the Nature of God

[Aphrodite]

Baphomet

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   posted 12-09-2004 12:05 AM                       
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The point is that god, while being all-powerful, has been facing more competition of late from the fallen angels he cast out of heaven who have, perhaps, been steadily gaining power throughout the years. What did Jack the Ripper say? "I have birth to the twentieth century," and the fallen angels doubtless gave birth to him.
[This message has been edited by Baphomet (edited 12-09-2004).]

 

[Aphrodite]

Calvin Noble

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Member # 2238

Rate Member   posted 12-09-2004 12:19 AM                       
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Baphomet, as Lévi's illustration suggests, has occasionally been misunderstood as a synonym of Satan or a demon, a member of the hierarchy of Hell. Baphomet appears in that guise as a character in James Blish's The Day After Judgment. Jack Chick claims that he is a demon worshipped by Freemasons, a claim that apparently originated with the Taxil hoax. The head of Lévi's Baphomet was inscribed with a pentagram which is a symbol occasionally adopted by Wiccans and other students of the Occult. A goat head inscribed within an inverted pentagram, the upper points filled by the horns, the side points by the ears, and the bottom by the bearded chin, is a symbol occasionally adopted by Satanists and other followers of a Left-Hand Path. The head, horns and torch together take the form of a Fleur de lys.
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It's bad enough that most people here seem to hide behind false names while making some of these comments. It speaks volumes when they take the name of an actual demon while taking shots at Christianity.
 

[Aphrodite]

Zodiac

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   posted 12-09-2004 12:37 AM                       
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Or maybe he just thought the name was cool...
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Posts: 260 | From: the Netherworld | Registered: Nov 2004  |  IP:

[Aphrodite]

Andrew Waters

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  posted 12-09-2004 01:00 AM                       
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Baphomet said, ''I believe that demons are real, and I think that most people probably believe in ghosts. That should tell us that there is some kind of life in the hereafter.''
I'm curious, what percentage of ''most people'' are you referring to that accept demons and ghosts as a reality ? Fifty one percent, or is it about ninety five percent?

What can you say to me (aside from telling me to butt out of this discussion) when I tell you I don't entertain the idea of demons and ghosts?

And how,exactly, does this equate with there being an afterlife?

And can you say you've seen them in a crowd of people just as you would in downtown, USA?


 

[Aphrodite]

via mars 2
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   posted 12-09-2004 07:19 AM                       
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baphomet - that is the nature of god. death, destruction, chaos. and with it, are the things which we perceive to be good. love, compassion, beauty
the twin pillars
left and right
good and bad
dog eat dog
look at us, we don't even know who/what satan really is - still to this day.

god is nature. look at nature ... packs of wolves following a weakened calf.
red ants attacking black ants and enslaving them.
sound familiar?

on another front ... if you were a vegetarian, would you allow your snake to eat a rat?

look at jimmy swaggert, benny hinn, hagee, pat robertson, jim baker, creflo dollar, etc. that my friend, is the nature of god.
you don't like it?

identify evil, then terminate it. god will love you for it.

 

[Aphrodite]

HereForNow
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Member # 2132

Rate Member   posted 12-09-2004 07:32 AM                       
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My beleif is that the creator is not of this this world. All will be reveiled. Until then,
can the worlds religions give the whole story? Taking one beleif and saying,"This is the true religion", is the same as looking though a key hole to see the outside..
Ever sence I was a pre-teen, I have always had this feeling that God is an advanced race. Proving this is impossible until "That day". If this is the case,understanding our purpose is just out of reach of what we can handle as the truth.

In regaurds to Angels,this is the most compelling look at the possiblity of extra-ordinary extraterrestial beings. All the things that have been written could draw this conclusion easily to someone that is willing to except this idea.

I think that Dawn and others who feel this is worth researching ,are both good reseachers and great thinkers. Doing the reading seems to paint a picture and they are looking at this in a very open way.
I'm not saying we all are right! I'm just saying that we are not conforming to the worlds beleifs about God and the Heavens.
Conclusion:
With an extraterrestial co-exsistance with man being an explaination to all religion and beleif,is it really that hard to swallow as truth? Is this why so much information and origional texts been suppressed?
Lastly,can man go on as it is without knowing what it is supposed to be doing?

Time will answer this for us. Until then, values have been clearly documented for us to help us on our path to beyond our days in life.


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[Aphrodite]

Andrew Waters

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  posted 12-09-2004 10:10 AM                       
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That is a hard act to follow via mars 2.

No amount of scriptural gymnastics can offer any rebuttal to those comments; no amount of semantic word-twisting can make me grasp anything that has been offered to alter my perception that we are a reflection of ''As it is in heaven.'' No amount of ''free will'' apologists can put forth any intellectual meanderings to remove this very real predicament humankind has been in since day one.

