God is a construct of humanity. Any evidence to the contrary will be considered. Please post such below:
1.
Hi Wry Catcher and Dante: I have an idea.
I am willing to be on a defense team with PC
if you two will be on the skeptic team.
Can we work out as much as possible here, with other people
chiming or chipping in to help us focus.
And then when we know which points we are really
stuck on, then we can take that into the BR and have
2 on 2? Can we try that?
here is my response to WC:
REGARDLESS if you see God as reflected in man
or you see man as making up representations of God
I want to show how there ARE universal patterns in
the representations of God, so these reflect the
same thing (no matter which one is creating
or reflecting the other, whether God or man is the source)
The root patterns of human nature
are body/mind/spirit and these
three levels: individual, collective,
and relationship between individual and collective
are reflected in ALL systems of laws, religion,
philosophy etc. that attempt to represent human relations.
Below are some examples that show this repeat pattern:
==========
If God is three: collective level of "heavenly Father",
the earthly level of the "Holy Spirit" or healing grace uniting humanity in peace,
and the level joining these two as the "Son of God or Jesus"
as the Laws of Justice or Authority EMBODIED by conscience
then you can see how all systems "made by man"
reflect this same pattern, from top to bottom or bottom to top
TAOISM: spirit/mind/body
PSYCHOLOGY: superego/ego/id
BUDDHISM: Buddha/Dharma/Sangha
CONFUCIAN: Jen/Yi/Li
(Supreme Virtue or Highest Good = JEN
Highest Principle Embodied in Man = YI
Outward expression of highest moral standards = LI)
CONSTITUTIONALISM: Judicial/Legislative/Executive
etc.
Basically, man or human nature is body/mind/spirit
the INDIVIDUAL human level of empirical experience
the COLLECTIVE level of all society and all humanity combined
and the JOINING level of relations with others by CONSCIENCE
So collectively these 3 levels
are also symbolized by
God the heavenly father (love of universal truth on a collective spiritual level)
Jesus the Son of God (love of equal justice, level of laws or conscience joining
individual man with collective humanity spirituality or global society)
Holy Spirit (love of humanity, in our relationships that collectively
become all of society and all humanity united as one family in harmony)
So REGARDLESS if you are theistic or nontheistic/secular,
you are free to say that MAN made up all these systems
from Constitutional Laws to Christianity to Buddhism.
But you can STILL see the similarities that the same themes
are EMBEDDED in each of these systems, so that human nature is
universal and just expressed in diverse ways
that still follow the same 3-part patterns.
All these systems of laws were culturally different,
some completely developed independently of each other,
while Constitutional structures were influenced by Christian
followers and principles, but Buddhism came 600 years before
and was independent physically. I am saying spiritually it is
still connected and it shows in the patterns of structure.
So that is how I understand that all these systems were
inspired by the same source that they attempt to describe,
whether you call that "human nature" or God as the creator of nature.
Even the Unitarian Universalists who rejected the Trinity
have this in their principles:
1. free and responsible search for TRUTH and meaning
2. respect for CONSCIENCE and the democratic process
3. goal of world COMMUNITY and interconnected relations
Love of Universal Truth
Love of Justice or equal protection under law
Love of Humanity and World Peace in human relations
The same three levels expressed in different aspects or focuses.
God as love, truth or Wisdom as in Buddhism.
God as life or creation or the universe in secular terms.
The expressions can differ from an impersonal view of
the creation as the universe to a personified view of God as a Creator.
But these are either coming from the same source
or trying to describe the same 3 levels of human nature and experience in life.
=======================
Wrycatcher are you okay using this as a premise
that it is POSSIBLE for people to AGREE that
whether man made God or God made man
that our SYSTEMS can be aligned to
agree on common principles so we can
make peace and work together as one
society as one human family independent of our religious backgrounds?
Also, where people CANNOT agree these align
can we agree to debate if the factor of FORGIVENESS
is the key and not one religion being more right
than others, but whether people of different
religious or political views agree to FORGIVE each other's
alliances or differences and AGREE to work together
on points or principles of agreement?
So it's forgiveness that is the factor
and this would allow anyone of any
group to work with anyone else
as long as they can forgive their
issues, differences or conflicts.