What is the nature of God?

Ayisha, what are your thoughts on the lack of archaeological evidence of a slave population called Israelites in ancient Egypt? The first mention of Israel in the Torah is when God changes the name of Jacob to Israel. Israel was a name, not a place, and the descendents of him were the Israelites or the tribes of Israel the man previously known as Jacob. The family of Jacob came to Egypt willingly, they were not slaves. A new King (pharaoh) came into power and was concerned of the number of the Israelites, as they had multiplied, and then enslaved them in the form of giving them work. Moses was not a slave. Torah says they built Pithom and Rameses, which would be Pi-rameses. They would not have built the great pyramids as these were earlier. There is evidence of them being there Hebrew slaves in Egypt In the traditional chronology, the Egyptian oppression of Hebrew slaves would have occurred in the 18th dynasty. The problem is there is little to no historical evidence of Hebrew slaves in Egypt at this time. However, when placed in the 12th dynasty under a revised chronology, there is substantial evidence for Israelite slave laborers in Egypt. Dr Rosalie David, in charge of the Egyptian department of the Manchester Museum, writes about Semitic slavery in Kahun during the second half of the 12th dynasty It is apparent that the Asiatics were present in the town in some numbers, and this may have reflected the situation elsewhere in Egypt. It can be stated that these people were loosely classed by Egyptians as ?Asiatics?, although their exact homeland in Syria or Palestine cannot be determined ? The reason for their presence in Egypt remains unclear.15 The Bible makes it quite clear why the Israelite slaves resided in Egypt Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph, and he said to his people, ?Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we??Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens?And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage? (Exodus 18-14). Dr Rosalie David also writes about the slave presence at Gurob, Egypt The scattered documentation gives no clear answer as to how or why the Asiatics came to Egypt in the Middle Kingdom?There is nevertheless firm literary evidence that Asiatic slaves, women and children were at Gurob.16 Another piece of circumstantial evidence that supports the biblical account is the existence of pyramids built with mud bricks and straw during this dynasty. Amenemhet III, a pharaoh whose statues are sour-faced and cruel-looking in appearance, was likely the Pharaoh who answered the complaining Hebrew supervisors, ?You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before Let them go and gather straw for themselves (Exodus 57).? http//creation.com/egyptian-history-and-the-biblical-record-a-perfect-match

Really? How so? Well I'm looking for any studies of the extent to which nature is intertwined with religion, as well as any psychological study of how societies view nature. I stumbled upon a quote from the same book, paraphrasing John Ruskin calling for "a theology without God", and I believe that we are headed in that direction, with nature replacing God. So I'm interested also in how this philosophy has developed. It is my understanding that many old earth religions, pre-Abrahamic, were based on nature, or Gaia, and I'm curious to know if anyone has mapped out this theology, its decline during the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic ages, and its resurfacing during the 60s and 70s. On a more personal note, I'm curious as to the relationship between nature and God in the Quran. They seem to have an extremely strong connection and I'm pretty certain some Sufi orders of the past have delved deep into this subject before. Thanks! Interesting topic. I'm not sure I've read a lot specifically about how nature is intertwined with religion. I have read several books that may be on the margins of that topic, though. You can look them up on Amazon and see if they appeal to you. The Conscious Universe by Dean Radin The Self-Aware Universe by Amit Goswami The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Gifts of Unknown Things by Lyall Watson The Mind of God by Paul Davies The Presence of the Past by Rupert Sheldrake Supernatural by Graham Hancock Food of the Gods by Terence McKenna The Archaic Revival by Terence McKenna I can recommend all those books, though most of them probably aren't totally pertinent to what you're looking for. I just did a google search and yielded this result. It's a list of books more related to what you're looking for http//www.savingtheearth.net/spirituality.htm

anyone read about hollow earth theory? Hollow perhaps for Plasma life form.

