Finding God

melodious

It’s a prayer like the one we hear Moses pray in Exodus 33:13.

In my mind, this is one of the greatest prayers in all of Scripture:

“Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight.”

Moses didn’t just say, “Come with us, God” but he said, “Show me Your way because, God, I want to know You.” And then Moses added to it in verse 18, when He said, “Please, show me Your glory.”

The Hebrew word for “glory” literally means “weight, mass, or substance.” So in essence Moses is saying, “God, I want to know what You’re made of. I don’t just want to know about You. I want to know You. I want to know who You are.”

Is not Moses saying that he (Moses) wants to know his ownself through the glory of LOVing? Does this not mean that Moses wants to emulate his own eye's vision (perception) of God?

Bu2

Did not George Harrison say, "I really want to know you....I really want to see you.....I really want to be with you, Lord"....and then get sued for ripping somebody else's song off?

melodious

I do not see a correlation. A concept of universal infinity is a perspective of God. Does a HUman have to "claim" God to be of God, walk with God, and let god shine thru this HUman? Some people may demonstrate characteristics of highest integrity and not have any dedication to an outside Source...

here is article from 1993:
http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/mysweet.htm

Bu2

melodious wrote:

I do not see a correlation. A concept of universal infinity is a perspective of God. Does a HUman have to "claim" God to be of God, walk with God, and let god shine thru this HUman? Some people may demonstrate characteristics of highest integrity and not have any dedication to an outside Source...

here is article from 1993:
http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/mysweet.htm

Honey, I see the correlation with both eyes wide open. A concept of universal affinity is what I seek. Does a human have to want God? Does a human have to need God? Can a human shine without God?

Some people may act like they have the highest integrity and not have any dedication to what is right at all.

Here is my "article" from 2008: Think freely, or don't think at all.

Peace,
Bu

melodious

article??

Does a human have to want God? Does a human have to need God? Can a human shine without God?

and your point is? let's look at this from another side as opposed to looking at negative patterns...

people who have this false sense of integrity have no inner peace and could not withstand devastation on thier own, they seek others for a Source of resource and on the same coin, blame others for their pain. they are not able to flow freely becasue they are not seeking the Source within.. these people need to be encouraged and embraced...it's always best to find some good some how...sometimes it's a lot of work, but so worth the effort....i think it would be nice to look at people who are of god and don't even realize they are messengers...beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

Byrnzie

melodious wrote:

article??

and your point is? let's look at this from another side as opposed to looking at negative patterns...

people who have this false sense of integrity have no inner peace and could not withstand devastation on thier own, they seek others for a Source of resource and on the same coin, blame others for their pain. they are not able to flow freely becasue they are not seeking the Source within.. these people need to be encouraged and embraced...it's always best to find some good some how...sometimes it's a lot of work, but so worth the effort....i think it would be nice to look at people who are of god and don't even realize they are messengers...beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

Why be so presumptuous as to claim that any sense of integrity is false if it happens to be free from the clutches of any organized religion?
Your entire post is based on sheer hypothesis.

I also find it amusing that anyone who uses the crutch of 'religion' can claim to be any sort of authority on 'integrity'.

Bu2

...beautiful platitudes, I suppose. They remind me of someone else's. I think her name was Angelique but I could be wrong....been a long time since I argued God with anyone here.

Anyway, to each his own, but if you want to really be important these days, I suggest you learn how to vote in your home state rather than play preacher.

Look, I'm not saying God isn't there or God isn't important. All I am saying is give knowledge/peace/open-mindedness and, most importantly, PEOPLE OF EVERY RACE, CREED AND RELIGION a chance.

Please don't preach one religion to me. I'm beyond that.

Thanks.

melodious

Bu2 wrote:

...beautiful platitudes, I suppose. They remind me of someone else's. I think her name was Angelique but I could be wrong....been a long time since I argued God with anyone here.

you might be disappointed to discover, i am not inquiring to argue.

Please don't preach one religion to me. I'm beyond that.

Thanks.

fair enough...it's not my place to try to persuade; only to support and to learn from surrounding energy...take good care...

I also find it amusing that anyone who uses the crutch of 'religion' can claim to be any sort of authority on 'integrity'.

...are you implying that i use crutch of religion? becasue we all have a crutch at some time or another...but no..no...my crutch is finding my center balance and being able to learn how to maintain a sense of peace even in tsunami conditions...to look within and find my own sense of peace by using other instincts than my sense of touch and vision...to learn to trust vibrational forces that connect from within my Being and extend out to Infinity.



if i am any authority on anything it's nothing...becasue i have yet to define or settle into any one shape or form of integrity...becasue integrity is relative only to a field that you are playing. i don't even have a clue about integrity.

