nonbeliever_92
Well-Known Member
What attributes, physical or otherwise does your god/higher being/ whateves, possess? Is he a man/woman/thing? Is he subjective/objective? What is he?
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Can you define your god?
- Thread starter nonbeliever_92
- Start date
Rainbow Mage
Lib Democrat/Agnostic/Epicurean-ish/Buddhist-ish
Sure. I will use my mother, Sekhmet-Mut, for this demonstration.
Sekhmet-Mut is a being who exists on a higher plane then humans, who is mostly a goddess of healing, justice, and punishment. We describe her as female, but this may be a statement about her attributes, more then an actual reality. We can never understand a god objectively in our limited minds, but even they may not entirely understand. I believe Sekhmet-Mut possesses some kind of body, but not necessarily a woman's body with a lioness head. These are statements about her attributes.
Primordial Annihilator
Well-Known Member
God is chaos.
Wannabe Yogi
Well-Known Member
God is the ground of all being.
EverChanging
Well-Known Member
I use the word "God" or "Mystery" or "It" or "That" to point to That which is incomprehensible, that draws me beyond myself and yet which is immanent in all things. Because It is beyond words and limited concepts, I prefer to speak of It in paradoxical language. I am fond of saying, "God is everything. God is nothing." Above all, this is a spiritual practice, akin to art or poetry, not an intellectual exercise. It is a mode of transcendence. I am by no means interested in any god of which it could be asked, "Does it exist?" That misses the point of my spiritual practice.
Twig pentagram
High Priest
Reality is God.
"God" is a name for the experience that comes about when subject / object perception abruptly ends while experiencing continues. That's the definition of god. To confirm it, all you need to do is bring about a suspension or end of subject / object perception while experiencing yet continues.
Everything.
If you can comprehend Everything, then you can understand God.
This is far too detailed to write here. But to give an idea: God is Male, Female, Other. God is the sky, the Earth, the Sea. God is Nature, God is Consciousness, God is Life, God is You and Me. God is Time, God is Space, God is Matter and God is Spirit. God is the Intelligent Creator, God is the Intelligent Maintainer, God is the Intelligent Destroyer. God is also that which is Created.
God is Everything.
If you can comprehend Everything, then you can understand God.
This is far too detailed to write here. But to give an idea: God is Male, Female, Other. God is the sky, the Earth, the Sea. God is Nature, God is Consciousness, God is Life, God is You and Me. God is Time, God is Space, God is Matter and God is Spirit. God is the Intelligent Creator, God is the Intelligent Maintainer, God is the Intelligent Destroyer. God is also that which is Created.
God is Everything.
EverChanging
Well-Known Member
Yes, all of this. And yet nothing.
How nothing?
EverChanging
Well-Known Member
I prefer to speak of the divine in paradoxical language to emphasize that it is beyond comprehension. Some of the mystics of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam spoke of God as "Nothing" to emphasize that there is not anything that can be compared to God and yet encompass that reality. It is not that they did not believe in God. They simply used paradoxical language to emphasize its ineffability. So to me, I speak of God as Everything, and yet Nothing in particular. This is not an intellectual exercise for me, but a way to effect transcendence into mystery.
Commoner
Headache
Isn't everything everything? Is god more than everything?
Wait...more than everything? Can't be.
Gaura Priya
IRL
GASP! :areyoucra A paradox to illustrate God's ineffableness!
I believe that God is a Person, the Supreme Personality, who is incorporeal and purely spiritual. He is beyond our comprehension, and yet manifests himself through His Messengers. He is known as Allah, Jehovah, Abha, Vishnu, Ahuramazda, Waheguru, Yehovah, Amitabha, etc. He is known through Muhammad, Guru Nanak, Baha'u'llah, Jesus, Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Abraham, and Zoroaster.
"Say: He is God, the One!
God, the eternally Besought of all!
He begetteth not nor was begotten.
And there is none comparable unto Him."
-- Surah 112, Qur'an
EverChanging
Well-Known Member
Yes, exactly. This is common among the mystics of the three major Abrahamic faiths and especially emphasized in the theologies of the Eastern Orthodox and Greek Orthodox churches, and to a greater or lesser degree in Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism and probably other Christian branches. And it pops up in various other religions as well. I would think all of the major world faiths have paradoxical ways of speaking of the Divine/deities as well. For instance, Hinduism is considered monotheistic by many of its practitioners.
Gaura Priya
IRL
Yes, the tradition would be in neti neti (neither this, nor that), and in the Vaishnava interpretation of 'tat tvam asi' 'Thou (God) art that (the One, the Supreme).' The Gita is full of descriptions of God as both having personal and impersonal qualities.
