• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Is God a What Or a Who?

C

Clara Tea

Well-Known Member
SalixIncendium said:
This question is directed at those who recognize divinity in their worldview, so the usual suspects can kindly refrain from the "a figment of one's imagination" type answers (you know who you are).

In your religion, spiritual practice, or philosophy, is God (the highest principle if you're a polytheist or transtheist) a who or a what?
Click to expand...

Every creature is a what....owl, fox, human, God.

Sentient creatures (and perhaps this includes most animals) are whos.

Many think that their cats are merely programmed to meow, rub against your leg, purr when petted. But, many pets can figure out how to get food out of your cupboard. It is that process of figuring that makes them a who. Coming when they are called means that they have learned their name.

Nobody can get their dog to pass a driver's test (and I beat my dog at least two out of three at chess). So, dogs are much less intelligent that humans.

On the other hand, humans have made a lot of nuclear reactors (instead of solar and batteries), so just how intelligent can humans be if they are about to damage God's environment? There are very few sources of potable (drinkable) water, yet many of the streams in the United States are polluted. Are you sure that we humans are the smart ones?
 
InChrist

InChrist

Free4ever
SalixIncendium said:
This question is directed at those who recognize divinity in their worldview, so the usual suspects can kindly refrain from the "a figment of one's imagination" type answers (you know who you are).

In your religion, spiritual practice, or philosophy, is God (the highest principle if you're a polytheist or transtheist) a who or a what?
Click to expand...
I believe God is a personal Being.
 
sayak83

sayak83

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
SalixIncendium said:
This question is directed at those who recognize divinity in their worldview, so the usual suspects can kindly refrain from the "a figment of one's imagination" type answers (you know who you are).

In your religion, spiritual practice, or philosophy, is God (the highest principle if you're a polytheist or transtheist) a who or a what?
Click to expand...
Both and neither?
 
Spirit of Light

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
SalixIncendium said:
This question is directed at those who recognize divinity in their worldview, so the usual suspects can kindly refrain from the "a figment of one's imagination" type answers (you know who you are).

In your religion, spiritual practice, or philosophy, is God (the highest principle if you're a polytheist or transtheist) a who or a what?
Click to expand...
Allah is.
 
Heyo

Heyo

Veteran Member
SalixIncendium said:
This question is directed at those who recognize divinity in their worldview, so the usual suspects can kindly refrain from the "a figment of one's imagination" type answers (you know who you are).

In your religion, spiritual practice, or philosophy, is God (the highest principle if you're a polytheist or transtheist) a who or a what?
Click to expand...
god-monty-python.jpg


Looks like a "who" to me, and male to be more precise.
If that is how you picture god, you might refer to "him" as a "who".

For me, as one of the usual suspects, "god" is an umbrella term for all the images people have in mind when they talk about god, so a "what". I usually refer to god as "it". (But I use the assigned pronouns for named gods. YHVH is "he", Aphrodite is "she", the FSM is "it".)
People who can't decide whether to use "what" or "who" are only another sign for me that they don't know what they are talking about.
 
C

Clara Tea

Well-Known Member
Heyo said:
god-monty-python.jpg


Looks like a "who" to me, and male to be more precise.
If that is how you picture god, you might refer to "him" as a "who".

For me, as one of the usual suspects, "god" is an umbrella term for all the images people have in mind when they talk about god, so a "what". I usually refer to god as "it". (But I use the assigned pronouns for named gods. YHVH is "he", Aphrodite is "she", the FSM is "it".)
People who can't decide whether to use "what" or "who" are only another sign for me that they don't know what they are talking about.
Click to expand...

Likely God is male, since women, in the bible, seem to be the property of men. Women (according to the bible) are supposed to be silent and cleve unto their husbands. They are supposed to do the housework and raise kids.
 
RestlessSoul

RestlessSoul

Well-Known Member
Clara Tea said:
Likely God is male, since women, in the bible, seem to be the property of men. Women (according to the bible) are supposed to be silent and cleve unto their husbands. They are supposed to do the housework and raise kids.
Click to expand...


And do it quietly please.

;)
 
Heyo

Heyo

Veteran Member
Clara Tea said:
Likely God is male, since women, in the bible,
Click to expand...
You are assuming that "god" is synonymous with one of the bible gods, most probably YHVH. But there are a lot of other entities that were and are labelled as "god".
But if we stay with YHVH, we don't need to refer to the misogyny of his advocates. He is clearly described and labelled as male. El is more of a non-binary god which prefers the pronoun "they" (if it is a single entity and not a multiplicity).
 
SalixIncendium

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
alypius said:
If God is a who or a what in the ordinary sense, then wouldn't God just be one thing among the many things we observe?
Click to expand...

Thank you for this. Yes. Absolutely.

Assuming you're getting at God isn't something a person observes, then how does one experience God if not as a what or a who?
 
P

pearl

Well-Known Member
SalixIncendium said:
Can you elaborate on this? When or how is God a what, and when or how is God a who?
Click to expand...

Since I believe God to be a mystery, I have no answer for that specifically. I believe God to be a personal God, much to do with anthropomorphism but it is more comforting than the 'unmoved Mover'.
Interestingly, I was raised a Methodist and note the difference in the form of the 'Our Father'; some Protestants say, 'Our Father which art in heaven, to Catholics, it is 'who'.
 
1

1213

Well-Known Member
SalixIncendium said:
...
In your religion, spiritual practice, or philosophy, is God (the highest principle if you're a polytheist or transtheist) a who or a what?
Click to expand...

I believe what the Bible tells, according to it:

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

… God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
1 John 4:16

…the Father is greater than I.
John 14:28
 
IndigoChild5559

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
SalixIncendium said:
This question is directed at those who recognize divinity in their worldview, so the usual suspects can kindly refrain from the "a figment of one's imagination" type answers (you know who you are).

In your religion, spiritual practice, or philosophy, is God (the highest principle if you're a polytheist or transtheist) a who or a what?
Click to expand...
I don't think it matters. I think different people experience God different ways. I experience God as a person. But if another person experiences God as some sort of force, who am I to say their experience is less than mine? It is simply different. God is an infinite being. How can the finte fathom the infinite. It could very likely be that the reality fits into neither box.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top