Religious question

[Bea Kiddo]

Hi everyone. I kinda have a question. I am just gonna spit it all out. I mean no offense to anyone by it, ok? So if I offend...(blame it on being raised by the Sea Org!!).

I work with people of all types and religious beliefs. Some are christian, some are eastern beliefs and some have none.

In my own mind, what I believe in, I would say, is myself.

I think counselling of some types might be effective. But heavy counselling, or for long periods of time is not.

So what about God? (Or whatever that Supreme Being would be called in what you believe).

For me, and this is what I have said to people near me: (and its really how I feel)

I believe that God is in me. God is in my heart. It is not a he or a she. And when I say this, I really refer to believing in myself. And in believing in other people.

I say this to people and they give me a funny look sometimes. (Like: Thats not what the books say).


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And sometimes in my work, I run across people (customers) who are dishonest and try to rip us off. And my co-workers want to judge those people. (I am talking about people who want a refund for something but its really BS). I will give you an example of one time I did what I am talking about:

I went to Best Buy and bought this machine thing that would transfer the information from one hard drive to another, because one of the hard drives broke. So I used this thing, then returned it for a full refund, because I will never need it again. (Customers do things like this, you know?)

I have told my co-workers to let them rip us off. It is not our job to judge people. I believe God will do that. Or Karma. Or... whatever the person believes in.

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Am I opening Pandora's Box for massive discussion of a heated subject?

Really my question is if I offend by saying what I feel there, about God being in me.

It is not our place to judge people. Maybe educate, but not judge.

[alex]

I like this essay:

http://www.sgmt.at/PILOT/PrinciplesOfExistance.htm

This should be what ken is remembered for.

alex

[lionheart]

Hi everyone. I kinda have a question. I am just gonna spit it all out. I mean no offense to anyone by it, ok? So if I offend...(blame it on being raised by the Sea Org!!).

I work with people of all types and religious beliefs. Some are christian, some are eastern beliefs and some have none.

In my own mind, what I believe in, I would say, is myself.

I think counselling of some types might be effective. But heavy counselling, or for long periods of time is not.

So what about God? (Or whatever that Supreme Being would be called in what you believe).

For me, and this is what I have said to people near me: (and its really how I feel)

I believe that God is in me. God is in my heart. It is not a he or a she. And when I say this, I really refer to believing in myself. And in believing in other people.

I say this to people and they give me a funny look sometimes. (Like: Thats not what the books say).


----

And sometimes in my work, I run across people (customers) who are dishonest and try to rip us off. And my co-workers want to judge those people. (I am talking about people who want a refund for something but its really BS). I will give you an example of one time I did what I am talking about:

I went to Best Buy and bought this machine thing that would transfer the information from one hard drive to another, because one of the hard drives broke. So I used this thing, then returned it for a full refund, because I will never need it again. (Customers do things like this, you know?)

I have told my co-workers to let them rip us off. It is not our job to judge people. I believe God will do that. Or Karma. Or... whatever the person believes in.

-----

Am I opening Pandora's Box for massive discussion of a heated subject?

Really my question is if I offend by saying what I feel there, about God being in me.

It is not our place to judge people. Maybe educate, but not judge.

There is a book by Douglas Harding called "The trial of the man who said he was God"

http://www.headless.org/_product_113...aid_He_Was_God

I think you might find that interesting. In several of his books he takes all the attibutes assigned to "God" and shows how all those attributes are in fact right here where people believe their head to be!

[ChaoticPsychotic]

Bea,

I think I am on the same page as you.

[uncle sam]

Good for you!
You, obviously have answered your own question. You don't doubt yourself - terrific.
Other people have other answers.
The key for myself is : Personal Harmony...

[SentientBean]

