What do we mean by God?
a human being? a spirit? a concept? a lie? an excuse to fight?
a truth? an opinion? something more than we can see? creator?
ruler? monster? what?
What do we mean by God?
a human being? a spirit? a concept? a lie? an excuse to fight?
a truth? an opinion? something more than we can see? creator?
ruler? monster? what?
God
A being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe, the principal object of faith and worship in monotheistic religions.
In lay mans term âA higher powerâ
Whats your God?
I donât own one.
Correct. God owns you
err which one? the Christian God, the Islamic God? I wish it/him/she would give me a sign
donât stare at me like that. lol
Isnât it funny how we sometimes say âyour Godâ if you can own a God, then where would I get one? lol
well gotta go. itâs late see u laterzzzz.
god Pronunciation Key (gd)
n.
God
take your pick.
funny that is dosenât seem to mention God being a creator, but basicly a super-human being that for some reason is great and should be praised.
I pick none of the above how about you?
God if you read my earlier post is a it whoâs own existance created the universe by being a paradox. It can exist but he can not be, the only thing it could do was exist anything else would put everything in check.
Beats me.
An old girlfriend of mine once said, âGod is an idea that keeps the truth alive for the spiritually unborn.â
She was a helluva lot smater than I am.
To me, God is the next guy I see in the street.
Louise stated:
Frozenviolet responded to Louise:
Frozenviolet, did you read Louises post entirely? Check out the word âoriginatorâ followed by ââŚof the universe.â in Louises post.
yah I kinda cought onto my mistake, you can hit me over the head with a metal spoon now, might get me olâ gray matter worknâ againâŚ
I didnât mean to come across in a harsh way, although I guess it could be taken that way quite easily. I will try to write my posts a little more gentally next time.
Everybody thought i was mean cause i was using this when i was meaning so everybody thought i stayed mad. luckily they still liked me enough to message me.
Im not a guy im a happy go lucky guy.
To me, God is whatever/whomever created the concept of the four-dimentional universe, and set it into motion. The Origin. That thing/being is God to me whether it is all-powerful or not, whether it is all-benevolent or not, and whether or not it is even aware of our existance. My God may have absolutly nothing set up for us in the matter of an afterlife. I must admit that my definition of a God would bring little comfort to most people, but it does have a plus in the fact that it does for certain exist. (unless youâre a nihilist, but screw you nihilists, youâre no fun )
Yes, if the nihilists are right, then screw it all, man. In fact I think thatâs their motto, âScrew it all, manââŚBut seriously, if I ask, âWhat is the origin of the universe?â No matter what you say, it qualifies under my admitedly ambiguous definition. Even if you say, âThe universe has always beenâ it is still compatable with my creator. This can be explained as follows:
Suppose you were to name a tree, âAâ. It has seeds, and spawns a new tree, â1Aâ. 1A eventually has seeds and spawns, â2Aâ. And so on. But when you go to make a chronology of them, you realize that âAâ was once a seed as well, so you name the tree that spawned it, â-1Aâ, and the tree before that one, â-2Aâ. And so on. And eventually you have the idea that maybe there was no first tree, that maybe it just goes on and on in both directions like this:
âŚ-3A, -2A, -1A, A, 1A, 2A, 3AâŚ
So you say, âIf thereâs always been trees, then nobody could have created them.â But this isnât true. What is being described here is a âcausality chainâ. That is, cause and effect, and effect and effect. And it is possible that it goes on forever in both directions. But that wouldnât rule out the existence an origin for that chain, if the origin existed outside of time.
{âŚ-3A, -2A, -1A, A, 1A, 2A, 3AâŚ} - God
The above would depect: God, an entity that exists outside of time and itâs cause and effect restrictions, spawns a causality chain that exists within time, and extends to infinity in both directions.
Ta-da! God and infinite causality can fit in the same room.
The only way my God couldnât exist is if you adopt this equation:
{nothing} - Nobody
Get your hands off me you damn dirty nihilistsâŚ
âGod is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.â
Psalm 46:1
Asok_green
There is a simple problem with your theory that makes it invalid. Let me explain. You suggest that if the origin of the series of cause and effect were outside the boundaries of time, then that series could be infinite. The problem is that infinity can not be boundaried by anything, even time. Simply put, there can only be one being with infinite status. All else falls within the status of being finite. Make sense?
Take Parmenides original debate of Pluralism vs. Monism, which was later further developed by Thomas Aquinas. There are only two possibilities, either a monistic universe or a pluralistic universe. The monistic universe defines the universe as being infinite and the pluralistic universe defines the universe as being finite, with an infinite form of being outside of it boundaries. These boundaries are usually suggested as the laws of nature.
A soveriegn monotheistic god can only be defined in a pluralistic description of the universe. We commonly find the concept of pantheism or atheism in a monistic universe.
Back to your theory. Think about it this way. If God is the origin of the infinite causal series, who is the originator of God? If God has no origin then is he infinite as well? Can there be two infinityâs? They would converge at some point. Therefore, infinity can have no origin and can only be alone in itâs existence. Itâs got to be one or the other: God or the universe, Monism or Pluralism.
No problem though, I think you were just misconstruing the definition of infinity. I also wanted to ask you what you mean by:
I realize that you wrote this a month ago, but I would still love to hear your feedback.
