The Pursuit of God

World Invisible.com Library Tozer ^ | 1948 | A.W.Tozer, Pastor, Christian and Missionary Alliance

[MHGinTN]

” For God, eternal divine Being, at once transcendent and immanent, is utterly, ineffably intangible. God is utterly irreducible to the categories of human thought; God cannot be subjected to human “metrics,” in principle.” I like the way Jesus expressed that same truth in John 14, speaking to Phillip ...

[betty boop]

Thank you for your luminous insight, dear brother in Christ!

All thanks and praise be to God!

[YHAOS]

“I gather that sort of thing doesn’t qualify as any kind of evidence of “the existence of God” that you would find acceptable either.”

I would think finding evidence for “the existence of God” is hardly a similar proposition to finding evidence of the existence of an apple (the fruit or the computer . . . either one).

Thanks for the beep. ; Thales Miletus; Alamo-Girl; metmom

[marron]

Try explaining to a fish that he is wet.

[hosepipe]

I have yet, to see or hear Hawking produce the first intelligent thought.. more than average..
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EXAMPLES;

However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. -Stephen Hawking

I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.-Stephen Hawking

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change. -Stephen Hawking

I would like nuclear fusion to become a practical power source. It would provide an inexhaustible supply of energy, without pollution or global warming. -Stephen Hawking
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thats overlooking the things he has said I consider STUCK ON STUPID.... nobodys perfect..
but some are a little less than perfect..

[hosepipe]

GOD- who has no name(or needs one), is not human, is neither he or she- but is an IT, is not linear or temporal, but is merely a human concept.. or idea.. FOR..

Can the painting describe the artist?..
the machine the mechanic?,
or the lamb chop the Chef?...

Can the Lover bottle and sell Love?... Or
can all language become obsolete?..

Can GOD be generic. a generic God?.. Because there are indeed many designer Gods..

The Artistic Master-Piece is enough to just be.. on display..
it need not decide what or whom painted it..
OR worship the artist..
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Gratitude and forgiveness however is another matter entirely..

in this spirit I offer this for your blessing and entertainment.. (FOLLOWING)

[hosepipe]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/56bn4hf24448pxa/TLP.avi?dl=0

[betty boop]

Try explaining to a fish that he is wet.

Now you've got me "laughing out loud!" So true....

How can it be so easy to miss the most obvious things???

[MHGinTN]

Stunningly beautiful ... and from such a young, little girl!

[Thales Miletus]

Sorry for not replying sooner. I was not trying to imply that anyone was a moron.

I was asked what type of proof I will accept and IO am not trying to dodge the question, but I am just not sure.

I see that some of you have appealed to personal feelings and movements/incidents in your own life. I asked how that is different than the LDS that say they believe the Book Of Mormon.

I see that some of you have appealed to Thomas Aquinas and Anselm. Yet on other threads I lurk on the Catholics are called pagan.

When I look at the Christian idea of the Trinity I have to wonder how that is different than the story of Zeus, Apollo and his twin sister Artemis.

On the other hand if as Aristotle claimed the Universe has always existed there would be no need for god.< P>This coincides with some scientists that have claimed that the universe is expanding and will begin to contract when it reaches it's elastic limit. At that time it will contract to a singularity and the cycle will begin again.

I see so many contradictions in the religious, philosophical and scientific "proofs" that I know I will need to study this closely.

I want to assure you that I am not like some of the atheists who will engage in endless debate only to pull out the trump card of "God doesn't exist." I classify myself as an agnostic at this point I am unwilling to say that god either exists or does not exist. And to paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart as to the proof I will accept I will know it when I see it.

[hosepipe]

THEN; you got your legend, story, tale, of Judas Whom saw "God" up close and could care less..

Or Peter with the "tale" he denied GOD three times..
Seeing GOD might not be the proof some want or need..

1 Corinthians 13:2
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

I say; What you love... AND... despise is who you are..