We humans have been staining this earth for millenia. Christianity,respectfully I say this, has been offering apologies for a naturally planted failing, which boggles the mind at times, for a paltry two thousand years or less.

Human-kind has a built-in awareness trigger to the extent that we know something happened in the remote past but we just can't put our finger on it to any satisfying degree. We ''know'' there must have been an interaction at some point in the distant past but history has muddled it to the extent that the real show has become an unrecognizable mass of subterfuge, obfuscation and misinformation.



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[Aphrodite]

Aristotle

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   posted 12-09-2004 11:42 PM                       
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Let me forth this more realistic observation on God and his works:
Man, an accident created by a simple accident from a bacteria-ridden asteroid from space with the earth, has always felt one over-riding feeling since he has been alive: guilt. He looks for a purpose here, but he has no purpose. He can't even find it within himself to feel pleasure for anything he invents morals and laws. He believes he has a higher purpose here, but he has no purpose, even love is just a chemical reaction to biological stimuli. Through guilt, he spends his life denying himself everything that might give him pleasure and is made continually unhappy because he has set, by design, a standard that no one can reach.

He believes he has a higher purpose, but he has none. In short, he is an accident and nothing he does will make any difference in this world because their is no next one.

There, that is the solution to this, with no mention of devil worship, or that inane girl's aliens, or the religious fundemantalist jargon that has doubtless kept all of you jumping through hoops for years. Perhaps that is the answer to this question.

 

[Aphrodite]

Zodiac

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   posted 12-09-2004 11:50 PM                       
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Man, you are really a downer, Ari, bet you're a lot of fun at parties, too. There HAS to be some intelligent design to all of this, whether it's angels or aliens, who can say. 

[Aphrodite]

Baphomet

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   posted 12-10-2004 12:26 AM                       
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Calvin,
I don't believe that invoking the names of demons is "taking shots at Christianity" as you say. If you believe in God, as you certainly seem to, you must also believe in all the mythology that comes along with it, invested in the Bible: meaning angels, meaning Lucifer, Beelzebub, the Watchers, the Nephilim, and, of course, all the many others in the Jewish Bible: Gadreel, Exael, Satanail, the list goes on and on, do you believe in them, as well? They are, all of them, mentioned in this literature.

My point is this, we both believe in the same things, no matter how you try and suggest otherwise. Whatever weight we choose to grant each of those beings is up to each individual. As for what entities I happen to place my faith in, well, that's a private matter (even if I happen to be using a false name).

You would do well to direct your anger a Aristotle, who seems to have become your natural adversary in this forum. As I said, the two of us, we have worlds in common... 

[This message has been edited by Baphomet (edited 12-10-2004).]
 

[Aphrodite]

Calvin Noble

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Rate Member   posted 12-10-2004 12:37 AM                       
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Aristotle,
I have no doubt that's how you see the world, it fits perfectly with your bleak outlook of the universe, yet Zodiac raised an interesting point: there is obviously an intelligence at work in all of this, no matter how you wish to deny it. The Bible has given us a blueprint of how we can meet that greater being, our creator in the life beyond our existence. Whether you wish to follow it, is up to you.

I have no doubt that you will meet the God you envision. I will say no more.


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[Aphrodite]

Dawn Moline

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   posted 12-10-2004 12:56 AM                       
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Welcome back, HereForNow, we have certainly missed your observations (well, I know I did).
I wish that everyone would stay on topic. Stacy was right, this last page, at least, seems to read like an attack upon one another's religious beliefs, nothing more. Who cares what Baphomet actually believes in his heart? I doubt that it hurts anyone (I hope that, anyway). Aristotle, I'm getting the idea that you take the contrary point of view simply to antagonize others, most of all, poor Calvin. As I said when I started this thread, it was not my intention to insult or offend anyone's religious beliefs, you seem to wish to attack them savagely. That is not the way I prefer to do things. Only without anger and with courtesy can we have a logical and scientific discussion.

If we are to accept the idea of God, however perfect or imperfect we might think he is, we might also like to ask ourselves these questions:

(1) What of Heaven, is there one, and, if so, where could it be at?

(2) Are there, in fact, angels..?

(3) Did the wars between Heaven and Hell actually occur?

(4) How could God have actually made the universe?
 

[Aphrodite]

via mars 2
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   posted 12-10-2004 08:29 AM                       
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andrew - your post, now that's a hard example to follow. i concur to a large degree.
i just call it as i see it.
 

[Aphrodite]

Andrew Waters

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  posted 12-10-2004 11:19 AM                       
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I'll address this to Dawn.
Your concern is that the posters have drifted off topic somewhat and it is has, to a degree. However, as you are aware, during the heat of commentary it is necessary to bring up issues that may or may not be exactly on topic. To which I will say, it isn't necessarily a bad thing if it demonstrates a leading back to it.

