What is God?

Argue for and against Christianity

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Danmark
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What is God?

Post #1

Post by Danmark »

What is God?
Is God not beyond definition?
Why do we argue about the existence of that which is beyond definition?

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Re: What is God?

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Post by Kenisaw »

Danmark wrote: What is God?
Is God not beyond definition?
Why do we argue about the existence of that which is beyond definition?
What is god? It is the catchall phrase for the creations of the human imagination that is used to answer things that cannot currently be known. The god of the gaps if you will. It also embodies the coping mechanism used by humans to avoid thinking about certain hard-to-deal with topics, like how one ceases to exist for all eternity when they die.

Is god beyond definition? No. It exists solely within the minds of humans, and is entirely a creation of humans. Since humans define it, and the definition of a "god" changes depending on the culture or society doing the defining, it is not beyond definition.

Why do we argue? I will share why I talk about it. Put simply, I think it is important for the human race to become more rational about the reality of the universe, from everyday life all the way to long term future planning. It’s a real problem, with real implications, for our species when people use religion and god creatures inappropriately. Take the issue of man made global warming. There is no doubt whatsoever in the scientific community that the climate is warming at a record pace, and it is a result of human use of fossil fuels. If all the ice in the world melted, all of Florida would be under water. ALL OF IT! Yet the deniers of all this are mostly highly religious people who actually believe that only their god could affect the climate, and therefore ignore the future danger.

Here’s a great article that illustrates it:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magaz ... line-maps/

The continual indoctrination of succeeding generations of supernatural belief systems, coupled with the dismissal of sound science, is going to continue to bear harmful fruit to everyone, whether they believe or not.

I am an atheist because there is no evidence for the existence of god creatures or the supernatural. The reason I am a vocal atheist however is because of what religious people are doing to our future because of their continued ignorance.

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Re: What is God?

Post #3

Post by Willum »

[Replying to post 1 by Danmark]
I'll probably be put on suspension for this, but...

What is God?
God is Love.

What is love?

Oh baby, don't hurt me
Don't hurt me no mo'
What is God?
Oh baby, don't hurt me
Don't hurt me no mo'

What is God, oh, oh, oh
What is God, oh, oh, oh

What is God
Oh baby, don't hurt me
Don't hurt me no more

Don't hurt me
Don't hurt me

I want no other, no other Lord
This is our life, our time
When we are together, I need you forever
Is it love?


What is God?

Is it just me, or does this oddly satisfy the question?

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Re: What is God?

Post #4

Post by 1213 »

Danmark wrote: What is God?
Bible defines God like this:

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
John 4:24

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God. He who doesn't love doesn't know God, for God is love.
1 John 4:8

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Re: What is God?

Post #5

Post by Danmark »

[Replying to post 2 by Kenisaw]

I understand and agree with your point about the made up gods, those false idols obviously imagined by man, and neatly, simplistically summed up a 'love' or by other equally insufficient descriptions that do not come close to explaining or even describing the origin of the universe and the inspiration for meaning and purpose. The 'gods' of the Bible, or the Quran, or hundreds of other religions are obviously made up by men.

The 'god' the theologians speak of cannot be defined; they cannot define this God. Tillich tries, but can do no better than calling 'God' "The very ground of being."

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Re: What is God?

Post #6

Post by Kenisaw »

Danmark wrote: [Replying to post 2 by Kenisaw]

I understand and agree with your point about the made up gods, those false idols obviously imagined by man, and neatly, simplistically summed up a 'love' or by other equally insufficient descriptions that do not come close to explaining or even describing the origin of the universe and the inspiration for meaning and purpose. The 'gods' of the Bible, or the Quran, or hundreds of other religions are obviously made up by men.

The 'god' the theologians speak of cannot be defined; they cannot define this God. Tillich tries, but can do no better than calling 'God' "The very ground of being."
That's part of the problem with "gods" in the first place. Three major current religions (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) even proclaim it is the same god they believe in, and they can't even agree on what that god wants. Just those three religions have a list of contradicting characteristics that reads like a diagnosis from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Throughout history the properties of "gods" has run the veritable gamut of possible personas. As long as it acts as a coping mechanism, it seems the true sum of "god" matters little to the believer that wants to avoid reality...

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Re: What is God?

Post #7

Post by dio9 »

[Replying to post 1 by Danmark]

Believe it or not God is something like you, you know you are the image of God. This is a strong statement of similarity . Mirror image and all that. Gotta figure out what this means.

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Re: What is God?

Post #8

Post by Danmark »

dio9 wrote: [Replying to post 1 by Danmark]

Believe it or not God is something like you, you know you are the image of God. This is a strong statement of similarity . Mirror image and all that. Gotta figure out what this means.
What it means is that we created a god in our image. Christianity, perhaps more than any other religion, is a religion of blasphemy because it shamelessly proclaims a man to be God.

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Re: What is God?

Post #9

Post by bjs »

Danmark wrote: What is God?

God: noun, the creator and ruler of the universe; the Supreme Being.

Danmark wrote: Is God not beyond definition?
The Living God is beyond what we can know. The word God has a clear definition.

Danmark wrote: Why do we argue about the existence of that which is beyond definition?
This gets into the nature of knowledge. The short answer is: There are countless examples of words that have a clear definition while the concept or things itself is much more difficult (if not impossible) to understand.

Love is defined as an intense feeling of affection. I don't think that anyone would imagine that definition fully describes love. We can only get close to fully understanding what love is by being in love. Similarly, we can give a short definition of God while recognizing that it is only by knowing God ourselves that we get close to understanding who God is.
Understand that you might believe. Believe that you might understand. –Augustine of Hippo

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Re: What is God?

Post #10

Post by dio9 »

[Replying to Danmark]

No, a man is not God . God is wholly good . Man not, he is a divided being , of two minds , good and bad, we sanction badness, we honor goodness and disdain badness.

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