God as Father?

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Is monis insubstantial ... really ... only to authorities that would like silence as they do as they please and perhaps not as would be good for the entire system? Physiology 101 for those not believing in nothing but ghosts of thought ... but they drifted off tue ...

If it all became silent ... would the blind fate types fall into it ... like positrons and electrons gathering in space as atomist ... and falling as cosmological dust ... the spirit of what was previously nothing ...

Thus nothing is recycled as a gap ... in reality? The bible says this comes between relations ... mothers/fathers, etc.

Administrators would like silence from this disapate'd zone ... thus that missing t'ird ... or 4th! Pieces of H'8?

Is it the thought of monis or just polity of desire that makes it a problem in a community that wishes silence when thought is dealt out ... it just-iCe Tue much ... LO-rd the next step please!

RD; research and develop ... something from nothing ...
 
Sounds a little like the thinking of a rich young ruler who turned away from Jesus because he could not give up his stuff.
cd62372af34d5957305336ee736f0f1e--crossroads-i-am-you.jpg
 
Whole hearted agreement on the graphic and its implication. What I look for is a sharing of diverse perspectives on common themes. That we see things differently is a given. That we meet respectfully in conversation is an opportunity I much welcome.

George
 
Hi unsafe,
When God is Behind Righteous mammon it will be used rightly to help others
No difference between us here. I think of Abraham who was prospered by God. As he prospered his household grew. More and more persons were included in his economy. I contrast this with Solomon who served his own interest by the acquisition and consumption of goods, at the expense of the people in the land.

I wonder if you would say a few words about the difference between charity and justice in the biblical narratives?

George
 
Hi,

An interesting image. First impression was two persons tipping their hats cordially. Close look suggested panhandler and wealthy person.

As a young man I carried buttons in my pocket. I was trying to discern my responsibility in the presence of panhandlers. Thought providing money might not be helpful. Passing out buttons allowed me to stop, make contact and establish a relationship. I learned that establishing the relationship allowed me to provide money to assist the encountered person in making their way forward in hope.

What is your interpretation of the graphic?

George
 
Sorry wrong image
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No worries. The second implies that when persons meet and encounter a common phenomenon one of them must be right and one of them must be wrong.

My question is, how would the two fellas know what the painter of the number intended? Say you and I met on the street coming from opposite directions. Would we be wise to let a divisive spirit bring us to conflict about which of us was right and which of us was wrong? Might we have the option of discussing the puzzle? Maybe trying to find who left the number and what that person intended?

Now let me suggest that we both found a book in the path. Should we argue about its content, with each of us insisting we were right and the other wrong? Or could we go for a coffee and a biscotti to have a pleasant conversation by which each of us could begin expressing our point of view on the book's content?


Inanna has suggested a chasm between us. Bette has suggested common ground. Are we able to bridge the chasm by building on the common ground? Or must one of us be admitted to heaven and the other consigned to hell?

George
 
Hi,

An interesting image. First impression was two persons tipping their hats cordially. Close look suggested panhandler and wealthy person.

As a young man I carried buttons in my pocket. I was trying to discern my responsibility in the presence of panhandlers. Thought providing money might not be helpful. Passing out buttons allowed me to stop, make contact and establish a relationship. I learned that establishing the relationship allowed me to provide money to assist the encountered person in making their way forward in hope.

What is your interpretation of the graphic?

