Opinions and conclusions about Religion and God.

Have you checked out the Friends (Quakers) meetings? I've never been to one but I've known some people who did attended meetings and they told me a little about them. Sounded kind of nice actually. People sitting quietly and then sometimes someone had something to say and did so.Just a thought.lfen

It could be the community you are in. I live in a pretty liberal university town that offers a wide spectrum of acceptance and choice. You may have to wait to find the group you are seeking until you live where that group is. But maybe they are just keeping a low profile there. Best of luck.lfen

Oh, I just remembered you were looking for grad school and I believe considering some on the west coast? Have you considered the University of Oregon? or University of Washington? Eugene, Seattle, Portland are cities that offer wide ranges of liberal approaches to life.lfen

For folks used to lots of sunshine the first winter spent west of the Cascades can be a trial. Depression as a result of long stretches of grey days is not uncommon. On the other hand I like that the rain is warm and when the sun does break through it's an amazing delight.lfen

You like Scotland, then sounds like the Great Pacific Northwest country US or Canada might be a place you should aim to visit or live in for a spell. My biggest problem is that being adapted to this climate I die when the temperature goes over 80. I do best at about 60.lfen

Logic? History of religions shows to me that humans have come up with explanations of many things. A very common explanatory device for events both large scale like volcanic eruptions or very personal like illness or recoving from an illness was that some unseen or barely scene spirit or spirits were responsible. The surmises about these spirits can get very complex as do the experiences of them.That these experiences are functions of the human nervous system and thus the creation of the human brain is what seems logical to me.Decades ago I was struck by something B.F. Skinner wrote about dreaming. I'll have to paraphrase. He said something like this: It took primitive man a long to time to realize that when he dreamed about a wolf no wolf was present. It's taken a long time since to realize that not even a representation of a wolf is present. He was saying that dreaming involved the behaviour of seeing a wolf, no representation of a wolf is stored in the brain in the way that a photo album stores photographs.There doesn't have to be a god in order for people to believe or experience a God. There were, perhaps still are, people in England, Ireland, and elsewhere who claim to believe and even have seen fairies and little people. Would you claim that logic tells you that fairies and little people have to reveal themselves to man in order for man to know fairies and little people exist or know anything about fairies and little people?lfen

This becomes more complex when you figure in that we are dealing with the accounts of a good many people and not just Christian who have had the experience of meeting God. Or take as an example charismatic Christians who had some ecstatic experience brought about in a meeting where the excitement runs contagiously high. It's not like on meeting God you are handed a certificate validating the experience for any who would inquire.But perhaps you had a broader meaning for the word reveal. Would a child learning about God in Sunday school be an example of God revealing himself to that child? I ask because the child might give some correct answers by the Christian perspective that God exists and God is all Good.I seriously don't think "Logic tells you that God has to reveal himself to man in order for man to know God exists or know anything about God." I think most people have been told this and some people arrived at in a variety of others ways through imagination, dreams, hallucinations, philosophical deductions, etc.lfen

"You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone." --James 2:21-24"Ian,This is the statement that needs addressing. I read James as saying that faith is neccesary but not sufficient. That both doing AND faith are required. How do you read it?lfen