God and what we talk about - Ch7 So

This chapter reminds me of Star Trek Voyager: Blink of an Eye where the "Earth Shaker" does not want their existing god to have the fire fruit and therefor build a new alter so their new God may have the fire fruit.

We need someone to communicate our deepest feelings with.

What is our motivation?

I need to research yoga and its ideals.

THe chapter divisions in this book suck. He has unfortunately picked the structure and then tried to cram in the chapters. It works well for the first half of the book but then breaks down in the second half.

So god is bringing us together.

People watching.

While I was reading today from the comforts of Burger King, I was observing people in the dining area. A young couple came in and sat on the same side of table. They stared blankly as they waited for their food. When they got their food they ate quietly, still staring straight ahead. In the one instance I heard the women speak about some plans they still did not look at each other except for a glance.

Then later a family came in that I had seen elsewhere in the past. Previously it was part of a large group and they seemed to function as any other family, polite and proper. Here though, getting food, it became apparent how dysfunctional and passive aggressive they were. Most disturbing of all, was how calmed they all seemed about it. The dysfunctionality has become common they were desensitized from it.

The biggest lie you can tell yourself is that you don't care.

God and what we talk about - Ch6 Ahead

Moving forward. A to B.

The Plan

God has a plan for all of us. That is something we are often told. Sometimes we ponder that plan, possibly in regard to ourselves and sometimes in regard to someone else.

There are those who believe the world was wonderful back in the day. They spend their lives trying to get back to there. I don't mean to say that some things should not be restored, but we should generally be moving forward. What kind of plan would it be if we were supposed to be undoing everything. Plans go forward and we may all be at a different step. I am still trying to get to B. Unfortunately I left the map in my other life.

Despite some peoples dedication to moving forward it often appears that they are moving backwards. Though I have to say, if there were no protesters, what would motivate us to do anything?

God and what we talk about - Ch5 For

Hello, my name is Thomas and I am a skeptic.

Experience

I try to immerse myself in a religious environment, like I will somehow absorb its message by osmosis. At heart however I am still a skeptic. In reality, I am standing there in a lab coat, I have no idea what it means to be religious.

I'm not sure if there is anything I can do about that. If there is a God, I hope he is FOR us. In the rare circumstances I do pray, I hope he is listening and cares. Despite God loving everybody, I hope I am good anyway.

This chapter took a few turns, I think I will need to revisit it and maybe update this post.

God and what we talk about - Ch4 With

Are we experiencing the presence of God? Is God with us? Does it matter if God is or is not?

Eh.

Many people seem to think so, on all accounts.

I am not so sure.

In my old age (also known as the last 5 years) I have picked and chosen my battles. I used to view myself as an open minded. Now I just am. I have learned that 5 years ago I was in fact not open minded. I probably still am not, though I am a lot more than I was.

I've seen people who are really into the God thing, they feel God is with them all the time. People who are into the God thing and wish God would throw them a bone just once (And some of them, if you are listening, could really use one [not a real bone, I'm talking figuratively. But you probably knew that, cuz you are God.]). Then there is the atheists and the agnostics, for the most part they seem just fine (You don't really miss something you don't expect to be there).

Transcending

People often describe food as being SO GOOD, it transcends. It is more than food can be. I like food, I have sat next to people who talk this way and I can't help but look them in the eye and say "It's alright."

We are supposed to have faith in God, God has a plan for us, God is more than us, transcends us. We are supposed to pray. I've prayed, maybe even twice. I don't remember what it was, but I must have been in a pickle (at least emotionally).

For the most part though, the only thing I feel "transcends" is relationships. There is so much more than what is at the surface.

I don't know if there is more to life than what is at the surface. It seems safer to assume there is not and hope there is. I try to get the most out of life. 

Closing

I apologize for how much of a mind dump these posts are.

I'll leave you with this

 

God and what we talk about - Ch3 Both

Words and how we describe many things. How you describe things make a big difference. You may not even stretch the truth but you may provide too little or too much precision. How something is described can portray confidence and authoritativeness in a description.

Faith and Doubt

It would not be faith without doubt. Without doubt you must be certain, but when it comes to God how could you be certain? Similarly, it is natural to question that which is not certain.

Conclusion

I am not really sure what the point of this chapter is. Seems mostly a verbose way of saying it is difficult to describe God. Yet we can't seem to stop describing God.

God and what we talk about - Ch2 Open

I am a bit of a slacker when it comes to keeping on top of things. I finished a class a month ago that I had been blaming for taking all my time and yet I am still just now getting to chapter 2. Which, by the way, is a really long chapter.