Byrnzie

melodious wrote:

my crutch is finding my center balance and being able to learn how to maintain a sense of peace even in tsunami conditions...to look within and find my own sense of peace by using other instincts than my sense of touch and vision...to learn to trust vibrational forces that connect from within my Being and extend out to Infinity.

if i am any authority on anything it's nothing...becasue i have yet to define or settle into any one shape or form of integrity...becasue integrity is relative only to a field that you are playing. i don't even have a clue about integrity.

Fair enough.

Smellyman2

Can't find what is not there

melodious

Still pondering....brb 6 hr

justam

I've heard a lot of talk about God over the course of my life so far and yet I couldn't really say what the idea of God represents to me. Think of all these messages that are simple:

He's supposed to be BIG
He's supposed to be Love
He's supposed to have power over birth and death and goodness and badness
He's supposed to be able to give blessings
help in a dark hour
save us from evil
give people the gift of grace

mostly, I think he represents a good dad to the children of the world

Smellyman2

justam wrote:

I've heard a lot of talk about God over the course of my life so far and yet I couldn't really say what the idea of God represents to me. Think of all these messages that are simple:

He's supposed to be BIG
He's supposed to be Love
He's supposed to have power over birth and death and goodness and badness
He's supposed to be able to give blessings
help in a dark hour
save us from evil
give people the gift of grace

mostly, I think he represents a good dad to the children of the world

Don't forget vengeance for not worshiping him

justam

Smellyman wrote:

Don't forget vengeance for not worshiping him

I forgot about that.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

If anyone does manage to actually locate god, let me know, he owes me a few miracles.

melodious

Smellyman wrote:

Don't forget vengeance for not worshiping him

nope...

bootlegger10

Smellyman wrote:

Don't forget vengeance for not worshiping him

It is a valid point. That could probably be one of the most difficult things to comprehend. Why do bad things happen?

melodious

that depends...

i would say that as far as personally, we set up our own fate...and perhaps maybe don't exercise all of our options...

or we dont' let all the dominoes fall into place by wanting to interject HUman will....

the reason i say no, to vegenance is becasue i have done alot of bad deeds in my day and i have found that this Divine Love coming from a Higher Power is there for me; just for the asking.

the more we surround ourselves with prosperity (in many forms) the more we will see...we have to open our hearts and minds to both the good and bad events...

sponger

The decision to "find" god is the decision to abandon the pursuit of understanding.

chopitdown

sponger wrote:

The decision to "find" god is the decision to abandon the pursuit of understanding.

what a small little world you must live in.

sponger

chopitdown wrote:

what a small little world you must live in.

It's too bad projection bias is not talked about in the bible, or otherwise you would have recognized yourself doing it as you were typing that post.

chopitdown

bootlegger10 wrote:

It is a valid point. That could probably be one of the most difficult things to comprehend. Why do bad things happen?

Theologically, bad things happen b/c of sin. But it is a very tough idea to comprehend, no doubt. I think a lot of it has to do with our definition of a "loving God". We've turned the word love into a phrase that means only good things (i.e. stopping pain, we feel good etc...) and took away or at least greatly diminish the tough aspects of love (discipline, correction).

Here are some excellent links if you've got the time (they are audio lectures, free to download) to listen to them.

http://www.bethinking.org/resource.php?ID=277 (by DA Carson : the love of God)

http://www.bethinking.org/categories.php?CategoryID=3 ( a collection of talks on sermons re: suffering)

chopitdown

sponger wrote:

It's too bad projection bias is not talked about in the bible, or otherwise you would have recognized yourself doing it as you were typing that post.

everyone has bias and if you don't agree with someone it's an easy cop out to belittle their view and call them simple minded. I could say the decision to ignore the pursuit of God is to abandon the pursuit of understanding. That previous statement is just as ignorant as the statement you made.

melodious

I can understand how one could claim that bad things happen becasue of sin..but in that context sin sounds like some outside force that comes in to a Humans' mind and overpowers the will, when in truth there might not have been self discipline to withstand or withhold a behavior, thought, etc. inother words, the person who is committing violation, is allowing some outside entity to be responsible...

if a person doesn't have god in his/her life, then how can sin be blamed? in the context that has been presented to me by CiD, it sounds like sin is some outside force that is a cause or trigger...and that Humans are not responsible for the sin that is caused. but if a person completely disregards a Higher Power then i would imagine the term sin is obsolete????

it sounds to me like sometimes peopel can go around continuing to enact a wrong and then feel forgiven becasue a Lovign God is supposed to forgive...and i can't see how this repairs relationships...

