You keep trying to understand to totality of God by looking at his creation. What can you tell me about Henry Ford by looking at an F150? How would you describe the color blue to a blind man? You’re spiritually blind, asking questions, but also have your fingers in your ears because you’ve decided that your own answers are good enough.
He’s capable of justice. Justice is not evil. We have free will. We can choose to follow his ways or choose to follow men’s ways. One leads to destruction and one leads to eternal life. Death was introduced into the world because of sin. Sin requires a redemption; redemption is freely given to those who baptize and choose to live the way the creator intended for us to live. The commandments are lessons in how we learn to truly love each other, and love our creator.
How rewarding would it be if you forced your wife to say “I love you” everyday vs her choosing to do so of her own free will? Would you believe her if it was forced? God wants his creation to love him and his ways, but he doesn’t force anyone. He is long suffering and patient beyond human comprehension. Those that choose to follow him will get the promise at the end; and those that choose not to will die and cease to exist. That’s justice, not evil.
I like your definition of the god, I truly do and I agree to some parts, albeit you sound a bit naive with your belief in the ultimate justice.
None of what you said refers to the Bible, which presupposes that we take on his "spiritual likeness". So if we are given a free will, what exactly is taken after the god? You have kept on pressing this human's similarity with the god, but you're painting a very vague picture. Instead of informing me and answering my questions, you have resorted to shaming me with such phrases as this.
You’re spiritually blind, asking questions, but also have your fingers in your ears because you’ve decided that your own answers are good enough.
I have never put you down for your belief in your version of the god, and I have merely inquired into understanding the god through your words. Your tactic of trying to make me sound foolish won't work on me because I have played the part of the fool to begin with. I have assumed nothing from the beginning, yet you have resorted to so many tactics to divert the direct questions by saying it's semantics or that I'm spiritually blind. If anything, the more I inquire into you, I want to put myself further away from being affiliated with any faith of yours.
I'll ask again for one last time. And I'll give you a chance to answer it however you like and even disregarding the semantics. How are we taken after the god of yours?
The semantics is trying to use a one way definition of the word you chose in your initial question as though God is made in the image of man because one dictionary defined it as such. Forgive me if I’m a bit skeptical of a guy asking about God’s ability to eat and poop, as though that’s something important to our eternal salvation.
I say you’re spiritually blind; not to put you down, but because you cannot “see” what baptized commandment keepers can. We study this stuff and change our lives because the Holy Spirit gives us eyes to see and ears to hear. We see the world through the prophecies of Daniel, Nahum, Isaiah, Zechariah, and Jeremiah and see the prophecies fulfilled. We see the will of God vs the will of man on full display in the political/social/religious sphere. We see the boundaries get pushed. We see Sodom and Gomorrah, the sins of the pharaohs in Egypt, and the kings of Rome all over again. The world stage is set to break every commandment of God’s and usher in totalitarian communism.
Man has fallen a long way from the creation. Adam is currently much more adamah than adameh; but there’s a path to redemption and salvation. Many are called, but few are chosen. Why would you expect to scratch the surface of understanding; let alone experience the likeness to God when you reject Him? Hardened hearts only soften with repentance. If you want to experience the likeness of God: then repent and keep his commandments, and see how drastically your life can change for the better.
Do not dare say my life needs repentance, nor do you have any reason to be an authority of anything sacred just because you are an expert at rehashing a book that has not been revised for thousands of years.
God is certainly sacred, but if I have to read a certain book and attend certain ceremonies and listen to someone else explaining to me which part of the old book to follow, I don't deserve to know the real God. We humans have evolved year after year. There were times we didn't even have airplanes flying in the sky, but somehow that has become a norm. People have learned to fly, which is a new form of transportation that hasn't existed before. Yet, you're dealing with a book definition of God that probably has not been updated or included any new findings for thousands of years.
I give my due respect to God every day and cherish it as if it's the last moment I've been given by God. And I welcome any challenge and graciously accept any setbacks as moments I'm being tested by God. It didn't require solely the Bible to come to this conclusion, nor do I require any assistance to live true to the essence of God.
God is within and around us. You are part of him, and I am part of him. All of the little creatures you touch are part of him, as are the plastic bags and cigarette butts. At each moment of your life you are surrounded by God itself and we are merely separated perspectives that will find their ways home after the journey is done.
I don't expect you to agree with me, but you are living life as if someone else's supposed experience with God to be the only truth while I continue to evolve my definition of God. Needless to say, the definition I gave of God is subject to revision and updates as I experience more of life.
Also, here is an interesting quote of yours from earlier.
An image and likeness to God is someone who keeps his commandments and doesn’t allow the desires of the flesh to control the man. The body is subservient to the spirit.
Doesn't this directly violate your "free will" argument? You stated that
we were formed in his image and likeness.
If I don't follow the commandments, then I must not be made in his image. Then who am I taken after?
You’re not forced to give into fleshly desire, nor are you forced into resisting them. It’s a choice you make of your own free will. Follow God or follow the world. You cannot serve both. The ways of the world are at enmity with God.
We were formed in his image, and made to live forever in Eden. Eve was beguiled, and convinced Adam to sin as well. We’ve fallen a long way from that uncorrupted original form.
Aleister Crowley created Thelema and said: do what thou wilt. Jesus said: If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever.
You choose not to keep the Commandments and do what you want. You tell me who’s image and likeness you reflect.
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