I'm sure most people here are familiar with the omnipotence paradoxes. If your not, it goes something like this Can God create something he cannot lift/control? If he can, He wouldn't be able to control/lift it, which renders Him as someone who's not capable of everything. If He cannot create it, then He is not omnipotent in the first place. What's your thoughts on this? Is there any credibility behind this paradox? It's in the questions. It's human language--human construct. It's already circular and (arguing) it will be circular. If you ask about its credibility, then here goes my opinion it is just about as limited as the questioner's mind. Nothing wrong in questioning things--just be aware of our own limits. Otherwise, we could be claiming things we know nothing about. Peace

That's not Neitzche's book, it is a link to aguytalking about Nietzche, I guess all the Sikh jokes ring true. I got one What do you call a Sikh guy going backwards? Reversing Another one A guy puts on his bikers jacket which is like a body suit, with a zip on the back, he is sardar, he goes on his bike, has a crash another Sardar comes along, calls the ambulance, when teh ambulance arrives they ask the Sardar what happened, he tells them he was talking until I tried straighten his head. Another one One of the Sardar leaders start talking about how Germany and Japan lost the war, but are really successful capitally, so he says let's go to war against America and lose, then we too will be successful. Another sardar gets up and says what if we win. He doesn't know what to say. What;s happenin' Badar... singh? I guess but I'm quite sure is your name Dear Maha Sardar Gee, somebody robbed you. The book you have, is likely written by one of your buddy Sardar, with a PhD in logic. Please, throw it out, as you have wasted your time and money. Read page 5/10 in the link below. http//www.bilkent.edu.tr/~thurston/nietzsche.pdf Peace, Badar

God does not exist within time. Time exists within God. So at every moment God is creating time and, therefore, creating everything else that exists within time. Most people put limits on God, try to understand God from a limited human point of view. But God is without limit(s), He does not have a beginning, He does not have and end. How on earth can one imagine something that exists outside of time? Because whatever we imagine, for that moment it exists within time and therefore isn't anything of what God is like. God alone can exist in a juxtaposition where none else can. When God says, "Be" and it is. It probably is like that with God. For God, the past, present and future would be nothing like how we experience it. In fact, we couldn't imagine it. But when God decrees that something is to be, who or what can stop Him? Nothing and no one can. It WILL be. It's just as good as saying it's done. This is God after all. How God does anything is never explained. Whether He wants to use a process or have it instantaneously appear is up to Him. The impression I get from the Qur'an is that light was created instantaneously but the rest of the universe took longer. But, most importantly, neither process contradicts "Be and it is" when we're talking about something that was created in the past. It's like, after, I own a house I tell my parents, "When I say I want a house, I have a house." How I got the house, how long it took is irrelevant. Salam alaykom,, Good answer, Really no need to add something. keep going

The answer is always YES. The real question is can such a rock exist within this universe? Because if such a rock existed wouldn't the universe and all creation get destroyed? After all, weight is determined by density and God is infinite. Therefore, the rock in question would have to be of infinite density plus 1. Which would cause the biggest blackhole in the universe and, therefore, everything will get sucked in and destroyed. There wouldn't be any light for us to see, so we wouldn't know if God couldn't lift the rock or not. And where would God stand since the gravity of the rock would be greater than earth's. Way greater. And what would be determined as "UP" as the gravity of the rock would always demand that "UP" is anything moving away from the rock. But can God create such a rock? YES, but at what cost? The total destruction of everything else created. God, of course, could create such a rock and not have the universe destroyed. But then, all rules of physics would've been changed and, therefore, the original question is rendered inapplicable. But then again, God could create such a rock, not have the universe destroyed as well as not change the laws of physics. But then, I think, we wouldn't be able to explain it or understand it. Lastly, isn't imagining God trying to carry anything tantamount to idolatry(Shirik)? After all, we're trying to imagine God here.