"All this universe is pervaded by Me in My invisible form; all things exist in Me, but I do not exist in them. Nor are all things in Me; behold this My divine mystery: Myself causing things to exist and supporting them all but dwelling not in them. Understand that all things are in Me even as the mighty air which passeth everywhere is in space. O son of Kunti, at the end of a kalpa all things return unto My nature, and then again at the beginning of another kalpa I cause them to evolve again. Taking control of My own nature I emanate again and again this whole assemblage of beings, without their will, by the power of the material essence. These acts do not bind Me, O conqueror of wealth, because I am as one who sitteth indifferent, uninterested in those works. By reason of My supervision nature produceth the animate and inanimate universe; it is through this cause, O son of Kunti, that the universe revolveth."
-- Krishna, (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 9)
javajo
Well-Known Member
From Gotquestions.org:
The Bible, Gods Word, tells us what God is like and what He is not like. Without the authority of the Bible, any attempt to explain Gods attributes would be no better than an opinion, which by itself is often incorrect, especially in understanding God (Job 42:7). To say that it is important for us to try to understand what God is like is a huge understatement. Failure to do so can cause us to set up, chase after, and worship false gods contrary to His will (Exodus 20:3-5).
Only what God has chosen to reveal of Himself can be known. One of God's attributes or qualities is light, meaning that He is self-revealing in information of Himself (Isaiah 60:19; James 1:17). The fact that God has revealed knowledge of Himself should not be neglected (Hebrews 4:1). Creation, the Bible, and the Word made flesh (Jesus Christ) will help us to know what God is like.
Let's start by understanding that God is our Creator and that we are a part of His creation (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 24:1) and are created in His image. Man is above the rest of creation and was given dominion over it (Genesis 1:26-28). Creation is marred by the fall but still offers a glimpse of Gods works (Genesis 3:17-18; Romans 1:19-20). By considering creation's vastness, complexity, beauty, and order, we can have a sense of the awesomeness of God.
Reading through some of the names of God can be helpful in our search of what God is like. They are as follows:
Elohim - strong One, divine (Genesis 1:1)
Adonai - Lord, indicating a Master-to-servant relationship (Exodus 4:10, 13)
El Elyon - Most High, the strongest One (Genesis 14:20)
El Roi - the strong One who sees (Genesis 16:13)
El Shaddai - Almighty God (Genesis 17:1)
El Olam - Everlasting God (Isaiah 40:28)
Yahweh - LORD I Am, meaning the eternal self-existent God (Exodus 3:13, 14).
God is eternal, meaning He had no beginning and His existence will never end. He is immortal and infinite (Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalm 90:2; 1 Timothy 1:17). God is immutable, meaning He is unchanging; this in turn means that God is absolutely reliable and trustworthy (Malachi 3:6; Numbers 23:19; Psalm 102:26, 27). God is incomparable; there is no one like Him in works or being. He is unequaled and perfect (2 Samuel 7:22; Psalm 86:8; Isaiah 40:25; Matthew 5:48). God is inscrutable, unfathomable, unsearchable, and past finding out as far as understanding Him completely (Isaiah 40:28; Psalm 145:3; Romans 11:33, 34).
God is just; He is no respecter of persons in the sense of showing favoritism (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 18:30). God is omnipotent; He is all-powerful and can do anything that pleases Him, but His actions will always be in accord with the rest of His character (Revelation 19:6; Jeremiah 32:17, 27). God is omnipresent, meaning He is present everywhere, but this does not mean that God is everything (Psalm 139:7-13; Jeremiah 23:23). God is omniscient, meaning He knows the past, present, and future, including what we are thinking at any given moment. Since He knows everything, His justice will always be administered fairly (Psalm 139:1-5; Proverbs 5:21).
God is one; not only is there no other, but He is alone in being able to meet the deepest needs and longings of our hearts. God alone is worthy of our worship and devotion (Deuteronomy 6:4). God is righteous, meaning that God cannot and will not pass over wrongdoing. It is because of Gods righteousness and justice that, in order for our sins to be forgiven, Jesus had to experience God's wrath when our sins were placed upon Him (Exodus 9:27; Matthew 27:45-46; Romans 3:21-26).
God is sovereign, meaning He is supreme. All of His creation put together cannot thwart His purposes (Psalm 93:1; 95:3; Jeremiah 23:20). God is spirit, meaning He is invisible (John 1:18; 4:24). God is a Trinity. He is three in one, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. God is truth, He will remain incorruptible and cannot lie (Psalm 117:2; 1 Samuel 15:29).
God is holy, separated from all moral defilement and hostile toward it. God sees all evil and it angers Him. God is referred to as a consuming fire (Isaiah 6:3; Habakkuk 1:13; Exodus 3:2, 4-5; Hebrews 12:29). God is gracious, and His grace includes His goodness, kindness, mercy, and love. If it were not for God's grace, His holiness would exclude us from His presence. Thankfully, this is not the case, for He desires to know each of us personally (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 31:19; 1 Peter 1:3; John 3:16, 17:3).
