Thank you for that. I hope you don’t believe I am criticizing how AlanG perceived God because I don’t believe he has a perception of God. If he at least did try to form a positive perception of God, then he might just get a glimpse of how everything is connected and works for good. Not to mention the peace that brings.Saying there can be no God because there are multiple religions is an argument of a twelve year old.There is no better logic than that. Everything I've learned since then only confirms it.But you’re not 12 anymore. Do you have better logic now that you can share?If there was only one God, why did he allow so many contradictory religions? (Hey I was only 12.)
I have since studied religion and formed my own thoughts on their history and evolution. All that always leads me back to believe I don't know anything about any god and nobody else does either.
It is your perception of God that is in error. If you go looking for the wrong thing you will never find the right thing.
Saying that there is only one true religion limits God, because either He is everything or He is nothing. Like I said further up the thread, I personally believe that all religions are just one facet of the multiple faceted being that is God. And, just like no 2 people can ever see the same rainbow, no 2 people ever know God in the same way. The way one person perceives God is much different than what another person perceives Him as, even if they go to the same church.
And, I can kinda understand Alan's confusion. I was orphaned at 8, and lived in foster families until I ran away at 17 to live with my Grandparents. During that time I was exposed to Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist and Mormon belief systems, and each time, I was told that the people I'd just left didn't believe in God in the right way, so I needed to believe as the current family I was living with did. Pretty heavy trip for a kid.
And, that confusion lasted until my 30's, when I met a dude named Owen who told me that my confusion and irritation was understandable, but if I looked for the similarities rather than the differences in each religion, I'd get a lot further.
That is one of the reasons I believe the multi faceted approach that I do. Jewish and Taoist beliefs are remarkably similar, and the same things that Jesus taught, so did Buddha.