George
 
GeoFee ------your quote ---I wonder if you would say a few words about the difference between charity and justice in the biblical narratives?

unsafe says
Actually in my opinion charity and justice are 2 aspects that we are called to by Jesus -----We are to love God and we are to love our neighbour like God loves us ---so the 2 come out of our love for God and wanting to please him and do what we are called to do -------and what we are called to do as far as serving goes is to sever God by serving our neighbour ----

works of charity can express itself in may ways ---donating time ---money ---serving in soup kitchens etc ----we do it because of our Love for God

works of justice are a tad harder to accomplish as we must keep a check on ourselves and make sure that what we do is right and just in the eyes of God ----so we stay out of sin ----that is why it is so important to Have the Holy Spirit and call on Grace and know God's word ----to make sure God gets the Glory for all we do ---

Jesus said I am the bread of life ---and in John 10:10 -He says this
ERV
A thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But I came to give life—life that is full and good

unsafe says and posted scripture


So when we do acts of charity and justice we are at one with God's creative purpose for us -----


But here is the thing GeoFee ------doing any acts of charity on our own power without the Holy Spirit is not justice in God's eyes ----why do I say that cause the word says so -----now I know you will not agree but this is what I believe -----and what the word says ----


Isaiah 59New Life Version (NLV)

Sin Keeps One from God

59 See, the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save, and His ear is not closed that it cannot hear. 2 But your wrong-doings have kept you away from your God. Your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear. 3 For your hands are sinful with blood, your fingers with wrong-doing, your lips have lied, and your tongue talks about sin.


unsafe says and posted scripture

Isaiah 58 ---in my view this shows both charity and justice this shows how people were angry that God wasn't paying attention to their fasting and then it shows what they should be doing -----

Read all here Bible Gateway passage: Isaiah 58 - GOD’S WORD Translation

Isaiah 58GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)
Worship the Lord as He Wants to Be Worshiped

They want God to be near them.

3 Why have we fasted if you are not aware of it?

Don’t you see that on the days you fast,
you do what you want to do?
You mistreat all your workers.
4 Don’t you see that when you fast,
you quarrel and fight and beat your workers?
The way you fast today keeps you from being heard in heaven.
Why have we inflicted pain on ourselves if you don’t pay attention?


This is the kind of fasting I have chosen:
Loosen the chains of wickedness,
untie the straps of the yoke,
let the oppressed go free,
and break every yoke.
7 Share your food with the hungry,
take the poor and homeless into your house,
and cover them with clothes when you see them naked.
Don’t refuse to help your relatives.

8 Then your light will break through like the dawn,
and you will heal quickly.
Your righteousness will go ahead of you,
and the glory of the Lord will guard you from behind.

9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer.
You will cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am!”

Get rid of that yoke.
Don’t point your finger and say wicked things.

10 If you give some of your own food to feed those who are hungry
and to satisfy the needs of those who are humble,
then your light will rise in the dark,
and your darkness will become as bright as the noonday sun.

unsafe says
Don't know if this is what you were asking for but did my best to respond to your request -----
 
Hi unsafe,

I think we are not far apart on this. Isaiah 58 is a key text in my understanding God's concern for our human well being "on earth as it is in heaven". Isaiah, with Amos and others, consistently tells us that religious observance and practice are without use where there is no justice. Our calling is not to be conformed to the way of the world. It is to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

I understand that Jesus had a very deep root into the spiritual insight of Isaiah. He begins his work of redemption by quoting Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue. He then goes about doing exactly what Isaiah says in chapter 58.

My basic hope would be satisfied if folk in the Christian religion would look carefully at Isaiah and make a decision to follow Jesus in the way of justice, which includes but is not limited to charity.

Thank you for staying engaged. Sometimes it takes time for two points of view to discover common ground. I am always willing to go the first and the second mile. I may not always bring my point of view forward clearly. You can be assured that I will never give up trying to be more clear. I am confident that the one who begins a good work in us will also see it through to its completion.

Now I must get back to packing our things for our move in just under two weeks. Like Abram we are leaving where we are to discover a place that God will show us. One step at a time.

Grace and peace be with you and all of yours,

George
 
Which makes me wonder
g_d...all knowing...knows all this stuff...and tries to transmit that knowledge...or if ya don't believe in that kind of g_d, then schmart and observant people that knew it was complicated and how it was and tried to transmit that knowledge to future humanity...
Then disobedience to g_d also means not following this empirical advice?
Something to ponder...
 
