Musings About God

Just some thoughts and looking into my own brain about God and religion in my current mindset.

 

For every religion there are billions who do not adhere it to it. Yet many of these religions claim simultaneously that their idea of God is loving, yet will punish those who do not adhere to it. It would appear to me that the True God has not designed the universe in a way that expects humanity to adhere to a single set of beliefs amoung many sets that are mutually exclusive. If the idea of an exclusive God presented in these religions is the correct one, wouldn't you expect that the choice would be more clearly presented? It is almost by chance that adherents of religions adhere to the religion that they do. In my view, a Sovereign God, and the one that I believe to exist, would not make the "one true path" to him so obscure as the main organized religons present. He would not make the path something that so many people would be deterred from, using their God-given reason.

Many say, if you don't subscribe to any organized religion, why believe in God at all? How can one arrive at the conclusion that God exists using reason? This is a good question, and belief in God does require some degree of faith in something beyond simply reason. Of the classic "proofs of God" the cosmological arguement is my personal favorite. When one thinks about it, there indeed needs to be an uncaused cause of everything. Some time ago the counter to the cosmological arguement would have been "If God is uncaused and eternal couldn't the universe simply have been uncaused and eternal?" This made sense prior to the development of the Big Bang Theory. The expansion of the universe suggests that traced backward through time, the universe began from a singularity and stretched outward. It is now commonly accepted that the universe did indeed have a beginning. The universe could not have been it's own uncaused cause so it would seem that something created the universe. Granted, this cause of the universe could be something else besides God, it could be a multiverse or some impersonal non-living force. However the beauty of Deism is that the power that created the universe doesn't have to be so clearly defined like those of organized religions. Perhaps the Creator is a mind made up of extradimensional membranes or string vibrations. I personally think that since the universe is so intricate in detail and beauty, that the Creator does indeed have a will and thought this whole thing called the universe out pretty well, on a level we could never hope to grasp.

The Eternal Friend

Some stream of conscious writing I did while at work (shh don't tell):

God was there in the beginning, God will be there in the end. Before the big bang, God was there. After the heat death of the universe, God will still be there. We can't know for certain where we will be after we reach the end of our lives. But I am comforted by the thought that I will be in God's hands. Whether theres a heaven in the traditional sense or not, I have faith that we will be in God's care. Enveloped in light, in intamacy with the one who knows our every experience and detail. God is the Infinite Eternal Mind. God is the Limitless. God is the Uncaused Cause of All and the One who Transcends Space and Time. God is sovereign over everything. Though God's intervention is limited, God is the designer of the universe, sovereign over every body, energy, law, and detail. God is the Eternal Friend.

Flirting with Deism

Today I've started venturing mentally into areas I never would have even considered a few years ago. I think I've reached a point where my doubts in the infallibility of the Bible have reached critical mass and now there is a major shift taking place. I've begun to strongly consider identifying as a Deist. I don't think I can believe any longer some of the stories in the Bible, as well as the core doctrine of God only being accessible through the death of Jesus. However I find myself unable to completely reject Christianity, so at the moment I guess I would identify as sort of a Christian Deist, bouncing back and forth.

Deism is appealing to me because of its mental freedom. There is no need to take prophets from thousands of years ago at their word, or faith in a massive collection of stories that cannot be proven. One is free to completely believe in science. I cannot drift over to Atheism however, as my faith and relationship with God is far too important. I would be free to believe in God based on reason, and not by complete faith in a story. I feel that my relationship with God would strengthen and deepen if I didn't have the mental and moral shackles that traditional Christianity requires. Although I don't want to leave Christianity, I am finding it more and more difficult to believe that God requires belief in a penal substitution to enter into a relationship with him/her/it.

I don't know. I have a hard time leaving Christianity behind out of fear of falling out of favor with God because I've made the wrong decsion. But my own logic and reason seem to be pointing me in the direction of Deism, I don't feel much compulsion from God to remain with Christianity. We'll see what happens.

Ark Banknote Details

Just so I can save something I put together.

5 ark note - Lowest denomination. Is gray colored and has the portrait of James Hanson on the front, early parliament member and founding father. The reverse has an image of the Theopanian oblesk. Anti-counterfeit measures include a watermark and overlayed watermarks in the left corner, and a holographic strip.

10 ark note - Commonly used denomination. Is yellow colored and has the portrait of Nestor Halas, the 4th Executive Paramount of Theopanias. The reverse has a Trinitary Falcon, the national bird. Anti-counterfeit measures include a watermark and overlayed watermarks in the left corner, and a holographic strip.

