There's no need to assume anything. God is a choice. And why is the "assumption" that God exists any less valid than other assumptions you've chosen to overlook(I.E. Believing you exist, what is percieved is "reality", etc.)?
OKay. God is a choice. But have you asked yourself if you really had a choice? I was raised in a Baptist home. When I was a teen I was "saved" and baptised. I even threw away all my Dungeons & Dragons stuff.:doh
As I got older, I began to really get into science and history. I had always loved Astronomy ever since I saw Star Wars in 1977. I began to question what I had been taught about reality. I began to ask questions about God and the only answers I got where "God has a plan" and "God is testing your faith". When those answers still lead to more questions such as "Why would God create us as curious, imaginative creatures only for use to receive an answer that you have to have faith". Again, these answers are coming from people, not God himself. People who are sinful, jealous, imperfect (according to the bible). It just doesn't sound logical, which is the way God made us (well most of us).
So basically, I have considered many possibilities, both spiritual and non. I'm not saying there is not intelligent design. When it comes to that, I'm agnostic. But, IMO, the evidence works against the existence of a God that wants to be prayed too, interferes in our daily lives, or will allow me to burn in hell for not believing in him.
I have explored many non-spiritual possibilities as well, such as the anthropic principle (one of my favorites), that this is all a computer simulation, that we're evolutionary experiments, etc.
The point of the last several paragraphs is that you (and your beliefs) are molded by your environment. If no one ever proposed the idea of a God as I described in the last paragraph, then do you really think that you would have made the "choice" you made?
Right and wrong are judgements. Anything can be "right" or "wrong" to anyone in any different viewpoint. It's a subjective rating scale and nothing more.
Yes, I agree. Good and Evil/Right and Wrong are subjective and not based on God vs. Satan. But I still stress that most of us do the "Right" thing simply based on the fact that it's part of our species survival strategy.
On the level of the Absolute, nothing lives or dies. All is One. Humans view death much differently than God would.
I can agree with this as it supports the law of conservation of matter and energy. However, it doesn't explain what happens to the most important part of "us", our consciousness or individuality. This is not made of matter or energy. This is the sum total of all the cells and electrical signals in our body, which ceases to exist when our body fails. It's not that we can never understand what happens to "us" when we die, I think we eventually can. It's the fear of the unknown that causes our imagination to go wild. If we knew what actually happens, then we would view death as a god would.
No assumptions, only decisions. I decide to believe in God. I decide what resonates with the deepest part of my being and I have chosen to walk a path of discovery through God. Once I made the decision, life has never been the same. Thus, my faith has been subjectively validated.
I'm not sure I get the last part. Are you saying that your life changed after making your choice and therefore that is proof that you made the right decision? Well, I as I described previously, my life changed when I was "saved" I brought my bible to school, I joined the "Teens for Christ" group in my school, threw my D&D stuff away, etc. However, I learned that I made the wrong choice. My life changed again. as anyone's would when making a major "choice" about how you view the universe and your place in it. So your life changing is not proof that you made the right "choice". It's merely the results of your actions and choices you make.
Free Will is a concept describing volition to shape our life experience. I have the power to make a choice. This helps my ego retain some semblance of control. On the other hand, since God is omnipresent and permeates everything, one could say you and I are the same thing at the core of our being. So free will is important to humans, but a given to God(as sole creator).
Well, IMO, I'm still not quite sure we have "free will", whether it was given to us by an intelligent creator or our genes. I do know that we can't have "free will" AND an omnipotent creator with a plan. If his plan is so good that it accounts for every free willed choice made through history, then it's not really free will. This is one of the many inconsistencies with an omnipotent god that interferes with our lives and having free will. Again, these are all answers from people, not God himself.
What I mean is that we make decisions and deal with the ramifications. If I kill someone, there is nothing inherently "wrong" or "bad" about that. Death is part of the process of life. However, I would have to live with the guilt, anger, self-loathing and life in prison that goes along with that decision.
Well, if you're a sociopath, then no, you wouldn't see anything "wrong" with it, nor would you suffer guilt, though you would hopefully be in prison. I'm sure the victim would feel differently. Did God make a mistake when he created this poor "soul". Or as you have said that we are all part of a whole, does this mean that God is also a sociopath? More inconsistencies.
