Religion (was: Explain caring/nurturing/comforting)

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Well...
God made you in his likeness. God is love. I guess not hurting, caring, stable, safe, nurturing, comfort, tight hugs and weighted blankets are ways you experience love. It feels good and natural b/c you were made to recieve it as good, although not everything that feels good and natural comes from God. Some things are distorted, but we don't have to get into that.

Others have beautifully expressed what I believe also. So I just will add 2 thoughts. The people I finally related to and made friends with were deep thinkers like you. Most people walk through life superficially, never asking the questions you ask. Yet those questions matter. Society needs you because you ask the questions that others are afraid to ask.
I don't want to talk about the local gossip, I want to understand the things you question and talk to people like you.

And this is my personal belief from reading the Bible. We are a song together. Your note matters to everything.
Keep singing

I kept thinking about what you posted and things I have not thought of in a while came back. The way you express yourself reminds me of the person who helped me the most in life. As someone which Asperger's, I was fascinated by the fact that my roommate with bipolar disorder who had a horrible self image, in and out of psych hospitals for suicidal thoughts and attempts, difficulty keeping a job, constantly non compliant with her medications, was the most beautiful soul I had ever met. Church leaders did not appreciate her as she was a "burden" on their precious time. But even in her lowest moments, she had an impact even when hospitalized on the other inpatients. She was worth every emergency room visit waiting around. Us bruised reeds were drawn to her although she could not see it due to her imbalance.
She would ask all those pesky questions like you that religious people hate. And we would sing in beautiful outdoor places our good and bad feelings to God. Older hymns have more prayer, emotion in them.
She was my model, my modern Jesus, to follow. I needed a person to emulate. And used many of the social tools she had that I did not. She changed my life, and she is also now stable and doing great. But it was in her weakness that I learned the most from her. Now, if I did not know her before, she seems too put together for me to have been her friend when I was socially clueless.

I don't understand. How is a sentient being an emotional state??? Will you please explain further? My pastor said love is not an emotion but a decision. If God is love and love is a decision does this mean God is a decision? How? I don't get it.

What is the essence of God and love? What is God made of??? How do I effectively talk to God face to face? I have things I don't grasp and he is the one with the perfect answers?

Cubedemon6073, these are great questions and big questions. Since you are not the OP, I don't have enough background to know why you are asking so I'll just just mention a few things. If I were you, I'd study what I could and then go back to the pastor. He can ask you questions to determine what you are really seeking, and maybe pray with you to begin a prayer relationship with God to find the best answers. God is far beyond us, though, so don't be surprised if it takes time to gain understanding.

Your pastor mentioned one dimension of love, not really taking about experiencing God's love. Yes, God made a deep decision to love you and he made you capable of receiving it. He gives you free will to receive it or not.

Love is often experienced or confirmed through emotions but emotions are fleeting. If I have experienced God love but have lost that feeling, it doesn't mean God doesn't love me. He has made a solid committment to love me, because that is his nature, his essense. He desires the very best for me in a sacraficial way, whether I realize it or not. Better that I seek to realize it (accept it by faith), and that is often confirmed through emotions. Even if not confirmed via emotions, I can make decisions (again via faith) based on it. God's love is powerful, actually, and moves us forward in relationship with him.

C.S. Lewis wrote a book exploring love from a Christian perspecive: The Four Loves. Wikipedia has a good description of it but it's better to read the book if you are interested. It's been decades since I've read it, so it may or may not talk about prayer, which is talking to God face to face that you mentioned. Your pastor may be a great resource for learning about prayer.

I hope I gave a beginning direction for you to find some answers.

The above posts about religion were split off the original thread by Cogs at her request.
Please restrict posts about religion to this split thread.
The original thread is here: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt215717.html

Why do I ask? It is because from my experience humanity is imperfect. Human beings have different beliefs and answers which is skewed by their perceptions, experiences and predjudices. When I was a child I thought of authority figures including my parents as gods. It ended up that they are as imperfect as I. They have inconsistencies. Some are backstabbing, cause pain, they deceive, they lie,etc.

This causes inconsistencies and contradictions in our earth bound intricate system. Even within the bible people interpret the scriptures differently. What I seek is the ultimate and perfect answer(s) to all. What I seek is to resolve the inconsistencies that humanity has. What I seek is to be able to do the correct thing no matter what circumstances come up and no matter what shades of grey I may encounter. Each indivdiual human has only parts. God is the designer of our great machine which is called existence. He is the designer of all subatomic structure and how it all relates into a whole. He is the one who knows how our great machine works. I do not so I can't do the right thing in all circumstances. God is the one with the answers that we as humanity needs like how to resolve certain logical paradoxes. It is why I need to speak to God. If he is the source of all things then he is the one who knows how it all works and therefore he can give me the perfect answer(s).

The properties of God makes sense to me once I understood Godel's incompleteness theorms.




Maybe this is part of the perfect answer I seek. It is why I want to talk to God like Adam, Moses, Jonah and other biblical men and women did.



It is why I am going to craft my own response to the facebook meme soon. By what I do understand and my better understanding of Abstract thought it is why this can't be fought on the earthly plane but on the spirtual plane. I am of jewish descent and I went to Hebrew school. One song we sung was Not by might, nor by power but by spirit alone so that we may live in peace. Jesus died on the cross for all of humanity's sins. He sacrificed himself for humanity. He bridged the disconection that happened between God and man when man ate from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Socrates was a man but he sacrificed himself for the pursuit of truth. In the end, ancient's athenians execution of Socrates was pyrric. Our whole philosophical and legal system is traced back to him. Whole nations use philosophy that is based upon him. Because of wanting to know why we have put men on the moon.

In the end, the romans and the jews of the day crucified Jesus but Satan's and all of them thought they won but Jesus won. He won victory over death itself. This is greater than what Socrates even did.

There is a point. There is a truth and a higher law that is greater than all of us. If autistic children, their children and their children are to have a better future I believe the war must be brought to the spirtual plane and has to be fought on the spiritual plane. This is another reason I need to talk to God. I need to know if I am right as I am ignorant on many things.



I will read it.



I think Jesus sacrificed himself for love of his creation and to redeem them. Socrates sacrificed himself for love of his fellow man and the pursuit of truth.

Biblical history is about persecution against those who preached Jesus's tenets. They were willing to lay down their lives for love of God, Jesus and their fellow man themselves. There were those throughout human history who were willing to lay down their lives for what they believed in. Jesus's apostles did, Socrates did, Ghandi would've, Rev Martin Luther King Jr did. By the way, history books seem to forget that MLK Jr. was a man of God. They always forget to put the Rev part in. MLK Jr wanted equality and love for all men He wanted people to be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. He was willing to sacrifice himself and put himself in harms way for the love of God and the love of mankind.

We have seen to many people willing to take lives. This is based upon the patterns of history. If I am right, I hope I am not and it saddens me to say it but a person is going to have to step up to the plate. Someone who is on the spectrum is going to have to put their life on the line not for those on the spectrum but for all of mankind for love, brotherhood and sisterhood. All of this persecution and hatred of autistics is based upon fear. Kassiane who has Rhett's disorder said and I am paraphrasing "people think in symbols, it is time to make them think." I believe she is right. Again this is why I need to talk to God face to face about this and see what he says.

I hope I am 100% wrong. I probably am 100% wrong on this. This is why I need a direct answer from him. I'm just going by patterns and trends of history.