Isaiah 32:5-8
The fool will no more be called noble, nor the knave said to be honorable. For the fool speaks folly, and his mind plots iniquity: to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the Lord, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the thirsty of drink. The knaveries of the knave are evil; he devises wicked devices to ruin the poor with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is right. But he who is noble devises noble things, and by noble things he stands. ;)

Evan Almighty! ( Sarge, the fool, speaking folly. ;) )

So say we all!

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me@rescam.org

One nation, under God, but which God?

By Jai Ghorpade; emeritus professor at San Diego State University.

June 13, 2007

In the realm of religious beliefs, one of the things widely taken for granted about the United States is that Americans (at least the 80 percent or so of its Christian population) believe in a common, personalized male God. The reality, according to recent polls and research, appears to be much more complex. Profound differences exist among different segments of the population with regard to how they actually think about the intrinsic nature or form of God and the extent to which God cares to be involved in managing the affairs of the world and the daily lives of people.

A survey conducted by Harris in 2006 of a randomly selected sample of 2,010 adults provides some insight into perceptions of God's gender and physical form. With regard to gender, 36 percent of the sample stated that God was a male, 39 percent stated that God was neither male nor female, 10 percent both male and female.

The Harris survey also asked subjects about the form of God, with the lead question being: “Do you think God as being. . . .?” The three choices given and the responses expressed in percentages were: (1) Like a human being with a face, body, arms, legs, eyes, etc. (9 percent); (2) A spirit or power that can take on human form but is not inherently human (41 percent); and (3) A spirit or power that does not take on human form (27 percent). It is interesting to note that 68 percent of the subjects believed that God was neither human nor took on human form; this is at variance with the highly personalized depictions of God figures in the Scriptures and churches.

A recent study by Baylor University elicited opinions from a randomly selected sample of 1,721 adults about the nature of God by asking them to express their agreement/disagreement with phrases (e.g., God is removed from worldly affairs; Angered by human sin; and Concerned with my personal well-being), and adjectives (e.g., absolute, distant, fatherly and forgiving) descriptive of the nature of God.

Statistical analysis of the results yielded two distinct dimensions along which beliefs about the nature of God can be categorized: Degree of God's engagement in managing the physical environment (e.g: rains, floods, fires and tsunamis) and the personal lives of individuals; and the degree to which God is angered by human sins and tends toward punishment and wrathful behavior.

These two dimensions in turn yielded four conceptions of God: authoritarian (31.4 percent), benevolent (23 percent), critical (16 percent) and distant (24.4 percent). (The numbers in parenthesis are percentages of the sample who believe in each God.)

The authoritarian and benevolent Gods are both viewed as being actively engaged in managing the affairs of the world and the daily lives and decision-making of individuals. The authoritarian God, however, is also angry and inclined to mete out punishment to sinners. The benevolent God, though also actively engaged, is not angry and is less willing to condemn or punish individuals. Rather, this God influences people positively. The critical and distant Gods are viewed as being low on engagement in managing the world and lives of individuals. The critical God is angered at sin but withholds direct punishment in this world, saving it for the afterlife. The distant God is low on both engagement and anger and does not judge humans.

Some substantive findings that emerged from this study were: Engaged images of God have a greater appeal for women, persons with lower education and income levels, African-Americans, evangelicals and Southerners. Followers of an engaged God, particularly the authoritarian God, are more prone to attend church weekly, pray several times a day, subscribe to a literalist view of the Bible, and take strong moral stands against abortion, gay marriage, extramarital sex and viewing of pornography.

Gods that are low on engagement (critical and distant) tend to attract a higher proportion of men, persons with higher levels of education and incomes, and those who do not attend church or pray regularly. The distant God, who is neither engaged nor angry, attracts the highest proportion of college graduates and high income earners. Followers exhibit the most liberal attitudes of all God types with regard to interpreting the Bible, abortion and marital issues, pornography and protecting the environment.

