# What is a God?
**URL:** https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991
**Category:** Religion and Spirituality
**Created:** [April 25, 2008, 12:16pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991 "2008-04-25T12:16:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Kriswest](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Kriswest)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2008, 12:16pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/1 "2008-04-25T12:16:22Z")
To me, when someone mentions god or gods there seems to be an ambigious idea of what that god is. So what is a God to you. What is your God? Do all Gods meet a certain standard? meaning : The gods of humans are what or how?
To me when I hear a religious person talk about their god the God requires a subservience. If there is subservience then A god must have an ego. If this god has an ego then how can it be perfect? Are beings only gods if they are perfect?
What are the qualities of your God? What is your God and what is it about that God that makes you believe in it?
Please refrain from using religious texts… This is soley about what your god is to you. No help from your religious text, no peeking… dig deep and try to explain please.
I do not have a god, I do believe a sort of superior being or beings has/have a vested interest in us. What ever it is, it is not perfect nor what I perceive a god is thought of.
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### Author:  [@Iosepusmagus](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Iosepusmagus)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2008, 12:25pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/2 "2008-04-25T12:25:15Z")
Unmoved Mover and Uncaused Cause, the Infinite, the Highest Good, the Just and the Merciful, the Beyond. Neither a male nor a female nor anything our finite minds could attribute or put into art and semantics.
Since God is infinite for me, we cannot really understand him fully. It is like a bird who can only sore so high but not reach outer space. BUT, I also believe that this infinite being, out of love, tried to reveal himself, to go below to our standards so we can understand better.
God is infinite, but at a moment he manifested in our form, died thru our hands and conquered it since he is infinite.
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### Author:  [@The\_Paineful\_Truth](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/The_Paineful_Truth)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/3 "2008-04-25T14:11:33Z")
> [@Kriswest](#):
>
> What are the qualities of your God? What is your God and what is it about that God that makes you believe in it?
The one God/god is Truth. That encompasses all that there is including individual thought.
> [@](#):
>
> What ever it is, it is not perfect nor what I perceive a god is thought of.
It/He/whatever is perfect. It is just our limited perception and knowledge that is imperfect.
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### Author:  [@Ierrellus](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Ierrellus)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/4 "2008-04-25T15:47:11Z")
The force that “through the green fuse drives the flower”. The force that offers my plodding potential something better beyond the pains of change. The One of which everything is a part.
I know nothing of alphas and omegas. God, for me, is the impartial, perpetuatuator of any joy of living.
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### Author:  [@Mad\_Man\_P](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Mad_Man_P)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2008, 3:55pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/5 "2008-04-25T15:55:20Z")
God to me is a nonsensical combination of imaginary traits such as omnipotence and omniscience in an artificial entity.
I honestly can’t say I have any real “image” of god in my head… maybe a kind of anthropomorphized and abstract view of of “existence” or “the universe” or “life”… or “that which determines all the things around us that we cannot determine ourselves”… something of that sort maybe…
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### Author:  [@Kriswest](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Kriswest)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/6 "2008-04-25T19:33:17Z")
Geez, I did not expect Shakespearean descriptions folks,just simple direct common language without the prose. No insult but when I said dig deep I did not mean deep enough to get flowery prose, very nice though on the whole. Can any of you tell me what your god is without leaving common casual language behind? Right now I see personality descriptives but not whole lot of what your God is. What does your god mean to you, what is your God? yea, truth infinite I know but, come on those are not what god is, those are personality descriptives. A force, is simple enough but, what force how and what type?
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### Author:  [@MagsJ](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/MagsJ)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/7 "2008-04-25T20:51:44Z")
A god is a deity!
A deity is worshipped by a group of people who believe that said deity will guide them through the unknown of that which is life…
Guidance is for the weak/inferior…
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### Author:  [@The\_Paineful\_Truth](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/The_Paineful_Truth)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/8 "2008-04-26T00:05:50Z")
> [@Kriswest](#):
>
> yea, truth infinite I know but, come on those are not what god is, those are personality descriptives.
I look a Truth in a different way that most people. It’s aspects are natural law, justice, love and beauty. From pure objective to pure subjective. God and Truth are two words for the same thing, no matter where Truth leads, deity or otherwise. The pursuit of Truth is the pursuit of God–not symbolically but in actuality. I hope this isn’t to flowery.
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### Author:  [@Kriswest](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Kriswest)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2008, 11:31am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/9 "2008-04-26T11:31:17Z")
No its not it is much simpler and clearer, thank you. So it seems to me that you are saying That your God is more of a cohesive inclusive ideal than an entity?
Magsj, 😆 really? A diety? Who would have thunk that? Now what is a deity my friend?
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### Author:  [@Mad\_Man\_P](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Mad_Man_P)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2008, 12:38pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/10 "2008-04-26T12:38:22Z")
> [@The Paineful Truth](#):
>
> I look a Truth in a different way that most people. It’s aspects are natural law, justice, love and beauty. From pure objective to pure subjective. God and Truth are two words for the same thing, no matter where Truth leads, deity or otherwise. The pursuit of Truth is the pursuit of God–not symbolically but in actuality. I hope this isn’t to flowery.
So your nick name is really “The Painful God” ? 😆
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### Author:  [@MagsJ](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/MagsJ)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2008, 12:57pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/11 "2008-04-26T12:57:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Magsj, 😆 really? A diety? Who would have thunk that? Now what is a deity my friend?
