path_of_one
Embracing the Mystery
* rare moment where I put a mod hat on *
LOL- thanks Flow and wil.
Let's all try to post our own ideas and not just re-post what was already said by someone else. It is bad etiquette and as Flow points out, boring. The rest of us don't have a "hearing" problem and do not need information repeated.
Also, let's remember that this is the Belief and Spirituality forum. While there is no problem with stating your belief (or spirituality) this isn't the appropriate place to dogmatically insist that your way is the only way or to shove ever more of the same commentary at everyone from one religious viewpoint.
* mod hat is taken off *
Now on to the question...
I find I am closest aligned with Neemai on this; thank you for the profound passage from the Gita. The position I align most closely with is panentheism- God is in all things, through all things, and beyond all things. Basically, God is everything and MORE.
I think there is a problem any time we try to delimit and define God. We get stuck in limiting our experience by limiting what we choose to see.
To be honest, if we look at "one true God" in terms of names... well, that is a problem. You see, all the languages of the world translate even meaningful phrases (such as mee gives above) into different sounds. So it is not just that a group of sounds translates to profound meaning and so is the only right name for all peoples. But rather, the meaning behind the sound (and, I would argue, the invoking power of the sounds themselves) is what is important.
I believe there is "one true God" in the sense that God is One. But, as Neemai points out, how we experience God will differ based on our culture, our language, even our individual personality. This is why there are so many descriptions of God, names of God, attempts to define God. God as One, God as Two, God as Three, God as Many... but perhaps we only see glimpses of One Divine, manifesting in many ways.
I do not think the Bible is clear at all with regards to defining God. If you get into the original language, God is sometimes he, sometimes she, and sometimes they. Even in the Gospels, it seems that only John (the latest and most theological of the four books) has anything that approaches a trinity theology. It is impossible to tell from Christ's own words what exactly his relationship to God was-- he alternatively says things that bolster the view that he is not God, and then alternatively that he is God. I don't think that was a mistake. I think the mystery of God and Christ is to be approached more like a koan than a multiple-choice question. It is an experience of God to be embraced, not a riddle to be solved.
If people ask me if Jesus Christ was God, I must say yes and no... and I'm not sitting on the fence, but rather trying very hard to respond in a way that is true to my deepest experience of God and Christ. If people ask me if there is only one true God... it is the same response... yes and no. After all, who am I to define God? I cannot even really define my self (as DrFree points out).
LOL- thanks Flow and wil.
Let's all try to post our own ideas and not just re-post what was already said by someone else. It is bad etiquette and as Flow points out, boring. The rest of us don't have a "hearing" problem and do not need information repeated.
Also, let's remember that this is the Belief and Spirituality forum. While there is no problem with stating your belief (or spirituality
) this isn't the appropriate place to dogmatically insist that your way is the only way or to shove ever more of the same commentary at everyone from one religious viewpoint.* mod hat is taken off *
Now on to the question...
I find I am closest aligned with Neemai on this; thank you for the profound passage from the Gita. The position I align most closely with is panentheism- God is in all things, through all things, and beyond all things. Basically, God is everything and MORE.
I think there is a problem any time we try to delimit and define God. We get stuck in limiting our experience by limiting what we choose to see.
To be honest, if we look at "one true God" in terms of names... well, that is a problem. You see, all the languages of the world translate even meaningful phrases (such as mee gives above) into different sounds. So it is not just that a group of sounds translates to profound meaning and so is the only right name for all peoples. But rather, the meaning behind the sound (and, I would argue, the invoking power of the sounds themselves) is what is important.
I believe there is "one true God" in the sense that God is One. But, as Neemai points out, how we experience God will differ based on our culture, our language, even our individual personality. This is why there are so many descriptions of God, names of God, attempts to define God. God as One, God as Two, God as Three, God as Many... but perhaps we only see glimpses of One Divine, manifesting in many ways.
I do not think the Bible is clear at all with regards to defining God. If you get into the original language, God is sometimes he, sometimes she, and sometimes they. Even in the Gospels, it seems that only John (the latest and most theological of the four books) has anything that approaches a trinity theology. It is impossible to tell from Christ's own words what exactly his relationship to God was-- he alternatively says things that bolster the view that he is not God, and then alternatively that he is God. I don't think that was a mistake. I think the mystery of God and Christ is to be approached more like a koan than a multiple-choice question. It is an experience of God to be embraced, not a riddle to be solved.
If people ask me if Jesus Christ was God, I must say yes and no... and I'm not sitting on the fence, but rather trying very hard to respond in a way that is true to my deepest experience of God and Christ. If people ask me if there is only one true God... it is the same response... yes and no. After all, who am I to define God? I cannot even really define my self (as DrFree points out).