You have to remember this God subject is hot property and to some here, including me, some points simply can't be dismissed with a wave of the (topic) hand and, as a result other avenues have to be offered until a coming back can be realized.

You can't eliminate the emotional aspect of this subject, no matter how hard you may try.

You would be correct in saying to everyone here the subject is (still) The Nature of God. Having said that, I haven't seen any evidence that anyone here has wandered off to automobile racing.

So relax, it usually works it way back.


 

[Aphrodite]

TetrahedreX
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Rate Member   posted 12-10-2004 02:39 PM                       
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I didn't have time to read all of this thread, but I will explain what I believe about God.

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(1) If the Universe was truly without void, how did God even come into existence in the first place? What was God's origin?
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The word "void" is mentioned in the Bible, but it doesn't mean that nothing existed anywhere. Rather, it could be easily used to explain the absence of anything in a certain area: a vacuum.

The cosmos is, according to modern cosmological theories, infinite. Not just in space, but in time. Individual universes have beginnings, like our own's Big Bang (which could possibly have been a white hole from another universe). There are an infinite number of these universes. Some are seperated from us by distance; others, by the expanding fabric of the cosmos; others, by quantum events. Yet others are seperated from us by virtue of having different mathematical structures. All these universes exist, according to what we know.

Given this infinite amount of time and space, it is a certainty that somewhere, at some time, a race of beings perfected themselves in righteousness and virtue. In fact, this happened an infinite amount of time ago--for, no matter how far back in time one goes, there is an infinite amount of time existing before it. Because of this, this race would have an infinite amount of time to perfect itself and grow in power. These beings would have discovered everything, and would have the power to do anything, even affect the birth of universes like our own.

No one can know, unless told by God, how exactly these things work; but I can tell you with absolute certainty that somewhere in the cosmos is a race of Gods. It is my belief that, like all creatures, Gods wish to create more of themselves. I believe that our God is one of these infinite and innumerable Gods, and that He created our Earth as place for intelligences (which, by the way, I do not believe were created by Him; I believe that intelligences, like the elements of the universe, have always existed) to be tested and taught, and eventually become like God himself.


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(2) What manner of being is God, energy, substance, or both? Can he or she live and die like any other being?
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It is my belief that God is actually a glorified human being, and that we were created in His image. I can't prove this, of course, but I don't believe that God is the Universe or omnipresent.


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(3) If God is perfect, as has been said, how can God create something so obviously flawed and imperfect as the earth, and all the people upon it?
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Perhaps God didn't make our intelligences, instead allowing us to have free will? Perhaps it is true that, along with a powerful good force coming into being (God), there is a powerful evil force--and that we must choose between them? If God created us to be good, how could we have free will? We would be nothing but extensions of God's will.

Perhaps there is evil in the world as part of a test, and also something to strengthen us.


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(4) Why even allow evil to exist if you know in advance it will lead to mankind's undoing, the corruption of all God's children?
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There must be opposition in all things. Without misery, there can be no joy. Without wrong, there can be no right. Without darkness, there is no light. And we may all be corrupted, yes--but can we not overcome that through the Atonement?


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(5) The presence of God makes itself known all throughout the Old Testament of the Bible, all the way up until the crucifixtion of Christ. Where has God been throughout all the last two thousand years, throughout all the famines, the plagues, the wars waged upon a global scale? Has something happened to God, or does God simply not care anymore..?
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Remember that God showed His influence mainly to Israel--a tiny nation with only a few million people. Many more millions that were even alive in that age can today testify of seemingly impossible events that indicate to them the existence of God.

Most churches no longer believe that God reveals Himself to people, true; but I do not believe that, and neither does the church that I am a member of.


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(6) Just how and when did God even come into existence?
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I believe that He was a man, billions of years ago, just like us; and that He came to be God in the same way that it is possible for us.


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(1) What of Heaven, is there one, and, if so, where could it be at?
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Lots of people believe in some kind of supernatural dimension, but I believe that He actually lives on a planet. Not one like ours, but a perfected one.


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(2) Are there, in fact, angels..?
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Millions of people in the US alone believe that they have been affected or protected in some way by a guardian angel.


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(3) Did the wars between Heaven and Hell actually occur?
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I believe that it did--it happened when Satan, one of God's sons, fell and took one third of the spirits with him. God cast him and his followers to Earth to live without bodies. We are the spirits that remain.


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(4) How could God have actually made the universe?
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Impossible to know, of course, but some scientists have speculated that the Big Bang was a product of a white hole (which is the other end of a black hole). Perhaps God could have initiated and manipulated this event?

[This message has been edited by TetrahedreX (edited 12-10-2004).]