We seem to get a lot of philosophical discussions here, and a lot of surprisingly insightful and inspiring discussion (as well as the occasional idiot.) So let me ask the question that seems to be at the root of it all: What (or who, if you prefer) is god?
Note that I did not capitalize g-o-d. I’m not interested in hearing all about a particular instance of g-o-d (Yahweh, Jehovah, Allah, Vishnu, Set, Zeus, Gaia…) I’m not interested in being converted. I want to know how to tell I’m dealing with g-o-d when I run across it/him/her.
Is g-o-d a person? a human? a concept? a being? a force? a dog? a belief-system? an abstraction? a man-made construct to deal with the unknown? a mitochondria? I want to know.
Heaven protect me for starting this thread.
God is a great explanation for things unknown, especially a long time back when we had no other explanation.
I think if god was every going to apear to you in any shape or form or whatever , he will appear in a way to whichever person he decides to appear to that that person will connect with most and be most trustfull to. So if you believe god is a dude with a beard or a rock in your yard he will appear whichever way you see him yourself. And as for knowing it’s god i believe that you will just know it at the time. I don’t know if that is what you where asking for or if it even makes sense , but i gave it a shot anyway’s.
God cannot be comprehended by a human mind. I theorize however that he lives in a plane of existence where time has no meaning and doesn’t exist. Without time eternity can last an infitesimal amount of ‘time’. ever wonder exactly how long the present is? it is an infinitely small unit perhaps not even a unit. the future is forever, the past is forever but the present…what the fuck is it? Truth be told you will never know EVER.
I can tell you what God looks like; Just look in the mirror. It says in the bible that we were created in his image. I know it’s a paradox, because we all look very different from one another…So maybe it doesn’t make any sense. I don’t know. LOL. I do believe that you will know when you are in God’s presence.
Whatever it is, I hope it likes guns, ‘cause I’m bringin’ mine with me.
That which is indistinguishable from any other thing
yorik, God’s not an “it” or a “her”. He’s a Person. Note that I did capitalize! 
People far more intelligent in this matter than I have given good explanations, and here’s one that I’ve remembered well – God exists is something like 10 dimensions (don’t ask me how they came up with 10). We exist in three (four if you include time). There is no frame of reference to understand God. A way to illustrate this was done very well by a monk who was teaching geometry. Think about “flatland” – a world that exists on tow dimensions. Everything is flat (as we would see it). Now imagine a three-dimensional person touching flatland with three fingers. What would a flatlander see? Three lines. But it is really three fingers of one three-dimensional hand. The flatlanders have no frame of reference to comprehend the three-dimensional hand. And so it is with God. We hear of God having three persons – Father, Son, Holy Spirit. These are the three concepts that we can understand, but we have no other frame of reference to comprehend anything else.
As for how God may appear to some one, it may be very different for each person. Pauls account on his conversion was that he was blinded, and a voice called to him “Why do you persecute me?” Others refer to a “still small voice.” Many people call their conscience the voice of God.
God has appeared in many forms – as a burning bush to Moses in the desert, as a dove at Jesus baptism, etc. I have a different philosophy than most others. The Greeks and Romans had various gods, and many of them were visions or sightings that became objects of worship. If God can take the form of a burning bush or a dove, why could he not take the form of any of the Greek gods, and they just ended up worshiping the form rather than the God behind it?
I don’t know if I’ve really offered anything of help here, I’ve just spouted on about my particular understandings.
I disagree. Assigning something as inherently limiting as gender to god diminishes its presence. If god created both male and female, then it only makes sense that it incorporates aspects of both. “It” is apporpriate for those who believe this.
Every one has their own response to this question. No need to search for answers
that you already know. Feel within. You are
what you believe. To put it short, god is what
you make of it.
If it’s true that god is in all of us, I hope he likes burritos, because that’s what he’s getting.
By trying to attach a definition to what God is you apply constraints to His being. There is no way to define God, so don’t bother. He is What Is, the Great “I AM”.
Some people believes He exisits some don't. We will all find out one day and on that day, you will still not be able to define Him.
To me God is the way, the truth and the life. Simply meaning my life was given to me by God and should be lived for God. I have a close relationship with God and everything I do is controlled by him. I believe God is the creator and controller of us all and he will guide us in our paths if we choose to follow. The bible is the guide to the past, the present and the future. There are several things about God we are not meant to understand, but simply have faith in knowing God has everything in control.
