Thinking About God: Reflections on Conceptions and Misconceptions Paperback - 2014

Dr. Stephen Lampe argues that to think about God is not a matter of religion. It is simply to follow the natural yearning that is implanted in the human essence. Thus, the search for the right conception of God is everybody's duty. Dr. Lampe's original approach and explanations amount to a paradigm shift in the debate about God. He introduces knowledge that has been lacking in the numerous publications on the idea of God and discusses clearly and directly various conceptions and misconceptions of God, thereby providing unusually rich food for thought for believers as well as atheists. The book rouses the individual believer to re-examine the extent to which his or her faith has a sound basis. After reading this book academic philosophers and theologians will all have to rethink their approaches and arguments for or against the existence and the nature of God. And atheists will be particularly embarrassed at the all too obvious shallowness of their strongest arguments in the light of Stephen Lampe's elucidation. Stephen Lampe argues that to ask if a person believes in God is meaningless in the absence of a clear elaboration of the nature and attributes of God the questioner has in mind. And any response that does not specify the attributes is certainly trivial. It follows that nothing is gained from the general arguments about belief in God. Dr. Lampe shows convincingly that mystery and revelations are real; they are encountered in all endeavours including in scientific research. Stephen Lampe asks: How can we think rightly about the invisible God if we do not know what we are and why we exist on earth? He provides answers.Religions promote misconceptions of God in some of their doctrines and go against the true Will of God in some of their actions. Thereby, they provide ammunition and support for atheism. It is wrong to blame God for the sins committed by religions. God has no need for religions. Stephen Lampe discusses the idea of the Will of God as the mechanism by which God relates to all creatures. He describes and illustrates the Laws of Creation that manifest God's will and asserts that the Will of God is not a matter of religion. Believers generally agree that God is the Creator but without some basic knowledge of the scope and nature of God's Creation, the conception of God is unlikely to be correct. Dr. Lampe therefore presents an outline of Creation and Subsequent Creation in relation to the Realm of God. In the process, he shows that God, unlike every human being, is not spirit, and God is beyond Divine. Some scriptures present inconsistent ideas of the attributes and nature of God. To think aright about God, one must seek beyond traditional scriptures. God exercises His Omnipotence only in the light of His Perfection. It is wrong to think that everything is possible with God. God cannot contradict Himself and He cannot change the past. He can do only what conforms to his immutable laws.The book demonstrates that the Love of God and the Justice of God are inseparable, like two sides of the same coin and describes other attributes of God in the light of new knowledge. Examples: The Omniscience of God is about wisdom, not petty, earthly all-knowing and Omnipresence means that God is accessible from everywhere and that we cannot escape His reach but not that He is present everywhere.Formal praying is an attempt to connect oneself invisibly with the streams of power, which permeates all Creation and whose ultimate origin is God. Without connection, prayer has no effect. The book explains the idea of miracles and how it is that human beings alone, not God, are responsible for all the evils in the world.Stephen Lampe notes that science is ignorant of 95 percent of what even the physical universe consists. Therefore, it is unreasonable for science to pontificate about anything beyond the physical, such as God.Stephen Lampe is the author of The Christian and Reincarnation.