If God is the Same then Why is God Different?

Writer:

It's a waste of time to look for "God". If you look for it, you will never find it. Do whatever you are supposed to do and FORGET ABOUT GOD. Based on your silly article, you have no clue about God, nor you ever will.

"The atheist’s call that, ‘’But, I didn’t find god, and therefore god does not exist�, is an affirmation of the search and an important milestone in the search."

As a atheist I can quite happily say.. I was not at any time looking for god.. at all and found the idea totally ridiculous ab-initio. I think it rather unwarranted that you tar atheists with the same brush as the religious monkeys.

God represents nothing except a human fear of death, a basis to extract money out of idiots and justify wars.

I think this argument is for people who do believe in God. Not for atheists...

Anyhoo - people have been making this argument of "one god for all" for a long time - hasn't made much difference to a large number of people... a "universal faith" is still a far cry, despite all the inter-faith dialogue and what not...

Indeed, we all need a personal God (Ishta Deva) - a personal deity that cares and loves you like you lover.

A school master or a benevolent Jailor view of God is perverse and so brutal that one can never love such a perverse deity who 'tests' you all the time and is in constant re-assurance about your love towards him.

Great! Beautiful. Thanks.

Is God that important?? Its OK to believe in God till He enriches you spritually.

I dont think God has relevance more than that. There is no point making a Lassi out of Him.

How do you reconcile the following:

'God is a metaphor for a person’s concept of their highest self.'

'for others God is angry and punitive who prescribes unbreakable rules of conduct.'

i have simple question. if there is god and if he is as described in quran like he is all powerful, knows everything and is merciful etc etc then why is there need to pray him, why is there need to ask for pardon and why he should pardon us being the best judge. its like equating him with your boss who will reward you when you butter him or overlook your mistakes.

God is a fruad coined by shrewd and businesslike humans on the gullible masses, there is nobody observing,recording our actions,nobody maintaining heaven and hell, fruad is severest in case of islam, as in other religions people have come out of godphobia,it is easiest to rule massess and make them work promising everything in afterlife and almost nothing here,mullah who promises 72 hoors to a jihadi may be having them for himself on earth and very well knows that god does not have stock of virgins

sunil ji, i cant be sure if there is god or no god. and in both the cases it is useless to think about it, fighting wars, committing atrocities on others having different views. in my opinion that is the uselessness of GOD.

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Saima Shah:The answer to this question came after many years of searching. God is same because we humans are the same, and different because each of us thinks that he or she is different from others or wants to be better than others. .... God is a metaphor for a person’s concept of their highest self. The idea that there is an external God, a man in the sky is a myth created to restrict the masses journey towards enlightenment.

Welcome to the Hindu view of things Saima Shah! I am yet to read the rest of the article. But thisfirst paragraph caught my eye, and the ret should be as interesting. though what would be more interesting is to see
(a) the rest of the article
(b) the brick-bat and Bouquets and the curve-balls and the fatwas making their way towards you after this....

Well assembled arguments. It could have been put totgether better though.

However, such an article coming from a muslim! I do hope you know what you are doing? Many others who have said this, have not managed to get away. Please be careful!

[God is a metaphor for a person’s concept of their highest self.]


overall a good and thought provoking article Saima ... well written with a 'balanced' viewpoint which is hard to find at times

as an ardent atheist, I can't say I had an 'internal desire' to be looking for anything! if there was ever any indication of a 'search', it was 'provoked' by the society I lived in rather than 'internal' so I'd have to disagree on that. But I do think I had to reconcile this growing up with societal pressure to come to a sort of 'external (or outwardly)' balance ... mostly for 'display' in an attempt to conform if you will

as for a 'personal god' of religion (any), I fully subscribe to the Einsteinian notion that, "The idea of a personal God is quite alien to me and seems even naive."

... the feeling (quite positive)I get from your article is that you may not be far of that state of mind yourself!

Re: # 14 akcheema, why do you find the idea of a personal god aliean and naive? You seem to be agreeing with Saima Shah's statement regarding god and personal metaphor, yet you go on to contradict yourself.

There is something which does not add up here?

Re: # 15; BW

[why do you find the idea of a personal god aliean and naive?]

because it never came 'naturally' to me even as a child

[You seem to be agreeing with Saima Shah's statement regarding god and personal metaphor, yet you go on to contradict yourself.]

NO ... what I am saying is that she (might be) coming around to MY point of view (rather than the other way around) ... clearly she isn't there yet! ... as evident in her previous article on 'al-lah' that I checked out since posting here ... so yes my theory about Saima was based on an assumption (yet hope remains!)