Is There a God who loves us?

[Guyver 1,381]

If you believe that there is a God who loves us, why do you believe so?

[Guyver 1,381]

Personally, I think it's a really important thing to consider; but it's almost too much.  I know that there are many different views of God by many different people, so it's such a broad topic to begin with.  But, when we think of "civilized" society, it's roots, history, and development as it's understood.....I think that educated people rightly think there's a connection and all is related.  The use of written language, unifies us as a very unique "thing" if you will.

And, while I'm no expert on comparitive religion studies......I will say, that the development of "Western Culture" gods, and even God is also an interesting aspect of this question.  The gods the Greeks had were just weird......so anyway.  Yeah, the Greek gods don't really paint a picture of loving God for starters.  

[Crazy Horse 1,780]

Because we have life, and because we have free will.

Somehow I can't see any kind of Divine Being giving us those things who actually hate us, that doesn't make any sense..

[Lumpino 135]

2 hours ago, Guyver said:

If you believe that there is a God who loves us, why do you believe so?

God and goddess there are. Meditation on a name such being shows reality. But, take it a longer time before He/She appears in visible form.  Such a practice carried out for example Bhaktiyogis, see Ramakrishna and his vision mother Kali, and so on. 

[Piney 11,135]

I'm a staunch pan-theistic deist. I believe the Universe is one big spiritual being but I also believe in the grand scheme of things we don't matter and have to make our own future to survive and stop wanting and worrying about something else to come along and save us or help us survive. 

Edited February 12 by Piney
typo- need coffee

[I'mConvinced 3,275]

If there is a personal God who loves us then I will always struggle not to think of it as a cruel entity.  If we are to believe in a Christian version of this personal God then we have to accept things like this:

https://www.**************/news/latest-news/672073/

On the other hand if God is just the creator and has a hands-off approach things make much more sense.  It makes even further sense if we don't invoke a creator at all.

[MyBestGuess 40]

Yes god loves us.....although his friends and family are sick of hearing him going on about his science project this and his science project that. 

[jmccr8 7,986]

I had started a thread and asked people why they think god created man and what need does man satisfy for god. There were very few that responded so I came to the conclusion that man doesn't know why god created them. If they do not know what need they satisfy for their concept of god I can only suggest that they hope god loves them and just puts them through turmoil to test their love and perseverance for god.

My god doesn't have emotions so no god does not love me but has given me the capacity to love others as well as myself which for me is how I express god.

jmccr8 

[MyBestGuess 40]

Some might say we’ve been given the capacity to love to ensure we are interested in our offspring for the 16 plus years required. Any parent will tell you this can be a thankless task at times. 

[Will Due 3,592]

39 minutes ago, jmccr8 said:

There were very few that responded so I came to the conclusion that man doesn't know why god created them.

 

God created us to love him.

But there's more.

He also hopes that we will accept the challenge of becoming perfect in time as he is in eternity.

That isn't easy, no. And it might be more difficult than succeeding to become a member of a Seal Team, but all the support of achieving this goal of becoming perfect like God, is there.

If it isn't all rejected.

 

 

Edited February 12 by Will Due

[MyBestGuess 40]

Why does god need our love? Is he insecure? Surely not. I just can’t get my head around why something as almighty and powerful blah blah as a god, would need or want our acceptance in any way. 

[WoIverine 1,784]

Skip to 38:14, fantastic teaching on the love of God.

 

Edited February 12 by WoIverine

[MyBestGuess 40]

5 minutes ago, WoIverine said:

Skip to 34:12, fantastic teaching on the love of God.

 

In your opinion

[WoIverine 1,784]

30 minutes ago, MyBestGuess said:

In your opinion

It is as you say, in my opinion, it is a fantastic teaching on the love of God by way of His compassion.

Edited February 12 by WoIverine

[Guyver 1,381]

1 hour ago, jmccr8 said:

I had started a thread and asked people why they think god created man and what need does man satisfy for god. There were very few that responded so I came to the conclusion that man doesn't know why god created them. If they do not know what need they satisfy for their concept of god I can only suggest that they hope god loves them and just puts them through turmoil to test their love and perseverance for god.

My god doesn't have emotions so no god does not love me but has given me the capacity to love others as well as myself which for me is how I express god.

jmccr8 

I like your beliefs.

[Guyver 1,381]

41 minutes ago, MyBestGuess said:

Why does god need our love? Is he insecure? Surely not. I just can’t get my head around why something as almighty and powerful blah blah as a god, would need or want our acceptance in any way. 

Yeah, I do agree with you.....it is hard to imagine a being so capable as God who would need anything - especially from people who often can’t remember what they had for dinner last night.

[Will Due 3,592]

8 minutes ago, Guyver said:

especially from people who often can’t remember what they had for dinner last night.

 

Meat loaf, potatoes and humble pie.

