What is God?

Like I have said it is not a question of whether God exists; but what does God exists as...i.e. what is God? This is why I posted this here to get the edge of precision in what we mean by God when we say he exists. Again what is not God?

""No words""

heyjme, since you have not disagreed with what i have been saying i will assume that you dont understand so i will say again.

god is what we make it be.

to answer you question about making a boulder too big for god to lift, that is impossible because god would essentially BE the boulder.

religions such as hinduism created figures for their beings to keep this conversation from happening

Jews have no figure for their being because they were the first monotheistic religion and ultimately they did not make religion for money.

However, during the formation of the christian church, money was a primary factor. sure there were the true followers of jesus where money meant nothing, however when they died that idea died with them.

if the christian church gave their god a true form, they would be giving the peasant people, their followers, knowledge which is exactly what they DO NOT want to happen. Knowledge leads to thought, thought leads to questions, questions lead to disbelief.

therefore they just said....

"there's this supreme being, he kicks ass... dont mess with him and pay the church or you're gonna go to hell."

NOTE: God is all knowing - God is never wrong

hmmmm... did you ever notice that at first endulgences were just fine, approved by god... however after they started to lose followers and money, god changed his mind and said they were bad.... therefore saying he was wrong which never happens, thus god is in the minds of us all, not in a solid state.

Refer to the thread in the Religion section- Wake up and discover that God never existed.

http://www.captaincynic.com/thread.php3/thrdid=45724-u-frmid=17a>

'God' is socially constructed

"The summit is just a halfway point"
[  Edited by summit at   ]

Some gods may be socially constructed but there is a God who lived, lives and will continue living. The God of the Jews is the same God of Christians; the difference between Christians and Jews is that Jews do not accept the divinity of Jesus. The reason there is no form of God is because if we knew His form people would say "this is our god we know him and we can make him" and that would give us another wooden god one good for nothing.

"Speak out, even if what you have to say is unpopular"

if god has no form, how do we know its a him?

allow me to answer my own question... in the time that god was created, it was a patriarcal society.... therefore everything in the bible is written by man, for man, from the mind of a man.

We know God by His actions, same as we know the wind by it's actions. If you cannot see it then it doesn't exist? I have not seen you does that mean you do not exist.

"Speak out, even if what you have to say is unpopular"

quote:

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We know God by His actions

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"The summit is just a halfway point"

Latestresort I undertsand completely the idea that God is a creation by man to solve problems for man. This is a belief I held when I was a small child too; I simply did not believe that God was a being that judged us...To me it felt almost stupid that an all powerful being would ever judge. Then I started to see the neccesity of this for people and realised that if it was man that created it at least these men were wised-up.

As I ever engage in science you realise there comes a point where there are just too many questions and not enough answers...Things are so orderly that I cannot conceive these things happen by shear coincidence. I understand I will see what I want to see and, yes, this is a problem of the human mind...it closes itself once a path is followed. But recognising this in itself helps.

Now whether this is the cause of God or whether nature is essentially God is very much up for debate...But what I want to try and get out of this is not whether God exists or not but whetehr...to those who believe or could conceive he does what they would define him as...wher they fit into this model and what God is not...I have noticed everyone bar the atheists whose answer seems easy have shyed away from this especially when asked what is God not and thus how are you related to but seperate from God. Thats the point here. Definition, clarity and concision. I want 1 plus 1 equals 2 kinda stuff. Never gonna get it but hey at least try.

Ps. I use the term He to refer to God only because it is custom and I do not intend for it to be taken literally. It may also equally suffice or what you will.

""No words""

you can see wind, that's the thing...

if you dont see it, then it doesnt exist is actually a very good rule to abide by.

to heyjme1:

that is not what im saying at all, im answering your question as to what god is, as in looks like.

we are not seperate from god. god is part of us. i see god as a swirling mass... someone else might see god as an old man with a beard, even someone else a butterfly. that is the sole benefit of religion, it extends (limitly) the imagination

lastresort that has got to be the most narrow minded conclusion I have ever seen. You're telling me that atoms only came into existence the first time someone saw one? Why do we even have science then? We should all just stop looking for things because they clearly do not exist if we cannot see them right now.

"Speak out, even if what you have to say is unpopular"

It is not what God looks like, or smells like, or feels like, or what any of the senses so perceive. What I think you are saying is that everyone views God as different (of course they do-just how far and are there any similarities?). Moreover, for example, Christianity was formed on the basis of fear to prevent people thinking so politics (?) could reign and coerce the masses to follow. Well it is an argument that I must say has weighty appeal.

But this is Christianity. What I will say though is that nowhere does Christianity actually say God is a man with a beard...that is the place of humans interpreting and extrapolating beyond what the Bible actually says. Some may have this opinion...some may not. Now The Bible does work on fear you may argue but it also works with hope and in its essence would cure most of the wrongs this world faces at the moment.

My point exists far deeper than this though. It goes to the core of religions of all things and this questions the causes, the whys, the ultimates...and relative to my insignificance I sometimes touch the face of what is truly reality and lie in awe at how structured it is. I often do not care about the imperfections of scholary writings on religion: religion is a very personal thing and one which requires high senual perception and a oneness...only then I feel does anyone begin to sense (beyond normal recognition) what this thing is. Have you ever hummed naturally to your surroundings and felt something with senses that dont feel an extra sense? Even in our limited phsyical realm this requires more than an appreciation of mass...

For example, if we take mass, if we look finer into scale, finer and yet finer, mass becomes less mass and more energy and if you liken this to time it is much the same...for moments to follow on from oments there must be inseperable links that flow in motion without, in the strictest sense, absolute precision of points. It is this pureness that exists in a physical world but the common perception of physical is still four-dimensional and is so limited that we can only begin to comprehend what is beyond

A similar kind of though exists with the mind and brain, although one much easier to solve, and that is that is the mind something exists seperate to, and yet ultimately related to, the brain.

""No words""

heyjme has got a point, religion IS a very personal thing. religion as a personal thing is an admirable thing. very few people have the strength of belief in anything to stand in the face of adversity, a trait which etheral shows.

however organised religion is often the problem, people twist the words of the religion to fit their own personal agendas and then proceed to gather people aroun them using their own version of the religion. the image of god given by these sects is what become known, gods true form can only be known to the individual, buyt to a non-believer it is shadowed by the images that politically organised religion casts before us for its own ends.

"So Schrodinger's Cat is not only neither dead nor alive, but might also be sexually aroused by elbows and peanut butter?"

Religion is universal but it is understood at a personal level. God will not go to one person and introduce Himself as Satan, to another as Allah, and to yet another as Buddha this is because those deities have different values than God does and He will not take on contradictory characteristics. You may see God do different things than I see but ultimately He will behave in a consistence manner so as not to be confused with man made deities.

"Speak out, even if what you have to say is unpopular"

i never said god introduced himself to various people under different names, i am suggesting that people with a political motive, who think that a religion might suit their purpose introduce god to other people under a different name. as you said a lie with some truth in it is the one that people believe.

"So Schrodinger's Cat is not only neither dead nor alive, but might also be sexually aroused by elbows and peanut butter?"