Is God too complicated?
Recovered from Hopeless State
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: New Jersey, USA
Posts: 2,156
Is God too complicated?
He was for me. WAY too complicated! Then I remembered... K.I.S.S.!!!
Now He's very, very simple. He revealed Himself to me, immediately. He is beautiful! He gets more beautiful every day I think of Him... every day... every minute! He's saving my life!
You?
Now He's very, very simple. He revealed Himself to me, immediately. He is beautiful! He gets more beautiful every day I think of Him... every day... every minute! He's saving my life!
You?
Member
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Essex
Posts: 411
No he isn't. But being a human being, and an alcoholic too, I have a wonderful tendency to over-complicate the simplest of things.
It's always a relief when things turns out to be simpler than I believed they could be.
It's always a relief when things turns out to be simpler than I believed they could be.
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,454
Not sure why this is in this forum, but count me in on the other side.
God is complicated.
I can't explain the bad stuff that happens every day in our world without recourse to the idea that I don't know, can make sense of, or understand everything.
God must be a lot more complicated than my little ant-sized human brain can comprehend.
But thats's ok
I figure I don't need to understand God in order to love Him or His work.
D
God is complicated.
I can't explain the bad stuff that happens every day in our world without recourse to the idea that I don't know, can make sense of, or understand everything.
God must be a lot more complicated than my little ant-sized human brain can comprehend.
But thats's ok
I figure I don't need to understand God in order to love Him or His work.
D
Last edited by Dee74; 07-20-2014 at 11:53 PM. Reason: typo
12 Step Recovered Alcoholic
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
I don't try to understand God. I think he is beyond my comprehension, so I keep it simple, concentrating on His will for me, and showing gratitude for all He has done in my life.
Relgion, on the other hand, is something that seems very complicated to me. I know I can learn much from religious people, but I've never felt I could live with the rules. so to speak.
Relgion, on the other hand, is something that seems very complicated to me. I know I can learn much from religious people, but I've never felt I could live with the rules. so to speak.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Engerland
Posts: 897
I'm in the ant brain camp here.
When i watch a programme about the holocaust.
And watch a mother praying to be saved with her baby in her arms.
Then being shot into a ditch with a thousand others.
I get confused about some things to be honest.
And angry.
But i know that God is about.
Just not WHAT He is about at times.
G
When i watch a programme about the holocaust.
And watch a mother praying to be saved with her baby in her arms.
Then being shot into a ditch with a thousand others.
I get confused about some things to be honest.
And angry.
But i know that God is about.
Just not WHAT He is about at times.
G
Recovered from Hopeless State
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: New Jersey, USA
Posts: 2,156
Originally Posted by Gottalife 
I think he is beyond my comprehension
I stopped blaming God. I simply started loving Him. I finally understood. He loves me too! He always has and always will. He's inside me. He's inside everyone. He loves everyone and everything. God is love!
~Music is my mantra ----{-@
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 146
Originally Posted by Dee74
Not sure why this is in this forum, but count me in on the other side.D
Sober Alcoholic
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 3,539
afloatesober, I had the same perspective. There has been a lot of thinking that has gone into what is called "the problem of evil". There is a member who uses this argument as if it were a proof of Gods nonexistence. It was, in fact, just that for me for a very long time. Not any more, (but that's a very long story). Here is more on some of the thinking involved in "the problem of evil". Problem of evil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Recovered from Hopeless State
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: New Jersey, USA
Posts: 2,156
Originally Posted by DragonInTheSky
Bye the way, what if God is a woman? I mean after all, since all life on earth is birthed from our loins, wouldn't it make more sense?
Post #6 explains why I think this is the right place for this thread.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Engerland
Posts: 897
awuh1 and All
Just for the record, just saying that i don't understand the ways of God at times.... And that's ok with me.
I personally cannot and will not dispute the existence and presence of such an entity.
My personal experience and hard evidence of such are the foundation of my beliefs.