Gods are deities
Deities were worshipped for various reasons, in the past
Worshipping money has taken priority over the original reasons for worshipping in the first place - there is no mystical reason behind it all…
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### Author:  [@phenomenal\_graffiti](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/phenomenal_graffiti)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2008, 1:07pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/12 "2008-04-26T13:07:49Z")
Pehaps an unambiguous definition of a “god” (or God) is:
“A conscious being that somehow possesses the power to manipulate and control either an aspect of reality or the totality of reality.” \*
  
[b]A god or God can do this either through the possession of powers and abilities that are causally connected with the substances and properties of the world, with those powers and abilities amenable to explanation within the bounds of logical possibility and coherent conceivability, or (unfortunately) a god or God can be described to possess a power to control reality that exists beyond the bounds of logical and coherent conceivability and explanation (e.g the notion that “God created time”. If time is change, then the absence of time is changelessness or immobility; how can God create if his mental processes do not “move”?).
It is not necessary for a god or God to have a beginning or to be created by another hidden god or man-behind-the-curtain. If something can be conceived to exist without a beginning or a Creator (e.g. physical energy as implied by the first law of thermodynamics), then by induction through comparison one can propose that a god or God can be “just as eternal” as physical energy itself.[/b]
[\* A God need not necessarily be conscious. A universe-controlling machine, such as Martin’s Cosmic Randomizing Device—imagined to destroy and re-create the universe with each passing second (yielding no noticeable changes within human perception of the world)—qualifies as a “God” or a “god”[1]]
[1] More, Max: Causal Conditions For Continuity, [maxmore.com/chapter1.htm](http://www.maxmore.com/chapter1.htm)
Jay M. Brewer
[blog.myspace.com/superchristianity](http://blog.myspace.com/superchristianity)
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### Author:  [@joekoba](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/joekoba)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2008, 6:11am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/13 "2008-04-27T06:11:44Z")
What do you hope to discover my friend kriswest? That personal god’s are different? No one has the wisdom to know their god any more than they have the wisdom to know themselves.
god’s to me are self-delusions in the traditional god sense. They’re some time of psychological concept used to make people feel like they’re worth something. The details may be enlightening, but I have a feeling their won’t be much to debate. And surely you know those who believe in a personal god are cowards!
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### Author:  [@Kriswest](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Kriswest)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2008, 11:09am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/14 "2008-04-27T11:09:33Z")
What I hope to discover is what people see or think without using someone elses preferred reference. It is all to easy to fall back upon what your religion/ political party tells you. If you can only use what is truly inside yourself to know what your belief of something is it may help or give that person more insight to themselves. A god is the perfect place to start. Not what your religious text says but, what your mind and heart truly sees feels and knows. And atheists will have some deep set thoughts on this. If we see what is in then we can know just how far apart we are… I sort of think most including atheists won’t be as greatly seperated as it seems. Drop the religion and go to the basic. Its worth a shot, just to see the possible discussions and thoughts if folks leave their text books at the door and just use themselves.
Yea, on that note, Magsj ,diety, what do you see as a deity… Come on, you can do it 😆
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### Author:  [@The\_Paineful\_Truth](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/The_Paineful_Truth)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2008, 12:23pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/15 "2008-04-27T12:23:25Z")
> [@Kriswest](#):
>
> No its not it is much simpler and clearer, thank you. So it seems to me that you are saying That your God is more of a cohesive inclusive ideal than an entity?
From our current vantage point, it is at least an ideal (Truth), but whether it is a cohesive entity is unknown.
godOne or something that is worshiped, idealized, or followed. There are many gods which are an individuals ultimate object of worship or pursuit: money, sex, power, fame, idolatry, “revealed” divine entity, love, justice, knowledge, influence, being liked courage, or whatever. I say they all fall short of fulfillment if Truth is not the ultimate ideal.
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### Author:  [@Kriswest](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Kriswest)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/16 "2008-04-27T12:31:35Z")
If god is such an ideal as truth would it also embrace false? False or fake is not bad, that is a human thing. False or fake without the human morals attached is what I mean.
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### Author:  [@The\_Paineful\_Truth](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/The_Paineful_Truth)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2008, 12:36pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/17 "2008-04-27T12:36:42Z")
> [@Kriswest](#):
>
> If god is such an ideal as truth would it also embrace false? False or fake is not bad, that is a human thing. False or fake without the human morals attached is what I mean.
Falsehood or lies are the absence of Truth, just as darkness is the absence of light or cold is the absence of heat. They are of human manufacture and by definition they are not real. They are immoral if the purpose is to mislead.
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### Author:  [@joekoba](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/joekoba)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/18 "2008-04-27T14:22:50Z")
I find these believers with personal gods as dull as the walls that encircle themselves, yet i am (perhaps naively) hopeful that the next one i meet will be interesting.
I have yet to see one genuine response to what is your god. I like this question and I’ve liked to ask it to those I know who are believers, but they do not like to think so deeply kriswest. They are simple creatures.
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### Author:  [@phenomenal\_graffiti](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/phenomenal_graffiti)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2008, 5:06pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/19 "2008-04-27T17:06:20Z")
Reply To Joekoba:
😲 Err…what exactly constitutes an ungenuine response to “what is a god?”
Jay M. Brewer
[blog.myspace.com/superchristianity](http://blog.myspace.com/superchristianity)
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### Author:  [@The\_Paineful\_Truth](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/The_Paineful_Truth)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/what-is-a-god/20991/20 "2008-04-27T17:27:30Z")
> [@joekoba](#):
>
> I have yet to see one genuine response to what is your god.
Please quote just one disingenuous response of mine.
Such a cavalier, off-the-cuff, out-of-hand statement is the apex of simple arrogance.
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