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I am religious and believe in free will

71 (27.7%)

I am religious and do not believe in free will

10 (3.9%)

I am not religious and believe in free will

114 (44.5%)

I am not religious and do not believe in free will

61 (23.8%)

Total Members Voted: 251

[Bohandas]

In the Old Testament, the average Jew could only communicate with God via a priest. The idea carries over to the New Testament, and the commonly held interpretation is that Jesus serves as the priest. We don't communicate with God directly but rather to Christ who then passes it on, so to speak.

Doesn't that interpretation assume non-trinitarianism?

EDIT:

who generally find it weird and possibly heretical that Catholics pray to anyone other than Jesus and God

Same question

[origamiscienceguy]

I think that it is more of a formality, or a way to thank Jesus. I personally pray to either one of them.

[Orange Wizard]

In the Old Testament, the average Jew could only communicate with God via a priest. The idea carries over to the New Testament, and the commonly held interpretation is that Jesus serves as the priest. We don't communicate with God directly but rather to Christ who then passes it on, so to speak.

Doesn't that interpretation assume non-trinitarianism?

Not really (although personally I'm sceptical of it). The Trinity is composed of three distinct entities, it's reasonable to assume they can act independently and communicate.

[origamiscienceguy]

we know that they communicate with each other. There are several instances where this happens in the bible.

[TD1]

If modern psychologists got their hands on god, I wonder if they'd call him schizophrenic.

[Orange Wizard]

Probably not.

Despite the origin of the term, from Greek skhizein, meaning "to split", and phrēn, meaning "mind", schizophrenia does not imply a "split personality" or "multiple personality disorder" — a condition with which it is often confused in public perception.[1] Rather, the term means a "splitting of mental functions", reflecting the presentation of the illness.[2]

[TD1]

Or maybe he would be...

false beliefs, unclear or confused thinking

Still, you know what I meant. Would they say he had multiple personality disorder?

[Orange Wizard]

Possibly? "God" is a bit of a tricky concept. In terms of Trinity doctrine, God is composed of the three persons, each of whom are God in their own right, but but exist as God alongside the other two.
There's also the matter of the... Covenant of the Trinity, or something like that, which is the theological term used to describe the idea that all three persons of the Trinity are always in perfect agreement, making any sort of disagreement an impossibility. So although the personalities are distinct, they also agree with one another. Somehow.
So in the sense of having multiple personalities, sure, but God isn't human. He's a... thing... that is beyond mortal ken. Like if Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey all fused together into Super-Emperator (and didn't keep trying to murder each other). It's kind of hard to diagnose Super-Emperator with personality disorders.

[scrdest]

Possibly? "God" is a bit of a tricky concept. In terms of Trinity doctrine, God is composed of the three persons, each of whom are God in their own right, but but exist as God alongside the other two.
There's also the matter of the... Covenant of the Trinity, or something like that, which is the theological term used to describe the idea that all three persons of the Trinity are always in perfect agreement, making any sort of disagreement an impossibility. So although the personalities are distinct, they also agree with one another. Somehow.
So in the sense of having multiple personalities, sure, but God isn't human. He's a... thing... that is beyond mortal ken. Like if Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey all fused together into Super-Emperator (and didn't keep trying to murder each other). It's kind of hard to diagnose Super-Emperator with personality disorders.

Wait...

God is composed of three elements, each of which is God.

Holy shit, God is fractal.

[TD1]

The Super-Emperator (gotta love the term) is composed of beings that were developed separately, had separate stems as it were. God has one stem, and is one being, but has different facets. He is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that is in accord - that they agree, and must agree, is moot. They're still different. Even if Dr. Jekyll were to come round and decide killing people is fun, he would still be interested in science. Mr. Hyde would still be interested in the physical nature of simply killing. Both in the same body, striving towards the same goal, but different methodology and thought processes.

Of course, this is blatant anthropomorphism, but let's face it, the only way we know God is by expressing him in human terms. He "loves" us, he is "wrathful" and so on.

[Orange Wizard]

Yeah, Super-Emperator is a poor analogy, but I wanted an excuse to say Super-Emperator.

Super-Emperator.

...

Holy shit, God is fractal.

Next up: Jesus is composed of three elements: Prophet, Priest, and King.

[TD1]

And each of those has three main aspects, from sensational prophet to humble king. And each of those is made up of three main aspects, from...

[origamiscienceguy]

The trinity doctrine says that there is one God who exists as three persons. Each of them is not the other, yet they are all God.

The best example I can think of is a marriage. A man and a women are not each other, but each are part of one flesh.

[TD1]

Part of one flesh? I know many people who would disagree. Myself included. I may have exceedingly strong feelings for my dog, but that doesn't make us "one flesh."

Anyway, that picture doesn't make sense to me. If the son is God, and God is the Holy Spirit, then it is illogical to say that the son is not the Holy Spirit. Given they're both God, and God is both, the son is the holy spirit.

[Arx]

Part of one flesh? I know many people who would disagree. Myself included. I may have exceedingly strong feelings for my dog, but that doesn't make us "one flesh."

You're not married to your dog.