With regard to the issue of God and humans, the United States stands in an interesting place. On the one hand, surveys have shown that belief in God as the creator of the universe is high in the general population, ranging anywhere from 51 percent up to 96 percent depending on how the question is phrased. But there has not emerged a common God. Instead, people have their own ideas about the nature of God and his relationship with mankind. The word God arouses at least four images as described above. This raises some interesting questions: What goes through people's minds when God is invoked in the public square? Are they praying to their own particular conception of God or to God in the abstract? Are they praying to him, her or it? Does it matter?

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me@rescam.org

My god is better than yours. Wanna go to WAR about it ?

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My god is better than yours. Wanna go to WAR about it ?

No. Have fun trying to find somebody who will.

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Capitalize on this good fortune, one word can bring you round ... changes.

My god is better than yours. Wanna go to WAR about it ?

No. Have fun trying to find somebody who will.

It's always been easy. So wars over religion are over. Whose god won ?

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My god is better than yours. Wanna go to WAR about it ?

No. Have fun trying to find somebody who will.

It's always been easy. So wars over religion are over. Whose god won ?

Nobody's. :P

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Capitalize on this good fortune, one word can bring you round ... changes.

My god is better than yours. Wanna go to WAR about it ?

No. Have fun trying to find somebody who will.

It's always been easy. So wars over religion are over. Whose god won ?

Nobody's. :P

Yeah, I know. But we gotta keep trying to kill those that dont believe as we do.....dont we....

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My god is better than yours. Wanna go to WAR about it ?

No. Have fun trying to find somebody who will.

Wanna play jihad instead...?

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Account frozen...

My god is better than yours. Wanna go to WAR about it ?

No. Have fun trying to find somebody who will.

Wanna play jihad instead...?

But we only do that to teach the infidels...one way or another

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Wanna play jihad instead...?

I thought we already were... ;)

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It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .

The Hypocrites are afraid lest a Sura should be sent down about them, showing them what is (really passing) in their hearts. Say: "Mock ye! But verily Allah will bring to light all that ye fear (should be revealed). ~ Qur'an 9:64


Methinks this is what people are really afraid of:

Not Islam, not Muslims, not the Qur'an, but the conviction of their own heart... ;)

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It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .

O people of the Book! There hath come to you our Messenger, revealing to you much that ye used to hide in the Book, and passing over much (that is now unnecessary): There hath come to you from Allah a (new) light and a perspicuous Book, − ~ Qur'an 5:15


Of course the Bible convicts too, when read properly... ;)

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It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .

Actually, the problem is that most normal Muslims are not declaring against "those zealots who are terrorizing others" (I will just call them those murderers from now on), leading most of the rest of us non-Muslims to believe that thay agree with the those murderers. We feel certain that "normal Muslims" don't go out and murder women, children and men like those murderers. But when Al-Jazeera sings the praise of those murderers and shows those murderers cutting the head off someone who is helping rebuild the Iraqi infrastructure it's hard to remember who the "normal Muslims" are, because we never hear from them.

I 100% agree.

But doesnt a Wraith WELCOME death ? Arnt their paths to perfection the same as YOURS ?

Nope. Mine are much more subtle. Besides, Death is not welcome when it is taken by force. Unless I am the one initiating the force...lol

* By the way...look over your shoulder *

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Air Cold, the blade stops;
from silent stone,
Death is preordained

Calm Chaos Forums : Everyone Welcome

My god is better than yours. Wanna go to WAR about it ?

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.V

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My god is better than yours. Wanna go to WAR about it ?

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.V

Well, MINE of course ! Yours is false.....

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Oooo... A fight between unbelievers over false gods...

This aught to be interesting... ;)

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It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .

Oooo... A fight between unbelievers over false gods...

This aught to be interesting... ;)

Not as interesting as watching Morena Baccarin (one "false god" supporter) get taken over by Ba'al ("false god" portrayer) tonight ;-)

pic

Edit: removed embedded img

http://craom.net/paulcrouch.html This is MY god. He is also my neighbor. He SPEAKS to god, and has $350,000,000 in his checking account. Any god that puts money in my checking account is MY god !

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Oooo... A fight between unbelievers over false gods...

This aught to be interesting... ;)

You mean ought.
Actually, it's boring.
Lester just likes stretching threads with meaningless nonsense attempts to provoke people. YAAAAWWWWNNNN.

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Capitalize on this good fortune, one word can bring you round ... changes.

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