Who is God.....

[firetracie]

to you?

Hypothetical situation.

The religion of your choice is discredited. The texts on which their teachings are based are proven to be false. The credibility of their founders and leaders is exposed as being a 'con trick'. The foundations on which they are built crumble and fall.

Just imagine, for now, that the religion to which you have given your commitment , who's rules and tenets you follow, around who's guidance you have built your life and who's community you feel a part of is wiped away. Proven beyond all doubt to be based on lies.

Who, then, is God to you? Do you still know God? Do you have a 'relationship' with God that the destruction of your chosen religion wouldn't change.

I'm not looking for justification of religious texts or denials of the possibility of this occurring. It's reasonable to assume that it never will. But if it did what is your personal relationship with God? Outside of the establishment to which you are a part of?

[JockSporran]

A person can give up a particular religion without abandoning belief in God, in which case they could either keep a personal faith without turning to sacred writings, or they could seek out a different religion or phiolosphy to suit their new beliefs.

[Coldicote]

I've struggled with this one for years, firetracie. The difficulty is that different religions all tend to personify their God or Prophet and create creeds of one sort or another that are often 'not proven' and hard to believe. I have come to think not in terms of God, but of a 'Power of Creation'. There's got to be some sort of power out there that created the universe and life. It has no creed that we are bound to follow or be committed to, but we do have within ourselves the instinct to recognise love and hate, good and evil. I hope I shall deserve that the Power of Creation is kind to me when the time comes.

[firetracie]

Hi Jock - so would you turn to another 'church' to support your belief in a 'God' ? Is it necessary to have that 'association' to support a belief in God?

Coldicot - Is that your relationship with your perception of 'God'? That you will need to be derserving of kindess in a 'judgement'?

I'm not challeging anyone - I'm just very curious about this.

[Coldicote]

I'm curious too and don't really know what to expect, but cannot help feeling there is more to all of us than just a physical body.

[firetracie]

For God, please substitute whatever term by which your chosen religious community uses to refer to an 'ultimate power' or 'creator'.

Imagine that ALL religions were gone tomorrow.

What would you do? Do you perceive you have a 'personal' relationship with 'God' and what does that feel like - to you?

[keyplus90]

Jocksporran�s answer is short but to the point. When someone leaves his/her religion they are accepting one out of two things.

1 � Their religion was the false one as you said, and it could not answer their questions.

2 � Their questions were not answerable, as everything in this world does not have explanation. Like few people say we would only believe in God if he comes and stands right in front of them.

They might still believe in God, and the only thing they got rid of might be a false model of God, unless you turn towards a faith called atheism.

To your question, yes if my religion is proved wrong then I will give it up. Giving up belief in God is a different discussion.

[jno]

very broadly, Muslims, Christians and Jews have the same god, though they think of him in slightly different ways. If the bible was somehow disproved, I doubt that Jews or Muslims would notice; if the Koran was discredited, Christians wouldn't care. What they feel about their god is not necessarily linked to what other people feel about him. So I would expect that their personal faith would be unchanged.

It''s a pretty hypothetical question, though. It's very hard to disprove even L Ron Hubbard, let alone dissuade scientologists from believing in his teachings.

[JockSporran]

I simply offered that changing one's religion would be an option. And no, it is not necessary to have the association of a religion to support belief in God. Of course, you have to explore what you mean by 'God', but no-one can answer that one for you - it has to be YOUR perception.

[Paff]

Imagine an �extinction event� in which all life on Earth is exterminated. If life then evolved again to produce intelligent beings, not necessarily in the shape of homo sapiens, what �shape; would be their god �.. bearing in mind the biblical belief that man was made in the image of god

[firetracie]

Hi Jock

That's my question!

Who / what is God to you?

If you didn't have a priest, imam, rabbi, vicar to serve as 'intermediary' would your relationship with God be the same?

If you didn't have a church, synagogue, mosque, temple in which to meet others, if you didn't have a prescribed form of 'service' through which to offer love, request forgiveness, celebrate joy? If you had no Jesus, Mohamed, Moses to emulate and follow - what then is your personal relationship to God?

Do you (and I mean everyone not just Jock) have a need for the community and ritual that an established religion provides? And, whether you do or not, do you percieve that even without that, you have a personal relationship with God which trancends all of that?

Or is your perception of God one which has been prescribed by your 'church' and something that without those guidelines you would find difficult to quantify?

[JockSporran]

To me, God and nature are the same thing, though I believe that there is more to nature than just scientific matter and energy, and not forgetting that we are part of nature too. I feel closest to God when looking up at the starry heavens or walking in the country or by the seashore, enjoying the wonder of it all and feeling part of it.

[keyplus90]

Hypothetically you can imagine anything, but as a Muslim I believe that you are unaware of God without the messengers and the prophets. Because they are the people who were chosen and were sent to tell people about God and what God wanted them to do. Islam believes in all the messengers from Adam to Muhammad (peace be upon them all). Muslims respects Jesus (pbuh) and Moses(pbuh) the way they should be respected. How Christians and Jews think about each other�s Prophets is wrong. Still you will not find one Muslim in the world who worship Muhammad or any other messenger.

As for the Imams, Priests and Rabbi's. You do not need an intermediary in Islam to convey your prayers to God. Yes intermediaries are like teachers and they tell you about God and prophets if you can not read yourself. So it is a way of getting knowledge. Which sometimes go wrong ad become bias.