I had a conversation recently where I was asked this question.
I didn’t like being forced to respond in a binary yes/no fashion which is overly simplistic, so instead I responded, “Yes I do, but differently from you.”
Jon's New Age Wanderings
The ruminations and cogitations of a wide-eyed "Conversations with God" neophyte.
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Recent Comments
August 13, 2009 at 6:39 am |
boxes end listening, don’t they? even one that seems as deceptively broad as this.
i read “the phantom tollbooth” recently, and he had a fractional child demonstrate that averages are imaginary. i liked that. but we humans want to function in averages. we want to say there are people who believe this or that, races that have certain chracteristics, to explain what are atheists or christians or pagans or whatever. i have never met two christians who actually believed the same thing, though they often think they do. their stated doctrines are a kind of average belief.
Reality is subtle and complex. the boxes we create are just tools to discuss the reality, like averages. if we take them as reality we’re being as silly as thinking that every family really has 2.87 children or 2.5 cars.
i believe we are primarily being self-protective when we function that way. it probably takes a lot of awareness and experience to know when to drop those self-protective behaviors (or even to realize that that’s what they are and how poorly they actually protect us).
thanks for sharing, jon. it’s nice to pop in here from time-to-time.
August 29, 2009 at 1:24 pm |
I always have trouble with this question too! When people ask it, they really aren’t asking, “Do you believe in God?” They are asking, “Do you agree with me.” Good that you answered the person’s REAL question.
October 22, 2009 at 12:18 am |
Lol, well said.
I usually say, “Depends on what you mean by God…”
Though if I’m short of breath, “Yes” works sometimes, too.
Andrew