existabrent
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Are you asking for what are the qualities of god?
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Not ENTIRELY sure what i'm asking. I'm saying a lot of things, mostly:
What is religious belief?
How is it possible to have a correct god, not subject to criticism, and is it possible to have such a god? Are the epistemological Gods subject to criticism, ? There are many questions and I am getting little answers. Back a few pages, I asked what was closest to the main question...
Here it is,
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Anyway, to re-state my first question: is it possible to have a correct epistemolgoical perception of "god(God)"? I think this is my main question. Similar to "Why one should believe in god", yes? The other thread.
in short, god is the substance of truth
while religiosity is in the pursuit of knowledge of god, there are many religious practices which may not be considered eternal (or truthful in all circumstances) - like for instance a mother involved in religious practices would have different obligations than say a renunciate - however both the mother and renunciate would be expected to display the quality of surrender to god in order to be deemed religious.
This is why in the BG the conclusive statement is
BG 18.66: Abandon all varieties of religion (dharma) and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.
in other words there are so many dharmas in this world (technically termed sva-dharma, or dharma that pertains to the material designation, ie - mother, renunciate, merchant, etc) - all these are subsidiary to the main dharma (technically called sanatana dharma, or eternal dharma) - surrender unto god
hence the previous two verses read
BG 18.64: Because you are My very dear friend, I am speaking to you My supreme instruction, the most confidential knowledge of all. Hear this from Me, for it is for your benefit.
BG 18.65: Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.
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Then LG, there's this:
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Not sure it was ever answered or not, or validated, at the correctness of a God stance. Or if a godstance is appropriate or correct or incorrect, or how this should "shake" the "foundations" of certain peoples ... attitudes?
at least from the POV of a theistic philosophers, god exists without the possibility of not existing (unlike say a pair of sunglasses, which came into being at a certain point of time due to an arrangement of atoms and will cease to be at a certain point of time due to an arrangement of atoms)
This was an intersting statement:
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Originally Posted by LG
or is it more what are the qualities of the person who claims perception of god?
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Possibly.
This you said might suit, I am asking a lot of questions related so maybe that will work:
the qualities of persons who have direct perception of god are given in scriptures (of which there are many)
NoI 1: A sober person who can tolerate the urge to speak, the mind's demands, the actions of anger and the urges of the tongue, belly and genitals is qualified to make disciples all over the world.
in short, a person who has direct perception of god partakes of the same godly nature of god, since to associate with the topmost purity one must also be pure
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Originally Posted by Light Gigantic
Are you asking for what are the qualities of god?
Like for instance some of the qualities of water are that it is liquid, transparent and quenches our thirst (hence descriptions of water as "gritty, green and yellow striped and relatively easy to nail to the ceiling are incongruent")
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or is it more what are the qualities of the person who claims perception of god?
Like for instance if one claims that they have seen beautiful green trees yet cannot determine the difference between a green, black and red tshirt, it raises doubts whether the beautiful trees they actually saw were green
?????
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Perhaps, as you say; "or is it more what are the qualities of the person who claims perception of god?"
There's many interesting questions, I would like some answers. I would ask if his perception of god or God is correct or not. I think I was seeking some epistemological discussion, but it probably will not get to that or it may, not sure. We've talked a lot about the qualities of a person who claims to have a god, but not, the qualities of a person who claims perception of god. That would be interesting if you would elaborate a bit for us about your perception of god that you claim to have. Of course, this is only also seeking, further questions. I wanted a good religious thread. This is what I got.
the value of discussing personal perceptions of god is greatly diminished unless one has a stable foundation for discussion - for instance a conversation about the direct perception of gold would not amount to much unless one knew what gold was and its value.
in short though, the best way to see god is to act in such a way that he wants to see you - and the best way to do that is to humbly serve those persons who are dear to him (his great devotees) - so the foundation is understanding
who is god and what are the qualities of
persons who are dear to him
otherwise one runs the risk of winding up with
fools gold