I never thought of God as being jealous, I always believed the words of the Quran, 'to God belong the most beautiful names.' and jealousy does not seem to befit God. I know it appears in the Bible, but years of manipulation, alterations and fabrications means who knows what the true scripture once said, whether it pointed to the jealousy of the Jews or of God. Who knows, but I am afraid of saying God is jealous. I do not want to incur wrath. It is a bias argument what we have of the Old Testament, I do not know what is the word of God or the word of rabbis and priests who came after. A working example is the changing of Ishmael from the sacrifice which was inspired by Satan, and which God nullified, because God cannot advocate sin. This has been proven see the following concerning whether God commanded the sacrifice of Ismael or not. http//www.submission.org/ismail-q.html I cannot find the source concerning whether it was Ishmael or Isaac who was sacrificed, I have come across it though. This is what wikipedia says concerning the sacrifice The Qur'an does not specify whether it was Ishmael or Isaac whom Abraham was ordered to sacrifice, yet many interpreters believe it was Ishmael. This is not unanimous among interpreters of the Qur'an. Among the evidence offered for this position are two arguments Muslims note that the text of Genesis, despite specifying Isaac, appears to state that Abraham was told to sacrifice his only son to God. Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of ?Genesis/Bereshith 222 Since Isaac was Abraham's second son, there was no time at which he would have been Abraham's "only son", and that this supports the Muslim belief that there was an original text that must have named Ishmael rather than Isaac as the intended sacrifice. The Qur'an states that when angels visited Abraham's house, they told him and his wife that they would have a son, Isaac, and that Isaac would have Jacob as a son. So Abraham had a divine promise that Isaac's life is guaranteed. I think what might have occurred, is something of political correctness but not being weary of angering God but of clearing any misdemeanors that occurred by the Children of Israel. Moses was the son of the daughter of Levi, who was older than Joseph, how then can the Bible say they were in Egypt for 430 years, should it not be 250 years maximum. Jesus , son of Mary was a descendent of Aaron, not David, they only try and put the son of David, and the Messiah as one, and think son of David means a direct descendent. We will see. Praise be to God, Lord of the universe. Whatever God wills rather than jai sera sera whatever will be will be No one possesses power except God Then find the beauty out of this term "jealousy" rather than rubbishing it as a term and thus it becoming abandoned by us. The word stems from the French jalousie, formed from jaloux (jealous), and further from Low Latin zelosus (full of zeal), in turn from the Greek word (zlos), sometimes "jealousy", but more often in a positive sense "emulation, ardour, zeal"(with a root connoting "to boil, ferment"; or "yeast&quot. (1)

well i think most of us do believe that the Hitlers of the world will ultimately pay for their sins, what do you think? No? What Adolf Hitler did was inexcusable. Sure, I think he should pay (or should've paid) for it... How do you propose that he "pay" for his crimes? By burning in a fiery furnace for all eternity? How are the righteous people rewarded? By dying, being buried, and then having a piece of their "being" raised up to live in the sky? In other words, what is your view concerning "life" for the righteous and the wicked AFTER DEATH?

Salaam, the personified God, a physical form, is such a complete misunderstanding of the concepts of Allah. I read Rev John's objectifications, and I know he'll defend them after this post, ignoring this post, as he can not present a credible defense of his own confusion. Allah is not God, the simplest way to understand Allah is to consider thought, we have the ability to manifest our own thoughts physically, on a small scale, as realities are all built upon differential fractal structures, only the scale changes, so Allah manifest all realities through thought. Every atom of this reality is manifest instant to instant, without this constant re-invention nothing would be in existence. This is not conjecture but evidence based science. There is not a single shred of evidence to support the idea of a God of any sort, yet you all persist in the concept? Allah would be a better term, even in the ignorance of its true meaning, but still you persist in the God concept? Each is directed not even to say Allah, but to express the attributes of Allah, never God, but still you persist in the God concept? The Merciful, The Beneficent, The Sustainer, The Nourisher, The Fosterer, The Creator, etc. How few ever use these terms? I have explained the nature of Allah, both conceptually and practically in two short essay's Supreme Existence http//servantofthelight.com/content/view/10/34/ Transfinite Consciousness http//servantofthelight.com/content/view/92/1/ I would be happy to explain any aspect you have trouble grasping, if you wish to understand these concepts.

sis ay, peace err... apparently it has to do with the Trust our seed the Human Race accepted before being manifested in physical form... meaning we were asked first, so we ultimately bear the responsibility for who we are, i.e. our purpose on Earth, and the consequencs of not fulfilling it... Allah knows what this Trust exactly means (AQ) but nobody accepted it but US. Yes but why? what does God get out of us "worshipping/serving" Him? Why if we do not are we punished for this?

