A Rather Unorthodox Situation

Alright Charlie. I have some basic information to start discussion. It seems that you are interested firstly in understanding who God is to the Judeo-Christian mind-set. For this I go back to the Old Testament of the Bible. Exodus Chapter 34 says this: "Yahweh passed by before him [Mosses], and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation." So here we have the love, mercy and grace of God balanced with the wrathful justice of God upon sin. God is all powerful, being the one who created all of what we see today as the cosmos. And He is the one who spoke a word to create light. He created heaven, angels, trees, animals, and man in that order. (Genesis Ch. 1) God is all knowing, all seeing, ever present, and self-existent. Which means He is the only thing that is beyond all things so to speak. He didn't need to be created because He always was before all created things.So what's the deal with sin in the Bible? Well, the definition for sin is to miss the mark, as in to miss a target as with an arrow. Sin is any rebellion against a God of goodness. Which means if you do evil, then you have become a sinner against the Kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom of heaven includes God, all his angels and all His saints. Other words for saints are believers, chosen few, the body of Christ, the church of Christ, or as many would call it today christian which means Christ follower. The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

CharlieD
says:

" I love to debate but I understand that religion is a delicate subject for many. While I'm open to any debate you would like to have, "

This isn't a debate site that im aware of. I think there is actually a few creation/evolution posts. So basically your here to debate not be converted, obviously. Are the real debate sites to hard for you? You want to shoot ducks in a barrell here? Are you all hopped up on Richard Dawkins quotes and need to release them on us?

It would seem so, lucky us. Can't wait. Fire away Charlie. First tho, since you said you're an atheist, are you a #7 on the Dawkins scale that says he KNOWS there is no God?

Thank you for the reply.
I understand a "god" in the classical sense of the term, which is an omnipotent being of infinite power which oversees the affairs of mankind; this seems to be the definition which you have given to your god (correct me if I'm wrong. I'm still learning, after all); but this definition describes that which this god does. Not that which it is. This being has been said to create the universe and to bring life into existence. I can accept such a claim, but it still doesn't say what it is. I'm sure that my question would send most believers to Exodus 3:14 where this being told Moses "I am who I am" which would imply that God is a precursor to existence which could be said to have always existed and therefore caused existence as we know it. Of course this claim is airtight since such a claim can neither be proven nor falsified because such a being would have to exist in a state of existence completely outside the bounds of science and mathematics (ie no time and no space) which implies that it is highly improbable that such a being exists (not to completely rule out the possibility, however). Assuming that these things are true, does this imply that "god" is a physical being? Does it only exist in a spiritual form? What is a spirit, anyways? Is god merely a metaphor to describe the ideologies of the early Mesopotamians who began religion?

Actually I came here in the hopes that I could learn something. As an atheist (an agnostic atheist, mind you) I'm constantly searching for the truth. I like to keep my mind open to ideas such as your concept of god because I know that in the end, the human brain is a handicap when trying to observe the universe around us. I'm sorry if you find my presence offensive but I'm not here to argue like they do on debate sites. I'm hoping that I can have an intelligent exchange of knowledge and opinions. Have you ever visited a debate site? It's a war zone. This place seemed friendly. There seemed to be lots of people who believed vastly different things from me and I saw that as a chance to learn something.

Charlie, cool. I have visited debate sites and am a member at one. I've never posted here before tonight so don't judge this site on me.

You being an atheist doesn't offend me one bit. I've debated so many that I just assume you are no different than the rest. The flying spaggeti monster, R'Amen Etc etc

So, anyway, im probably newer here than you. So...peace.

No worries I completely understand haha. I know a lot of atheists and I know exactly where you're coming from. Peace.

Check out the thread called "Atheist..." It's in the miscellaneous section. (Maybe Page 2)

Hello CharlieD welcome to cc, see ya in the rooms!

Hello CharlieD welcome to Christian Chat.

You're a person not a situation.

Here is a verse that says how He is directly rather than what He does. Psalm 34:8 says, O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

You say "it still doesn't say what it is." What's the second it referring to?

God is a who, not an it. And He's more than a precursor, He's a person. A very profound person.

What makes you say He is improbable to exist? Here is a difference in paradigms. One paradigm says science and mathematics make up the fabric of the universe, and that's all one sees. Therefore the reality of the confines of these known laws prevents there to be some mystical, all-powerful Creator guy. Another one says, yes mathematics and science and the laws of nature apply to the entire universe, yet still it makes good sense that someone founded those laws. Every law we have in the government comes from an intelligent designer of that law. It's the same way for gravity, and thermodynamics with God. And what's more than that is God, being the one who founded all these laws, supercedes them with divine glory. Divine glory isn't mystical, it's simply the majesty of One who deserves all praise for how incredible He is.

The Holy Bible says that God is Spirit, so we must worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). God is both physical and spirit, because Jesus is God. The Father is Spirit, the Son is physical with a spirit like us, and the Holy Spirit is obviously a spirit. God is a person and He is a spirit. Honestly it's difficult to pin down exactly what it is to be a spirit. The Bible doesn't go into that. But suffice to know, God is the most intricate Spirit that can never be fully known do to His infiniteness.

welcome to cc

Your questions are awesome. I have wondered about similar things. What were the ideologies of the early Mesopotamians?
I believe it could be possible that all religion, past and present, are intertwined in some sort of way.

Hi, I'm an atheist as well. I think Christians generally believe that God is a undefinable supernatural being that interacts with the physical realm and resides in heaven but doesn't seem to have a physical form (at least in the new testament). Some christians believe that to define him is impossible because human description is limiting. However there is a doctrine that some believe that God is in three forms. I assume that you've heard of it and know of its vagueness. Anyways, the judeo-christian god doesn't make sense to me either and I have a hard time believing in anything supernatural because, as you mentioned, it's hard to prove or disprove anything of that nature. It's seems highly likely that their God comes from old civilization or is at least influenced by their ideas. Finally, I have no idea what a spirit is because I'm a materialist.

So in the same sense do have a hard time -not- believing in God's existence, because the idea is hard to prove or disprove?
I think that you should watch The Quantum Activist. Although everything in the movie does not agree with Christianity, the theory has opened my mind to the different possibilities of what God may be.
The difference between myself and many Christians is this:. I will not claim to know God, but I will claim, in certainty, that He knows me.

Sometimes I wish this site had a like button haha

what is so haha about what I wrote? How does this not make sense?