Re: If you could ask god one question

I don't think so Ruthio....it is the same thing....comparing things/people/God, that they don't understand.

I don't see you posting on this thread Ruthio, I guess this is just one of your "hit and run" posts........so SOB if you are sensitive.....

Re: If you could ask god one question

Well if god did that - how come we are still here?

Re: If you could ask god one question

Don't forget my "IF" Rehab. a fantasy situation.
I think it was said by James Herriot to one of his clients when she asked about her forthcoming death and that of her dog. He said she need not worry "wherever you go your dog will be going too" I thought that was quite a thoughtful and sensible answer. I always remember it when folks talk about these things.

Re: If you could ask god one question

Noah's Ark obviously..........

Re: If you could ask god one question

Realist said:
"After all, he completely obliterated every living thing on Earth"

I sure don't know when he did that.....

Noah's Ark.....two of everything along with Lot's family.

Re: If you could ask god one question

Genesis 7

"And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.

3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth."


Nice chap ain't he?!

BTW anyone ever wondered why God needed Noah to build this massive ark and fill it with all these different animals to preserve their "seeds"?

This is the God who created everything right? Why couldn't he just create all the animals again?

Simply more evidence that the Bible is NOT supposed to be read literally and everything in there is allegorical, cryptic and encoded secrets.

In the process for creating the Philosopher's Stone the white salt is "flooded" with the special liquid (referred to cryptically as Mercury) and left to rot and gestate at warm temperature. The temperature causes the damp mass to produce a vapour or mist which rises to the top of the flask and there condenses and falls back down like rain.

The first thing that happens after a good deal of time is the mass putrefies and turns jet black. That is the decomposition stage and is often referred to as the "Raven" or "Crow" stage. After this stage the mass eventually turns a brilliant pure white. The White Stone.

Now let us continue the Genesis story:

"the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened"

"And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights."

"And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man

22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died." (Putrefaction, death)


"And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:

7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth."


"Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground"
(dove = white, purity)


I could go on. But if by now people still don't see that the Bible is telling you about the Philosopher's Stone and urging you to seek it out and ingest it, then there's little hope for people.

Re: If you could ask god one question

I understand "God". I understand the whole system, the religion, the use of worship to engender conformity through action, the collective rituals the followers must participate in to reinforce the delusion and ensure compliance. It's a brilliant system, it works, it controls the hearts and minds of humans who can then be exploited and/or kept in check.

Re: If you could ask god one question

I believe, anyone claiming to understand god is either delusional or lying.
Which of the approximately 3000 gods are we talking about?
The one who sends little children into the eternal fire because they're born into the 'incorrect' religion?

Re: If you could ask god one question

Devil's advocate here (haha, pun) but the same can also be said about governments, families, school systems, the military, corporations...

Our desire for organizing into religions, which as far as I can tell is ubiquitous (I would argue that even a man living in the Arctic tundra fending himself will eventually come up with superstitions and rituals) also provide such things as coping, inspiration, belongingness, self-confidence...

Which ultimately makes us all better at maintaining/protecting the group so we can be safe and healthy enough to reproduce protect and raise young, and therefore maintain the species.

If we rid ourselves of religion, would whatever we fill the vacuum with (and we would fill it with something), be less damaging? Nihilism hardly seems like a fun way to bring up the kids,

but that said...

Instead of believing or dis-believing and putting a period on the end of our respective sentences, perhaps we might consider doing what Realist, and WB, and Primus, and all of the other question askers are doing - asking, debating, reading, digging, talking to people, reading the ancient texts, press the scholars....and query even more...

Rather than "What would you ask?" what I want to know is, "Why are we so compelled to ask the big questions? It isn't cheap. We spent 13.5 billion to find the Higgs Boson and $100,000,000 to go see the Vatican last year. It's expensive to wonder. Do we really think that all of the answers are to be had? Who knows; maybe we can!

I don't know but it sure feels strangely satisfying, doesn't it, to read this thread and ruminate all the questions and responses.

As far as I can tell, that tree of the knowledge of good and evil has been flummoxing us ever since...

Re: If you could ask god one question

I can see why 'you are what you are' Surfermom, what a brilliant post, I've had to read it twice to thoroughly digest it. It certainly is true that 'believe or not' religion is the most successful institution that the world has ever known, and as well as causing wars, I suspect it has prevented more than it's caused, but there are no statistics to prove this. It's a bit like taking preventative medicine, how would you know if it has worked? You can only prove when it hasn't.....

Without order there is chaos, and I believe that religion has provided harmony and peace throughout history. Yes I know there have been many wars caused by religion, but by and large, whole countries of people have lived together, raised families and loved fellow man. Without the rules and order of religion could we say the same thing would have happened? I doubt it, small tribes would have formed and we all know what happens when two groups of people support different beliefs or even football teams.....

These days the things that frightened people and kept them in check are wearing thin, God's destroying people and animals with divine intervention, just doesn't cut it now and more people are questioning if God exists at all, which undermines the whole principles of religion. This can be seen by the dwindling numbers of young people attending church. I believe the same thing will happen even with the more strict religions.

Without order you get chaos though, so as Surfermom points out......What will fill the void?