Does anyone know of sure who created you? Setting aside faith and belief one do not know the reasons they are here in this world, we live with the resources here, now we dont know where is the beginning or end of us. Some of us have a belief in God who says that he created everything and theres a beginning and end for everyone But for our God I think He is yet to see/beleive in his own GOD(his creator) so he says theres no beginning or end for himself.

on the topic of suffering.... here is another insightful article http//www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18555.htm The Question of Suffering "This is an excerpt from a dialogue (through exchange of emails) between Nahida Izzat and her friend Sam, when he asked about her sufferings" By Nahida Izzat 10/15/07 "ICH" -- -- How could an Intelligent Being allow such cruelty? A most valid, most important, and most relevant question. To start with, I am afraid that by talking about this topic, it would be very difficult to be objective. We won't be able to discuss it from a purely scientific perception. We can't -even if we wanted to- be objective; as this issue entails feelings, emotions, philosophy, personal experience. Therefore I find that ?here- I can't be anything other than subjective; reflecting on my own personal life and my personal experiences. The most negative occurrences in the life of a human being can be summarized as such physical pain, emotional pain (sorrow), and fear. Contemplating on my own life and like every one on the planet I've experienced all; but with such intensity that some times it felt and feels almost unbearable. As little girl I survived the horrors of war, I watched my childhood being stolen away from me. I witnessed the destruction of a people. I experienced the loss of every thing I loved; including my home, my garden, my relatives, my friends, my village, my identity, even my much-loved books and school bag. I had to rely on UN food and cloths parcels in order to survive. I witnessed fighter planes flying so low in the sky -that as a child you thought they're about to fall onto your head- while bombing villages killing innocent women and children. At such a tender age, I came face to face with human cruelty and brutality and witnessed their ability to inflect so much pain, suffering, and humiliation upon its own kind. I left home as a refugee with absolutely nothing except the two dresses and a jumper that my mum had forced me to put on in the burning heat of Middle Eastern summer. She could carry nothing as her youngest baby was only three months old; she had to look after him and his four other sisters; the eldest was only seven years old. For six days we were hiding in a tomb in one of the graveyards in a neighbouring village. I lived through a kind of fear that had left its permanent mark on me. Until this very day I still jump when I hear a loud noise; I still tremble when I hear the roar of an airplane. My family of seven and I had lived for some years of our life sharing one room, living with another family of twelve (in Jordan ), then sharing with a different family of ten (in Libya ). At a very young age, I've experienced pain, fear, and sorrow that many people don't experience in a lifetime. I agonized as my roots were uprooted time and time again; so much so that at the age of seventeen I decided to live an isolated life refusing to talk to anyone, by doing so I was trying to protect my sanity. My experiences at the time had taught me that I should never allow my self to make friends or love any one; as every one I loved I ended up loosing or getting separated away from. As a young mother I was severely ill that I thought I was dying, I asked the doctors to allow me to leave the hospital for few hours because I wanted to see "Beauty and the Beast" movie with my children before it was too late; as I didn't think I'd make it to watch anything else with them let alone watch them grow. The pain that I went through at the time was so horrendous that it would keep me awake all day and night; they had to use powerful sedatives to put asleep. I prayed that no one ever may go through what I've been going through. For four years I was bed ridden, fighting what seemed to be an endless battle with ruthless pain; at some point I couldn't even hold a cup of tea in my hand let alone