Will the real God please stand up?

Question

If you could communicate with a powerful being that claimed to be God Almighty, how would you know it was truly God? Did anyone see Star Trek V where the crew thinks they've found Eden and at one point even God “himself”? At first everyone seems to accept the fact they have found God, except good old captain Kirk with his critical eye for detail. McCoy at first seems incensed and tells Kirk you do not ask the Almighty for his ID. Well Kirk did just that by pointing out via logic, “What does God need with a spaceship?” It turns out this entity was nothing but an evil despot and subsequently tried to destroy them for their independent thinking. Good thing they had their photon torpedoes or else they'd be screwed. Actually they all should have been dead via the torpedo blasts that can take out a starship, etc, but sometimes you just need to let the continuity go and just enjoy the show. So what does this go to show? It's good to question. The Truth can stand up to any scrutiny.

If you read the Old Testament there are several times God seems more like an Evil Despot than a loving God. I was brave enough to question and have found a more joyous truth. It besmirches God's name to believe he/she/it is something that God is not.

popstar452003, the New Testament is built upon the foundation fo the Old Testament. What then do you make of the nasty parts, many of which were supposedly commanded by God "himself"?

tw0cl0n3m3, that I do not know and neither do you. I will not worship everyone because one of them might be God. God's does not have an ego to bruise in the sense we do so I think if I missed the boat here of there I believe God will have faith I will get on board eventually.

Elana, way to think on your feet. Great quote!

rjbendre, I do meditate and have been doing so for quite some time. I distinquish the difference between God and God's compass that is in all of our hearts.

yadedyah_dc, how did this turn into a political issue?

stormbabe, actually it shows my age as most people my age have seen most of the old Star Treks as well as the movies. They went were no man had gone before with their special effects, plot lines, cultural commentaries, etc. Good show but i definitely do not idolize it and it has been years upon years since I've even seen a show or a movie. I much more into shows Like Angel and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Now those shows you can say I'm a junkie about which also have some great spiritual commentaries for all of us to think upon.

Chic, though i question I still firmly believe there is a higher power. It is just the higher power is much different than we have tried to project upon him/her/it/whatever. Don't worry choas in the street because of nihlism will not happen anytime soon.

ratboy, Do not let the God of the Old testament throw you. This was another of man's projections of what and who he thought God was. God is beyond our fathoming but is also better than he/she/it has been portrayed. If you allow yourself to believe in God maybe you can find a God that is more nuanced.

winterbaby, I am not but I am using it as an analogy of how we should go about finding the truth. The whole world is our teacher and we can learn from anything, even T.V. shows, if we choose to.

Ben, Sounds like you believe in the force. "Only after you face Vader with a Jedi you be."

ouoray, i believe your out numbered on this one.

smiley.george, there is a difference between loving your children and obliterating them.

I draw porn, God is much more than that but I agree we need to think for ourselves. This is the only way we can learn and ultimately protect ourselves from dysfunctional ideologies.

Answer 1

Although I try not to get my religious information from Star Trek...

Arthur C. Clarke said it pretty well: "Any sufficiently advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic."

How do you tell the difference between omnipotence with really really
powerful?

Answer 2

The way I see it, the Old Testament and the New are still really about man's quest to define God, to know Him, to learn what is His Will, what is Creation. And we as humans, evolved much in our understanding of who was God, and what is His Will.

The evil despot part is a reflection of what man in the patriarchal society had become. And still is in many societies.

Here's my favourite passage on listening and knowing God, from the Old Testament:

11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

(Kings 19: 11 – 13)

Answer 3

Amen...the truth can stand up to any examination of evidence. It is possible, though, to argue yourself into, or out of, any faith or belief system. If you truly believe that God is capricious and angry, any event or story can be construed as "proof" of that belief.

God permitted man to do certain things to preserve his free will. When Adam choose to disobey God, God respected his choice. To protect us from ourselves, God sometimes allows events to happen that don't seem "loving", but in looking back at them, they were often the only way to resolve a situation that was caused by man that would have hurt and/or killed many more, had God not intervened.

I question God constantly...Isa. 1 invites us to reason out our salvation. God's a big God...He has taken scrutiny from better men and women than us.

Answer 4

We know the Truth because our spirit bears witness.

This Gnosis transcends the dialectic that plays out on the stage of life and connects us with Life itself. Through the active Knowing of what is beyond good and evil we achive the wisdom to work our our destiny.

This is the value of contempletive prayer, which calls up the imperative of spiritual action.

Answer 5

Keep on following your joyous truth, you are definitely on the right path......You are so right about the Old Testament. It is interesting to note that at one point God tried to kill Moses right after he had given him his great commission.

By the way, awesome analogy. I am a screenwriter and I think that more truth is spoken on the big screen than from the pulpit.

Answer 6

LOL that was entertaining....like your out look on life. NEway...would you REALLY want to know if there is a god or not because what if there really isn't and now you know for 100% for sure. Do you know what type of ciaos that would lead to in the streets. It would be anarchy! Ppl would be like, "Dude, there's no heaven or hell so I can go steal this TV or I could just kill someone." Because there would be no consequences to your actions if there wasn't some sort of a belief system in place.

So do you really want the truth!?

Answer 7

Research the gospels of Thomas. He believed that God was in everything. If you break open a rock, God is inside, if you burn a piece of wood, God is in the smoke, etc. He didn't believe in building churches out of gold and jewels to worship God. That's why they eliminated his gospels from the bible. That is where the term "doubting Thomas" came from. Personally, I believe God is an energy that animates and binds our reality. I don't put a religious twist on it.

Answer 8

I believe you are actually onto something....

Alot of what's wrong with the world is because people are ignorant to their own behavior. It seems as if they are serving a "evil" god by their actions.

Ever heard about the Anti-Christ ? That's who I think is running all of the evil in this world today...

sounds alot like Bush, huh.

Answer 9

*****LOVEofTruth!***** You do not need your "photon torpedoes"
simply your Holy Bible. God wants you to worship him "in spirit and truth" The Bible is God's Holy inspired word that gives edification to him and for him. IT HAS ALL THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW! 1. God is a spirit. 2. God is Love.-and 3. He created us to bring him pleasure... I hope that you are making good choices in your life that bring him pleasure because God deserves the BEST!

Answer 10

God a is a tool of cohersion, comfort, and manipulation. Learn to think for yourselfs.