Wow, I’m amazed at the quality of thought from people on this board. Well, since I started the thread, I guess should give my opinion.
I think there are two issues: God (capitalized) and g-o-d (all lower case.) In the early days of humanity, humans had to deal with forces around them they could not comprehend. In order to help them understand, they created God and assigned God human attributes. Zeus, Yahweh, Allah etc. are all examples of how humans dealt with the incomprehensible through anthropomorphism. Thus God is a human construct! God is an abstraction of the incomprehensible forces that shape the world, the universe and the interrelationships between all things. I believe g-o-d is the set of forces that act to organize the universe. Science is our attempt to understand g-o-d. We explain g-o-d through mathematics and we see g-o-d through the physical manifestations of the universe. (Matter and energy if you will.) g-o-d is the force that organized the universe at the start, which we currently call the Big Bang.
I think there are three aspects to g-o-d. (Hmmm, sounds familiar.) First, there is the set of inherent laws of nature (laws of motion, gravity, pi, entropy, etc.) which we describe through mathematics. Secondly, there is the physical manifestation of g-o-d, we see as matter and energy, rocks, trees, planets, etc. Finally, there is an aspect of g-o-d that allows the physical manifestation of the laws to create self-awareness, or life, if you will. If we think about it a little, we can see g-o-d everywhere we go. We can try to explain g-o-d, but ultimately, the entirety of g-o-d is beyond our grasp. The true essence of g-o-d is ineffable.
I believe almost anything attributed to God can be attributed to g-o-d. Not a sparrow falls from a tree that does not have an effect on the interelatedness of living things, through the laws that govern our ecology. If I disrespect g-o-d, g-o-d will smite me much like stepping in front of a speeding mass of metal, plastic and rubber will smite me (for not respecting the laws of motion) or waving a metal rod over my head in a thunderstorm will smite me (for not respecting the laws of electromagnetism.) I am made in g-o-d’s image, because I am a physical manifestation of the laws of physics and chemistry that allows self-awareness. That’s the same reason g-o-d is on my side, or anyone’s side for that matter. Hmmm… that reasoning would make Jesus the son of g-o-d, wouldn’t it? Or is that too blasphemous for some people?
My philosophy is still a work in progress. Not all the bugs are worked out yet. Maybe I’ll get some ideas from other people in this thread.
Believe it or not, I am tired of this subject.
You guys fight it out, while I set up my new PC.
I don’t know what he/she/it would look like if I met him/her/it.
I only know when the Creator works through me. For example, a couple times, I bought an extra hamburger thinking I was really hungry. Normally I would eat it but on those occassion, I could not eat it. As I would walk out of the resturant, a homeless person appears asking for spare change. I offer instead the burger, 9 of 10 ten they want money for booze but on these occasions, they take the food. I later realize that Creator was working through me to help these individuals. That’s how I know.
When I was younger I had basically the same idea of g-o-d as you do. But some things have happened in my life that got me in tune with the spirit inside me. No-one can ever PROVE that there is a GOD. You can always explain any “spiritual” experience away as coincidence or delusion. However, my experiences lead me to believe GOD is a person.
You mention that your philosophy is a work in progress. If you are serious about that work you owe it to yourself to seriously investigate other possibilities besides Western Scientism (which is what your posted definition of g-o-d looks like). Maybe you’ve spent 2 years as a Zen monk in Hokkaido, and done a pilgrimage to Mecca, and spent 4 years in a Catholic high school. But from your last post I’m guessing you haven’t.
Be open to the possibilities - read about various religions. Learn to meditate (and listen), go to church (and listen), try praying (and listen). And finally talk to God and ask for yourself.
p1- God, by definition, is the greatest being possible (has all of the great-making characteristics) ie omnipresence, omniscience, all powerful
p2- existence is a greatmaking property
p2a- (It is better to exist in reality than to exist only in the mind)
C- God Exists
Actually, I spent 8 years in a Catholic elementary school and 4 years in a Catholic high school. It was these 12 years of experience with organized religion that gave me the skills to see things differently, to reject the concept of God as a being and to understand the hypocrisy of organized religion. As for talking to God, I can’t, because I don’t believe in “him”. As for talking to g-o-d, well, that isn’t capable of listening. Instead I find myself appreciating the intricacy of the universe, “communing” with g-o-d more and more often and being more aware of my place in the universe.