20 ark note - Most commonly used denomination by regular people. Is green and has the portrait of Ezekiel Hallas, a Theopanian author. The reverse has the Chamber of Governance, the meeting place of Parliament's lower house. Anti-counterfeiting measures included multiple watermarks, overlayed watermarks in left corner, security threads, a holographic strip, raised magnetic ink, infrared and ultraviolet ink, and others that aren't made public.

The increased measures from the lower denominations are due to the raised risk of the denomination being counterfeited.

50 ark note - Commonly used denomination in larger transactions. Is blue in color and has the portrait of Beth Johnston, a woman's rights activist in Theopanias. The reverse has the Executive Mansion. Anti-counterfeiting measures included multiple watermarks, overlayed watermarks in left corner, security threads, a holographic strip, raised magnetic ink, infrared and ultraviolet ink, and others that aren't made public.

100 ark note - Most printed denomination, though not the most used by the average person. Has the portrait of Caleb Porter on the obverse, the 17th Executive Paramount. The reverse has the Supreme Court of Theopanias. Anti-counterfeiting measures included multiple watermarks, overlayed watermarks in left corner, security threads, a holographic strip, raised magnetic ink, infrared and ultraviolet ink, and others that aren't made public.

1000 ark note - Large denomination note that makes up a significant portion of arks in circulation, though the note itself is uncommon for the average person, and they tend to be used by upper class, banks, and businesses. Is indigo colored, and the Obverse has the portrait of Sarah Neichman, the 3rd Executive Paramount and a founding mother of Theopanias. Anti-counterfeiting measures included multiple watermarks, overlayed watermarks in left corner, security threads, a holographic strip, raised magnetic ink, infrared and ultraviolet ink, and others that aren't made public. There have been motions to have this note and the 10000 ark note removed due to their very large value and risk of being counterfeited or used in illegal transactions. However the Central Bank maintains that these notes draw a lot of attention when used in large quantities and have sufficent anti-counterfeit measures to prevent counterfeiting, and maintain them as active denominations.

10000 ark note - The largest denomination note, making up a large portion of arks in circulation compared to other denominations, despite rarely if ever being seen by the average person due to it's large value. Is gold in color and has the portrait of Joseph Chatillion on the obverse, the 12th Executive Paramount. The reverse depicts the Chamber of Providence, the meeting place of the upper house of Parliament. Anti-counterfeiting measures included multiple watermarks, overlayed watermarks in left corner, security threads, a holographic strip, raised magnetic ink, infrared and ultraviolet ink, and others that aren't made public. It's value is extremely large for a banknote and is one of the most valuable circulating banknotes of any currency.

Giant and Titan Banknotes Revealed

A video popped up at banknotenews.com showing the 1 million and 100 million pound banknotes, the two most valuable banknotes in the world as far as face value is concerned.

Using the scan of the 1 million pound not that exists already, it was pretty easy to recreate the 100 million pound banknote, called the "titan".



One would probably expect the king of all valuable banknotes to have a bit more complicated of a design.  On the other hand, I guess they never leave the bank so there's no risk of it being counterfeited.

The Grand Account of Everything

Before the beginning of the universe there was God. God is and has always been the simple omnipresent and omnipotent higher power that transcends space and time. God is not its true name, and "He" is not a male, but those are the names and pronouns we use to identify "Him".

The existence before the universe is not known, but there may have possibly been many other, possibly infinite universes that were created by God and met their end. Lifeforms that entered into a relationship with God in those other universes might have been saved and exist now as what we call Angels.

14 billion years ago, God created the singularity that gave way to the Big Bang, and the laws that governed it and led it to where it is today. Much later, life evolved on Earth according to the laws of the universe that God had already calculated and put in place.

Yeshua, or Jesus as we call Him, is and was God in human form, as well as the Son of God, this relationship is not fully understood and likely goes beyond human understanding. Jesus was crucified by his own will in order to offer substitution of penalty for sins of all who believe in Him, as well as introduce humanity to the Holy Spirit, who transforms and purifies those who follow God.

In 100 trillion years, the universe will enter a state of complete entropy of energy and even the bonds that hold sub-atomic particles together will cease, and the universe will end in the Big Freeze.

Beyond that, those with fellowship with God will be ressurected safely in a permanent universe, or possibly the space between universes in the grand multiverse, either of which is God's realm or Heaven. Perhaps we will watch over future universes as we exist for eternity with God.