant to human affairs.

Such a God might be irrelevant to humans if He was not known to exist, but most people in the world know that God exists and follow Him.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

How is chapter 13 of Isaiah inspired by God? How is such a cruel, and disgusting punishment justified?

Already in chapter 12:6 is the foretold delivering from Babylon as follows in chapter 13 and in connection to Micah 4:10 B The magnitude of the prophecy came true on October 5th 539 BCE - Isaiah 13:20
The expression found at Isaiah 13:16 (Psalm 137:9) is meant in connection to the family line/family name being wiped out.

 

[Trailblazer]

How is chapter 13 of Isaiah inspired by God? How is such a cruel, and disgusting punishment justified?

Isaiah 13
9 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

This chapter is about the return of Christ/coming of the messiah, which is the day of the Lord. One reason we know that is because verse 10 matches up with verses in the NT that refer to the return of Christ, what would happen right before He returns.

The punishment for turning away from God's Messenger, and all the evil that results from that turning away, is justified.

But in spite of the punishment, all will be well, because many people will not turn away.

12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

 

[blü 2]

Such a God might be irrelevant to humans if He was not known to exist, but most people in the world know that God exists and follow Him.

Or her.

Or it.

Or them ...

 

[osgart]

Isaiah 13
9 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

This chapter is about the return of Christ/coming of the messiah, which is the day of the Lord. One reason we know that is because verse 10 matches up with verses in the NT that refer to the return of Christ, what would happen right before He returns.

The punishment for turning away from God's Messenger, and all the evil that results from that turning away, is justified.

But in spite of the punishment, all will be well, because many people will not turn away.

12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.

17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.

18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eyes shall not spare children.

Look at how this Lord God punishes the wicked though. He returns evil for evil. His punishment is wickedness toward evil. He will not spare children, and the wives shall be ravished.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eyes shall not spare children......................

Please see previous post # 163
The expression at Isaiah 13:16 is in reference that the family line, family name would end. See also Psalm 137:8-9
Isaiah 13:17 connects to Jeremiah 50:9,2 foretelling about Babylon's capture.
Isaiah 13:18 also to Jeremiah 50:14 because Babylon sinned against God. Babylon's error - Jeremiah 25:12
Thus Isaiah was telling us what would and did happen and how Babylon would end up at Isaiah 13:19-20

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Today this is an useless answer..............................

Genesis 1:28 is only a useless answer because the majority of humans have chosen Not to be care givers for Earth.
But we fret not because God will bring to ruin those ruining the Earth - Revelation 11:18 B.

 

[Trailblazer]

16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.

17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.

18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eyes shall not spare children.

Look at how this Lord God punishes the wicked though. He returns evil for evil. His punishment is wickedness toward evil. He will not spare children, and the wives shall be ravished.

For me, those verses are like water off a duck's back. God is not doing any of those things, these are words written by men.

 

[osgart]

For me, those verses are like water off a duck's back. God is not doing any of those things, these are words written by men.

I agree, and people's only reason for justifying it is that God said so. No one hold's God to any moral standards, nor even His own moral standards. God declares, in a book, and so it must be. That's hogwash! Truth and justice is far from explained, or demonstrated, and then God commands his faithful men to do his bidding.

God of The Bible creates the vast majority of sinners without any ability to save them, only destroy them. Big deal! God is not held to any of the standards for love in the Bible. No, He gets a free pass.

 

[Trailblazer]

I agree, and people's only reason for justifying it is that God said so. No one hold's God to any moral standards, nor even His own moral standards. God declares, in a book, and so it must be. That's hogwash! Truth and justice is far from explained, or demonstrated, and then God commands his faithful men to do his bidding.

God of The Bible creates the vast majority of sinners without any ability to save them, only destroy them. Big deal! God is not held to any of the standards for love in the Bible. No, He gets a free pass.

There is no "God of the Bible." There is just the Bible, and ancient book written by an ancient people. Why even bother with it?

The Bible has destroyed more people than it has helped. It has destroyed would-be believers, sincere agnostics and atheists like you.
The Bible and Christianity is responsible for most of the atheists in the world and it is also responsible for people hating God because they believe all the garbage that is written in the Bible was actually done by God.

For this very reason and others, I think the Bible belongs on the bookshelf.
I once said I think all the Bibles should be burned but I won't say it again since I could never live it down. But that is how I really feel.

As hard as my life has been I thank God every day that I discovered the Baha'i Faith, because if I hadn't, I would have never believed in God or known what God is really like.

 

[osgart]

There is no "God of the Bible." There is just the Bible, and ancient book written by an ancient people. Why even bother with it?

The Bible has destroyed more people than it has helped. It has destroyed would-be believers, sincere agnostics and atheists like you.
The Bible and Christianity is responsible for most of the atheists in the world and it is also responsible for people hating God because they believe all the garbage that is written in the Bible was actually done by God.

For this very reason and others, I think the Bible belongs on the bookshelf.
I once said I think all the Bibles should be burned but I won't say it again since I could never live it down. But that is how I really feel.

As hard as my life has been I thank God every day that I discovered the Baha'i Faith, because if I hadn't, I would have never believed in God or known what God is really like.

I was under the impression that Baha'i incorporated Abrahamic religions?

The main reason I'm atheist is that the universe, world, and life is far from supremely made. God, to me, is supposed to be ideal. I see an existence that lacks everything in ideals. No ideal justice, no ideal creation, no ideal wisdom. Nope, we have 80 short years, if we are fortunate and smart, and we have to learn everything important from nothing on up.

