denying God
ArmsMerchant
Acolyte
Denying God is not as melodramatic as the Book of Job might have you believe. Nor need it be as angsty as shaking one's fist at the sky and screaming "There is no God!," or cold and cerebral as the staunch materialist who is unaware of the difference between religion and spirituality.
God is not some invisible friend in the sky, nor a super Santa Claus who keeps a list of who's naughty and who's nice--God is infinite, not confined to a mythical heaven, but is in all of us, and everything. Eknath Easwaran said this of God: ". . . .the divine spark within your own heart; not some imposing figure seated on a throne in the far reaches of the heavens, but the very core of your own self.""
God is love, and God is the most loving and grateful and charitable and noble and honest part of us. We deny God when we fall short of our greatest and grandest conception of ourselves and what we can be.
We deny God when we are impatient with children or the elderly.
We deny God when we observe beauty in nature and scurry past, failing to take a moment to appreciate it.
We deny God when we have a kind or loving impulse and fail to act on it.
Recently I was at the local box store, and used the men's room. As I left, I noticed an employee cleaning out the women's room. I felt like thanking him, telling him I appreciated his efforts, that his work meant a lot to me, since I don't have running water in my cabin. It might have brightened his day, and that small act of kindness might have spread and grown--small acts have a way of doing that.
But I didn't. I was too busy, and thought he might resent my intrusion or think I as being patronizing or sarcastic. Truth is, I was fearful. And fear always drives out love.
And now I am remorseful.
PS--
Well, I did it.
A week or so later, I was in the store, the same guy was in one of the johns, down on his knees scrubbing the floor behind a toilet. I said "Excuse me," and he turned around with this sort of wary look on his face.
"I just want to tell you how much I appreciate your work. My cabin doesn't have running water and it is really great to be able to use a nice clean restroom now and then."
He got this big smile on his face, and said "Thank you very much."
It may have made his day--I know it made mine.
God is not some invisible friend in the sky, nor a super Santa Claus who keeps a list of who's naughty and who's nice--God is infinite, not confined to a mythical heaven, but is in all of us, and everything. Eknath Easwaran said this of God: ". . . .the divine spark within your own heart; not some imposing figure seated on a throne in the far reaches of the heavens, but the very core of your own self.""
God is love, and God is the most loving and grateful and charitable and noble and honest part of us. We deny God when we fall short of our greatest and grandest conception of ourselves and what we can be.
We deny God when we are impatient with children or the elderly.
We deny God when we observe beauty in nature and scurry past, failing to take a moment to appreciate it.
We deny God when we have a kind or loving impulse and fail to act on it.
Recently I was at the local box store, and used the men's room. As I left, I noticed an employee cleaning out the women's room. I felt like thanking him, telling him I appreciated his efforts, that his work meant a lot to me, since I don't have running water in my cabin. It might have brightened his day, and that small act of kindness might have spread and grown--small acts have a way of doing that.
But I didn't. I was too busy, and thought he might resent my intrusion or think I as being patronizing or sarcastic. Truth is, I was fearful. And fear always drives out love.
And now I am remorseful.
PS--
Well, I did it.
A week or so later, I was in the store, the same guy was in one of the johns, down on his knees scrubbing the floor behind a toilet. I said "Excuse me," and he turned around with this sort of wary look on his face.
"I just want to tell you how much I appreciate your work. My cabin doesn't have running water and it is really great to be able to use a nice clean restroom now and then."
He got this big smile on his face, and said "Thank you very much."
It may have made his day--I know it made mine.
Comments
All 6,000 or so posts? Probably not. Just a few of the best, edited and updated, of course.
Right now, one of the idiots I quote is General Omar Bradley. You may have heard of him. Other idiots I quote include Mark Twain, Jesus, the Buddha, Aldous Huxley, Richard Dawkins, and Gandhi.
Thanks for asking.
You know full well I'm talking about the Indian con artists you jerk off in damn near every post you make.
This thread is back but just the original post....and original poster!!! :O :O :O
This is the fuckin truth right here man. Every evil impulse we act on is denying god and all there good we do is being mindful of him and his place in our lives. What god desires above all else is to be mindful of him at all times. but dont do acts of giving money or such with the intent of looking good do it because its right. And every even the smallest acts of genuine kindness and charity are known to god and you reward will come you reap what you sow.
I'm not sure you understood the OP.
I understood it and added my own opinion too it.
K.:)
Actually, I do not know what you are talking about, which I suspect makes two of us.
That would be clever if you hadn't fallen into the same pattern in this very thread. :facepalm:
Maybe you should go ask Eknakpaddywhack what I'm talking about, if he reworded it and sold it to you, then you might be able to understand.
Azure is evidently still sulking over the infractions I gave him on zoklet.
Not at all; I disagree with your inherently flawed views on life that you blatantly plagiarize from Indian "prophets" who manage to bilk unsuspecting, kind hearted people out of their hard earned cash, and in many cases install in them a false sense of hope in their wishy-washy snake oil practices.
My objection is towards those that bear false witness, not some silly infractions on an internet forum.
wow, inherently flawed? How so?
And I suppose your own views have been perfected? :rolleyes:
Really? I think a lot of what he writes is in his own words. Sure, he may have been influenced by reading what other people have written. So have you. We all have been.
That doesn't matter, he's not trying to rip anyone off, imo. He's just sharing his views - he actually does see the word this way, and yeah, maybe lots of people see the world that way and have said similar things. So what?
Well gee, isn't it nice that some people, like ArmsMerchant here, want to share their views for free?
Good. So who's lying? How can you determine someone is lying about something as subjective as their worldview, anyway?
See whether Arms can prove anything or not is insignificant here. What is significant here, is a particular perspective of the world that Arms is trying to share with you.
God forbid you ever walk in his shoes, right?
I think it is simply no one's place to assert that.
Agreed. One of the coolest books on the subject is by Neale Donald Walsch, and is entitled "What God wants."
The answer is that God wants nothing. Fundies of all stripes will violently disagree, of course.