Personal, and the fact that i don't 'do' debate on here means that i leave my contribution there.
With love
G
Just for the record, just saying that i don't understand the ways of God at times.... And that's ok with me.
I personally cannot and will not dispute the existence and presence of such an entity.
My personal experience and hard evidence of such are the foundation of my beliefs.
Personal, and the fact that i don't 'do' debate on here means that i leave my contribution there.
With love
G
~Music is my mantra ----{-@
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 146
Originally Posted by dSober
Evil is a problem; a man made problem. Hate is evil. Love is good. God is love. God is good.
Adventures In SpaceTime
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Posts: 5,827
Originally Posted by dSober
I stopped blaming God. I simply started loving Him. I finally understood. He loves me too! He always has and always will. He's inside me. He's inside everyone. He loves everyone and everything. God is love!
I seriously do not believe that generalized claim you're making, dSober. There is actually much God hates, is my understanding and experience. History is testament to the details of God's hates and loves, yeah?
12 Step Recovered Alcoholic
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
We are talking about our own conception of God are we not?
For me God is about the best word I can think of to describe my experience with a power greater than myself. He or she has worked miracles in my life and in the lives of those I have come to know in my journey. I cannot define God, but I know he or she is at work in my life.
I think this discussion is useful and in the right forum because God (defined as "your own conception of God") is at the heart of the twelve step program that is Alcoholics Anonymous. The passage introducing the story section is revealing in that it does not say these are stories of how men and women have stopped drinking.
Instead it says "Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God. These give a fair cross section of our membership and a clear-cut idea of what has actually happened in their lives."
And what happened in their lives, when I followed the directions, happened in mine as well.
For me God is about the best word I can think of to describe my experience with a power greater than myself. He or she has worked miracles in my life and in the lives of those I have come to know in my journey. I cannot define God, but I know he or she is at work in my life.
I think this discussion is useful and in the right forum because God (defined as "your own conception of God") is at the heart of the twelve step program that is Alcoholics Anonymous. The passage introducing the story section is revealing in that it does not say these are stories of how men and women have stopped drinking.
Instead it says "Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God. These give a fair cross section of our membership and a clear-cut idea of what has actually happened in their lives."
And what happened in their lives, when I followed the directions, happened in mine as well.
Adventures In SpaceTime
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Posts: 5,827
Discussions on God is one thing. Selling God is something else. For some, their best understanding is they don't have a distinct explainable understanding... or want or require one either for the health of their own sobriety.
Recovered from Hopeless State
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: New Jersey, USA
Posts: 2,156
Good comments gang. I'm not trying to sell anything, except maybe to myself.
Until yesterday, I heard a lot of negative stuff in churches. I think that's what kept me out for the most part. Words like hate, evil, hell, fear, enemy, ... Total friggin' turn off, for me.
Yesterday, I tried a new church. I heard words like love, understanding, acceptance, inclusion regardless of race, nationality, gender, religion, etc... I not only heard it, I saw it. The place doesn't even look like a church. More like an Escher drawing. Encourages thinking about one's own spirituality. Encourages thinking about people like Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Buddha, etc.. One God, a God of love. I didn't hear even one negative word. I feel I've found a spiritual "home group". I believe I'll keep coming back there and to AA. For me, that message sells itself.
Until yesterday, I heard a lot of negative stuff in churches. I think that's what kept me out for the most part. Words like hate, evil, hell, fear, enemy, ... Total friggin' turn off, for me.
Yesterday, I tried a new church. I heard words like love, understanding, acceptance, inclusion regardless of race, nationality, gender, religion, etc... I not only heard it, I saw it. The place doesn't even look like a church. More like an Escher drawing. Encourages thinking about one's own spirituality. Encourages thinking about people like Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Buddha, etc.. One God, a God of love. I didn't hear even one negative word. I feel I've found a spiritual "home group". I believe I'll keep coming back there and to AA. For me, that message sells itself.
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
