Gemma Therese

The religion of Thomas Aquinas was anything but simple.

Gemma Therese

Lobstrosity

I couldn't agree more. You have phrased perfectly what I always believed:

God is utter simplicity.

God is the elegant, unchanging, unthinking physical laws which define our universe (i.e. simple).

God is not to be worshipped or praised or exalted. God is merely there to be explored, understood, and perhaps appreciated for its simplistic functionality.

God is not intelligent (see "God is utter simplicity").

God has no desires (see "God is not intelligent").

God did not create humans, nor did he create the universe for humans. God does not care about humans (see "God has no desires").

God did not send himself to earth to be killed so he could absolve us of the sins of our great great great .... great grandparents (see "God is utter simplicity").

God does not have a special paradise waiting for us when we die (see "God does not care about humans").

God is utterly simple.

If Thomas Aquinas understood this, why do so many Christians have a problem with the concept today? Clearly, you have to move past all the crap in the scripture that is mired in antiquated, man-made complexity to get at the true fantastic simplicity of the universe. Only just now are we really revealing such simplicity and it's truly quite exciting.

JCS

JCS says-god(s) add unnecessary complexity to the utter simplicity of existence.

Since I am me and not we this does not apply. I do wish you luck in your strain to simplify your near miss mystery or what ever you call it.

Not if you start at simplicity.

Unless my philps head screwdriver is god, I aint searching of anything.

I was born atheist and will die atheist and that pleases me greatly.

Frankly you have it assbackwards, but that is your disfunction.

Oh I haven't, I know as soon as my wife gets home she will find my screwdriver. She knows where everything is.

All my best,
JCS

Eudaimonist

And if that One that is totally simple is merely the natural Universe?

I'm not searching for God, thank you.

Actually, I'm an atheist.

But you were not necessarily just like me. You assume too much if you think that all atheists are alike.

I think the "most innate part of one's being" seeks deep meaning in life (All men by nature desire to have knowledge. -- Aristotle) but not necessarily Christian meaning. That's merely one form of meaning that humans have invented.

Of course I have hope for you, Gemma.

openeyes

Gemma, Just because you thought you were an atheist for a few of your teen-aged years, I think you have to realize that your experience is not like most of us who consider ourselves atheists.

I am not searching for god. For a few years after I realized a world without a god seemed to make more sense than one with a god or gods, I left myself open to a new interpretation, but I only found reinforcement for my atheistic view. No god seems more direct and therefore simpler.

What sort of hope should I not be losing? The hope I don't want to lose is the one that eventually more people will view the world without god-colored glasses. I certainly don't expect that to solve all our problems, but it would take care of some of them.