Define: God

[bhavv]

Define God. Tell me what you think / believe God is.

Then consider the following questions:

1) How do you know your definition of God is correct?
2) What if other people have different definitions?
3) What if the definition you gave God could be attributed to something other than God?

Please note that whether or not you believe in God is irrelevant to this discussion.

 

[Borachio]

God is the Unmanifested, the Ground of our Being, the Field of Potentiality.

1) I've no idea if this is correct. It more than likely isn't.
2) That's entirely their business
3) I've no idea. You tell me.

 

[Farm Boy]

Thou art.

1) I don't.
2) They do.
3) It can.

 

[bhsup]

The supreme being responsible for all creation.

1) Faith. No, that isn't "knowing" but is rather "faith" which is not same thing. "I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air."
2) Couldn't care less. That they are wrong is their business, not mine, and they are welcome to go around being wrong for all I care.
3) I don't see how that's possible. Whatever created all creation is God.

 

[warpus]

God - has many definitions, due to the number of religions on the planet, and the possibility that none of them are correct. (Meaning that God might exist but nobody on this planet might have the right definition of what God is)

When I say "God" it depends on the context. If I'm talking to a Christian, I am probably going to be referencing the Christian God, and going by the Christian definition of what God is.

But if I'm talking to an atheist, I might be talking about the generic God - something that might or might have not created the Universe. Who knows. It might exist, it might not, nobody knows what the hell it might be, so.. we don't really have a definition.

Anyone who claims to know what God is is full of lies or wishful thinking.

1. I don't really have a definition, so it can't be wrong!
2. That's fine, everyone's making this up as they go along anyway!
3. Then that's sort of cool actually and I'm interested to hear more.

 

[bhavv]

^^ Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

 

[Kennigit]

Anything violatimg conservation laws

 

[Tahuti]

I consider a god to be any being that substantially more powerful than humans.

1) It is a fairly wide defintion so most other definitions would fit in as well.
2) I think the Abrahamic conception of omnipotent and omnibenevolent is not literal and should be seen relative to humans.
3) Angels & demons?

 

[Manfred Belheim]

God - an invented fairy tale born of ignorant superstition, sculpted into a tool for manipulating and controlling the masses, and something most enlightened people have now outgrown.

1) How do you know your definition of God is correct?
The complete lack of evidence that any such being exists, the zero logical reasons to suspect that one might, and all the good evidence that it's a man-made concept.

2) What if other people have different definitions?
There is no "if". We all know that many different people and groups have many different definitions of God, so no matter what my answer was it's a given that other people would have other definitions. I don't see how this matters or should influence my thinking however.

3) What if the definition you gave God could be attributed to something other than God?
It can be. There are many superstitions and fairy tales in the world. This isn't a problem either.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

A very broad term which isn't defined. If it would be it would cease to exist.

Best I can do: some sort of higher being.

1. It's not.
2. They're just as wrong as I am
3. Hmm, indeed. What if...

Noted.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Judging by your user title, it's you, bhavv!

1) self-labelled
2) they need to get on CFCOT; then they'll find it right there in front of them
3) what, like a discussion thread user title based on a computer game difficulty setting? That's just nuts.

 

[bhavv]

Omg yay! I are lord thy dog!

 

[Lohrenswald]

I have thought of this kind of issue myself.
I maintain that every religion that has a god-image has this incorrectly. So none of the gods in any religion exist (religions may serve a useful purpose, but they are simply untrue in this regard).

(Kind of a bold claim, but I don't have the energy to go into further detail now)

So what is god then?
Nothing. This whatever it is doesn't exist. Even if there turned out to be some kind of consciousness behind the origin of and occurences in the universe, there's no point in calling it god, because it would be unlike any god-image of any religion.

 

[Hygro]

If the thing that people mean with the word God was The Netherlands, it is doing us all a disservice to keep calling it by the equivalent of Holland.

I've been calling God "The Universe" lately, for lack of a better. The "More Than All" is a more cumbersome but more descriptive term.

Define God. Tell me what you think / believe God is.

Then consider the following questions:

1) How do you know your definition of God is correct?
2) What if other people have different definitions?
3) What if the definition you gave God could be attributed to something other than God?

Please note that whether or not you believe in God is irrelevant to this discussion.

1) My definition is inclusive of the totality of totalities, is not limited by that, and acknowledges the limitations of my own ability to define, while also being dynamic and scalable in definition.
2) They tend to be smaller and more limited, and thus are weaker Gods.
3) Time to upgrade my thinking then.

I don't know if I believe in God. When I employ my body's faith energy, it does seem to tie into spiritual thinking. But usually it lies dormant.

 

[timtofly]

Define God. Tell me what you think / believe God is.

Then consider the following questions:

1) How do you know your definition of God is correct?
2) What if other people have different definitions?
3) What if the definition you gave God could be attributed to something other than God?

Please note that whether or not you believe in God is irrelevant to this discussion.

God Is.

God is the one responsible for everything.

1. Experience
2. They may. They are not me.
3. The point about being the only one responsible limits the ability of anything else to be responsible. If there is something else responsible, then that would be God.

 

[warpus]

What if a non-sentient entity or phenomenon is responsible for everything? Could God be something that is non-sentient?

 

[timtofly]

How can a non-sentient being be responsible?

 

[Colonel]

1) How do you know your definition of God is correct?
Faith, very simple
2) What if other people have different definitions?
They are wrong
3) What if the definition you gave God could be attributed to something other than God?
It couldn't be

God is that which created all life and from which all life continues to flourish. God is everywhere and in all things.

 

[Smellincoffee]

God is a concept by which we measure our pain.



(Seriously, no one said this first?!)

 

[warpus]

How can a non-sentient being be responsible?

I'm talking about cause and effect - not intentional actions performed by a sentient being. I don't mean "responsible" in the sense that the thing is morally responsible for the act occurring - if the wording is causing confusion pretend I said "caused" - a rock sliding down a ravine caused an avalanche, for example.