Original Question:
âWhat or who is God?â
Since I have already answered to this question many times in many other threads, I will dodge the question and say that I think the term âGodâ has taken up every possible thing on our planet. God has been a bush, an animal, a person, a star, etc, etc. So it seems that God can be anything you imagine God to be, this goes along well with those who believe that God is everything, everything is a part of God, therefore you conceiving God to be, you pet rabbit for instance is atleast somewhat correct.
But the original question has a flaw of limiting God. Since the âwhatâ suggests that God is a thing. Which also suggests that there are other things like it. The âwhoâ suggests that God is an entity, which again suggests that God is somehow outside of our universe. But if God is limited to being outside of that which God creates then God cannot be all powerful. I guess the conception of âGodâ leaves no way for us to question or to articulate Godâs existence, for any which way we try to articulate Gods existence we limit Gods existence with the very words we use to try to unlimit God.
Has anyone ever wondered whether it actually makes a difference if there is a God or not? Why bother with such a question? If there is a God, it shouldnât change how you live your life, the same goes for, if there isnât a God. So whether there is a God or not, live your life to it fullest potential, too many people are more susceptible in believing in heroes, idols, rock stars, and God; that they forget to believe in themselves. So believe in yourselves. Temet Nosce (latin) - âKnow thyselfâ
When you choose a path that you believe to be right, when everything in your mind and body tells you to do this, despite what others tell you; do it. Tentanda Via (latin) - âThe way must be triedâ this is also coincidentally the modo of the university I attend.
Whatâs your take?
To me, every God (including my own) is simply the easy answer to the questions which philosophers have been asking ever since human beings realised themselves. These are questions to which none of us can ever know the answer, because we are basically very primitive life-forms with an infintessimally small proportion of the mental capacity needed to even start to form plausible theories about creation, etc.
My âGodâ (although I donât call it that) is not a person, lifeform or being of any sort, it is literally just the answer to those questions, which I have no other way of expressing.
People of all religions have this idea, although most of them take the next step, which is to personify their âGodâ and form conclusions about âHimâ and tell stories about âHimâ. This is religion as we know it - without any proof or evidence whatsoever. I do not believe this is true âGodâ.
Starchild stated:
Iâm so glad you said this, I completely agree. But within this is the whole problem. First we didnât know why thunder happened, or why fire kept changing its form; so we said it was God. But then science explained why there is thunder and why fire changes its form. We didnât understand why certain things, that appeared to be miracles, were happening; so we said it was God. Then miracle mongers, magicians, and scientists came by and explained why and how. We didnât understand how things came to be, ie. why is a rock smaller or bigger than the next within a river?, and so we said it was God. But today we know that erosion, gravity, the elements all play a role in forming all things in our environment. Moreover, today we have come to the point where we are pretty certain of the occurence of the universe through the big bang theory. But what caused the big bang? To no surprise, many are saying God. But scientists (astro-physicists) are working hard on what are presently controversial theories of open and closed universes, folding and unfolding, etc. As you said before, God is easy answer to question being asked, but more importantly not being answered easily. God is but an inadequacy, a defence mechanism for our ego to believe that, that which it doesnât understand itâs not suppose to understand because it canât, because its God. We donât like to admit we donât know something. Remind you of many people? I know it reminds me of many people in my life.
Starchild stated:
I disagree completely. For you to say that none of us can EVER know the answer, is presumptuous. You are raising yourself above the rest without realizing it. To say that we can never know, means YOU know that we can never know. But you are driving yourself to the same corner of God. Furthermore, what makes you think we are VERY PRIMITIVE LIFE-FORMS? What other life-forms are you comparing us to? And where did you get the idea that we have an infinitessimally small proportion of the mental capacity needed to even start to form plausible theories about creation? Who mental capacity are you comparing ours to? And more importantly, who bestowed the great knowledge upon you that allows you to suggest that our math, our science, astronomy, physics, chemistry, etcâŚisnât a PLAUSIBLE theory? Itâs true that they may not be correct, but many theories are quite plausible.
Starchild stated:
God is the answer to your questions, you say. Okay, my pet gold fish is the answer to my questions. Wanna argue? Is there anything you can argue against me? The argument I can hold up using my gold fish as the answer will carry the same, if not greater weight to any answers of God you may use. Philosophy is the question, once an answer pops out, so does a science. Physiology popped out of philosophy. Philosophy and physiology together popped out psychology. So what it sounds like you are saying, is that science is your God.
Whatâs your take?
Donât think Iâm trying to be presumptious⌠I didnât mean to offend anyone, but itâs just my opinionâŚ
When I said there are questions to which none of us can ever know the answer, I just meant that if you think about some things such as the concept of infinity, or the concept of creation (Such as the Big Bang theory) you donât actually understand how it works, you just understand what people say about it. Thatâs what I meant. I just donât think that human beings are evolved enough to possibly start to understand the actual mechanisms behind the solutions they are suggesting. Human senses are essentially very primitive, very inefficient ways of perceiving the world, in my opinion.
Iâm sorry⌠I donât know what to say to some of your opinions⌠I really didnât mean to offend anyone, but Iâm a whole lot younger than you and a whole lot less educated and intelligent, so my eloquence probably didnât allow me to say what I was trying to say, if you get my meaning. Iâve never studied philosophy at all, so a lot of your conclusions are very hard for me to comprehend⌠Iâm sorryâŚ