I'm not gonna. Can't speak for my fellow Dwellars tho.

Greatest gift ever!

If it is a 'gift' then it comes with more strings than a harpsichord.

I am disappoint. So few actually took the time to define god, and instead used this as another opportunity to discuss whether or not an undefined god exists.

I believe in an undefined god.

How so? When is the freedom to choose not the freedom to choose?

Some of us did. You asked us how we define God. Some of us, me included, gave you our answers. Some of us, me included unfortunately, flamed poor JB for his beliefs.

If there is a God, and free will is his gift to us, then it is a gift with strings. If the choice is simply that we abide with him and go to heaven, or not abide with him and go to hell.

We have a choice. But if we exercise that choice in anything other than absolute obedience to his will, the consequence of that choice is everlasting torment.

If it is a gift then it is a gift with strings. Personally I don't believe free will is a gift I think it just is. It is simply another way of saying we have independent consciousness.


[eta]if there's a God and he gave us free will then it is not a gift. It is a maze with one door leading to bliss and another leading to damnation. It is a self indulgent glory fuck and grand experiment.

Only if you include a literal heaven and hell in your belief set, which many do not.

And I do not.

We live in hell. Heaven is the next plane of existence. Our little brains are just too...well...little to comprehend anything more. We're so consumed by our earthly bodies that we forget our minds and spirit and think only in terms of satisfying the body when we think of 'heaven'. The funny part is, our body doesn't get to go to that place anyway.

God to me is that spiritual ideal that we all strive for and think we're getting closer to with every perceived 'good decision' we make.

We're so far from close it's not even funny. Even the best of us.

It's good to keep trying though.

There's a reason the parental metaphor gets used in most religions, and it's not just creation-as-procreation. Children often don't understand why their parents do certain things, or that those things are in their best interest even when they don't seem to be. A child denied a cookie might wonder how mom/god can possibly be benevolent when she allows evil/cookie-loss in the world. But someday, eventually, they understand the point. Life for many believers is just another version of toddlerhood, doing their best in a confusing world that teaches hurtful lessons, optimistically hoping that someday they will be ready to understand the point.

OK Now I am disappoint that no one has made a "God, deepfried" clone thread.

Ironically, I fell into this video tonight following another Cellar video link. Hearing individual stories humanizes the search (or the end of the search) for G-d. Most people are born into their religion. Some choose to change, some to continue, and some to maintain their religious identity while no longer actively practicing.

God is the word people use when they get tired of saying, "I don't know why".

So...the cosmic equivalent of 'just because'.