OPEN

There seems to be two camps and you have to belong in one or the other. Either you are a theist or you are atheist. But what about the people who identify as "other"? I would say that I am still biased in many regards (The whole supernatural thing always bugs me). However, I would also say that I am not firm set in my ways and can accept other view points most of the time (There will always be exceptions, like Scientology). I wish more of the world was more accepting of people. Instead if they don't fall within the systems of either side they are shunned and hide from the "normal" world. There are groups that I know that don't speak up, they wish they could but the world doesn't understand. The world always focuses on the bad and a few rotten apples mean everyone has to suffer. When an event like 9-11 happens (I am writing this sitting in the shade of a 9-11 monument) suddenly if you look Muslim you must be a terrorist.

Rob goes into a high school physics lesson (and a little AP Physics) discussing space and time, atoms and quarks. While we can find patterns and compute probabilities, we can't say anything for certain. Why did a certain particle interact the way it did? Who knows, but we can tell you what the odds were that it occurred.

Rob talks about blurring the line between matter and spirit and how observation changes things in the quantum world. This reminds me about one of my harebrained ideas in high school that maybe, just maybe, the world observed away god. I am talking schrodinger's cat, except with the operation of the universe. What if the atoms and the quarks and the fact that plants need nutrients in the soil didn't exist, until we went looking for them? There is more that goes into it that probably only a Software Engineer would think about, but I'll save that for another time.

"We are an exotic blend of awesome [...]." We can describe a great deal of our physical composition, but our soul is still a mystery. The soul is real (A persons sense of identity. I think, therefore I am.), but it is beyond analysis and description. Rob suddenly gets a hardon for the Germons because they have a word to describe the one "beyond analysis and description"'.

If there is anything to pull from this chapter, it is to not be so nitpicky and accept that people believe different things. They might be right and they might be wrong, but so might you. Can't we all just be friends?

God and what we talk about

I had been going through the Old Testament "in order" but now I am going to do a little change of pace. Now you may be saying that I haven't been doing that since I did a few posts and then stopped. Ok, you would be right, I've been busy, get over it.

What We Talk About When We Talk About God

I'm going to be going through a book by Rob Bell whom I am told is a great writer on Christianity. I will be blogging as I go through the book as a sort of raw stream of thoughts. While this is more for my benefit, if you are going through the book (If you are not, I would stop reading now) it may be interesting to see someone elses thoughts on the matter.

Hum

Hum is the first chapter in the book, I skimmed quickly through it already and will be going through in detail for the rest of this post. It is pretty much introducing the book and why the chapters are named as they are. I would generally expect this to be the Preface, but it is rather long so it kinda has to be a chapter.

The first thing I notice is how Rob Bell is rather frank. He opens with a cautionary statement about how he may ruffle a few feathers. While the way it is worded indicates that it is targeted to non-believers, it seems to also be trying to disarm more "strict" Christians. It is hard to sat at this point if that is true, I guess I will just have to read the rest of the book.

Another thing I notice is how it is written as if he his speaking to you. Well, more like he is giving a sermon with his use of "we". I identify with this writing style as easier for me to follow. There is a number of nonfiction books that I have great difficulty reading because of the voice.

The problem with God

I often feel like I am talking about a different God than everyone else. Maybe that is why I have this bucket list style goal to look at several religions. I wish I could retire right now and study them, but alas I feel like what I do for my day job carries much more benefit to society (Like any at all). This would be in conflict of "God first", but if that is a problem then I will cross that river when it comes.

God is like Oldsmobiles

"If you are open minded, your brain will fall out."

I also would lose count at work on the number of Athiests. Though interestingly enough, many of them have religious spouses and go with them on "holidays".

I find it really interesting and inspiring that this could all be random. Thought that is just one possibility.

Realization

One day in college, my dear friend who is Mormon was talking to my then girlfriend. She was a relatively strong opinionated Atheist, while I was more agnostic. One way or another it came up that she should go to church with him that Sunday. Having, never been to a Mormon church and being rather ignorant, I expressed interest in going as well (After all, I drove him to church each week anyway). This was dismissed by the two of them, at which I silently left the conversation to resume my studies. That bugged me and I set it upon myself that "eventually" I would study several of the worlds religions. Well, in January, a few weeks after breaking up with her, I started. Slowly.

While it would be more "efficient" to just read the bible in the time I go to church on Sunday, it would kinda defeat the point. If you want to get to know a group, you have to jump in and coexist with them. Listen to their stories, their pains, their ambition.

Turn it to 11

"What's really going to tickle your noodle later is, would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything." - The Oracle.

Closing

Well, this has been a mind dump about chapter 1. It likely portrays my opinion though probably doesn't do it justice. I hope you are enjoying the book, I look forward to the rest of it.