What is your Definition of God?

A: What is your definition of God?

B: If you identify with a particular religion or spiritual path, what is its definition of God and does your definition align with that?

C: If it doesn’t align with the mainstream definition of your chosen religion/ path, what are the differences and how do you reconcile them?

God means the epitome of real righteousness.

Interesting part B question. It seems like you are asking if a person's religion's definition of GOD coincides with a person's personal concept of God. So, are you asking if they admit to hypocrisy?

How, indeed!

Depends on the context and the company I am keeping.

My personal concept of God is that of the highest order and power, the prime mover of the universe. A presence within all and surrounding all. Not a creator but a motivator. A peace in uncertainty. A break in stasis.

That's just me.

CBM said:

A: What is your definition of God?

B: If you identify with a particular religion or spiritual path, what is its definition of God and does your definition align with that?

C: If it doesn’t align with the mainstream definition of your chosen religion/ path, what are the differences and how do you reconcile them?

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My beliefs about God align with my religion because I do not believe that we can know anything about God without a religion.
God can never be defined in words but God can be described so that we have some understanding of what God is.
Below is how the Baha'i Faith views God.

God in the Baháʼí Faith

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Baháʼí view of God is essentially monotheistic. God is the imperishable, uncreated being who is the source of all existence.[1] He is described as "a personal God, unknowable, inaccessible, the source of all Revelation, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and almighty".[2][3] Though transcendent and inaccessible directly, his image is reflected in his creation. The purpose of creation is for the created to have the capacity to know and love its creator.[4] God communicates his will and purpose to humanity through intermediaries, known as Manifestations of God, who are the prophets and messengers that have founded religions from prehistoric times up to the present day.[5]

The Baháʼí teachings state that there is only one God and that his essence is absolutely inaccessible from the physical realm of existence and that, therefore, his reality is completely unknowable. Thus, all of humanity's conceptions of God which have been derived throughout history are mere manifestations of the human mind and not at all reflective of the nature of God's essence. While God's essence is inaccessible, a subordinate form of knowledge is available by way of mediation by divine messengers, known as Manifestations of God.

Personal God

While the Baháʼí writings teach of a personal god who is a being with a personality (including the capacity to reason and to feel love), they clearly state that this does not imply a human or physical form.[2] Shoghi Effendi writes:

What is meant by personal God is a God Who is conscious of His creation, Who has a Mind, a Will, a Purpose, and not, as many scientists and materialists believe, an unconscious and determined force operating in the universe. Such conception of the Divine Being, as the Supreme and ever present Reality in the world, is not anthropomorphic, for it transcends all human limitations and forms, and does by no means attempt to define the essence of Divinity which is obviously beyond any human comprehension. To say that God is a personal Reality does not mean that He has a physical form, or does in any way resemble a human being. To entertain such belief would be sheer blasphemy.[15][16]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_in_the_Bahai Faith

CBM said:

A: What is your definition of God?

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As being beyond defining. If I can define it, it isn't God.

CBM said:

B: If you identify with a particular religion or spiritual path, what is its definition of God and does your definition align with that?

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If I look at it through a Christian perspective, which is my parent language, Christianity has many ways of imagining God as well. But predominantly it sees God in dualistic terms. God is largely imagined as external to oneself, as well as outside of Creation.

I can see it that way as well, but it's understood as a simple perception from human eyes, but not limited strictly to that, as in God is some external "entity" or such. I see that as simply a matter of language. Others may take that very literally.

CBM said:

C: If it doesn’t align with the mainstream definition of your chosen religion/ path, what are the differences and how do you reconcile them?

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As above. I understand it as a matter of trying to translate the ineffible, that which is beyond words and ideas or defining it, and make meaningful thought about it. Imagining God in a 3rd person perspective is simply a way to put a wrapper around it to talk about it from a 3rd person perspective. God is seen objectively, or as an object outside oneself.

In Christianity as well, God is seen through a 2nd person perspective, in a relational sense. God is personal. It is an I-Thou relationship. That too is useful, but not the limitation of the Divine.

Less common in Christianity is the 1st person perspective. That is where the Self is realized, "Christ in you", or God within. I AM that which I seek. This is pretty much something found in the more mystical and contemplative arms of Christianity, where you can find them.

I take all three perspectives, depending on the need, and don't take any of them as the only correct way. They are all faces of the Divine. Each informs the whole. We see the rest of the world that way as humans.

CBM said:

B: If you identify with a particular religion or spiritual path, what is its definition of God and does your definition align with that?

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I align with Meher Baba's Master's Prayer which expresses the attributes of Divinity and states that the Divine is beyond those attributes as well:

O Parvardigar, the Preserver and Protector of All,
You are without Beginning and without End,
Non-dual, beyond comparison, and none can measure You.
You are without colour, without expression, without form and without attributes.
You are unlimited and unfathomable, beyond imagination and conception, eternal and imperishable.
You are indivisible, and none can see You but with eyes Divine.
You always were, You always are, and You always will be.
You are everywhere; You are in everything;
and You are also beyond everywhere and beyond everything.
You are in the firmament and in the depths.
You are manifest and unmanifest on all planes and beyond all planes;
You are in the three worlds and also beyond the three worlds.
...

sun rise said:

I align with Meher Baba's Master's Prayer which expresses the attributes of Divinity and states that the Divine is beyond those attributes as well:

O Parvardigar, the Preserver and Protector of All,
You are without Beginning and without End,
Non-dual, beyond comparison, and none can measure You.
You are without colour, without expression, without form and without attributes.
You are unlimited and unfathomable, beyond imagination and conception, eternal and imperishable.
You are indivisible, and none can see You but with eyes Divine.
You always were, You always are, and You always will be.
You are everywhere; You are in everything;
and You are also beyond everywhere and beyond everything.
You are in the firmament and in the depths.
You are manifest and unmanifest on all planes and beyond all planes;
You are in the three worlds and also beyond the three worlds.
...