Bonus:https://www.dropbox.com/s/7typspsreskn7w3/YourLove.avi?dl=0

[metmom]

On the other hand if as Aristotle claimed the Universe has always existed there would be no need for god.

Scientific evidence has ruled that option out.

Einstein's calculations in his general theory of relativity indicated a beginning to the universe, a concept he rejected. To avoid that, he added what was called a cosmological constant, which he later rescinded.

Hubble's red shift observations were instrumental in that as they were the proof needed to show that the universe had a beginning.

Some scientists have gone on to posit alternate universes, multiverses, alternate dimensions, but without solid evidence for them.

They seem to be little more than Einstein's cosmological constant, basically an effort to prove that there is no need for a designer, or god, or God.

And to paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart as to the proof I will accept I will know it when I see it.

You will. And I would lay money on the fact that it's not going to be a *feeling* or *burning in your bosom* or some other vague, unsubstantial *feeling*.

I know to many people there is not much difference between *feeling* and *experience* and sometimes, the lines can be blurred, but when you have an experiential encounter with God, you WILL know it and likely it won't be the warm fuzzies.

[Thales Miletus]

Perhaps you missed this part of my previous post: This coincides with some scientists that have claimed that the universe is expanding and will begin to contract when it reaches it's elastic limit. At that time it will contract to a singularity and the cycle will begin again.

In other words creation would begin again. An entirely new "Universe" made out of the old universe.

I am not saying any of this is correct, but it is an interesting idea.

[hosepipe]

I am not saying any of this is correct, but it is an interesting idea.

---

Tuche’.. and so is the Wizard of Oz.. and Logans Run..

and Animal Farm and The Ugly Duckling of Hans Christian Anderson..

Usually what is... “IS” and what isn’t.... “Isn’t”..
but sometimes what isn’t, is, and what is, Isn’t..

makes the Bible and the U.S. Constitution very useful..
Whether they Are or Aren’t is a mute point..

[metmom]

This coincides with some scientists that have claimed that the universe is expanding and will begin to contract when it reaches it's elastic limit. At that time it will contract to a singularity and the cycle will begin again.

IMO, I don't see that as the same thing. I see a difference between the universe always existing and a cyclical sort of thing.

And yet, Scripture posits that very sort of thing, although not a matter of cycles.....

2 Peter 3:8-13 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Revelation 21:1-4 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Interesting concepts for fishermen from 2,000 years ago. Kind of makes you wonder how they conceived of it.

Unless they were told.

[MHGinTN]

Careful now, if you expose Thales Melitus to any more new thoughts it might cause it to recoil with the excuse that it is all the imaginings of later day heretics, mistakenly assigned to the first generation of Christian authors/disciples. That is a favorite of the latter day heretics ...

[Thales Miletus]

I do see your point about cycles being different than "always existing"

As I said I have much to ponder.

I may not be around much. My company was just hired to deal with a situation and i don't know when I will have time for the net.

[Thales Miletus]

Agnostic: a person who holds neither of two opposing positions on a topic. I have never said that there is or that there is not a god. I am saying I want to see proof before I commit myself one way or the other.

[metmom]

OK. I’ll be praying for you in the meantime.

[MHGinTN]

But you have already displayed confused reasoning with regard to the reality of thoughts, so we are asking into which context you want this 'proof' to fit. There is the very strict frame of Physics reference, there is the less rigorous frame of behavior reference, and there is the supposed nebulous spiritual frame of reference.

To illustrate, check out what Jesus told Phillip in John's Gospel, Chapter fourteen, regarding the inability of the disciple to be 'shown the father God'. That was, for all practical purposes a Physics lesson, explaining that dimensionally God is so much greater than His created Universe that the complete vision of The Father is an impossibility for Phillip. What Jesus offers to Phillip is the most Phillip can 'know' of God, of God's nature.

If you seek a proof in the reference frame of a Physics experiment or equation, you will never have such a solution to hang your faith upon. However, the Bible informs us that God rewards those who diligently seek Him. Does it make sense to you to keep seeking that which is impossible to find, while rejecting the reward that is achievable/receivable?