*please do not think i am trying to debate; only explore...thanks...

melodious

chopitdown wrote:

what a small little world you must live in.

nah, sponger lives in a vast world.....think of all that undersea life....:)

sponger

chopitdown wrote:

everyone has bias and if you don't agree with someone it's an easy cop out to belittle their view and call them simple minded.

...which is exactly what you did.

I don't make a habit of using broad generalizations to discount a perspective with which I do not agree. However, I do feel it necessary to even the playing field when reading such terms as "false integrity" being applied to the ones with which I do agree.

Collin

melodious wrote:

and your point is? let's look at this from another side as opposed to looking at negative patterns...

people who have this false sense of integrity have no inner peace and could not withstand devastation on thier own, they seek others for a Source of resource and on the same coin, blame others for their pain. they are not able to flow freely becasue they are not seeking the Source within.. these people need to be encouraged and embraced...it's always best to find some good some how...sometimes it's a lot of work, but so worth the effort....i think it would be nice to look at people who are of god and don't even realize they are messengers...beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

What do you mean with this? All of it.

Who are people with a false sense of integrity?
What do you mean when you say "they seek others for a Source of resource"?
Why are they not able to flow freely, what does that mean, and what is "seeking the Source within"?

melodious

do you want a real life example?

people who have a false set of integrity are those who will say they forgive you and yet the forgiveness is only a set of words, but their actions by blocking out others and interfering by "fix it" or save the world idealogy...says an entirely different statemet...

or do it my way or hit the highway and then i will not give you recognition for trying to make a bad situation bettter...and then becsue you are different than me, i will go around "dissing" you so that you have no other options...

when i say seek a Source for a resource...meaning...well, my mom is great one for this...she goes to her bible studies faithfully on fridays and is in chruch on sunday, yet her detest and ire for people of other cultures contradicts all of God's intent...when I tell my mom that her behavior is unbecoming, and how does this serve God, she replies to me, Well that's the beauty of it...God has to accept me for who and what i do...I think that she thinks God serves her...and that she is not to serve the Good...

and there are others who think that within their click, they are the best fan or the best proponent for freedom and enlightenment but when someone comes to them after behaving innappropriately to apologize, they wish you the best, but say they don't want to interact with you....that's not false???...i wish you well, but i don't want to have anything to do with you....{cut off any free flow--door closes)


the idea of A Source is to find your balance within...the idea of a Source for myself is to find my heart and my rhythm...what makes me complimented and thriving....

flowing freely for me means just BE...without interfering with or without interference....
like standing back and watching something so marvelous...and wanting to attain that state, but always encouraging freedom...sort of like how we admire birds in flight or anything out in nature....

melodious

in a sense, i am exploring how to respond to some stimuli that has confused me..i hope you don't mind me asking for help.....

some people say the internet should only be for fun, but i might add tha i have found the greatest resolve by taking risks and asking....

Collin

melodious wrote:

do you want a real life example?

people who have a false set of integrity are those who will say they forgive you and yet the forgiveness is only a set of words, but their actions by blocking out others and interfering by "fix it" or save the world idealogy...says an entirely different statemet...

or do it my way or hit the highway and then i will not give you recognition for trying to make a bad situation bettter...and then becsue you are different than me, i will go around "dissing" you so that you have no other options...

when i say seek a Source for a resource...meaning...well, my mom is great one for this...she goes to her bible studies faithfully on fridays and is in chruch on sunday, yet her detest and ire for people of other cultures contradicts all of God's intent...when I tell my mom that her behavior is unbecoming, and how does this serve God, she replies to me, Well that's the beauty of it...God has to accept me for who and what i do...I think that she thinks God serves her...and that she is not to serve the Good...

and there are others who think that within their click, they are the best fan or the best proponent for freedom and enlightenment but when someone comes to them after behaving innappropriately to apologize, they wish you the best, but say they don't want to interact with you....that's not false???...i wish you well, but i don't want to have anything to do with you....{cut off any free flow--door closes)


the idea of A Source is to find your balance within...the idea of a Source for myself is to find my heart and my rhythm...what makes me complimented and thriving....

flowing freely for me means just BE...without interfering with or without interference....
like standing back and watching something so marvelous...and wanting to attain that state, but always encouraging freedom...sort of like how we admire birds in flight or anything out in nature....

Thank you. I think I understand a little better what you're saying. I don't see what this has to do with god, though.

Anyway, you should check out buddhism if you haven't already.

melodious

It's more like Warren G's, " I want it all.."

the best part of God is that even skeptics are included...

the people who i refer to in these examples are even part of this path we call our self. to honor living is to love and many say that love is part of God...

whether these individuals choose to look at me from an eye of love, does not affect the choices that i am to make concerning them. i would only want to serve a higher dimension of my own self.

when we say to think openly, well then to think openly is to at least acknowledge a possibility that there is God...shining thru...