making one. I couldn't even drive; Khaled used to put me in the car and try to take me out by driving around for a little while just to lift my spirit up. At the end of each trip I'd come home shattered and so exhausted that I would decide I would never leave the house again. I would read a paragraph over and over and over again without being able to understand a thing. People would be surrounding me chatting trying to cheer me up, yet I wasn't even able to comprehend what they were saying. I sat in front of the consultant with tears flooding into my eyes as he told me that this is it for me. Announcing a life-sentence of pain and agony, and advising me that I should stop hoping to become better or be cured; rather I should be looking for ways of coping with my new life-imprisonment. I stared at him while he was confirming the end of my life -as I knew it- in horror and disbelief, refusing to believe anything he said as my thoughts echoed "who do you think you are? You are not God to be telling me this nonsense" The last episode of my extraordinary -yet very ordinary- life was the loss of my dearest, my greatest, my one and only love. That episode you and other friends have been eyewitnesses to. From this summarized narrative of my life you could vividly see that I've almost hit rock-bottom of every negative experience that any human can go through Loss of physical health and living with excruciating pain Loss of all material positions even my very own identity Loss of mental and intellectual capacities Loss of the love of my life By going into so much detail about my life I was eager to emphasize the reality that through my experiences I have a reasonable idea about pain and what it means to suffer. Now then, through all what I've been through; One Thing and one thing only kept me going, helped me, held me, and carried me through; and that is my Faith. I could never reconcile my agonized painful existence with futility and lack of purpose. My logic and my feelings lead me to conclude that if everything came from nothing, if there was no purpose in the existence of the universe, if there is no purpose in the existence of life; then, it's more reasonable to think that there is no purpose in a life full of agony such as mine, there is no point in living on to suffer more. I.e. there is no purpose in life. period. The only thing that could ever console and comfort this troubled soul of mine was this faith, this insight and intuition that this can't all be in vain. And like a tender mother's hand stroking her child Like a soft warm blanket in a cold winter night Like gentle rain drops drizzling over a parched piece of land Like a rainbow flowing piercing through thick dark clouds I feel God's loving hand Then? Then this sweet? sweet comfort that overwhelms you, embraces you as you humbly say Here I am God? exhausted? come to my aid Here I am God? in much anguish? relieve me? ease my pain Here I am God? full of sorrow? soothe my hurt Here I am God? lonely? be my friend and companion. Here I am God? tiered? help me?hold me? heal me Here I am God? lost? guide me? show me the way That distressed soul? that troubled heart would be magically transformed? Calm would descend? tranquillity and serenity would prevail? joy would overwhelm? and sweet? sweet comfort would embrace you. You feel helped... held? healed? and carried through. Even if the pain is still there! There are no words in any human dictionary or vocabulary that could come near into describing that feeling, all we can do is give analogies. Never the real feelings Then with time; and in retrospect the wisdom of what you've been through will become more apparent. Like pieces of a jigsaw your life would start making sense; some of the pieces might be very murky and horrible, others might be bright and colourful, each piece alone does not make any sense; yet as they assemble together a beautiful pattern emerges, an amazing picture materializes. Such was my life. Such is life Nahida Izzat, is a -Jerusalem born- Palestinian refugee living in exile for over 40 years. She was forced to leave my homeland, Palestine at the age of seven during the six-day war. Nahida, is a mathematician by profession but art is one of her favourite pastimes. Please visit her website PoetryforPalestine - http//poetryforpalestine.spaces.live.com/default.aspx

