"Ye Are Gods"

[Zen]

I was surfing the web a couple days ago, and I came across an interesting site, which took quotes from Buddhism and the bible of Christianity, and used them to explain the human potential. From the bible the quote that stuck out was Jesus saying to his apostles, "Ye are Gods." Which is interesting because I had always thought the Christian faith to think of themselves as seperate to God. Now this also applies to bhuddism, because in says inherently that every life on earth is Buddha, that the only reason human beings fail to realize this is because they are clouded by delusions of duality and the idea that they are seperate beings from everything else.

The long short of this is that it humans are created in Gods image, more so than just in appearance but in every aspect imaginable, and therefore we are Gods ourselves. Because we made of God, and are apart of God, we are God.

What are your thoughts on this belief?

Peace~

[cutthecashflow]

I beleive in one god.

There shall be no other gods besides me.

You shall not have false gods.

The way I was brought up I guess. Some might call it brainwashing to an extent.

[Zen]

So you believe yourself to be a god? or that we are merely representations of the one true god?

Peace~

[Dr. Greenthumb]

i believe in one God and i believe that he created all man in his image with an unimaginable potential but i dont think he created man to be his own God. I'm not to familiar with buddhust beliefs but i think they're misenterpreting the that verse in the Bible to cater to there beliefs but then again there has always been conflicts in how people interpret Scripture.

[Mr Rotten Treats]

I think man has been mistakenly seeing himself as God.

[Zen]

I think that it's mans delusion that he doesn't think of himself as god, or part of god. In this way he allows other people to rise above him and claim a higher position of power. No King or President is any more important or significant or powerful than any individual bum or peddlar on the streets. We are all equals, and we are all equally god-like.

It's when one man or woman believs him/herself SOLELY to be a god that problems start to arise.

I've come to think or believe possibly that reality is merely an illusion created by god to give us the feeling of seperation, and that life is just the process of seperation and reintegration. We spend all of our lives looking for that something to fill that unexplainable void. Those desires taht we must sate but have no reason as to why we must do what we must in order to fulfill those desires.

In addition to that stream of thought, the human body can be likened to it's own microcosm of things much bigger than itself. Like the human body is it's own earth/universe. Looking at things that way we are technically the gods of our own bodies, or our own microcosmos.

Humans have an unlimited potential, much like God has unlimited power, but only because God realizes his potential. Humans trap themselves within ideas like fear and lethargy. It's chains like this that prevent us from seeing our true nature, and these same chains in which other people use to control their fellow man, and elevate themselves to a position of power. This isn't right, but essentially these "lesser" people are letting themselves be driven into this position, because they lack a sense of their own potential and continually look outside of themselves for an answer or lifepreserve when the reality of such situations is that the solution is within themselves.

Peace~

[weedguru_animal]

I just don’t see any reason for all humans to be as Gods. Not every single one of them. Some, maybe. Alexander the Great...Attila the Hun....Genghis Kahn...all are what I would consider humans with godliness or above -human abilities/talents... So perhaps some humans have more divine powers, whether they are aware of them (the powers) or not is a different matter entirely...
I don’t think of myself as been a God and I don’t think of any 'god' figure I believe in would necessarily be in any way human--like. He/she/it might just as reasonably be expected to be a dolphin or a whale or a bird...

If god made the world and all creatures great and small, what makes you think that humans are the nearest creature to God???You see if I have a problem with that issue, which I do, then I’m not well placed to offer judgements/opinions of whether I feel that Humans have God in themselves...

Some of the power of creation, yes we all have that in ourselves(as does all living things), and maybe I cant easily distinguish a much bigger version of the little bit of creation-like energy, from other peoples ideas of GOD..

BUT I do think for sue that humans have various abilities which we just don’t know about or are able to use...Only modern history teaches us that we have only 5 senses..For centuries before the industrial revolution civilization believed in much more inre: religion/spirituality/and importantly in the ability of humanity to connect with divine powers...

Yes for sure these beliefs are still wide held, they are definitely not as wide held as they used to be...
In short humans in the west have been taught that life is nothing more than consumption/production and self gratification...

But if there is a god like creature on earth I don’t think it’s human. But yeh I think of this connection of LIFE between all living things, and any GOD(IMO), would be in control of this massive pool of LIFE energy or the combined ENERGIES for all LIFE rolled into one superbeing..

[Darth Inhaler]

I'd like to see this verse "Ye are Gods"
I want to see where it is in the bible and what other verses are around it. We can't make a judgment off one verse that could be in a huge paragraph explaining it.

[Dr. Greenthumb]

he wasnt saying that it was a verse in the Bible, he was refering to the verse where God said that he created man in his image.

[Zen]

http://www.bartleby.com/108/43/10.html#34

http://www.bartleby.com/108/19/82.html

Both these passages mention it. It might be in more places, I didn't look to much more once Ifind them.

But anyways... I don't think one can say that humankind would be the only form qualified to be a sort of God manifest. I think it would make more sense to realize that everything physicial and material on this world, living, breahting, or not, is a God manifest. As if the universe was one giant canvas, and everything in this universe is a brushstroke made by the creator. The only difference with humans than animals lets say, is that we were given the potential to realize that we can hold paintbrushes ourselves. Alexander the Great and Ghengis Khan were great men, but the only reason for their greatness is because they believed in themselves, which I believe all "Being a God" is really. Many people believe in God, but when that God becomes part of the self, then people start believing in themselves and amazing things become possible.

I'm sure this is clear already but I'll reiterate... when I say God, I'm not talking about Jesus Sr. sitting up on a cloud in his flowing robes tallying the good and bad you've done in this world.... NO. That's not what it is in my eyes. God is simply the easiest way of putting into comprhension. The Chinese call this force Mu. Which means nothing, but everything as well. In my references to God I refer to that invisibile force, the universal synchronicity, the reasoning behind a parting cloud, a leaf in the wind, random things that happen, and the simple progression of time even. It's a hard concept to comprehend.

But to put a scientific spin on things, if everyone believes in the fact that stars eventually implode and destroy the solar system they're part of in the process, then explanation might come simpler. When this happens, there is left a nebula pf stardust and left over junk. After many years this stardust starts to collect and densifiy. This leads gradually to the creation of a new star, and from this star spring forth planets in orbit around it. Eventually life came to the 3rd rock from the sun and it was formed from the same particles created during the last supernova. Now if you consider God to be that nothing-force you could see how everything in creation would be representing that force. It's hard to get a definite handle on why people owuld look the way they do or choose the things they do, or why there would be any humanity noticeable at all in these representations, because it is a very cold explanation without any room for spirituality.

If we are all technically children of God, we should be able to develop the same powers and wisdom and capabilities that God too possesses. I guess that could be scary, but it would be really positive as well. Much good and bad would come from a massive global realization but perhaps it's inevitable in the near future. And perhaps it won't be so bad after all, because once life realizes itself as Gods there won't be anyone way for someone to be greater or lesser than anyone else.

Well I'm sure non of that made sense haha so

Peace~

[Dr. Greenthumb]

In the Christian belief when you accept salvation the Holy Spirit dwells in your this might be what they mean about God being within us.

[Zen]

And what does salvation and the possession of the Holy Spirit within oneself mean to you exactly Doc?

Peace~

[Dr. Greenthumb]

to me it means that i have someone looking out for me and protecting me from certain situations out of my control. it also makes me feel that i have someone to pray to someone that listens to me when no one else is around.