Month: March 2023

Gd as ordering force in the Universe

This subject came up during my introduction and it was suggested I start a thread on the subject.  2 months later and I finally got around to it, haha.  I was introduced to thinking of Gd as force rather than as entity as articulated by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan in various corners of the web. I suppose I latched onto the idea in an attempt to rectify the problem (as I see it) that evil poses for an omnipotent Gd, as a way of combatting my own propensity to anthropomorphize Gd (meaning, to me, to create Gd in my own image), and as a way to allow room for scientific discovery.

I suppose it needs to be said that I am no theologian, so bear with my clumsy ramblings 

Here is an essay and an article for everyone’s reading pleasure.  I’ve pulled out a few useful quotes just in case you’re short on time.  Hopefully these are enough to get the conversation started, but for a fuller context please read the complete pieces:

Mordecai M. Kaplan and Process Theology: Metaphysical and Pragmatic Perspectives

Mordecai M. Kaplan and Process Theology: Metaphysical and Pragmatic Perspectives

There is only one universe within which both man and God exist. The so-called laws of nature represent the manner of God’s immanent functioning. The element of creativity, which is not accounted for by the so-called laws of nature, and which points to the organic character of the universe or its life as a whole, gives us a clue to God’s transcendent functioning. God is not an identifiable being who stands outside the universe. God is the life of the universe, immanent insofar as each part acts upon every other, and transcendent insofar as the whole acts upon each part. (JC 316)

In strictly philosophical thought, the very notion of a personal being, especially when not associated with a physical body, is paradoxical. Nothing would, therefore, be lost if we substituted for that notion the one of process, which, at least with the aid of science, most of us find quite understandable. (FAJ 183)

God as Ordering Force of the Universe

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/god-as-ordering-force-of_b_1850510

A magnetic needle, hung on a thread or placed on a pivot, assumes of its own accord a position in which one end of the needle points north and the other south. So long as it is free to move about, all attempts to deflect it will not get away from its normal direction. Likewise, man normally veers in the direction of that which makes for the fulfillment of his destiny as a human being. That fact indicates the functioning of a cosmic Power which influences his behavior. What magnetism is to the magnetic needle, Godhood or God is to man.

So, how does everyone here conceive of ‘Gd’?  More as entity? More as force? More as a concept?

Curious to hear from diverse religious (and non-religious) beliefs.

Fusgeyer 5/03/2023

Visit thread: https://www.interfaith.org/community/threads/20550/

What attracts me to interfaith…

I think it is the variety of reasons people have faith. Their societal upbrings, their families belief, the culture they were raised in, how often they’ve been exposed to the world, their travels to other cultures/countries.

And then there is the Comfort level they have in their belief. It is like an old baby blanket it contains so much more than the fabric from which it was made. But it is a whole cloth, it is not just the fabric it is what the fabric means to them.

And the fact that my beliefs are not different, they are mine, they are what make me. I stand on them, I live in in them, in them I live and breathe and have my being. I walk in their midst as I strive to be all that I see that they are.

And then I take all that a step further and believe that others are similar, we all have Notions and our ego wants our Notions to be more right so if that’s not wrong for me, that’s not wrong for you either.

Love you all, and don’t wish my belief to harm your belief or your being

wil 7/03/2023

View Thread: https://www.interfaith.org/community/threads/20552/

The path to unity is our Oneness under One God

I see it must eventually be considered that Our Goal must be the Oneness as humanity, serving each other under One God.

There can be no other answer to all the ills that face a divided humanity, we are as the body of man and our elixir is the unity of all the parts working together.

For any unity to be lasting, there has to be purpose and a focus of mind and God has given us the source of our focus, the Messengers of God.


I see that each and every one of those Messengers have informed us where our focus and devotion must be centred, each Messenger in turn, pointing us to the creative force known by the many Names and Attributes of the One God.

The Bible tells us how we will eventually build God’s Kingdom on earth, as it already is in heaven. A harmony of Spiritual Virtues and Morality.

Zechariah 14:9 “And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one”.

The key to this unity is our ability to throw away all the predudices we have built, race predudices, gender predudices and religious predudices, predudices resulting from our attachment to a material world, above our ability to embrace the Oneness given of God via all the Messengers and the ‘Books’ (Word) they have given.

It can happen no other way. Embracing the Oneness of humanity with the knowledge we are guided by the One same God, the God of Noah, Abraham, Krishna, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, the Bab and Baha’u’llah.

The Lords prayer is offered at such times.

Matthew 6:9 “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Tony Bristow-Stagg 3/03/2023

Visit Thread: https://www.interfaith.org/community/threads/20549/#post-371095

Man? Humans? Pinacle of creation? LOL

“Before I was six years old, my grandparents and my mother had taught me that if all the green things that grow were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all the four-legged creatures were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all the winged creatures were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all our relatives who crawl and swim and live within the earth were taken away, there could be no life. But if all the human beings were taken away, life on earth would flourish. That is how insignificant we are.”
Russell Means, Oglala Lakota Nation (November 10, 1939 – October 22, 2012).

wil Jan 19, 2023

Visit Thread: https://www.interfaith.org/community/threads/20493/