Is God as real as a rock

[Blastcat]

Hi gang...

I couldn't resist.
First it was a hamster, and now it's a rock.

I come up with the most serious topics, I think.

In any case, I am seriously hijacking this thread with the question
ref:Is%20%E2%80%9CSatan%E2%80%9D%20actually%20a%20competing%20%E2%80%9Cgod%E2%80%9D?

... so I will ask it here:

Is God as real as a rock?
Now... It's actually a serious question, so try to bear with me.
First, I have to define a few terms.

What is REAL?

I use the standard Oxford dictionary definition:

"Actually existing as a thing or occurring in fact; not imagined or supposed: Julius Caesar was a real person; her many illnesses, real and imaginary"

If that's not acceptable, fine. Lets see what we can iron out.

NEXT.. since it seems to be pertinent, the word "SPIRITUAL".

Oxford again:

"Relating to or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things: I’m responsible for his spiritual welfare"

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/defin ... /spiritual

Ok, and just to be clear, I'm going to start off by saying that rocks are more real than God.

Have fun.

[Blastcat]

[Replying to post 9 by Yahu]

I don't have a position. There is no correct answer. Is Yah real to me? Absolutely. Can I show that to you like I can show you a rock? No

And that was exactly NOT the question.

The question is..

Is God as real as a rock? is the question.

[Blastcat]

[Replying to post 9 by Yahu]

"Some people have views of God that are so broad and flexible that it is inevitable that they will find God wherever they look for him. One hears it said that ‘God is the ultimate’ or ‘God is our better nature’ or ‘God is the universe.’ Of course, like any other word, the word ‘God’ can be given any meaning we like. If you want to say that ‘God is energy,’ then you can find God in a lump of coal."

Even a lump of coal can be God.

A rock can be God. Rocks are tangible objects in the physical world. Most theists don't call "God" something physical.

Lumps of coal are more real than any god.

[PghPanther]

[Replying to post 9 by Yahu]

I don't have a position. There is no correct answer. Is Yah real to me? Absolutely. Can I show that to you like I can show you a rock? No

And that was exactly NOT the question.

The question is..

Is God as real as a rock? is the question.

What is reality?.......

.as we used to yell out in auditorium programs in junior high school.....hehe

Well, for me we may never know an ultimate reality because we just might be in one layer of that reality inside another and so on...........but I really like how the process of science leverages a method that results in working models of consistency and predictability within the reality as we best can know it at this time.

With that as my guild I can create models with experiments with rocks to demonstrate their part of this reality................but I can't even get a good definition of spiritual let alone a working model of it within reality.

so God and rocks?...................the rocks are here but we can't but the former seems to be a imagined idea for the unexplained more often than not.

[Blastcat]

[Replying to post 13 by PghPanther]

I don't have a position. There is no correct answer. Is Yah real to me? Absolutely. Can I show that to you like I can show you a rock? No

And that was exactly NOT the question.

The question is..

Is God as real as a rock? is the question.

What is reality?.......

.as we used to yell out in auditorium programs in junior high school.....hehe

Well, for me we may never know an ultimate reality because we just might be in one layer of that reality inside another and so on...........but I really like how the process of science leverages a method that results in working models of consistency and predictability within the reality as we best can know it at this time.

I noticed that you jumped from "reality" to "Ultimate reality". I think there's a difference?
I would make a case that we have a pretty good idea of what reality is... that OTHER THING.. that ultimate thing... I have NO idea of. To me, it's a hyperbolic pipe dream.

With that as my guild I can create models with experiments with rocks to demonstrate their part of this reality................but I can't even get a good definition of spiritual let alone a working model of it within reality.

Meh, I think it's a trivial task to come up with a definition of "spiritual" that makes sense. I use the word all the time, but of course, I never ever mean anything supernatural by it. What gets under my skin is that some religious people think that THEIR concept of the spiritual is better than mine. To which, I say "NO".

so God and rocks?...................the rocks are here but we can't but the former seems to be a imagined idea for the unexplained more often than not.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I use the word God... and the feeling that comes from contemplating what might be that I have no idea about... I can call "spiritual". Religious people don't own words. They might think that I blaspheme by using the words, but that's just too bad.

I give odds for Rock vs God as 2:1.
It's too bad the Christians seem to have all gone away to Jesus camp or something....

[PghPanther]

[Replying to Blastcat]

layers in ultimate reality........what I mean is that the idea of a multiverse could be the next layer beyond what we think is our universe as the end all of space/time.......

and maybe that is not all either..........who knows if it is even there but nothing wrong with search through the scientific method.

Same in the other direction.........are their really dimensions curled up and hidden at a quantum level?...........and what is inside the space of those dimensions?..............other universes?

Crazy contemplation and I like staying with what we know as reality but science can continue to probe and maybe make progress in areas that were once left only to philosophy.......

[Blastcat]

[Replying to post 15 by PghPanther]

layers in ultimate reality........what I mean is that the idea of a multiverse could be the next layer beyond what we think is our universe as the end all of space/time.......

and maybe that is not all either..........who knows if it is even there but nothing wrong with search through the scientific method.

Same in the other direction.........are their really dimensions curled up and hidden at a quantum level?...........and what is inside the space of those dimensions?..............other universes?

Crazy contemplation and I like staying with what we know as reality but science can continue to probe and maybe make progress in areas that were once left only to philosophy.......

Ah... I think I understand... maybe.

I keep thinking of what we CALL reality.... as in epistemology. Not the many hypotheses we have for what we don't yet know about.

I take the world around me to be real, oddly enough, even though I don't know much about it. You seem to be talking about what our reality is MADE of.. or something like that. Two different approaches?