rectub quote
..>>So why do people worship god knowing full well that he/she/it allows all this cruelty to go on. Afetr all, the beleivers would have you think that god is controling evrything on earth...<<

it appears to me that we confuse 'god' to be controling everything
when clearly god isnt about control

[to put it in a more reasonable context] are parents who create life controling their child by their genes

are they controling their child by enjoining their nature's into a new form as parents

no parent can but help affecting their child[if only by passing on their genetic weakness as well as their inherant personality and their own fears hopes ,strengths/weaknesses

god alone gives us each a part of his nature
then trusts us to figure it all out

knowing our bodies are much like automobiles ,being operated by immortal drivers ,

while our bodies can fail our[god given] spirits CANT

>>..and god is not held accountable...<<

what is for god to account?

he gives us life
then lets us drive it as we chose

why is god not given credit?

who dares to ask god to account
makes the misstake of judging god
by our own mortal; measure

>>..In fact, he is worshiped
and forgiven time and time again. Why?..<<

what is it to be woreshipped by children?
he asks not for our worse
he asks only we do our best

'that we love each other'
because it is we who are forgiven
time and time again
not he

what blame for him to gift you your life?

>..Can anyone explain why their so called god is exempt?..<<

how can god be egszempt?

do you not judge him here and now?
by what right you claim both egsemption
PLUS demand accountability

what has he to explain to thee?

who is even worse than deneying
his living loving creator
by putting mans [measure]
fear /blame]

upon true [infinite]credit

dont revile him who assures all of perpetual fearlesness
via this life incarnate gift's

the least of which
is yet reflective of much more than this mortal life

Poly/Boaz

Thank you for reading my link, now for the difficult part can you apply what you have learned to yourself?

My question regarding versions of bible was really a rhetorical one - no matter which version, god appears to be a childish megalomaniac in all. You forget I was educated in Christianity and attended church as a child. Quite frankly when I select a book for a reread the bible just doesn't make the grade.

UOG

No joy with: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/english-grammar-101-sentences-clauses-and-phrases/ ?

A shame, I might then be able to comprehend your prolific posts.

God is a non-entity because it's non-existent.

If I imagine a god for the sake of the discussion, then the God I imagine is made of the same stuff as our imagination, our dreams - except imaginations about beings remain forever trapped in our brain because they don't have the potency to materialise.

In short, I can relate to what Pericles said:
"Atheists already know that God is a mental construct, and can only exist in the minds of people who believe in it."

Think about it: all the gods that have ever existed throughout history are non-existent today simply because people stopped believing in them.
These gods didn't 'go' anywhere because they never existed.
Same with the gods some believe in today.

Neuroscience is well on its way to show that religion is merely a product of the brain.
And I wouldn't be surprised if after that, BigPharma would come up with a pill or potion to medicate religious zealotry.

Celivia,

Just because God is not an entity does not make Him a non-entity!
Just because God does not exist does not make Him non-existent.

It is quite possible to imagine a god, lots of them even, but whatever you can imagine cannot be God, just a figment of one's imagination.

God did not exist throughout history, or even ever existed, so your conclusions cannot refer to Him at all.

The word "religion" comes from "re-ligiare": re-bond, connect with God, so it has everything to do with us and our life, not with God. Even if religions are a product of the brain, what does it tell us about God? nothing!

Whether of the brain or otherwise, religions are not measured by their "correctness" or in-correctness, but whether (and to what extent) they bring us closer to God. Now this "closer to God" is quite perplexing and worth further discussion - we know what "closer" means in the physical world, but how can one get closer to ... not even "something". While this is meaningless, one can, however, as a pre-requisite, go further away from the world and drop one's attachments to it. This is one measurable criterion to tell whether a religion is working or not. Zealots do not seem to meet this criterion.

Oliver,
For us to understand concepts of the spiritual we use images of the physical. As others have stated the man on the right hand represents a position of power, an approved ambasador by God. Though I believe for us to say it is figurative does not represent the full meaning. For what is spiritual also has full expression in the physical - ie Jesus is held in the highest esteem by Christians.

Though many interpret heaven as spatial it is rather the image in the mind. Jesus was in God and God was in Jesus, makes Jesus the very expression of God in our world.

You could say of yourself "the spirit of your father or mother is somewhat expressed through you - you are their right hand man". It does not mean they are physically present or you stand at their right hand". But you could be their right hand in acomplishing their vision in some project. When you have sucessfully completed the vision you stand beside them as fully approved, otherwise you would be cast out of their presence as having failed their vision.

For those that see immagination as non-existent delude themselves. Every development of human reality started in the immagination. Suppose you immagine a world where humanity acts in harmony and demonstrates love and care for all persons - no war, no cruelty etc. Does that mean it is not a possible reality. To believe in it is more likley for it to be a reality than to pass it off as a non entity.

God is expressed in human reality by attitudes, actions, wisdom and insights of faith. There is a moral reality to our expression of God that is identified by our blessing or cursing.

Yuyutsu,
Steven asked, "However let's assume, for the sake of argument only, that such an entity exists. What sort of being would he / she / it be?
...
I am interested to see how other posters think about God."

Although Steven uses the word 'argument' in his question, I feel that the initial question was asked merely to find out everyone's individual thoughts about God.
I'm therefore not going to argue with anyone about what entity they think that God is; it's personal.

As a child I didn't like fairy tale books with illustrations.
I sometimes asked my parents to cover the illustrations before opening the book, or even to wrap the cover of the book if it was illustrated.
The illustrations were often totally different from my own imagination and I found this disappointing.
Illustrations tended to destroy my own idea of what the characters or beings in the story looked like.
Once I had seen 'someone else's' version of these characters, my own ones would cease to exist, and it felt like losing something.

The God you describe sounds much like the concept of nothingness, and if I have to imagine God for the sake of this discussion, I'd be quite happy to agree that God comes closest to the concept of nothingness.
It's something that nobody can quite grasp.

And if I'm wrong, I don't care one little bit.