Where is God?

[Revan]

An odd question to ask, to be sure... most of all by an Atheist.

But I want the believers out there to answer this question seriously, where is he?

If there is indeed a God like many claim, why doesn't he ever show himself? (Forgive the masculine pronoun) He did so many times in both the new testement and the old. So... where, and why does he not come?

^^^ Many might few this question as a joke or snide jape at those who believe in God; it is neither, I'm perfectly serious, I wish to know what those people who believe think of this.

[Lord Mhoram]

Darth,

According to Christian theology, God is existence. Everything exists in God.

[High Lord Tolkien]

I used to ask this question all the time when I was a teenager.
Somehow as I got older the importance of it blended into other things.
Like you say, God was all over the place in the Old and New Testament.
So where did he go? lol
I don't know.

The Mormons say that Jesus appeared before them and taught them things.
There are numerous others that say they have seen or have been touched by God.
And yet...these people are usually mocked or disregarded by established religions.
It's really weird when I think about it.
What makes one appearance of God/Jesus more valid than another?
Or does an appearance from God to a religious sect *invalidate* the other sects so they reject it out of fear?
That makes more sense, imo.

Another way of looking at it is that God/Jesus taught/said all that there is to say, now it's up to us.

(I'm in an anti-religious mood lately so I won't say anymore.)

[[Syl]]

"The eye with which I see God is the same eye as with God sees me." - Meister Eckhart.

Some people would say God is love. Some people say God is everywhere (omnipresent). In either case, the best place to look is within yourself. Or to paraphrase a zen saying [The only God you'll find on the mountaintop (church, bible, etc.) is the one you take with you].

Or maybe God is in the radio.

[jelerak]

My biggest problem is that if God is here, why allow such tragedies to happen in the world? Where did all of the miracles go? Why can't he show himself?

I want to believe in God...but where is he when his people need him most? Too many things come to mind to mention...but a few examples. 9/11, for one. Children with cancer, for another. Let's see a miracle or two, please!

There can be no justification for a kind and loving God to let his people go through that torment and pain.

[ChoChiyo]

I once read somewhere that WE are the hands of God. WE are to be doing what needs to be done for others...

Where I personally see and feel the presence of God is in

--the look of trust in a child's eyes.
--a kind deed or word given with no anticipation of profit or return from it.
--the blazing glory of sunset
--the pastel holiness of sunrise.
--the feeling of joy and warmth you feel inside yourself when you see a friend you dearly love.
--laughter--the kind that is joyous and not mocking
--good deeds done by strangers

None of these things ARE God, of course, but they are like the footprints of God visible for a moment or two in my life.

I don't know about the pain and suffering and cancers and bombs and stuff like that.

I think perhaps these are just things that have to happen because of choices made by people--not by God. I don't believe God is vindictive. And I don't believethat he/she/it takes any joy in human suffering. In fact, I believe our suffering causes God great pain.

I don't really believe in Hell anymore either.

Much to the horror of my family, whom I made the mistake of telling my new conviction to.


hehehe

[CovenantJr]

Being a Sardonic Agnostic, the best answer I can give you is "over there, behind that armchair"

[ChoChiyo]

Heh heh

Reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw once.

"I found JESUS!!

He was behind the sofa the whole time!"

While it is probably extremely sacriligious of me, I found it highly amusing.

[CovenantJr]

It is highly amusing, and not sacrilegious for me.

[bossk]

Or maybe God is in the radio.

Actually, he appears to be playing basketball somewhere in Asia: www.asia-basket.com/CHNplayer.asp?PlayerID=19581

[Plissken]

"Have you found Jesus?"
"No, but c'mon and I'll help you look for him!"

-Robin Williams

[Kinslaughterer]

Actually he is my neighbor...Jesus, Jesus Gonzales. Nice guy.

[onewyteduck]

I think he's in the local county jail. When I worked there, I heard alot of people saying they had "found Jesus".

[birdandbear]

Where is Jimmy Hoffa?


Buried in the desert in an unmarked grave. Murdered by the Church behind the usurped throne.




Okay, that came off as a leetle cynical, huh? Sorry, no offense intended to anybody. Just riffing a little....

[onewyteduck]

Where is Jimmy Hoffa?

I think he's with Elvis.

[Menolly]

While I am a practicing Jew, my personal belief strays quite a bit from traditional Judaism.

The closest I have ever come to my personal belief was surprisingly found towards the end in the last book of a children's series about bats. The book is called Firewing, and I was flabbergastedd to find my belief in it's pages.

[lurch]

..Where is God?...Just take a look in your wallet or purse. See that green leafy rectangular stuff? There you are. Maybe you are without. You have the multicolored plastic card,,befitting modern times. Theres your God.

Heck, we have rules and regulations on how much you can do and not do in your attempts to accumulate as much God as you want. Todays titanic struggle is between the forces who want less restrictions in the way of accumulating God and those who want more restrictions and access for more God spread to every poor soul, more equally.,They even want to take God that you so love and endear and take it from you and give to others all over the world. Heck,,talk about jihads,,we've been killing each other for God for ever. Yea, rite at the top of the green leafy stuff,,In God We Trust"..Right there in your wallet all this time...MEL

[Fist and Faith]

Maybe most of the believers assume from the title that the thread is religion bashing. Maybe they'll eventually check it out. Why modern appearances are taken less seriously than those in the Bible is an interesting question. Of course, there are exceptions, like Fatima.

Anyway, here's how this question is answered in Conversations With God:

Neale: For instance, why is it that You do not reveal Yourself? If there really is a God, and You are It, why do You not reveal Yourself in a way we can all understand?

God: I have done so, over and over. I am doing so again right now.

Neale: No. I mean by a method of revelation that is incontrovertible; that cannot be denied.

God: Such as?

Neale: Such as appearing right now before my eyes.

God: I am doing so right now.

Neale: Where?

God: Everywhere you look.

Neale: No, I mean in an incontrovertible way. In a way no man could deny.

God: What way would that be? In what form or shape would you have Me appear?

Neale: In a form or shape that you actually have.

God: That would be impossible, for I have no form or shape you understand. I could adopt a form or shape that you could understand, but then everyone would assume that what they have seen is the one and only form and shape of God, rather than a form or shape of God - one of many. People believe I am what they see Me as, rather than what they do not see. But I am the Great Unseen, not what I cause Myself to be in any particular moment. In a sense, I am what I am not. It is from the am-notness that I come, and to it I always return. Yet when I come in one particular form or another - a form in which I think people can understand Me - people assign Me that form forevermore. And should I come in any other form, to any other people, the first say I did not appear to the second, because I did not look to the second as I did to the first, nor say the same things - so how could it have been Me? You see, then, it matters not in what form or in what manner I reveal Myself - whatever manner I choose and whatever form I take, none will be incontrovertible.

Of course, as I've said a few times, my solution, which is certainly possible for an omnipotent being - if there is a God, and if it is omnipotent - is to reveal itself to everyone, showing each of us whatever form would convince each of us. Another idea is to simply make each of us believe. I love chocolate without question or debate, and I could believe in God without question or debate if God wanted me to. Either solution would solve the "does God exist" question, and free us to consider what I think is the much more important question: Will I follow God? I know what will happen if I shoot somebody in the head with a gun, and that knowledge doesn't take away my ability to choose whether or not to do it. Likewise, being absolutely convinced that God exists would not take away my ability to choose whether or not to be a follower.

[Plissken]

Still love that book.

[Fist and Faith]

Indeed!