 

 

Edited February 12 by Will Due

[MyBestGuess 40]

Do you have the recipe for humble pie?

[Aquila King 14,840]

9 hours ago, Guyver said:

If you believe that there is a God who loves us, why do you believe so?

As for me personally, I'm more inclined to believe in a sort of 'universal consciousness' that permeates throughout the entire universe. It would essentially be akin to the lowest form of consciousness conceivable, and then progressively higher forms of consciousness evolve from that. Kinda like what we see with biological evolution, or any kind of evolution we see in nature really. We live in an evolutionary universe, where greater complexity arises from lesser complexity. So this is really the only kind of 'God' that makes any real sense to me.

In short: I don't think any such God would be conscious enough of us to really know we exist, much less love us. It probably could hardly distinguish between us from the dirt. Besides, one of the most common (and greatest) arguments opposed to this concept is the problem of evil. If there really was a loving God (who was fully conscious of our existence and our experiences), then there wouldn't be so much suffering in the world. Basic logic tells us this, that if you truly love someone you do everything you can to prevent them from undergoing any sort of suffering, period.

So no, I don't think there is a loving God in this universe, because I'm not even sure that there's any sort of God that's truly 'aware' of us any more then it's aware of space dust.

[Will Due 3,592]

1 minute ago, MyBestGuess said:

Do you have the recipe for humble pie?

 

Not me. But my wife does.

 

 

[Aquila King 14,840]

4 hours ago, Piney said:

I'm a staunch pan-theistic deist. I believe the Universe is one big spiritual being but I also believe in the grand scheme of things we don't matter and have to make our own future to survive and stop wanting and worrying about something else to come along and save us or help us survive. 

I couldn't agree more.

[and then 23,482]

I believe that there is a God and that He does love His creation.  ALL of His creation, including the animals and the earth itself.  That said, I do not claim to understand Him or why He does what He does but I trust that I will learn what I need to know when it's time for me to know it.  Questioning the reason for our existence is the most natural thing in life but deciding that we can know that there is no Creator or that He is cruel seems too myopic.  All one can do is decide what they believe.  

[Guyver 1,381]

1 hour ago, WoIverine said:

It is as you say, in my opinion, it is a fantastic teaching on the love of God by way of His compassion.

It is your opinion Wolverine, and I think it's a good one, but it is supported by the bible and it was referenced in the video you linked, which at 38 minutes in claims that God is love.  Not that God is loving, or loves us, but rather God is love.  This is found in the first Epistle of St. John, fourth chapter.  In my opinion it is the greatest statement to be found in the bible.  For, if God is love, then there is no need to fear.  This is a statement of God's nature.  Love is what God is according to this teaching.  It is difficult for us to wrap our heads around it, and quite a challenge, because it's hard to define what love is.  We can attempt to understand it by our experiences and say that we can figure out what love is not.....so it's a starting point.  

Yet, that's not the entire picture that the bible presents relating to God and his nature.  The bible also paints a picture of God who is not love, but is angry, jealous, vengeful, hateful and to be feared.  So for me anyway, this is so contradictory as to bring uncertainty and confusion.

It's like saying I love you and hate you.  Well, that's contradictory, but it's also similar in that both love and hate are emotions.  Yet, these emotions can be expressed by actions that motivate them.  We can think of it in these terms.....if I love you, I wish you the best; if I hate you - I want to kill you or would prefer to see you dead.  

[Guyver 1,381]

8 minutes ago, and then said:

I believe that there is a God and that He does love His creation.  ALL of His creation, including the animals and the earth itself.  That said, I do not claim to understand Him or why He does what He does but I trust that I will learn what I need to know when it's time for me to know it.  Questioning the reason for our existence is the most natural thing in life but deciding that we can know that there is no Creator or that He is cruel seems too myopic.  All one can do is decide what they believe.  

Right.....but when we decide what to believe I think it's important to understand that our beliefs should be very flexible as they can change over time, or even on a daily basis.  One may believe in their best friend, trust them completely, and cherish the relationship; only to find a few weeks later that the best friend has been having an affair with your husband or wife, and as a consequence just caused your divorce.  I've seen this happen.

So, if one decides what to believe but doesn't allow for their beliefs to change, then they are setting themselves up for difficult times.....IMHO. 

[MyBestGuess 40]

5 minutes ago, Guyver said:

Right.....but when we decide what to believe I think it's important to understand that our beliefs should be very flexible as they can change over time, or even on a daily basis.  One may believe in their best friend, trust them completely, and cherish the relationship; only to find a few weeks later that the best friend has been having an affair with your husband or wife, and as a consequence just caused your divorce.  I've seen this happen.

So, if one decides what to believe but doesn't allow for their beliefs to change, then they are setting themselves up for difficult times.....IMHO. 

This sounds awfully like the scientific method