CokeNut said:
I am not implying, but rather stating, that yes ... God must be intimidating for his purpose in MY mind and MY need of him to be met. The same as I needed strict parents or I might have wound up a crack addict on the street. However, I do not fear him because he will hurt me, I fear what he can take away (Heaven, Eternal life, and forgiveness of my sins) should I fail to obey his laws or at least properly show contribution when I have failed.
Interesting. You acknowledge the need for discipline, of external control to make up for self-control.
My POV - I'm atheist and I'm not necessarily selfish all the time. My parents were quite lenient with me so I taught myself a lot of things and learned not to take uninformed risks.
I understand where you are coming from. We are very polarized.
As for Pascal's Wager, thanks for link since I had never heard of it ... but I'm not sure it applies to me in particular since I am not wagering that he exists, I am sure of it.
Yeah...I just threw that in there because it was cool.
No need for examples ... I am very aware of what a symbol is, and what it can mean to others, but they do not intimidate or scare me as something that has power over me. I might be scared of a scary looking symbol, or I can sometimes be a bit superstitious, but that's about it.
Symbols can be scary.
Let's say I'm black. I would be dead scared if someone was burning a cross, even though they may just be expressing their hatred of Christianity or warming themselves up.
Let's say I'm jewish. I would be scared of a swastika-like figure back in the early 1940s, probably offended now, but the Hindhu swastika represents harmony and peace.
Let's say I live in Siberian Russia. I would be scared of Stalin, his secret police, and what they represent, even though I have never seen them before. I would still be scared of Stalin after he died because news would not get to me that he died.
Those are all very scary symbols and they are all based on a significant amount of imperfect perception. They are also based on the mindset of the onlooker as well as specific assumptions the onlooker makes. I'll use the last one. The onlooker makes the (accurate) assumption that Stalin is dangerous based on information gathered. He continues that (now inaccurate) assumption after Stalin has died and the danger is gone. This inaccurate assumption can lead him not to do things he normally would have wanted to do and would have been better off doing, such as leaving the country. These examples prove that symbols hold no power, rather that the individual human mind is influenced into attributing specific symbols to a concept such as power, fear, hatred, love, weakness, empathy, the list goes on and on.
I am speculating that God is merely a symbol.
As for have I interacted with him?, I believe that I have. I won't say that I have had out of body experiences, or that I hear his voice in my head; what I will tell you is that I feel his presence when I need it most. I am not by any means an empath or psychic, in fact I am quite the contrary I am driven by fact not intuition. I do however have very keen senses, and where I can not see, hear, smell, touch or taste him, he has the power to touch me and I have the ability to feel it when he does.
:shock: Tell me more.
When I was a teenager I was going through some really emotional times (ESTP is really bad when you are a teen) I wanted to do everything and feel everything - I wanted to drink and do drugs and have sex and run away and fly and jump out of my skin and all kinds of other thoughts that flew around in my head constantly (headaches were bad back then). I was restless and stressed and I cryed alot and yelled alot and really could not get control of my emotions or the growing desires that had started to manifest themselves. I went to my mom and told her what was going on and asked her why I couldn't find peace in my head. She told me to look beyond myself, she told me to pray, she told me not to pray unless I truly believed that an answer was possible. So I prayed, for the first time in my life I prayed desperately, with tears in my eyes and hope in my heart and I fell asleep exhausted. I woke up to the smell of Jasmine (don't ask, I don't know why!) with a clear head and at least some answers to what had been plaguing me ... I still had many of the desires, but the need to jump out of my skin had passed, and in its place was the knowledge that in time I would learn to control my needs and emotions. I believe it was God who came to me and gave me peace.
btw That is also the reason that I am so drawn to introverts, they give me that same sense of peace.
Wow, that was really deep. Thanks for sharing, it must have taken a lot of effort.
You believe it was God, but me being a stubborn skeptic, always like to speculate on more logical lines. I'm thinking that you recieved a bottled-up-to-the-point-of-exploding, inferior Ni Ah-ha! moment. People with strong Ni do have a greater chance of believing in God, and it seems like your epiphany came with a harsh advance price (which may explain the inferior position of it).
"...couldn't find peace in my head." What a wonderful quote! Sounds like you were struggling with (headaches +) lack of introversion.
From your last sentence, I can see how an introvert would have an easier time with self-control and inner peace.
I seriously think another name for "whatever we don't know or can't explain" is "God". At least that's how my Hindhu parents are comfortable (?!?) with viewing it.