Bea, your question isn't just about religion, but also ethics. The scenario you posed about Best Buy and the disk copying device is not ethical. The device manufacturer provides a service with their device. You received the benefit of that service. Yes, people do it all the time, but that doesn't make it right. If you provide a service to someone, you would expect to be paid for it. True, you may never need the device again, but wouldn't it have been more ethical to sell it on eBay or Craig's list? If the device didn't serve your original need, then returning it is practical. Many items get returned because it wasn't exactly what the customer wanted or thought it was, or they can't figure out how to use it. These items are then checked out and put back on the shelf as open-box/returned items and sold for a reduced price. It costs the retailer money and reduces profit, even though they were not at fault. This type of activity is what drives prices up and makes the cost of doing business keep rising.
As for the God part of your post, that is a whole different can of worms! Have you ever experienced or know someone who has experienced a "miracle"? I mean an event that is supposedly impossible that did, in fact, occur. I have. I asked for it through prayer (along with a bunch of friends who joined me in prayer). I healed from an injury in a way that was physiologically and biologically not possible. I also know people that have had "uncurable" ailments just disappear after prayer. Did we perform these "miracles" ourselves? I think not. There is a higher power, a supreme being that can break the rules of the physical universe and does answer prayers to do so if the request is "honorable". I don't think praying to win the lotto is going to be answered! Keep in mind that in all cases I know about, regular medical attention was sought and performed and the prayer was in addition to those actions. God helps those that help themselves. I do agree, however, that God is in you as well. I believe there is a spiritual entity within all of us that is in the image of God (I was raised Catholic), however I differ from the teachings of the church in that I believe I am a soul (spirit) that has a body, rather than the other way around. Now I know that starts to sound a little like Sciospeak, but again there is a difference. I didn't have any previous bodies and this lifetime is the only shot I get at making it go right. When the time comes that this body can't function anymore I believe I will make a self-assessment of my life. If I can look back and say I did pretty good and made the best of my life, I will be content. If I look back and have lots of regrets and feel I could have and should have done better, I will have to spend my remaining spiritual eternity with that disappointment, thus creating my own "hell". The God in my soul will guarantee an honest assessment which aligns with the concept of the judgement day taught by so many Christian religions. I am spiritual, but not necessarily religious. Religions are by man, religions are fallible, religions are theories. I use those theories to form my own conclusions along with my own experiences and determine what makes me feel good as well as those around me.
So the point in this long winded discourse is simple. If you allow people to continue to do unethical and just plain unfair practices, you become an enabler. Doesn't do you any good spiritually in the long run and is aiding and abbetting those people. Now make your own judgements.

[Vinaire]

here is my take on GOD, from my eastern belief.

Can God be Defined?

.

[Escalus]

So what about God? (Or whatever that Supreme Being would be called in what you believe).

I am taking this as the question but will tie it in to all the rest (I hope).

Ready to have your socks blown off (especially you Zin)? the fact of the matter is that I became a member of the Religious Society of Friends starting back in 1985, 9/10 years after I left Scientragedy. That's Quakers. OK OK get off the floor now c'mon.

There's basically no set creed amongst Quakers except maybe the Peace Testimony but even that is open for debate. In fact there are about as many definitions of "God" there as individuals. We simply all agree to respect each other's paths. But we can also get into some pret-ty involved... ahem... conversations... on the topic.

But the unifying thing, and the difference between us and, say, the Sci Recidivists, is that we're quite willing to say what we believe is completely a matter of "faith". And, though I am hanging on to a fairly traditional Christian party line (Jesus, redemption, good works, salvation), it wouldn't upset me if the whole thing was just a metaphor or even a fairy tale. It's a modality I use to help guide myself in my life.

And I am usually a failure at it but I know what the ideal is supposed to look like in my opinion so there's always work I have to do on myself.

If a fellow Friend came up and said "God is in me" nobody would bat an eye. They'd probably ask if you like cheese in your salad or not. The joke is this - a man unfamiliar with Quakers comes to the meetinghouse one Sunday and sits in on an hour of silent (waiting) worship. It's quiet, of course, for a long long while with nary a person making a noise (like usual). "Silent Worship". Pretty SOP. So the newcomer, getting a little antsy at the long period of silence he isn't used to, sort of leans over to a Friend next to him and quietly whispers "When does the service start?"

And the Quaker leans back and whispers "After meeting."

Yeah it's a Q-thang.

[SomeGuy]

So what about God? (Or whatever that Supreme Being would be called in what you believe).

I'll relay a story from some one to be considered a true Scientologist. To define that more specifically some one who is not into dianetics and the like but seeking god through science. I think I might have just redefined the term but any ways!

A few years back I was doing some side work at Brookhaven national labs on some bacteria (a citrobacter, totally irrelavent) and it's ability to take disolved U-232 out of a brine solution. Any ways, you have to go through some trainings to actually be allowed to handle U-232 and one of them was in the RHIC ring building. While there I met the lead experiementor at the time basically doing gold ion colisions and after work one day (the labs have a bar on site ) we got to drunken philosophical discussion. Where he said his life goal really was to find god and the only place he knew to look was rigth at the big bang. He truely believed solving that mystery would unravel all the unknowns. Those of us working on the WIPP project got canned not long after but his search for god was very interesting. Not sure if he could get funding based on that premise but interesting none the less.

My personal view on it is probably an even longer post so I'll cut this one off here

[Terril park]

I believe that God is in me. God is in my heart. It is not a he or a she. And when I say this, I really refer to believing in myself. And in believing in other people.

With you on that.