'God'/'Jesus' - Invisible/Imaginary Friends For Adults

[I AM ALL I AM]

Imaginary friend

Imaginary friends and imaginary companions are a psychological and social phenomenon where a friendship or other interpersonal relationship takes place in the imagination rather than external physical reality. Imaginary friends are fictional characters created for improvisational role-playing. They often have elaborate personalities and behaviors. They may seem real to their creators, though they are ultimately unreal, as shown by studies.

Imaginary friends are made often in childhood, sometimes in adolescence, and rarely in adulthood. They often function as tutelaries when played with by a child. They reveal, according to several theories of psychology, a child's anxieties, fears, goals and perceptions of the world through that child's conversations. They are, according to some children, physically indistinguishable from real people, while others say they see their imaginary friends only in their heads. There's even a third category of imaginary friend recognition: when the child doesn't see the imaginary friend at all, but can only feel his/her presence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginary_friend

G'day.

1. Are 'God' and 'Jesus' invisible/imaginary friends ? Please present your reasoning with your answer.

2. What difference is there between children with imaginary friends and adults that believe in 'God'/'Jesus' ? Please present your reasoning with your answer.

3. Should those that have invisible/imaginary friends be stopped from being in charge of countries and making decisions for the nation, including international relationships ? Please present your reasoning with your answer.

4. "Some child development professionals still believe that the presence of imaginary friends past early childhood signals a serious psychiatric disorder." Does a belief in invisible/imaginary friends as an adult show "a serious psychiatric disorder" ? Please present your reasoning with your answer.

5. Are those that do not have invisible/imaginary friends the ones with "a serious psychiatric disorder" ? Please present your reasoning with your answer.

[I AM ALL I AM]

Imaginary friend

Imaginary friends....

But if the friends were real..then the one who thought they were imaginary...would be insane.

G'day Earendil.

That's a mighty HUGE "if". Do you have any information that would change such musing from hypothetical to reality ?

[I AM ALL I AM]

Just because we don't hear anything, doesn't mean there's nothing to hear. Just because we don't see anything, doesn't mean there's nothing to see.

If a kid can see something I can't see, I think it would be rude to tell him it wasn't real.

G'day Crazee.

So, if a child informs you that 'Santa Claus' is real, because you don't "see" or "hear" 'Santa Claus', it would be rude of you to inform the chlld that 'Santa Claus' "wasn't real", even though it is the truth ?

And here I was thinking that lying to an individual would be rude.

[I AM ALL I AM]

But if the friends were real..then the one who thought they were imaginary...would be insane.

Giving the context dealt with imaginary friends. And it wouldn't make the person questioning them insane. It would make them wrong but not insane if a friend is provided as evidence to itself. And that really means establishing the reality of said friend in question and not relying on a Carl Sagan Dragon position / appeal to ignorance.

Ha ha...I understand you perfectly...but the original poster never considered the possibility. He _assumed_ only one viewpoint. So congrats on your seeing the appropriate question.

My response was merely to highlight the one-sidedness of the OP.

G'day Earendil.

It appears that you have "_assumed_" if I have ever considered something a possibility or not. For as far as I am aware, you are not privy to my thoughts UNLESS I specifically have informed you of them.

If you would like to present what you perceive of as "one-sidedness of the OP", I will address your issues.

[I AM ALL I AM]

For the author’s original question to be taken seriously, I submit he first must prove he is not a figment of our imaginations. How do I know I AM ALL I AM is not just a random source of computer code that accidently put a bunch of random words together on a computer that some how pooped these deep intellectual questions out.

A current photo holding today’s newspaper along with a driver’s license, social security number, or birth certificate will suffice. This information must also be able to be traced back to an IP address.

G'day Servant.

Interesting point of view, but does it have anything to do with the OP ?

I suggest that if you truly would like to find out whether I was real or not, then you can come and see me at 129a Kennedy Drive, Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia, 2444. For the resolution of your sub-mission is yours to resolve and not a requirement upon this forum, and therefore not upon this thread.

I submit to you, that to interact further with me upon this thread that you confine yourself to the topic of the OP instead of the topic of me.

[AdHoc]

G'day AdHoc.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein.

By Albert Einstein's definition of insanity, I think that the majority of the human population are insane. The unwillingness to accept new information that is contrary to their 'current set of information' (world-view, ideas, beliefs, etc), which would then engender a change to align their 'current set of information' with the new information (as it shows the 'current set of information' is incorrect), appears to me to be something that is not simply restricted to those that have invisible/imaginary friends (christians, muslims, jews, etc, etc).

How many times does it take banging your head against a wall to realise that you are going to keep getting the same results if you continue on with your actions ?

Likewise, how many years of non-appearance of 'Jesus'/'God' is it going to take before it is accepted that 'Jesus'/'God' is an invisible/imaginary friend?

Ahh... then by that definition yes most Christians would be insane.
Why are you so sure that Jesus and God are imaginary? When I read the questions you pose and the responses it feels like you have absolutely no doubt that Jesus and God are imaginary.

