A Life Devoted to God

According to what I heard on NPR this weekend, psilocybin is the most efficient way by far to find god. All but one of a group taking psilocybin found god, whereas none in a placebo group did. I think you folks struggling with the god concept should spend more time in cow pastures.
 
Q
http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1301/1301.1648.pdf

The Beginning and the End: The Meaning of Life in a Cosmological Perspective


Page 200:

Our reasonings about the origin of the origins in Chapter 4 largely holds for extrapolations into the future. It is thus not surprising to find the idea of a pointattractor in the future. Such a future ultimate point, the omega-point, was famously and beautifully articulated by the paleontologist and jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1959) in his posthumous book The Phenomenon of Man. The vision of evolution Teilhard proposes is remarkably inspiring. Teilhard is arguably one of the very rare thinkers who foresaw the emergence of the Internet, when he introduced the noosphere, an evolutionary stage of development dominated by information processes on a global scale. This evolutionary vision was further elaborated into the concept of the global brain (see Heylighen 2005 for an historical review).

Page 301:

Evolutionary immortalists are skeptic not only about individual immortality, but also about the immortality of the human species. Mark Lupisella (2009) coined the term “speciesism”, which he defined as “a kind of blind, unethical delusion engendered by biologically driven affinities for one’s own likeness”. Evolutionary immortalists know too well that 99.9 % of species which have existed are now disappeared (see e.g. Prothero 2003, 83). There is no reason why humans should be an exception. Put an other way, there is 0.1% chance that humanity as a species will continue in the far future. In mammals, species average 1 million years of duration (May 1994, 15) and homo sapiens appeared only about 200 000 years ago. So, if paleobiology is of any help, we might still have a few hundred thousands years to live as a species. Which is very few from geological or cosmological perspectives. Note also that a species endures longer if the environment does not change, and might endure for shorter periods of time if the environment changes a lot. Currently, it would be hard to argue that life on Earth is not changing!

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Prothero, Donald R. 2003. Bringing Fossils to Life: An Introduction to Paleobiology. 2nd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
UQ
 
In my view the human spirit is diminished overall by the dogma and faith which claims divine endorsement.
What is it that's so unpalatable to the religious about doing what's right for its own sake, without the need to be commanded.
 
In my view the human spirit is diminished overall by the dogma and faith which claims divine endorsement.
What is it that's so unpalatable to the religious about doing what's right for its own sake, without the need to be commanded.

Below: "That joke is simply a copy and paste. It was voted the funniest religious joke in worldwide voting a year or two ago."

"Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?"

"He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"

"He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!"

"Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912." I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over."
 
Looks like this site provides interestingly fresh air, quite a new and promising direction indeed, imo!

Q
http://www.21stcr.org/21stcr_commentary/john10_30.html

B. What John 10:30 is not saying -

John 10:30 does not say that Jesus and the Father are one "person" nor does it say they are one "God."

The assertion of the Oneness point of view that Jesus is saying he is the Father doesn't make sense. It is ipso facto that Jesus in these very words is distinguishing himself from the Father. The one saying "I and the Father..." is in those words making a distinction between himself and God.

Likewise, the oft heard Trinitarian view that this verse is indicating that Jesus and his Father are of the same "substance" or "essence" completely misses the mark. This verse says nothing about "substance" or "essence." It is entirely mistaken to say that Jesus means by these words that he and the Father are both of the same "God" substance or the same "God" essence. That idea is clearly post-Biblical and efforts to read such a non-Scriptural notion back into John 10:30 are faulty at best and deliberately calculated at worst.

Let Jesus Decide -

If we allow Jesus himself to decide the matter about what sense he and the Father are one, then there is no room for doubt. Note for example statements he made regarding his people in the prayer he prayed to the Father in John 17 (NASB) -

11 "... so that they [the disciples] may be one, as we are one.
21 "...that they [the disciples] may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
22 "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one.

Jesus' words are "That they may be one, just as We are one." The sense in which Jesus and the Father are one is the exact same sense in which Jesus can pray that his people would be one. Jesus is not praying that his people would be one "person" nor that they would all be one "substance" or "essence." Such notions would not even make good sense. His desire is that they would be one in will, purpose and work. Just as Jesus and his Father are one in will, purpose and in their work.

Conclusion -

Clearly, if one believes in the Oneness or Trinitarian points of view, they cannot rely on John 10:30 to support those ideas. John 10:30 is not a statement about the "composition" or "essence" of God nor is it a statement that Jesus and God are one "person." When Jesus speaks of his being "one" with the Father, it is always set in the framework of unity, work and love. That is the exact same way in which Jesus desires that his people would be "one." John 10:30 is a statement about the unshakable unity between God and Jesus regarding their love and protection for his people – his sheep.

*Unless otherwise indicated Scriptures quoted in this article are from the NASB.

www.21stcr.org

UQ
 
If God is complete, why do when I find Him I still have needs? Most notably the need to share?
Various issues here:
1. Depends on what you mean by the word God? and the definition.
2. When you say you find him.....how do you "know" you have found him?
3. Needs?.....so the assumption is God is to satisfy?.....really? common sense tells you this is not true on earth.
4. to share?.....to do things not understanding why one does is meaningless, worthless and in delusion.

Existence, being born, live, old age and death is a cycle of rebirth.....trapped in a time-space dimension due to ones own making.....existence is suffering.....and one should seek a way out.

A believe isn't a fact.....it is "known" via experience.....knowing that you know. (and words are not the truth)
 
For Oddtrader

John 8:52-59

The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. ”So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.


So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.


This is the third time in this chapter Jesus used the phrase "I am", verses 24,28 and here in 58.

The ancient Greek phrase is "ego emi", which is the same term used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament in Jesus' day to describe the Voice from the burning bush. In using the phrase "I am" Jesus is using a divine clear title belonging to Yahweh alone (Exodus 3:13-14, Deut. 32:39, Isaiah 43:10). And was interpreted as such by Jesus' listeners as they picked up stones to stone him for blasphemy, for claiming to be God. Guzik


https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/guzik_david/StudyGuide_Jhn/Jhn_8.cfm?a=1005058

The Apostle Paul sums it up in Colossians 1:12-19

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;


If Jesus is not God in the flesh, just a man, the whole foundation of Christianity is false.

I hope you find Him.
 
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My suggestion is you better try asking www.21stcr.org and then let us know the answers.

I really don't know how to answer your persistent questions anymore. Sorry!

So long!
 
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According to what I heard on NPR this weekend, psilocybin is the most efficient way by far to find god. All but one of a group taking psilocybin found god, whereas none in a placebo group did. I think you folks struggling with the god concept should spend more time in cow pastures.

I did that once. And I found God. He told me to get the hell out of his cow pasture and quit stealing his mushrooms. :(
 
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