Heathen Dawn

No. Allah is the tribal deity of the Arabs. Yahweh is the tribal deity of the Hebrews. Creation myths attached to Them are just that: myths. I accept only one creator of the universe, the panentheistic Brahman or Ground of Being or God Behind The Gods, who created the universe ex Deo (out of its own essence) 15,000 million years ago (the Big Bang).

pie~*

But, the fact that the big bang theory can be explained without the need of an intelligence, the assertion of the existence of a diety, or dieties, are only, in essence, assertions, subject and normative, like the assertion of any other diety.

If we cannot understand said diety(ies), how then can we rationlise their very existence? What reason do we have to believe then? How are our assertions of them even closely accurate to the objective truth?

Thus, by saying that all gods exist does not reslove the conflict, but create new problems.

(*edit: more spelling errors. sorry, it's almost 1am here... -.-

Heathen Dawn

does not mean there isn’t any; but rather, it speaks volumes about people being chained to their presuppositions.

I’ll let our Christian friends deal with that. I’m not a missionary, evangelist or any other kind of truthmonger, so I’m leaving it at that. For most of the Gods, it’s no skin off Their noses that people don’t believe in Them.

Naked Ape

[derail]
How can you tell the 'real' gods from ones that were made up in the context of a ripping yarn?

Do all these gods have noses, or just the real ones?
[/derail]

Cheers,

Naked Ape

breathilizer

Before time? Nope. Contradiction in terms.

But I'll humor you for 3 seconds.

If God existed before the universe as we know it, AND God was "supernatural," what was he supernatural to? In order for something to be supernatural, there needs to be a natural for comparison purposes. So, either God was not and is not supernautral, or he simply doesn't exist. If he is not supernatural, then he is natural. Of course, we'd have to reconsider ourselves as being either natural along with him, or a supernatural creation by him.

Shake

And ... Muslims maintain that Islam is right because Mohammed is Alive and because Allah exists. They cannot prove it, but Allah can. Muslims cannot prove Allah, but the very fact that many people have sensed Allah's presence indicates an argument for the existence of Allah.

Now how is that any different from what you have stated?

Or this ... Some believe that the IPU is right because She is alive and She exists. They cannot prove it, but She can. We cannot prove Her Holy Horn, but the very fact that many people have sensed the IPU's presence indicates an argument for the existence of Her Holy Horn (PBUH)!
Thin isn't the half of it!

trendkill

It seems to me that science should be able to "deal with" anything that is persistent and observable. If the gods do not persist and/or cannot be observed, there seems to be little reason to believe in them.

Ego

Okay I know its a little over used but...who or what created the creator of the universe? What is it a God Behind the God Behind the Gods? Why didn't all the Gods get together and create the universe instead of the one creator?

Okay...so the universe was created out of its own essence. Hm...Could you explain this point a little more as I'm trying to understand the statement 'created out of its own essence' Perhaps you could provide some more examples (prefeably simple ones for me please! ) of things that are created out of its own essence?

Thanks!

Heathen Dawn

Oh no, not that again...

As I explain in my theology page:

They could have, but the universe testifies against it. The universe is run by impersonal natural laws, meaning that it cannot have been created by personal Gods. It was created by a the All-God in its impersonal aspect (Nirguna Brahman).

Well, if I’ve just said “out of nothing, nothing becomes”, it wouldn’t make sense that I’d say the universe was created out of nothing, would it? It would be self-defeating, and such I think of the idea of ex nihilo creation. Rather, I adhere to panentheism (all-in-God): the natural universe is the body of its creator, an integral part of the creator. The creator also exists outside of its creation, that is transcendence as well as immanence.

Vicar Philip

I tried out panentheism briefly, but it seems trivial to me to call the "Ground of All Being" "God." Why not just call it "the Universe" and be done with it? Calling it "God" to me seems like a slightly disengenuous way to remain a theist but, for all practical purposes, think like an atheist. My former pastor admitted much the same to me. He had a good reason to do so, namely keeping his job.