Religions of Abraham Backwards?

[Bleed S & G]

What if everything we thought we knew was ass-backwards? By ?we? I mean the Abraham religions ? Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Keep that question in mind as I ?spit ball.?
IMO, G-d is ?creation.? The spirit of G-d is in each human, each animal, each living thing ? the trees, the grass, etc. This is Eden after all, according to Genesis. I always found the story of Eden odd. Here is god.. all knowing and all powerful.. warning man not to eat from the tree of Knowledge. This same god is the one who couldn?t find Adam when Adam hid. He didn?t know he had eaten from the forbidden tree until Adam confessed. Could god had been playing stupid ? teaching a lesson to all mankind?

Perhaps.


This god of Eden proceeds to murder hundreds of thousands in the Old Testament. Many directly ? many more through mass murders or directly ordering man to kill in the name of ?god.? A practice most of the post 9/11 world frowns upon.


I maintain, the god of Eden is not G-d the creator. I don?t think we, and by ?we? I know mean ?me?, can understand or comprehend what G-d the creator is or isn?t. However, I highly doubt G-d is how is portrayed in the bible. Especially considering the messages of the prophets ? namely Jesus ? that G-d is love. In my mind, killing for punishment is the exact opposite of ?turning the other cheek? and in my mind, I can?t reconcile this fact.


What if, this is Satan?s world? What if the greatest trick of all time is deception through ?faith??


But if the spirit of G-d is in all living things, as I suggest, wouldn?t ?Satan? be G-d too?


I also think that the words ?soul? and ?conscious? are interchangeable. Wouldn?t the only true judge be one?s own conscious? Ignorance is bliss after all ? dammit, we really shouldn?t have eaten those apples.


Is the conscious the ?spirit of G-d?? I believe it has to be, as G-d is the final judge ? they must either be related to one another or be one in the same.


What I purpose is this ? throughout all of history ? the wool has been pulled over man?s eye. Man?s ego is his fall. What if this was really ?Satan?s? world? The morning star? Whether it be in the form of a false idol, religion, or government ? throughout man?s time ? Satan has been pulling the strings.


From Eden through today ? it seems to fit in nicely with the book of Revelations, and it makes sense in my young and naive mind as to how the world could be as [censored]ed up as it is.

I bring this half-thought theory here ? to see what you scholars have to say. I?d like to see what holes you could shoot into it, and debate it. I?m not suggesting this is the way it is, just want a debate. It?s been awhile since I?ve been in this form ? thought I?d bring something interesting to discuss.

 

[jwinslow]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT4B-NJUcZE"]YouTube- bill and ted woah[/ame]

I'll get into this deeper later on, but for now I'd warn you not to confuse that love with something that is only gentle, peaceful and nice.

The other thing to emphasize is what you admitted but then sort of sidestepped with the next sentence. Not only do our puny minds struggle with the concept of omnipresence, predestination, free will, salvation, needing evil for good to exist but not creating evil, etc.

Most of all though, we simply lack the perspective to understand his decisions. Even the most spiritual humans routinely fail to see why God is doing something in their lives. We lack the context to see where it is headed, the complexity of free will while carrying out his will, the consequences on so many lives beyond ours... etc. We struggle to understand why this pithy event did or didn't happen, so it's only natural that we won't understand the world shaping decisions from 2000 years ago.

Furthermore, we're foolish enough to disregard the teachings we've been taught and the hard lessons we've learned, often to repeat or struggle in those same areas when God's instructions would have made things so much easier. Our perspective is very jaded, biased and flimsy.


So that went a little longer than I thought, but most of that was just surface level rambling. I'll get into more of the meat later.

 

[Taosman]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gZ6-6RbSEg"][/ame]

If we could all just act with compassion, that would make all the ideology unnecessary.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

Josh, I realize you gave the caveat about just going on the surface, but if that's the overriding premise of your response, I think you're missing the point. I mean, I'm understanding your response to be "it's not likely that Satan's pulling the wool over our eyes because G-d is a complicated guy that we can't quite understand"

In my mind, that sounds a lot like "I know you had weapons of mass destruction because I didn't find any" or, worse, makes G-d merely an answer to that which we do not understand.

I'll be interested to see what you say when you get a chance to develop the post, but on first blush I think you're going to be up against skirting the issue yourself. I mean, maybe I misunderstood - but, isn't the question "How do we know that Satan isn't pulling the strings here?"

For my part, the answer is easy. Satan is imaginary. There is only G-d.

 

[buckeyegrad]

I'm not sure how one can respond to such a claim of deception. It seems as though regardless of what response I would give, it could easily be countered by "well, that's how you've been deceived".

Typically, the burden of proof is on the one claiming deception is occurring. A simple hypothesis that is could be occurring or the historical claims of individuals like the gnostics simply isn't enough "proof" for me to consider such a possibility when weighed against my experiences and the experiences of others with the God of Abraham.

 

[buckeyegrad]

For my part, the answer is easy. Satan is imaginary. There is only G-d.

You know where I stand on this whole issue.

But from Bleed's original premise, couldn't it be claimed that your belief that satan is imaginary be part of the deception?

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

But from Bleed's original premise, couldn't it be claimed that your belief that satan is imaginary be part of the deception?

Yes.

Hey, it turns out I have faith after all.

Your first post, above your question to me, is a good point. At the end of the day, we can't be sure about anything and a crushing counter to any offer of proof is a simple, "isn't that evidence of your deception?"

As you know, for me, the world just makes a lot more sense if G-d doesn't have some adversary out there who might screw everything up for G-d or his people. To my way of thought, there is no good, there is no evil. There just is... and this realization gives me a great deal of comfort.

 

[AKAK]

Yes.

Hey, it turns out I have faith after all.

Your first post, above your question to me, is a good point. At the end of the day, we can't be sure about anything and a crushing counter to any offer of proof is a simple, "isn't that evidence of your deception?"

As you know, for me, the world just makes a lot more sense if G-d doesn't have some adversary out there who might screw everything up for G-d or his people. To my way of thought, there is no good, there is no evil. There just is... and this realization gives me a great deal of comfort.

That's what Satan would say.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

That's what Satan would say.

Says the guy who is actually Satan. :box:

 

[Steve19]

After reading the books of all the major religions, I believe that Satan is used to refer to the animal nature in man.

The Golden Rule (Do unto others...) is a constant across all the religions. Simply following that rule would do much to solve the problems of an increasingly chaotic world.

 

[AKAK]

Says the guy who is actually Satan. :box:

That's what Satan would say.

After reading the books of all the major religions, I believe that Satan is used to refer to the animal nature in man.

The Golden Rule (Do unto others...) is a constant across all the religions. Simply following that rule would do much to solve the problems of an increasingly chaotic world.

I thought the golden rule was Taos=Fail

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

That's what Satan would say.

yas dluow nataS tahw s'taht.

 

[buckeyegrad]

I thought the golden rule was Taos=Fail

I thought that was the golden ratio. Or is that "Taos:Fail"?

 

[AKAK]

yas dluow nataS tahw s'taht.

You can't see yourself in the mirror, can you?

I thought that was the golden ratio. Or is that "Taos:Fail"?

Given my math scores on standardized tests, I leave this to you...


.... and Satan.

 

[Bleed S & G]

I thought that was the golden ratio. Or is that "Taos:Fail"?