 

[Trailblazer]

I was under the impression that Baha'i incorporated Abrahamic religions?

I do not know what you mean by incorporated. The Bible and the Qur'an are not our holy books. We have our own holy books.

Baha'i views of the Bible vary widely. My views lie in between the scholarly conclusion and the middle area.

"Although Bahá'ís universally share a great respect for the Bible, and acknowledge its status as sacred literature, their individual views about its authoritative status range along the full spectrum of possibilities. At one end there are those who assume the uncritical evangelical or fundamentalist-Christian view that the Bible is wholly and indisputably the word of God. At the other end are Bahá'ís attracted to the liberal, scholarly conclusion that the Bible is no more than a product of complex historical and human forces. Between these extremes is the possibility that the Bible contains the Word of God, but only in a particular sense of the phrase 'Word of God' or in particular texts. I hope to show that a Bahá'í view must lie in this middle area, and can be defined to some degree."

A Baháí View of the Bible

The main reason I'm atheist is that the universe, world, and life is far from supremely made. God, to me, is supposed to be ideal. I see an existence that lacks everything in ideals. No ideal justice, no ideal creation, no ideal wisdom. Nope, we have 80 short years, if we are fortunate and smart, and we have to learn everything important from nothing on up.

I see the same things that you do but I do not attribute them to God. I attribute them to imperfect humans, but I do not think it will be like this forever. As a Baha'i I am an idealist and an eternal optimist, so I believe things will be very different in the future. If I thought this is the way things would be forever, I would wonder how God could be good.

“In this age humanity has strayed far from the path of truth, and the call of Bahá’u’lláh to recognize Him as the viceregent of God on earth has fallen on deaf ears. But a careful study of His writings leads us to believe that His Revelation, being the culmination of past Revelations and one which has ushered in the Day of God Himself, will exert such a potent influence upon mankind as a whole that eventually all the peoples of the world will recognize His station of their own free will and embrace His cause of their own volition. And this in turn will bring about, in the distant future, the appearance of a new race of men whose noble character and spiritual virtues we, in this age, are unable to visualize.” (AdibTaherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh v 3, p. 3)

“With the establishment of the Most Great Peace and the spiritualization of the peoples of the world, man will become a noble being adorned with divine virtues and perfections. This is one of the fruits of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, promised by Him. The nobility of man and his spiritual development will lead him in the future to such a position that no individual could enjoy eating his food or resting at home while knowing that there was one person somewhere in the world without food or shelter. It is Bahá’u’lláh’s mission to create such a new race of men.” (Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh v 3, p. 126)

New Race of Men

 

[Fool]

I would like to pose a question for theists, namely: what is God's top priority? I cannot prove that no god exists, but there are many types of gods that I can prove do not exist.


I know that an omnipotent god whose top priority is preventing rape and murder cannot exist.
I know that an omnipotent god whose top priority is preventing childhood cancer cannot exist.
I know that an omnipotent god whose top priority is preventing starvation cannot exist.
I know that an omnipotent god whose top priority is preventing the extinction of 99% of the species he created cannot exist.
I know that an omnipotent god whose top priority is having a personal relationship with all of his human creations cannot exist.
I know that an omnipotent god whose top priority is having all humans believe in him cannot exist.


I could give many other examples, but I think the point has been made. If God exists, and he is omnipotent, his top priority cannot be any of the above things. So what is God's top priority? Since it seems like one of the items I listed above would be the top priority of the god of classical theism, it almost seems that if God does exist, then his top priority is to make it look like he doesn't exist.

pure consciousness, or the divine, or god, is love, to love, be loving.

so then the all, the absolute would encompass all things and not be something separate from self. as this all inclusive parts would be omnipotent.

the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts, or an individual part.


so then self might ask, is love conscious.

 

[PearlSeeker]

Genesis 1:28 is only a useless answer because the majority of humans have chosen Not to be care givers for Earth.
But we fret not because God will bring to ruin those ruining the Earth - Revelation 11:18 B.

There are some other stories that foster ecological awareness even more, for example Wall-E, Happy Feet, Moana...
But you missed the point as the question was if we are accidentally here...

 

[URAVIP2ME]

There are some other stories that foster ecological awareness even more, for example Wall-E, Happy Feet, Moana...
But you missed the point as the question was if we are accidentally here...

"No" is the answer I find according to Genesis 1:28 because God created the Earth (Ecclesiastes 1:4 B; Psalm 104:5; Isaiah 45:18) to be inhabited. Inhabited first by plant and animal life, then by human life, so "No" according to the Bible we are Not accidently here. Thus, Wall-E, Happy Feet, Moana... they are Not a teaching found in the Bible but a newer teaching outside of Scripture.
There would be No purpose, No point to being here if we were Not created by God.
Without a point or purpose there is No real reason to abide by any civilized law.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

pure consciousness, or the divine, or god, is love, to love, be loving........................................................................
so then self might ask, is love conscious.

God "IS" love and God is conscious, however that does Not mean love in itself is conscious, but love comes from God.

 

[PearlSeeker]

"No" according to the Bible we are Not accidently here.

And according to the Theogony the world began with the spontaneous generation of four beings... Why should we trust the Bible?

 

[Trailblazer]

And according to the Theogony the world began with the spontaneous generation of four beings... Why should we trust the Bible?

Why indeed.

 

[Firenze]

Well, based on religion being a multi trillion dollar business, I think the top priority is clear.