Since God is an infinite Being, no human can fully answer this God-sized question, but through Gods Word, we can understand much about who God is and what He is like. May we all wholeheartedly continue to seek after Him (Jeremiah 29:13).
The Bible, Gods Word, tells us what God is like and what He is not like. Without the authority of the Bible, any attempt to explain Gods attributes would be no better than an opinion, which by itself is often incorrect, especially in understanding God (Job 42:7). To say that it is important for us to try to understand what God is like is a huge understatement. Failure to do so can cause us to set up, chase after, and worship false gods contrary to His will (Exodus 20:3-5).
Only what God has chosen to reveal of Himself can be known. One of God's attributes or qualities is light, meaning that He is self-revealing in information of Himself (Isaiah 60:19; James 1:17). The fact that God has revealed knowledge of Himself should not be neglected (Hebrews 4:1). Creation, the Bible, and the Word made flesh (Jesus Christ) will help us to know what God is like.
Let's start by understanding that God is our Creator and that we are a part of His creation (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 24:1) and are created in His image. Man is above the rest of creation and was given dominion over it (Genesis 1:26-28). Creation is marred by the fall but still offers a glimpse of Gods works (Genesis 3:17-18; Romans 1:19-20). By considering creation's vastness, complexity, beauty, and order, we can have a sense of the awesomeness of God.
Reading through some of the names of God can be helpful in our search of what God is like. They are as follows:
Elohim - strong One, divine (Genesis 1:1)
Adonai - Lord, indicating a Master-to-servant relationship (Exodus 4:10, 13)
El Elyon - Most High, the strongest One (Genesis 14:20)
El Roi - the strong One who sees (Genesis 16:13)
El Shaddai - Almighty God (Genesis 17:1)
El Olam - Everlasting God (Isaiah 40:28)
Yahweh - LORD I Am, meaning the eternal self-existent God (Exodus 3:13, 14).
God is eternal, meaning He had no beginning and His existence will never end. He is immortal and infinite (Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalm 90:2; 1 Timothy 1:17). God is immutable, meaning He is unchanging; this in turn means that God is absolutely reliable and trustworthy (Malachi 3:6; Numbers 23:19; Psalm 102:26, 27). God is incomparable; there is no one like Him in works or being. He is unequaled and perfect (2 Samuel 7:22; Psalm 86:8; Isaiah 40:25; Matthew 5:48). God is inscrutable, unfathomable, unsearchable, and past finding out as far as understanding Him completely (Isaiah 40:28; Psalm 145:3; Romans 11:33, 34).
God is just; He is no respecter of persons in the sense of showing favoritism (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 18:30). God is omnipotent; He is all-powerful and can do anything that pleases Him, but His actions will always be in accord with the rest of His character (Revelation 19:6; Jeremiah 32:17, 27). God is omnipresent, meaning He is present everywhere, but this does not mean that God is everything (Psalm 139:7-13; Jeremiah 23:23). God is omniscient, meaning He knows the past, present, and future, including what we are thinking at any given moment. Since He knows everything, His justice will always be administered fairly (Psalm 139:1-5; Proverbs 5:21).
God is one; not only is there no other, but He is alone in being able to meet the deepest needs and longings of our hearts. God alone is worthy of our worship and devotion (Deuteronomy 6:4). God is righteous, meaning that God cannot and will not pass over wrongdoing. It is because of Gods righteousness and justice that, in order for our sins to be forgiven, Jesus had to experience God's wrath when our sins were placed upon Him (Exodus 9:27; Matthew 27:45-46; Romans 3:21-26).
God is sovereign, meaning He is supreme. All of His creation put together cannot thwart His purposes (Psalm 93:1; 95:3; Jeremiah 23:20). God is spirit, meaning He is invisible (John 1:18; 4:24). God is a Trinity. He is three in one, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. God is truth, He will remain incorruptible and cannot lie (Psalm 117:2; 1 Samuel 15:29).
God is holy, separated from all moral defilement and hostile toward it. God sees all evil and it angers Him. God is referred to as a consuming fire (Isaiah 6:3; Habakkuk 1:13; Exodus 3:2, 4-5; Hebrews 12:29). God is gracious, and His grace includes His goodness, kindness, mercy, and love. If it were not for God's grace, His holiness would exclude us from His presence. Thankfully, this is not the case, for He desires to know each of us personally (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 31:19; 1 Peter 1:3; John 3:16, 17:3).
Since God is an infinite Being, no human can fully answer this God-sized question, but through Gods Word, we can understand much about who God is and what He is like. May we all wholeheartedly continue to seek after Him (Jeremiah 29:13).
Would that be interpreted as the same as 'I exist'? Or is that interpreted as, 'I am (dot, dot, dot)...light, love, truth, the creator',... etc. ?