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by Lily (put - lilyalmond - here <a> yahaah.france) on Fri Nov 28th, 2008 at 01:33:45 PM EST
A spiritual realm must be immanent, no?

What do you mean by "must"?

by Lily (put - lilyalmond - here <a> yahaah.france) on Fri Nov 28th, 2008 at 06:57:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I mean that as I understand it, immanence is part of the meaning of "spiritual"--it is an aspect of the definition.

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Fri Nov 28th, 2008 at 07:23:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes.
by Lily (put - lilyalmond - here <a> yahaah.france) on Sat Nov 29th, 2008 at 03:54:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]
melo, rg:

First, rg, you quoted from the Old Testament... - which is very much contrary to what you'll find in Eastern Philosophies...

Eastern Philosophies speak mostly of the spirit as it manifests itself in nature, in us, etc. Spiritual matters are much more important there than in our Western culture. This is good.

But they lack this ultimate something that enlightens on the Why - and also where the world is headed which has become the Christian Right's hobby-horse, unfortunately.

It's this ultimate something that I couldn't get by without.

I don't understand why God was so different in The Old Testament... it's a mystery but the story's larger picture is coherent.

[I'll be away most of the day.]

by Lily (put - lilyalmond - here <a> yahaah.france) on Sat Nov 29th, 2008 at 04:14:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"I don't understand why God was so different in The Old Testament... it's a mystery but the story's larger picture is coherent."

That was a god of the antiquity, much like the Greek, or the Egyptian gods, more like a human being, with his  good and bad sides, rancours, caprices, subjectivity.
The god of Jesus or Mohamed seems to have gone through some thinking and evolved into a more mature, more fair, more peaceful person. Maybe God too changes with age...

Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! (Martin Luther King)

by ValentinD (walentijn arobase free spot frança) on Sat Nov 29th, 2008 at 06:41:01 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Maybe God too changes with age...

Age? Isn't God beyond time, eternal? ;)

We lack at least one dimension to fathom this.

by Lily (put - lilyalmond - here <a> yahaah.france) on Sat Nov 29th, 2008 at 01:29:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
God is supposed to be a person, and a god, in time, and outside time.
The mystery of the trinity is a bit similar: three in one, and yet distinct.
Or this:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)

If we only use logic, we'll never get out of the woods ;)

Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! (Martin Luther King)

by ValentinD (walentijn arobase free spot frança) on Sat Nov 29th, 2008 at 04:18:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I am reminded of this book.

God: A Biography - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

God: A Biography is a nonfiction book by Jack Miles. The book recounts the tale of existence of the Judeo-Christian deity as a protagonist of the Hebrew Tanak or Christian Bible Old Testament. The book's conceit treats the Bible as a literary narrative, and God as a character within the narrative. The Tanak and the Old Testament contain the same books, however, the order of the books is different. Miles uses the ordering found in the Tanak as the narrative on which his analysis is based. The accounts of God's actions in the various books are then used to deduce information as to the nature, character, and motivations of God. The book won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize.

I liked the book, especially for its numerous references to other perspectives. In particular I liked how it highlights how the image of Jehova changes and can be seen as successive merges of images of other gods (Creator-god, local god, god of the ancestors, war god, and so on).

A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!

by A swedish kind of death on Sun Nov 30th, 2008 at 05:06:34 AM EST
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