Jesus Petrucci

Allright, I've been thinking about this a long time and it might seem crazy but bear with me. I think that maybe all of us are our own Gods. If you talk to people everyone has different likes, dislikes, and in general different views on the world. We all see the world differently and in alot of ways we control the way we see it. How we react to a certain event is ultimately up to us. I had a friend who was depressed, drinking all the time, hung out by himself all day in a dark room loathing everything around him. He would talk about how he didn't care if he lived or died. He lives in this cold dark world but it's all in his head. I was in a similar boat for a while until I realized that my negative view on life and the world was coming from a negative lifestyle. I started thinking positive, living positive, and my world bacame positive. Good things started happening to me and I wonder why I wasted to much time being negative. I could expand on this for days. Anyways, I hope this isn't too long and I hope everyone digs it. Peace

Trocisp

Since you capitalized the "G" in God, I'm going to assume you meant that version of the word.

That would be impossible. God is defined as the ultimate power in the universe, as you can clearly see - we do not hold ultimate power over the universe, or even most of our own bodily functions. Therefore your statement is erroneous from the get-go.

However, the philosophy you're referring to has been (for lack of a better term) philosophised many times in the past, by a variety of different people. For the life of me, I can't remember the name of the man who originally put it forth, but I believe he was Greek or German (maybe Russian?).

Too a certain extent, however, I agree with you. Our world is what we make of it, we cannot exert absolute control (or sometimes, even partial control - therefore we cannot be "Gods"), but we can choose to see things in a certain light.

Jesus Petrucci

I don't think of it like that. think of parents who know that their kids smoke, but just don't want to know, so that in their minds they can convince themselves they don't. All that exist is whatever our brain makes exist.

Trocisp

That's not "God," that's delusional. There's a distinct difference.

I don't disagree. However capitalization is an important part of God. The word god or gods means one set of things, where God means another. The term God or Gods refers to an all powerful being, where the term god or gods refers to very powerful deities (I didn't do a good enough job of explaining this in my other post.

Again, Capitalization.

But all have the power to alter the physical universe, cause flooding, rain, fires, etc. I don't see anyone on Earth who can do that, I don't see anyone on Earth who can control even one of these things, much less any combination.

Because "Gods" is not "gods" and we haven't the power to fully govern our lives.

Can you control if someone walks up behind you on the street, kidnaps you and locks you in a dark room, repeatedly beating the shit out of you, starving and torturing you?

Didn't think so. His statement was erroneous, but the sentiment ("We control our own lives, not some omnipotent being floating on a cloud.") is true.


Oh, you best not fuck with the Jewish God, he's the one who thought up that rule, and he has some harsh punishments if you break it.

And, Islam, Judaism and Christianity all worship the same god, the god of Abraham, they just worship him differently. Isn't it always the case that the peoples with so much in common hate eachother the most?

Darque Pervert

If you look at the fundamentals of all major religions, they all preach similar values:
Honor & respect your family.
Don't steal.
Don't kill one another.
Show a little kindness.
Help the less fortunate when you can.
And so on...

What's even crazier is that three of the worlds religions have the same place (Jerusalem) as their epicenter, and one of those religions hates the other two!
Considering that none of these religions preach a message of hatred, I can't fathom going to The Wailing Wall (for example) and having a Christian, a Jew and a Muslim all worshipping alongside one another, yet casting suspicious, angry looks at one another.

Crazy...

__________________

Life is always a spiral. It's the choices of the individual as to whether that spiral is aimed up or down.

Trocisp

Yep, that's the basics. And even more-so for the Judeo-Christianity. So much so, that in America, they've been defined as a set of Values. Judeochristian values.

I know, those crazy Christians!

Really, Muslim's hate for the Western World isn't unfounded - the crusades are still fresh in their mind, remember, most of them are still living in the Dark Ages.
Well, Islam is a war founded in the fires of war. However, it doesn't preach that message. In fact, it says quite the opposite. It says, very, very specifically that one should "Respect those of the book." (The book is the Bible and Torah)

And afaik Christians and muslims haven't any use for the Wailing Wall, it's only Jews that go there. However, there are some extremely important Muslim sites (Mosques, very old) in Jerusalem, and it's supposed to be a truly spiritual experience to walk the paths that Jesus did as a child, for most Christians.

timond

The word God can actually mean a lot of different things for different people. Saying that the word God is clearly defined as one thing, isn't paying the word much justice. In some religions there are tens, hundreds, even thousands of different Gods, none of which has "Ultimate Power" in the universe. For example there may be a God of Humilty, God of Lust, God of Harvest, God of Light or Darkness. Each of these "Gods" only has power over a certain thing.

So I believe his statement isn't "erroneous" from the get go, as he can be saying we are the "God" of our own life, how is that any different from "Gods" of other religious that are specific to certain things?

JayD

The first commandment:
I am the God thy Father, you shall have
NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME!

So all these "other Gods" are for what again?

Darque Pervert

For Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Muslims, Jews, and others that believe in a deity but aren't Christian.

killian

So you're saying we control our own emotions and thoughts? I'm going to have to disagree with you there(if I understood correctly), much emotion and thought is either innate or provoked externally. Though I do agree we have more control of our attitude than some would like us to believe.