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Very good, I think.

CBM said:

A: What is your definition of God?

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He is the Creator of all things and the Supreme Sovereign over all of his intelligent creatures. That means that he expects us to obey him as a child would a wiser and loving parent.

B: If you identify with a particular religion or spiritual path, what is its definition of God and does your definition align with that?

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If my faith did not align with my definition of God, why would I remain in it? That would make me a hypocrite. God hates hypocrites.

C: If it doesn’t align with the mainstream definition of your chosen religion/ path, what are the differences and how do you reconcile them?

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That's easy...if the Bible is the word of God (as I believe it to be our only instruction manual from him) then my chosen path would use it as a guide....a compass, and a map. Any deviation from that path, as in ideas that come from men, would lead away from God, not to him.

God I define as one who has complete power, authority, and control over everything and everyone with supreme justice innate to it's very being.

Anything less falls short of the concept of God.

God is often ideological when it comes to how many human beings employ the concept. I see no evidence for such a being.

osgart said:

God I define as one who has complete power, authority, and control over everything and everyone with supreme justice innate to it's very being.

Anything less falls short of the concept of God.

God is often ideological when it comes to how many human beings employ the concept. I see no evidence for such a being.

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What a rollercoaster ride that was! Wonderful!

I can see that The World is about politics and the exchange of money. I believe that God has nothing to do with those but is above all those.

CBM said:

A: What is your definition of God?

B: If you identify with a particular religion or spiritual path, what is its definition of God and does your definition align with that?

C: If it doesn’t align with the mainstream definition of your chosen religion/ path, what are the differences and how do you reconcile them?

Click to expand...

I would start to type, and then erase and type again; finally, I thought I would instead answer with a passage from the Kaivalya Upanishad. It sums up my belief in God, who He is, and what many Shaiva Hindus believe.

"Him who is without beginning, middle or end, who is one, all-pervading, who is wisdom and bliss, who is formless, wonderful, who has Uma as his companion, the highest lord, the ruler, who is the three-eyed, who has a dark throat, who is tranquil; by meditating on him the sage reaches the source of beings, the witness of all, who is beyond (all) darkness. He is Brahma (the creator); he is Siva (the judge), he is Indra, he is the imperishable, supreme, the lord of himself. He is Visnu (the preserver), he is life, he is time, he is fire, he is the moon. He is all, what has been and what shall be. He is eternal. By knowing him one conquers death. There is no other way to liberation."

savagewind said:

I can see that The World is about politics and the exchange of money. I believe that God has nothing to do with those but is above all those.

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Of course!


I'm very wary of people that claim to have authority to speak and act on behalf of God.
Just those who take license to wield power over others on behalf of God. There's a lot of very human conceptions of God out there.

If people want to rule themselves to their own God I'm fine with that. I am all for separation of church and state though. Nevertheless law is reached by a majority consensus I hope. After all people have to live by the laws they make. I think that's good motivation for people to make the best laws possible.

CBM said:

A: What is your definition of God?

B: If you identify with a particular religion or spiritual path, what is its definition of God and does your definition align with that?

C: If it doesn’t align with the mainstream definition of your chosen religion/ path, what are the differences and how do you reconcile them?

Click to expand...

My belief is from my religious philosophy Advaita Vedanta (non-dual=God/Brahman and creation are not-two Hinduism).

God/Brahman is infinite consciousness that is the Source of all reality. Our consciousness is a spark of God/Brahman.

Well, for me - human imagination.

Trailblazer said:

My beliefs about God align with my religion because I do not believe that we can know anything about God without a religion.

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Interesting! Nice use of a neutral source. I concur.

CBM said:

A: What is your definition of God?

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I don't have one and I never heard one that is useful and agreed upon by a majority. and since I'm not claiming the existence of such an entity, it is not my duty to come up with a definition.

B: If you identify with a particular religion or spiritual path, what is its definition of God and does your definition align with that?

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I don't think there is such a person whos definition is in alignment with her/his religions definition since the religion doesn't have a definition that isn't vague and/or contradictory.

C: If it doesn’t align with the mainstream definition of your chosen religion/ path, what are the differences and how do you reconcile them?

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I don't think a believer should fret about this question. All the other believers are just as hypocritical as himself.

CBM said:

A: What is your definition of God?

B: If you identify with a particular religion or spiritual path, what is its definition of God and does your definition align with that?

C: If it doesn’t align with the mainstream definition of your chosen religion/ path, what are the differences and how do you reconcile them?

Click to expand...

Allah is the supreme being.

A: & B:
He is the Greatest of the Great (Brahma), the Generator, Operator and Destructor of everything, the Supreme Consciousness, the Most Beloved Father (Ba'Ba').

CBM said:

A: What is your definition of God?

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I don't have one, so have to rely on the definitions or descriptions that others provide - all of which don't make much sense to me - and as such I don't find it profitable (thinking as to such) to even pursue such paths.