Anno, you are so right! God gets blamed for so many injustices all over the world, when all He ever really wants is for His children to be happy and healthy and to love Him and to be obedient to Him.

Let me pose an idea to you: If you were very evil, or had nothing on your mind but to kill as many people as possible, to destroy as much as possible of the earth and all its inhabitants, and to steal from them their happiness and joy and well-being and health. If you hated mankind just as much as God loves them, how would you go about it? How would you go about stealing from them, killing all of them and destroying all that God made?

Would you come down on them like an ogre, ugly and horrible and with so much force that they would be aware of you and hate you and be prepared for you and fight back?

OR, would you appear to them as an angel of light, all loving and all accepting...no revilement, no anger, nothing to be forgiven for because everything is relative to the individual and their circumstances, nothing but pure sweetness and light.

You'd catch them unaware and thinking you were "all that", when in all actuality you would be a wolf in sheep's clothing.

God gets the blame for His evil counterpart posing as the "good guy". Most of the time, the evil angel doesn't even get acknowledged. If God is just a spirit and permeates everything then Satan is a spirit also and permeates everything.

Every culture acknowledges the existence of good and evil. The Ying and the Yang, Shiva as opposed to Krisna, etc. I believe there is a hater of your soul and it isn't God.

The movie, Osama, has won a number of international awards. The message conveys the frightening helplessness these women face in their daily lives. Because they are not allowed to work, if a woman becomes a widow, she is doomed to starvation. That's just one of the many unjust laws these women must fight for. But within their country they hardly have a chance; if caught, they are stoned to death.

WOW HANILORE that sounds like a powerfull movie, i get upset and the feeling of helplessness sets in whaching some movies so i get into a delema sometimes as to weather i should watch them or not. Put i got good stratigies to cope and do some good with those types of feelings ie Amnsetie international etc.

I know the IW Day post is running in current events and hopefullie the women on the forum can participate in a forum poetry contest if they want but their another post running in current events titled V-day, its a good thread and also whoever posted it put a link up to a web page about how to help put an end to sexule abouse/attack in childhood or adulthood.
Anyway we going way off track in this thread....some people weer descussing god and their personal interpritasions of it. Others were about to go off in tangents all of their own, in their own brand of evil. I rather not add to the tangents, it's been a good thread as it has been so far and sure will be, chat soon mate

love celtic

anyway back on track hopefullie.

gymster since it's your post and you have alreadie given your view. I know elsewear you wrote about an angel---and a hug.

Did that in anyway change how you viewed your spiritualitie as being diffrent in sorts from how it was as a child, just curiouse as to how you worked it out in your head and if its not to personal a question for you to share heer

celtic

celtic,
I don't think that particular incident changed my view on spirituality. I was already morphing into a more learned spiritual being, in contrast to the way I was as a child. I was "innocently" spiritual, as a young girl. By that I mean I was seeking, but following rules, rules set out by church and parents. On occasion, tho, I had several single spiritual experiences growing up. For instance, I was raised Souther Baptist and we had what was called youth rallies. I went to one, which was held in a chapel that was full to capacity - I would estimate close to 200 youths, ministers and parents were there for that particular rally. I was probably on the fourth or fifth right row from the front, and was very attentive during the sermonettes, songs and skits, but not overly moved. We all stood to have the closing prayer and, during that prayer, a feeling washed over me that was literally out of and not of this world. It was confirmation that I was in my right place with God. At the same time, I knew little of its magnitude.
Being older (when the angel hug occurred), I was in a more searching frame of mind. I was no longer bound by the Souther Baptist legalistic preachings I grew up under. I was, at that time, a member of an Assembly church.
I do not attend church, these days, because churches have become to much like businesses to me. Not that there aren't good and Godly people attending them - please, don't get me wrong.
I pray, mostly when my head hits my pillow. If I want a good prayer moment, tho, I have to get to bed before my DH gets to sleep - hard to concentrate when he's snoring in my ear!
All in all, I'd say my spiritual person, now, is equal in strength to the one I owned as a child. It just has more facets.

Before I step into how I believe, I want all to know that I am not contesting anything anyone has questioned or said. I don't even want to give satan equal time, but I want to share what I've come to believe about that spirit*.

What I believe (which may change, if I'm moved to do so, at some later date):
I no longer think of satan as a counterpart to God, although I was taught that way, growing up. His nature is counter, true, but to put him as God's counterpart is almost like giving him an equal status. (Remember, this is how I feel). I don't see that possible, as there is no equal to God. God is omnipotent, satan is not. God is omniscient, satan is not. God is omnipresent, satan is not. God is boundless, satan is not. God is in man, satan is not. Man does evil by way of satan's enfluence, but man has choice. I astericked *spirit, above, because I don't envision him as spirit in the same sense as I envision God. God is EVERYWHERE and in EVERYTHING... satan, on the other hand, can only go where he's invited.

Why do bad things happen? Could it be that we don't put on the full armor of God, in love? God is love, pure and simple. Without love in our actions, we will ultimately cause bad things.

Numbers 7 & 8 of Dotsie's post, Twenty Things to Remember, helps me round off this entry:
7. God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.
8. Dear God: I have a problem. It's me.

With love

I wonder how it would be if we all acted in the spirit of light (God/dess) as much as we possibly could? If we were aware that our words and actions can hurt others and refrained from it as much as possible?

It would be great, Casey, but I think we'd be functioning in another realm/plane/world/dimension. We'd have already made it to heaven.
Overcoming differences, rising above having the last word and being right, loving and be loving, learning to be God-like are what this worldly existence seems to be about. Oh, I forgot about learning to praise him.
I love the phrase Lamont used in one of her books, "Quit trying to be right and be kind", or something to that effect.

BTW, if I ever come off as being unkind, overbearing, righteous, too strong for human consumption, or anything else displeasing to anyone, feel free to let me know. I promise, I'll listen...

gimster I read nothing but love and a kind spirit in your post. Continue on please...

so far gimster the post i read of your have been senitive, respectfull and inteligently communicated...

IF their was anything that i personaly thought was strange from you and taking account of the occasional off day or hurried post then i would pm you...Their a couple of people on the boared i have given permision to pm me if i go off on one or just seeing the world from within my own dimension and not considerring anothers dimension enough...

And talking of other demensions
When you considere the amount of women on the board in terms of religion alone, then their are those with no religion, no belife, spiritulist, wiccan, jewish, beliveing in christ but not christion, and within christianity their is something like 15 diffrent forms over and above straight catholic protestent devide.....
Ther bound to be other religions that i haven't mentioned as i haven't read anyone refrancing them ....Thats a lot of people to consider and not to disalow or offend their religious belifes.
To me the religion and god that someone holds dear may be the only thing they have left in the world so rocking that belife is or can be a realie riskie bussiness.

If we behaved as or at our best all the time then perhapps we would be in heaven....or closer to the place that lots of people would refaire to as eden, eden on earth....
At times and only at times i am deplaying the ideals of what i have just described....the rest of the time i am humane and fallible but true to what already been said i am a work in progress....and trying for progress is my aim.

celtic