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God or Higher Power...What does it mean to you

Old 09-07-2013, 06:02 PM
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God or Higher Power...What does it mean to you

As a newcomer to recovery, some of you will have a difficult time turning your will over to God, or to your Higher Power. I've written down my feelings about this, in the hope that it will inspire you, and help you to see that God is where YOU find him. It's not a one size fits all proposition.

I see the universe as such a place of wonder and grace that I'm in awe of the magnificence of it all. As humans, we think we have answers, or that due to our our lack of understanding we have no answers, or that none of it matters...We'll all be dead in a hundred years anyway. Not me.

I know so little, how can I profess to understand the nature of a cosmos that is so vast that we cannot even comprehend it, and yet can still produce something as small and infintessimaly complex as a sparrow. Today, we walk around holding tiny boxes to our ears and talking to people thousands of miles away. Only a hundred years ago this would have been seen as magical, impossible. The amount of knowledge that we don't have, that will become known is staggering. What is possible? Will we walk between world's in a moment? Fly unaided like birds? Discover the secrets of the soul and its journeys, or lack of them? I don't know what the future holds, but in a hundred years, it will be US who will look and point and say "is it magic?".

So for now, I choose to pray to the God that I see and feel in everything around me. I don't look at the misery that exists as proof that God is not real. Balance is the most elemental principal in our universe. Without evil, how could good exist? Of course it hurts us, enraged us, alarms us, frightens us. But it is the existence of evil that proves the existence of good. One could not exist without the other.

What I find most comforting is that in this world, this universe, nothing is wasted. Atoms cycle through any number of manifestations...a mineral in the ground is absorbed by, and becomes a part of, a tree in a forest, whose leaves fall and feed an animal that is eaten by another, who then dies and once again becomes an element in the soil. Everything is used, over and over. When does animation signal that the element has become part of a living being, and when does that being develop a consciousness? Where does that spark begin? What, if any, part of that element is a component of that awareness? I can look at the hard scientific facts that we know now and hypothesize, but the answers will undoubtedly change, as awareness of the nature of life changes with new ideas, new facts, new science. It's been said that if knowledge is a vast ocean, what is known can be seen as a tiny circle of land rising an inch above the water. I love this analogy...it gives the future such potential!

So, back to the question of a higher power. I guess I see everything existing around me as my higher power, the existence of it all IS the proof that I need. That I look to the teachings of Jesus Christ as a guide comes down to the simplicity of his message. He teaches, beyond anything else, that it is love that transforms us. Love one another, even your enemies. Love is the answer. Many other philosophers teach this as well, but I have found none that preach the power of love as all transforming, as the rock to tether all of our actions to. His message resonates deeply within me.

I wish I could explain it better, but I'm not a physicist, nor a cosmologist, nor a scientist, nor any of those other "ists" that are far smarter than I. All I know is that when people say "There is no proof of God" I say "The proof is all around us!". And when I asked God for help, he gave me help. This I believe down to the core of my being. I hope that in some way this helps you find YOUR higher power.
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Old 09-07-2013, 06:06 PM
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Hi beach, well said.
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Old 09-07-2013, 06:09 PM
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all we need do is look around (in amazement)

Originally Posted by longbeachone View Post

All I know is that when people say "There is no proof of God" I say "The proof is all around us!"


(Romans 1:20 ESV)
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.


concordance
Rom. 1:19–20 God’s wrath is expressed for good reason since his power and divine nature are clearly revealed through the world he has made, and yet he is rejected by all people. These verses show that salvation does not come through “general revelation” (what is known about God through the natural world) since Paul emphasizes the universality of sin and concludes that “no one seeks for God” (3:11). things that have been made. The entire natural world bears witness to God through its beauty, complexity, design, and usefulness. without excuse. No one should complain that God has left insufficient evidence of his existence and character; the fault is with those who reject the evidence.
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Old 09-07-2013, 06:21 PM
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Originally Posted by Mountainmanbob View Post
(Romans 1:20 ESV)
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.


concordance
Rom. 1:19–20 God’s wrath is expressed for good reason since his power and divine nature are clearly revealed through the world he has made, and yet he is rejected by all people. These verses show that salvation does not come through “general revelation” (what is known about God through the natural world) since Paul emphasizes the universality of sin and concludes that “no one seeks for God” (3:11). things that have been made. The entire natural world bears witness to God through its beauty, complexity, design, and usefulness. without excuse. No one should complain that God has left insufficient evidence of his existence and character; the fault is with those who reject the evidence.
Amen and thanks 4 the thread. God is Good all the time!
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Old 09-07-2013, 06:31 PM
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Don't know if this is the forum to argue about theism. I'm an atheist, and I see the universe all around us and think that's beautiful. Ascribing the word "God" to it carries with it thousands and thousands of years of baggage. It's existence, plain and simple, and there's a wonder to it I most certainly can't understand. I leave it at that. I don't need a higher power for recovery but I respect people who do. Whatever works.
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Old 09-07-2013, 06:47 PM
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deeker, i like what you said, "God is good all the time" what i think sometimes people struggle with, is "if God is good all the time, why all the evil..." we forget we live on a broken planet, and that there IS evil and satan is alive and well (and by the way, he loves to see us in bondage to addictions, because there we are no threat to him) and finally, this is NOT heaven. Just because God does not intervene in every situation, and let's us have free will, doesn't mean he doesn't love us or even more extreme, doesn't exist.

I used to say to God, why do i have this stupid as* disease, why can't i just be normal, and drink a glass of wine like people i see in restaurants. God reminds me, and also Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me."
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Old 09-07-2013, 07:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Zazzzzz View Post
Don't know if this is the forum to argue about theism. I'm an atheist, and I see the universe all around us and think that's beautiful. Ascribing the word "God" to it carries with it thousands and thousands of years of baggage. It's existence, plain and simple, and there's a wonder to it I most certainly can't understand. I leave it at that. I don't need a higher power for recovery but I respect people who do. Whatever works.
You put that very nicely. I am also an atheist.

Kari
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Old 09-07-2013, 07:19 PM
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Originally Posted by KariSue View Post
You put that very nicely. I am also an atheist.

Kari
you're right - wrong platform.

we don't need to see eye to eye to walk hand in hand...
we agree on at least one thing, we don't want to drink anymore.
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