...couldn't he decide not to know something, or block out a piece of imformation? If he couldnt do that, wouldnt it mean that He is not omnipotent? Likewise, if he did this, wouldnt this mean that He is not omniscient? What do you think? He can.. by creating an illusion Isn't that what we are in this world? I mean... God, the source of all the information, All knowing is closer to us than our jugular vein.. So all this information about everything is closer to us than our own body.. and yet we do not know.. Isn't that what's quran is about? To REMIND us? You can remind only something we already know. HOW do we know? Maybe by being part of that which is God, we do know.. Just being in the physical body has made us to forget it all? D So maybe the reason creating all this illusion around us is for God to actually EXPERIENCE Himself as all knowing. Because if there is no "not knowing" how do you know you are "all knowing" ? I've heard people who had near death experiences saying that the moment they merge into God or whatever you call it, they knew everything. All the questions were answered at once. Everything made sense to them.. and when they came back they forgot again.. the only thing they did remember was that once they knew everything

I used to be an agnostic, back then i was very much impressed by the deists as rational men believing in God. I always hated people who are irrational and say they believe in God. For an irrational person it does not really matter whether he believes in one God or many.

Oh please dont look deep when there is nothing there to see, I simply forgot about this thread. And please dont turn my question back on me, I was the one asking you for an answer... confused Why does a lack of evil mean there is no free choice. Isnt there supposed to be no evil in heaven, will there be no free choice there? Just some questions I have, you dont have to become aggressive, simply adding peace does not hide anything. Haha that is an interesting question, if a lack of evil constitutes no free choice, does that mean that there either is no evil, and no free will, or no free will, and instead evil in heaven? And this baby would have experienced no free choice at all since she died at birth, and will thus in her entire existance not have made a single choice and gone to heaven. Could not then God just placed all souls in heaven without going through life just like this baby?

There were beliefs in the creation well before the Quran, Bible, Tanakh, etc were ever written. The effects of forces, i think, have come about recently but having gods has been around a long long time, even though there wern't any books. peace

Star-gazing is something I have enjoyed since my childhood, lying supine on a wooden bench.... and drawing Mom's occasional scoffs for letting the gene fly over my bare chest.... ) And surely I have wondered at God's marvels up in the canopy. So when I read Sura Mulk (The Kingdom), the joy doubles when I find that God too invites us to watch His perfect creations in the celestial sphere.....Astrophysics lured me too, but remained as a hobby only, Petroleum Engineering becoming the means for bread and butter. BTW, is it not interesting that while you specialize in the 'outer' space, I do in the 'inner' space--as far as earth's crust, looking for petroleum, and coming across so many wonderful things that lie within earth!! angel Meanwhile, I am reading your book at your website. Wonderful, indeed. How come I didn't come across truth-seekers like you (and many others on free-minds.com)? ??? I live in Lubbock. If I ever happen to pass by Galvestone, I will meet with you for a warm discussion. Be my guest if you happen to pass by Lubbock. God bless you! angel I wanted to be a geologist to begin with, but seemed to have more of a talent for astrophysics (the other way around from you). The Earth and it's formation, history and future fascinates me. It would be great to meet you, I rarely get up Lubbock way, but if you ever come to Galveston, you would always be welcome.

Peace, The real Jesus was probably extremely dark skinned. The Christian Bible says that he and his family fled to Egypt to escape death, since they would intermix with the Egyptians and avoid being killed... As history states, this was BEFORE the complete colonization of Europeans into Egypt, and most of the Egyptian people were EXTREMELY DARK, and they called themselves "Kemites" (citizens of Kemet). In order for Jesus to intermix with them, he and his family would've had to have been extremely dark too, or they would've been easily recognized and identified (a white family among an entire country full of black people), and he would've been killed by the Roman emperor... That's just one example of how the Bible implies that Jesus was definately not white, but he was black skinned, certainly darker than the Egyptians of today. Today's Ashkenazic Jews don't even bear a resemblance to Jesus... Whatever colour he was, he was certainly not a white European or anything like it.

I could go on and on about the miracles of the Quran 365 times "Day" is mentioned, etc. in the Quran. The New Testament is 100% man-made, the whole Bible is ptobably man-made, it is partly racist, sexist, contradictory at some points, etc etc. Well yes it is sexist in places, but so was the Torah which much of it is based on, and it is contradictory in places too especially between the two testaments, but the message is the important thing.