Occam's Razor and God

[elts1956]

If there are specific pieces you’re having trouble getting your head around let me know and I’ll attempt further explanation.

While I do nor really think it is correct that God is energy, I think it can be a helpful metaphor, or analogy, to think of Him this way. But yes, He (and our souls) would definitely not be physical energy because that would place the limitations of being a physical being on God who is limitless. (Which is actually the same problem with the energy metaphor in general, but all metaphors break down at some point.)

Now this is an interesting question. For the Bible states that the law is written on our hearts and that God dwells within in us. (Sorry don’t have the verse references handy and I’m paraphrasing.) Which would seem to allude to the supposition that you are making. While extremely useful as an explanatory tool I do not think it is completely correct.

I think this longing to return to God is more a type of love that our soul has for it’s maker. As an analogy, think about the parental relationship of humans. What drives the person who was put up for adoption, or raised as an orphan, to look for their biological family when they are an adult? I think that this would be the same type of longing that we feel to return to God, but the longing for God is on a much deeper level. Some of these people do not actively look for their biological family, but they still long. (like an agnostic) Others of these people twist this longing into a hatred of their parents. (like an atheist bent on proving God does not exist) Why does this longing drive some people to search actively, others to simply long, and some to actively fight against it? Here is where your energy analogy comes into play.

In the atom we were discussing earlier there are three types of particles: protons, electrons, and neutrons. Protons possess a positive charge, electrons possess a negative charge, and neutrons possess no charge. It takes all three types to make up an atom and create the matter that we so love to interact with. If you remove anyone of these the matter ceases to exist (think of an atom smasher). So, why would the world not need all three types as well? Wouldn’t the removal of any of these leave the world less full and less fulfilling? This kind of relates to the Catholic teaching on Grace and how we each possess it in differing quantities. I hope that makes sense.

I think that is a really good way to look at it. This kind of relates to when Jesus said he felt the energy (paraphrasing again) go out of him. It would be like when a parent watches their child walk away. It is as if a piece of themselves has walked away. Now, of course, the child is not actually a piece of the parent. But, that is how it feels. And, taking it back to the analogy of energy, if an atom looses an electron then it cannot maintain it’s original form. It is left as something less than what it was before it lost this part of itself.

You’re making sense.

Quote: I think this longing to return to God is more a type of love that our soul has for it’s maker.

But there is a connection there, between God and us. Also a connection for the adopted child and the biological parents. What do you think the connection is, if not a form of energy. A “spiritual” energy between God and us, cell memory/energy (could also be a spiritual energy) between the adopted child and the biological parents?

 

[Drawmack]

Quote: I think this longing to return to God is more a type of love that our soul has for it’s maker.

But there is a connection there, between God and us. Also a connection for the adopted child and the biological parents. What do you think the connection is, if not a form of energy. A “spiritual” energy between God and us, cell memory/energy (could also be a spiritual energy) between the adopted child and the biological parents?

Well, I think that an argument can be made for the biological parents to the child that it is a longing at the cellular level. The child shares the DNA of its parents. This DNA is a making of the child in our image so to speak. While the child is not physically a piece of the parents, that is a portion of the parents’ bodies does not go away when a child is made, it does contain a portion of the parents in its DNA. I would think that this would also hold for our longing for God. While we are not, strictly speaking, a little piece of God. We are made in God’s image. Analogously, we bear a DNA relation to God. And, this DNA relation then draws us back to the one it is related to.

Of course it is not actually DNA that we’re speaking of here but something all together spiritual and not physical in any sense: material or energy.

Does that make sense?

 

[elts1956]

Well, I think that an argument can be made for the biological parents to the child that it is a longing at the cellular level. The child shares the DNA of its parents. This DNA is a making of the child in our image so to speak. While the child is not physically a piece of the parents, that is a portion of the parents’ bodies does not go away when a child is made, it does contain a portion of the parents in its DNA. I would think that this would also hold for our longing for God. While we are not, strictly speaking, a little piece of God. We are made in God’s image. Analogously, we bear a DNA relation to God. And, this DNA relation then draws us back to the one it is related to.

Of course it is not actually DNA that we’re speaking of here but something all together spiritual and not physical in any sense: material or energy.

Does that make sense?

Yes, you are making sense. I can understand that in the sense of understanding and adopted child’s longing, either accepted, or denied for his birth parents, or the emptiness one feels when someone close dies. IF all of us descend from the same couple, then the loss we feel, or the emptiness “could” be cell memory, or a purely spiritual energy, for lack of a better word.

These are thoughts to ponder. I don’t think any human will find a completely definitive answer, but what you have said comes very close to the way I think of our being from and of God.