A God of pleading not for me

[Newme]

Interesting. Are interpretations of love, beauty and, perhaps most importantly truth, infact endless? Seems to me they are all fairly limited and they perhaps should be. Narrow and straight is the way after all.

I believe that the universe is essentially conscious-based - that truth/God is "I AM THAT I AM" and as a friend help me realized - "truth is in perspective" - and how many perspectives are there? From the tiny microbes - to other life out there?

As with anything, there are different perspectives to consider "narrow and straight is the way."
To me, it's about the balance of harmony of yin/yang... of not being caught up in extremes of Mormon BS or Leftist insanity.
Few find it.

... to me it seems to redefine god as nonsense...

That's what TBM's would say.
When I went to a Hindu temple and talked with one of the gurus there - she said similarly, "You can't just redefine God!!!"
Why not? Why must I accept YOUR idea of love, beauty or God?

[LaMachina]

Interesting. Are interpretations of love, beauty and, perhaps most importantly truth, infact endless? Seems to me they are all fairly limited and they perhaps should be. Narrow and straight is the way after all.

I believe that the universe is essentially conscious-based - that truth/God is "I AM THAT I AM" and as a friend help me realized - "truth is in perspective" - and how many perspectives are there? From the tiny microbes - to other life out there?

As with anything, there are different perspectives to consider "narrow and straight is the way."
To me, it's about the balance of harmony of yin/yang... of not being caught up in extremes of Mormon BS or Leftist insanity.
Few find it.

... to me it seems to redefine god as nonsense...

That's what TBM's would say.
When I went to a Hindu temple and talked with one of the gurus there - she said similarly, "You can't just redefine God!!!"
Why not? Why must I accept YOUR idea of love, beauty or God?

Very enlightened, Newme. Color me impressed.

I agree, truth is in perspective. Although I also believe perspective does not necessarily lead to truth and can in fact obscure truth which I assume you would agree with? I absolutely, 100% agree that different perspectives need to be considered when applying "narrow and straight". I only mean to say, based on what I've seen and studied, that the basis for what people define or desire as love or beauty is actually pretty narrow even if individually they find a wide variety of things lovely or beautiful...although I'm not sure if I'm expressing my thoughts on this effectively.

As far as defining god and nonsense, I would never (at least anymore, 19 year old me would argue differently ) insist that someone accept my idea of love, beauty or God. But I would ask a believer what their definition is and if the response was - "the definitions of God are infinite or endless" I could only shrug my shoulders in response. Something with infinite definitions is without definition and something without definition does not make sense. Nonsense. For me anyway, that is where my finite brain has ended up.

[Newme]

Interesting. Are interpretations of love, beauty and, perhaps most importantly truth, infact endless? Seems to me they are all fairly limited and they perhaps should be. Narrow and straight is the way after all.

I believe that the universe is essentially conscious-based - that truth/God is "I AM THAT I AM" and as a friend help me realized - "truth is in perspective" - and how many perspectives are there? From the tiny microbes - to other life out there?

As with anything, there are different perspectives to consider "narrow and straight is the way."
To me, it's about the balance of harmony of yin/yang... of not being caught up in extremes of Mormon BS or Leftist insanity.
Few find it.

... to me it seems to redefine god as nonsense...

That's what TBM's would say.
When I went to a Hindu temple and talked with one of the gurus there - she said similarly, "You can't just redefine God!!!"
Why not? Why must I accept YOUR idea of love, beauty or God?

Very enlightened, Newme. Color me impressed.

I agree, truth is in perspective. Although I also believe perspective does not necessarily lead to truth and can in fact obscure truth which I assume you would agree with? I absolutely, 100% agree that different perspectives need to be considered when applying "narrow and straight". I only mean to say, based on what I've seen and studied, that the basis for what people define or desire as love or beauty is actually pretty narrow even if individually they find a wide variety of things lovely or beautiful...although I'm not sure if I'm expressing my thoughts on this effectively.

As far as defining god and nonsense, I would never (at least anymore, 19 year old me would argue differently ) insist that someone accept my idea of love, beauty or God. But I would ask a believer what their definition is and if the response was - "the definitions of God are infinite or endless" I could only shrug my shoulders in response. Something with infinite definitions is without definition and something without definition does not make sense. Nonsense. For me anyway, that is where my finite brain has ended up.

Ok thanks. I appreciate you relating with me.

Yes I do agree that perspective definitely can & often does not lead to truth, only that what we deem to be true is based on perspective. So, the way I see it - especially when it comes to abstract ideas like love or God - is that I get a little closer to truth when I consider & open to new perspectives.

Not that I claim to think of infinite perspectives about God - only that I don’t feel like I have the right to put a cap on it at any point. Hope that makes sense.

Also, I believe in the need to define God in healthier ways. There’s an exhibit at BYU, “Emotions in the scriptures” or something. Essentially- God is way more associated with hate & anger than love & forgiveness. Jesus tried to correct this a bit - but traditions die hard. And before you say it, yes I realize I too tend to be a bit punitive. Believe it or not, I’m working on it.