Psyche and wisdom must be sub dude ... God loves it that way to support a population of naïveté ... is that stunning or justly stunned?
 
5 POINTS TO PONDER:

(1) The OT God often denies that He is human and even takes the next step and denies His masculine gender:
"I am God and not a male (Hebrew "ish"), the Holy One in your midst (Hosea 11:9)." Most politically correct Bible translations miss this point by translating "ish" as "human" here.

(2) Both Jesus and the OT often also use feminine imagery for "God." and this demonstrates that the gender language is not meant to be taken literally.

(3) God's role as a disciplinarian and as a divine protector in times of war is one reason for masculine biblical imagery for God. Another reason is the lack of understanding of the mother's role in the birth process. In the Greco-Roman world, only the Father is the true biological parent. His "seed" creates the foetus and the mother is just the "field" in which the seed is planted. So in the NT era, "Father" is more compatible with the concept of God as Creator.

(4) In the Bible "Yahweh" is the proper name of God, a name that must be reserved for special reverence. In Judaism this means that care should be taken to avoid pronouncing God's name. Hence substitutes are provided. But Christianity teaches the need for a personal relationship with God and that requires a parental image. "Parent" is too abstract; so "Father" is preferable to "Mother" in a patriarchal culture.

(5) The American UMC would disagree with my final admittedly controversial perspective: Jesus offers the Lord's Prayer as a model to be imitated; so "our Father" expresses Jesus' preferred form of address to God. Respect for Jesus surely requires His wishes to be respected. The refusal to use "Father" for "God" in modern liturgies is in my experience usually code for a church that devalues both the need for a personal intimate relationship with God and the concept of an interventionist God who loves us enough to hear and answer our prayers. As such, an aversion to God the Father is a sound basis for staying away from a church.
 
5 POINTS TO PONDER:

(1) The OT God often denies that He is human and even takes the next step and denies His masculine gender:
"I am God and not a male (Hebrew "ish"), the Holy One in your midst (Hosea 11:9)." Most politically correct Bible translations miss this point by translating "ish" as "human" here.

(2) Both Jesus and the OT often also use feminine imagery for "God." and this demonstrates that the gender language is not meant to be taken literally.

(3) God's role as a disciplinarian and as a divine protector in times of war is one reason for masculine biblical imagery for God. Another reason is the lack of understanding of the mother's role in the birth process. In the Greco-Roman world, only the Father is the true biological parent. His "seed" creates the foetus and the mother is just the "field" in which the seed is planted. So in the NT era, "Father" is more compatible with the concept of God as Creator.

(4) In the Bible "Yahweh" is the proper name of God, a name that must be reserved for special reverence. In Judaism this means that care should be taken to avoid pronouncing God's name. Hence substitutes are provided. But Christianity teaches the need for a personal relationship with God and that requires a parental image. "Parent" is too abstract; so "Father" is preferable to "Mother" in a patriarchal culture.

(5) The American UMC would disagree with my final admittedly controversial perspective: Jesus offers the Lord's Prayer as a model to be imitated; so "our Father" expresses Jesus' preferred form of address to God. Respect for Jesus surely requires His wishes to be respected. The refusal to use "Father" for "God" in modern liturgies is in my experience usually code for a church that devalues both the need for a personal intimate relationship with God and the concept of an interventionist God who loves us enough to hear and answer our prayers. As such, an aversion to God the Father is a sound basis for staying away from a church.

In limitation of parental lobes ... we were presented with the great grand role as something with some mellowing laid to the emotions ... and the kohl NG of the mire (earth) a dirty physical thing compared to essences like energy and the lack thereof things stop, look and listen for recurring trains of thoughts by Whistler's Mother ... who blew the Pantheon on those living on the hill ... heh brewing spot ... like the tittle on the "I" unless you found cross ties ... Taes?
 
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