Dave in Waco
Premium Member
"We are all traveling to the same city, we are just taking different roads."
I think that's about the best explaination you can have on it.
"We are all traveling to the same city, we are just taking different roads."
It sounds more like an Abrahamic deity than a "universal deity." How can one group BC have a universal deity that excluded everyone else?
I've had people argue with me to tell me that even though I believe in a Supreme Being, the source of all creation and life and from whom all things flow - I did not believe in the actual God.
The reasons were "the dogma of God" because:
1) Jews don't believe in the Trinity
2) Christians do
3) Muslims don't
In an anthropological sense we all worship the God of Abraham, but, if, as a Christian, I don't believe in the Trinity in the traditional sense - I won't be considered a Christian by a healthy number of folks.
Yet, Jews don't believe in the trinity and they worship the same God in most any Christian's opinion.
If the Trinity isn't a separator on being the same God, what is?
No matter where you are born or how you are raised you bodily makeup is made from the same stuff as mine and I believe the same God who loves us all no matter what we call Him is nothing less than universal.
Below are the basic elements in the make up of the Human body.
Six blind elephants were discussing the nature of sages, when they decided to examine a sage and find out for themselves. Upon carefully feeling the sage with their feet, all six elephants agreed. Sages are very flat.
A lot of this reminds me of the story of the blind men and the elephant.
If we are intellectually honest, we must admit that we can't truly know that Deity exists.
Given that, it is absurd then to suggest that we can know the nature of that Deity.
All we are left with then, is belief in something far greater than ourselves, indeed far greater than we can likely even fully grasp. That's the nature of faith - steadfast belief in the absence of any proof. Once we have the humility to admit that, we are free to pursue a deeper understanding of G_d, or as some might say, a deeper relationship with G_d. So starting at that point, G_d is pretty "universal". The steps that each of us chooses to take from there are where the differences creep in, and that's OK. That those choices result in so many different opinions is how it should be, IMO. A deep and abiding faith is a very personal thing. You can't buy it, rent it, or borrow it. It must come from within.
There are folks who have had direct personal observation of the divine.
If we are intellectually honest, we must admit that we can't truly know that Deity exists. Given that, it is absurd then to suggest that we can know the nature of that Deity. All we are left with then, is belief in something far greater than ourselves, indeed far greater than we can likely even fully grasp. That's the nature of faith - steadfast belief in the absence of any proof. Once we have the humility to admit that, we are free to pursue a deeper understanding of G_d, or as some might say, a deeper relationship with G_d. So starting at that point, G_d is pretty "universal". The steps that each of us chooses to take from there are where the differences creep in, and that's OK. That those choices result in so many different opinions is how it should be, IMO. A deep and abiding faith is a very personal thing. You can't buy it, rent it, or borrow it. It must come from within.
If we are intellectually honest, we must admit that we can't truly know. Given that, it is absurd to suggest that we can know the nature of anything.