[thechat] Mythology was comics

john.peace john at johnpeace.org
Wed May 23 21:32:37 CDT 2001


can I get back into this?...

> what's the kingdom of heaven?

Thats a toughy...my guess is you recognize it when you are there...Jesus
talks a lot about the kingdom of God though, so if you are willing to read a
little, it's easy enough to get *his* perspective on what is th ekingdom of
God. Consider that in 0 ad, Palestine was essentially an 'eastern'
region...trading with and influenced by the orient. In an 'eastern'
religion...questions like this would be answered with another question...I'm
not a master or anything...so I don't know the answer/question, but it
sounds to me sort of like the question, 'what is Tao'...

> and what makes you think there is a "god"?

The incredibly intricate, beutiful, fragile, *intentional* nature of
nature...The sheer glory of the design of nature suggests a designer, and
one with *SKILLZ*, considering how amazing it all is. In fact, in one of the
letters of the Apostle Paul, he writes about man's awareness of God saying:

'Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his
eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have
been made.'      Romans 1:20

maybe you need to spend more time outside...

> does your god have an "almighty" power over everything?

well, the ability to design and craft a thing like the Universe does imply a
certain 'Almighty' power.

> does your god ever sin?

no...because everything in his nature is pure, true, perfect and right. But
really, since he is the definition of true, pure, right and perfect it is
simply his nature and 'being' to be without sin.

> is, as many religious people tend to insist, your god in everything (and
> every part of every thing)?

nope...creator of, he's definitely the creator of, a separate entity/being:

'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was
without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the
Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, "Let
there be light"; and there was light'
 Genesis 1:1-3

This is really interesting, to get exposure to different people's perception
of matters 'spiritual', et al. I grew up in a home where my loud,
overbearing Dad would get pissed off and raise his voice whenever anyone
*talked* about ideas that didn't line up with his take on scripture...and
man, did he have a take on scripture. We've all matured a lot since then,
there are scars, but its much better now...

When I 'accepted' that the God of the Bible was in fact God, it was because
of the realization that he was who he was...but I believed in a God that was
of my own construct. I was really mortified and filled with humilty to see
that in my life, I'd replaced a sovereign, true, almighty God with a figment
of my own imagination and need. Who am *I* to just create God and
arbitrarily assign my own values and beliefs to...ugh, the pride!

I don't get mad when people talk about what they believe, unless they're
pushy and tryign to persuade me to join them in their epiphany...Good enough
to give people the freedom they're entitled to...likewise, I try to avoid
getting confrontational with people over it...its just fun to talk about,
feels good to have the chance to articulate what I believe, in print, to
other people.

s'all good, one love
:)
jc





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