[TheJackelantern]

Ahh... then by that definition yes most Christians would be insane.

Or just psychologically and emotionally bound to the idea.. This alone doesn't make one insane.. Insanity creeps in when one starts becoming a fundamentalist and then an extremist..

[JoeyKnothead]

Ahh... then by that definition yes most Christians would be insane.

Or just psychologically and emotionally bound to the idea.. This alone doesn't make one insane.. Insanity creeps in when one starts becoming a fundamentalist and then an extremist..

Ah, but to the extremist, the fundamentalist is a moderate, and the moderate is the one who's gone insane.

[I AM ALL I AM]

G'day AdHoc.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein.

By Albert Einstein's definition of insanity, I think that the majority of the human population are insane. The unwillingness to accept new information that is contrary to their 'current set of information' (world-view, ideas, beliefs, etc), which would then engender a change to align their 'current set of information' with the new information (as it shows the 'current set of information' is incorrect), appears to me to be something that is not simply restricted to those that have invisible/imaginary friends (christians, muslims, jews, etc, etc).

How many times does it take banging your head against a wall to realise that you are going to keep getting the same results if you continue on with your actions ?

Likewise, how many years of non-appearance of 'Jesus'/'God' is it going to take before it is accepted that 'Jesus'/'God' is an invisible/imaginary friend?

Ahh... then by that definition yes most Christians would be insane.
Why are you so sure that Jesus and God are imaginary? When I read the questions you pose and the responses it feels like you have absolutely no doubt that Jesus and God are imaginary.

G'day AdHoc.

I "have absolutely no doubt" that the characters known of as 'Jesus'/'God', as represented in the bible mythological story, "are imaginary", based upon research, reasoning and logic.

There might actually be a 'Creator', well, nothing comes from nothing (something that I was told in science at school, and which my personal experience in life has not contradicted), so, logically, life must have come from something (hydrogen had to come from somewhere prior to any 'Big Bang'). What this 'Creator' is in a mental and physical sense, I have my own views about based upon personal life experience, though I do not attempt to impose such a view upon others or expect others to live their life from such a viewpoint.

That there are many that attempt to convince me that they KNOW who/what such a 'Creator' is, yet none have as of yet validated anything that they claim to KNOW ... this is especially so for me in regards to christianity (I was brought up in a 'christian family', live in a 'christian society' and have had numerous discussions with those of the 'christian faith').

So, instead of ](*,) , I prefer and therefore choose !!!

IF anyone can show me that the claims they make about 'Jesus'/'God' are actually valid, then I am willing to change my viewpoint to incorporate the new information into a new viewpoint for myself to live by.

UNTIL such is done ...

[I AM ALL I AM]

Ahh... then by that definition yes most Christians would be insane.

Or just psychologically and emotionally bound to the idea.. This alone doesn't make one insane.. Insanity creeps in when one starts becoming a fundamentalist and then an extremist..

G'day TheJacklantern.

Being "psychologically and emotionally bound to the idea" is only a defense for those that have never come into contact with contradictory viewpoints. After a certain point, the ritualistic behaviour can also be recognised as not functioning in the manner in which it is claimed by those in 'authority' (unanswered prayers, etc).

Personally, I think "Insanity creeps in" with the denial of information for the purpose of maintaining the belief that has been indoctrinated into the individual. That someone believes something does not make them insane. That someone denies evidence that points to their beliefs being based upon the imaginary makes them insane ... or, a denial of that which is obvious makes them insane.

[AdHoc]

I "have absolutely no doubt" that the characters known of as 'Jesus'/'God', as represented in the bible mythological story, "are imaginary", based upon research, reasoning and logic.

That's a pretty bold statement, do you care to share your research data?

There might actually be a 'Creator', well, nothing comes from nothing (something that I was told in science at school, and which my personal experience in life has not contradicted), so, logically, life must have come from something (hydrogen had to come from somewhere prior to any 'Big Bang'). What this 'Creator' is in a mental and physical sense, I have my own views about based upon personal life experience, though I do not attempt to impose such a view upon others or expect others to live their life from such a viewpoint.

Why does there have to be a creator? Couldn't matter organize into hyrdrogen atoms as the result of random collisions between multidimensional branes?

That there are many that attempt to convince me that they KNOW who/what such a 'Creator' is, yet none have as of yet validated anything that they claim to KNOW ... this is especially so for me in regards to christianity (I was brought up in a 'christian family', live in a 'christian society' and have had numerous discussions with those of the 'christian faith').

So, instead of ](*,) , I prefer and therefore choose !!!

IF anyone can show me that the claims they make about 'Jesus'/'God' are actually valid, then I am willing to change my viewpoint to incorporate the new information into a new viewpoint for myself to live by.

UNTIL such is done ...

This, as I am sure you are well aware, will never happen. If Jesus Christ exists the only proof would be found in your heart and not seen with your eyes.