Is God the Sole Navigator of Our Spiritual Paths?

[Loren Booda]

Which is the spiritual journey you have made - in terms of atheism, agnosticism and theism? Do you believe that most people evolve toward or away from God, and why?

 

[olde drunk]

as with most people, we are raised in whatever is the religion of our parents. as we grow older we see the flaws.

if we are not scared by the engrained punishment for questioning religion we move on to what suits us. if we fear excommunication et. al., we become militant and try to work from within for change.

personally, any and/or all organized religions by their nature become more focused on their power base than the message.

i suspect that we are also part of a greater reality and that there is some kinda super-consciousness. no traditional god or manager of the universe. we have freewill to experience the physical world and this consciousness expands as we grow. pantheism is probably the best lable for my beliefs.

peace,

 

[Kerrie]

let's steer clear of religious discussion in this one and i will keep it open.

 

[Royce]

My family never practiced their religion much. They never or very rarely went to church. We children rarely went to Sunday school. It was left to us if we wanted to go or not. Yet we were Christians and more spiritual than religious.
In my late teens I began to rebel against what I thought of as religion or the church or the bible. I became agnostic as far as a God/creator was concerned and atheistic as far as the old testament God was concerned. I felt than Religion demanded that I deny my humanity and sexuality and be something that I wasn't. I thought that if God was as depicted in the old testament i.e. jealous, wrathful, unforgiving and vengeful that He didn't deserve my respect, devotion or love. I did not fear God but despised him if he existed at all. How could a rational feeling being that was supposedly all knowing and all powerful create a world that contained so much horror, pain, poverty and fear. I was a firm materialist.
I got interested in Zen and began meditating. I read much about the various religions in the world, Buddhism, Tao and Zen in particular.
I also read the Gospels in the new testament and Genesis in the old (know thy enemy).
Meditation led me against my conscious will to my God within. I found and read more and more books on religion including The Urantia Book and listened to Roy Masters on the radio and learned to meditate better and eventually combined and adopted styles that became my own method that worked best for me.
I am still interested to the point of obsession in cosmology and physics mainly relativity and QM. I am very spiritual and consider myself a Zen Christian. I don't go to church and still have problems with organized religion.
Through my meditation I have had numerous spiritual experiences and have conviction rather than faith in a personal loving, understanding God that created and is the master of the universe and is the source of life, light, truth and love.
Any and all evil in the world is the result of our human failings. We are not fallen but evolving and growing toward true humanity and perfection. Evil is an adjective not a noun.
Life is and what we call death is simpling moving on to a different level or stage of life. God is within all of us and we are all withing God which is the one reality and the one universe. I am not preaching but simply stating my beliefs at this point in my journey in response to Loren Booda's question.

 

[olde drunk]

Royce:

well done!

it is the contrdictions that expose traditional beliefs.

the god within is the only god that can exist. we may not agree on the exact nature of that god, but, if we all accept ourselves, our god AND the god of others, wouldn't we have less conflics in the world.

i hope that it is polictically correct and acceptable to the list monitors, for me to say that organized religion is big business. a large majority of 'dogma' is/was put in place to maintain their power base.


peace,

 

[Royce]

Thanks, olde drunk and couldn't agree more with you statements.
I think the while all is one, we each have our own God within; and, there are as many paths to God as there are people, each one unique, as are we, in its own way.
ps: Aren't we olde friends? I feel a brotherhood here or is it just been there; done that?

 

[Loren Booda]

Kerrie,

I had originally tried to post this topic in the Religion forum, but was electronically blocked.

 

[Mr. Robin Parsons]

Originally posted by olde drunk
(SNIP)[/color] as with most people, we are raised in whatever is the religion of our parents. as we grow older we see the flaws. (SNoP)[/color]

Funny (sorta) that observation, as it was exactly opposite for me, the "Parable of the Sower" was completely confusing, and out of my range of understanding, when I had read it, as a teenager, but it became really clear later on in my life, as experience taught me to understand such 'devises' (Parables) and has left me in a much greater position of understanding, then prior...it is probably one of the most appropo parables for what you are asking, in this thread...how quickly/slowly/or-simply "How" people are affected by religious words/wording...

 

[olde drunk]

royce

ps: Aren't we olde friends? I feel a brotherhood here or is it just been there; done that?

who knows? visit several recovery and metaphysics groups at yahoo? also, an anti-AA group.

5 and half years without a drink and i am just now getting sober; i think?

peace,

 

[Mr. Robin Parsons]

Originally posted by Royce
(SNIP)[/color] I think the while all is one, we each have our own God within; and, there are as many paths to God as there are people, each one unique, as are we, in its own way. (SNoP)[/color]

Couldn't disagree with that more, if I tried to, only One path to God, "God's way, or the high(wrong)way"

 

[Royce]

Originally posted by Mr. Robin Parsons
Couldn't disagree with that more, if I tried to, only One path to God, "God's way, or the high(wrong)way"

Mr. Parsons,
It is my understanding that we are all unique individuals, each with our own strengths and weaknesses, understanding and needs. We are each in different stages of growth and development, each at a different place and traveling at a different pace along our paths, our journey. We therefore have different relationships with our God and God reveals himself to us in different ways, in ways that we individually can understand and relate to. This is what I meant in my previous post. This is my understanding of God's way. We each have one way, God's way; but, each way is as unique and individual as we are.

 

[Kerrie]

my dad always says, "Everyone is on a different page of the book of God"...

 

[Mr. Robin Parsons]

Royce Kerrie, couldn't agree with you more on the ability of God to personalize everyones lives, and his relationship with them, therein, but as I stated, "God's way, or the Highway" only one way to God and God controls it...not us, not any of us...|v| (were v = value)