yah... they mesh perfectly if kept IN CONTEXT.

This also refers to back to my original post. The idea of the God, of the Hebrew and Christian faith, as anything limited or encumbered by form and shape is an attempt to 'define' that which can not be conceived.

Even the idea that the God of these faiths would communicate to a human, and that such communication could be translated into the extremely limited nature of language, only serves to add to the distorted views of God as a personage, persoanlity, being.

If you are looking for similarities and differences between religions and their deities, you will find them in the limitations that man has assigned to them.

Think about that! How does anyone come to 'view' their deity, if not for the 'descriptive' words of man. And what are the words of man? A tool to communicate on a basic level, that is limited to our knowledge, understanding and comprehension of this limited physical existence.

What are the similarities and differences - simply look for the adjectives in anyone's account of their particular deity. the rest is simply dictate of doctrine, designed for some ulterior moral directive.

When the Psalmist refers to Elokim (gods) in that context he is referring to Judges. In fact the whole Psalm 82 is referring to judges and their responsibility to carry out G-d’s fair justice.

The proper translation of the Psalm is as follows:

1. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; in the midst of judges, shall He judge.

6. I have said, You are angelic; and all of you are children of the most High.

“I have said, You are angelic. In this manner the Holy Spirit of G-d addresses itself to the judges of the realm (Alshich):

You, the honest judge who represents the Will of G-d on earth, are called Elokim (Exodus 22:8), just as the angels and celestial bodies who perform G-d’s Will are called Elokim. All of you are selfless agents of the Almighty. Your sole concern is to ensure that G-d’s world runs smoothly (Radak).”

End of Quote.

You can see an indisputable use of the term Elokim to refer to judges in Exodus 22:8:

“For every item of liability – whether an ox, a donkey, a sheep, or a garment – regarding any lost item about which he says, “This is it!” to the court (Elokim) shall come both their claims. Whomever the court (Elokim) finds guilty shall pay double to his fellow.”

There is no question that we are limited in our ability to describe and understand G-d. However that does not preclude G-d from contacting us and giving us instructions about life and morality.

It would be kind of strange for G-d to create the world and not give us an operating manual. I bet you would be pretty upset if you got a new computer without an operating manual.

Do you really believe that we as a human race don’t need guidance? Take a look at the last few thousand years and how humans have treated each other. We desperately need morality and the notion of love, charity and kindness to be instructed to us.

In fact if you look at how the United States – the most advanced civilization that ever existed (as far as equality, freedom, charity etc) – was founded, you will see that it is based on the moral principles of the Bible.

Apparently what words are given are not up to the challenge of an equitable moral instruction guide. As you say, for over 5,000 years the words of God have made little differnce, except to create ever greater animosity in the world.

Like many others, you seem to believe that morals are a direct reflection of biblical teachings. The Jewish and Christian faiths do not corner the market on morality. In fact, I find much higher morals attributed to other religions and very often to the atheists.

Also, the principals on which this country rests were not created using the bible as a moral compass. They were created by men whose past oppresions, under the rule of other dictators, gave them reason to create a more ethical society, not a more Christian one. The very idea that Christian motives underlie the foundations of this country would be in direct conflict with the 'high' ethical standards on which it was actually created.

At any rate, this all strays from the topic at hand.

My posting to the OP was to indicate how deities take on 'human' characteristics, because creating a deity that a human can relate to is important to 'maintaining' a religion.

If 'faith' was, in fact, strictly an individual believe there would be little need for any great amount of 'written' language to describe it. It is only doctrine that creates the need for such "User Guides". And it is doctrine that causes the problems and differences in opinion as relates to 'morals' and thus social behavior or misbehavior.

Hey a God just has to be God, God could not live with another God. Just not enough room in all the heavens. Seems to me if there was more than one, then we could multiply our confusion on these matters by the number of Gods there is.

Can we have a god bob, like an apple bob?

Bob for gods?


To me and my view, all this speculating is really just expectorating.

Looking back, trying to figure out the future using an outdated, chauvinistically written rule book that was good for the hee bee gee bee scaremongers of the time.... bet they are giggling in their socks if they can see the ruckus they caused....shirt tailed infamy..

If you believe in Bobs salvation go right ahead, maybe itll make you a happier person?

Agreed. I laugh at free will to be honest, in reality it all leads to the same fate, death. Whats freewill honestly?

A happier person??? How much happier am I supposed to get?

Unbridled, unfettered, unbound...no set of confining restraints, no need for righteous indignation, of a storybook ending to uphold....

How much happier can a person be?

Depends on what standards you have for yourself i suppose would factor how happy you are.

Doesnt sound very happy to me: //////Looking back, trying to figure out the future using an outdated, chauvinistically written rule book that was good for the hee bee gee bee scaremongers of the time.... bet they are giggling in their socks if they can see the ruckus they caused....shirt tailed infamy.. ////

Ahh story-book. Well seems all our storys have the same fate, but we have free-will. hmm, death is my prediction, care to prove my 'prediction' wrong .. at least my story has a happy ending

Your 20 years old....what would you know of death?

Have you watched the last breath, tried to bring back a drowned baby, watched someone incinerate and not a damned thing you can do, have you sat with your mother and father, as they pass on, held an Indigenous woman, and sang to her the story of her past, sang her into the spirit world?

Have you done any of these things?

How much death have you held in your hands?

Then I have nothing to prove, I've walked with death myself, a very close and intimate relationship, with body just a dream...

Have you?

Want to know what awaits you?

Was that Kalamazoo I saw zipping off stage left???

Funny thing posting like a demon all over the site, then whooshka...

Hopefully he has gone to get his storybook.

The Lord's name is mentioned at least twice in the Emancipation Proclamation and also several times in the Declaration of Independence and also on our money it says "In God we Trust". So yea I would say our nation was built on a christian foundation. Too bad the government is trying to stamp out christianity now, just read the bible to find out what has happened to other nations thru-out history that turned away from God. It wont be a pleasant experience.

Good morning Miller Actually, if you study the founding of our country and the history of putting together our form of government, you will find that this country was not built on a christian foundation, but a humanist foundation. There was a great belief in God, but they were not referring to necessarily a Christian God, nor Muslim, Jewish nor any other particular faith. One of the great foundations of this country is religious freedom, not just freedom for Christians. Our founders deliberately separate church and state, which is what they still attempt to do. They are not trying to "stamp out Christianity," just keep the two (church and state) separated. And, if you look at the situation in the Middle East and many other parts of the world who are ruled by their major religion, you will understand why they felt this was necessary.

I hope you don't take offense to what I just said. I respect everyone's viewpoints but just felt that some historical facts needed a little further clarification.

We have to sleep once in a while........

Death i have experienced little however i dont evade the inevitable. WE all will experience such a fate, free-will though? Mine however continues a little longer beyond death, eternal life. hmm. You have walked with death, this i have done as well in many instances where i should have been killed, yet i still live today, part of my testimony. Age doesnt determine experiences however i just experienced mine at a very young and rare age. Only person you have to prove is you

When I reached 20 I had seen more death than I care to remember, including my own. Such stereotypes are absurd, experiance isn't about age it's about, well experiance. Just a thought;^]

indeed maybe their sterotypes are comming through personal experiences?

Heh, it's just like those people who critisize teen writers saying "what do they have to write about?", some teens have more to write about than the critics. I think it's just another way to take away the youths opinions, a sad thing indeed;^]