Do the gods understand human languages?

[Quintessence]

I'm seriously not trolling you. I believe what you are suggesting is convoluting the topic.

Pardon, but I'm not sure how else I'm supposed to interpret you calling the fact that I'm not a classical monotheist - and that I'm not demanding everyone else in this thread limit the conversation to that type of theism - "sad."

Why do gods need human languages to communicate with humans? If anything, they need to appear to you in person first. If they never do, what use is a language spoken audibly?

I don't see why it would be necessary for the gods to appear "in person" to communicate with you, especially for gods that are not persons, per se. Nor is language exclusively oratory. It's also written, and to some, directly communicated within the mind. I'd say that's the general default for conversations with gods for those who feel they have them - a sort of telepathy, not spoken word.

The really big question for me, however, is this one: "when you ask questions about God (or gods), how do you suppose you are going to answer them, and how will you know you've answered correctly?" Are you not assuming that somehow or other, you are going to have access to God/god's thoughts, or that somebody else will?

These are very important questions! They are, however, a bit beyond the scope of this thread. Not sure when and if I would get around to making a discussion/debate topic about this, so certainly feel free to if the mood strikes.

I guess it depends on how one defines a "god", so for clarification, what would be your criteria?

For this thread I specifically want to avoid defining others' gods for them. Whoever your gods are, and whatever your theology is that provides additional teachings about the nature of those gods, is fair game. To me, part of what makes this discussion interesting is how answers will differ based on one's variety of theism and the associated theology.

In my experience, They do. They communicate with me through words, signs, images and divination.

Would you consider these things "human languages?" In a way, this brings up the issue of what makes a language human. I mean, when I created the thread I was thinking specifically things like Spanish, Japanese, Russian, and so forth... but signs, images, things we don't usually call "languages" are also part of language, right? I don't know - I'm not a linguist.

 

[suncowiam]

Pardon, but I'm not sure how else I'm supposed to interpret you calling the fact that I'm not a classical monotheist - and that I'm not demanding everyone else in this thread limit the conversation to that type of theism - "sad."



I don't see why it would be necessary for the gods to appear "in person" to communicate with you, especially for gods that are not persons, per se. Nor is language exclusively oratory. It's also written, and to some, directly communicated within the mind. I'd say that's the general default for conversations with gods for those who feel they have them - a sort of telepathy, not spoken word.



These are very important questions! They are, however, a bit beyond the scope of this thread. Not sure when and if I would get around to making a discussion/debate topic about this, so certainly feel free to if the mood strikes.



For this thread I specifically want to avoid defining others' gods for them. Whoever your gods are, and whatever your theology is that provides additional teachings about the nature of those gods, is fair game. To me, part of what makes this discussion interesting is how answers will differ based on one's variety of theism and the associated theology.



Would you consider these things "human languages?" In a way, this brings up the issue of what makes a language human. I mean, when I created the thread I was thinking specifically things like Spanish, Japanese, Russian, and so forth... but signs, images, things we don't usually call "languages" are also part of language, right? I don't know - I'm not a linguist.

Ok... If a mortal can learn a language, I have to assume a God can learn the same language and be better at it. No matter what definition of God one accepts, their has to be some trait of immense power that all Gods should have. Whether the God chooses to learn this language or use it to communicate is another aspect.

Evangelicalhumanist brings up a good point because if the message was destructive, then I hope that person was fully sure that it was from God and that it was interpreted correctly.

 

[Quintessence]

Ok... If a mortal can learn a language, I have to assume a God can learn the same language and be better at it. No matter what definition of God one accepts, their has to be some trait of immense power that all Gods should have.

Why do you believe gods must have some trait of immense power? What theology does this belief stem from, do you think? Would learning human languages necessarily be one of those traits of immense power? Why or why not?

For clarification's sake, what do you mean by "immense power?" "Immense" by what standard of measure and by whose perspective? Ants, for example have immense strength for their mass and size. A couple of minutes without air and most air-breathing organisms either die or suffer irreparable brain damage. Are these examples of immense power?

(questions like that are precisely why I do not demand something have "immense power" by my arbitrary standard to call it a deity... haha)

 

[suncowiam]

Why do you believe gods must have some trait of immense power? What theology does this belief stem from, do you think? Would learning human languages necessarily be one of those traits of immense power? Why or why not?

For clarification's sake, what do you mean by "immense power?" "Immense" by what standard of measure and by whose perspective? Ants, for example have immense strength for their mass and size. A couple of minutes without air and most air-breathing organisms either die or suffer irreparable brain damage. Are these examples of immense power?

(questions like that are precisely why I do not demand something have "immense power" by my arbitrary standard to call it a deity... haha)

Power was vague and general on purpose. But in the case of languages, it would be intelligence. I have to assume there is some level of intellect that any God should have before attaining to the level of God. Call it a requirement if you will...

Isn't there some common ground or innate definition to all Gods?

Otherwise, could I just look at a rock and call it a God?

Please don't take that the wrong way but there are proper definitions to help categorize our understanding of the world?

 

[Quintessence]

Isn't there some common ground or innate definition to all Gods?

Not really. Well, there is one thing - something is a deity because some person or culture has deified it. This, of course, says nothing about the qualities or nature of that which is deified. As it should be, considering those qualities vary.

Part of the intent of this thread is for folks to tell us a tale of whether or not they feel god(s) - as they understand them - would understand human languages and why. The why question starts getting at the nature of the gods as per that person's theology, which is interesting.

 

[suncowiam]

Not really. Well, there is one thing - something is a deity because some person or culture has deified it. This, of course, says nothing about the qualities or nature of that which is deified. As it should be, considering those qualities vary.

Part of the intent of this thread is for folks to tell us a tale of whether or not they feel god(s) - as they understand them - would understand human languages and why. The why question starts getting at the nature of the gods as per that person's theology, which is interesting.

Fair enough. I can go on but I'm being too technical for this.

Btw, I do troll people with very extreme views especially on the violent hateful side. Your views have never been that so I would never troll you. I have disagreed with much of it in the past but that just boils down to opinions. So please keep in mind I will never troll you in the future unless you become violently hateful.

Thanks.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Would you consider these things "human languages?" In a way, this brings up the issue of what makes a language human. I mean, when I created the thread I was thinking specifically things like Spanish, Japanese, Russian, and so forth... but signs, images, things we don't usually call "languages" are also part of language, right? I don't know - I'm not a linguist.

No, I wouldn't say that images, signs and such are necessarily human language but may require human psychology to be meaningful given the image or sign.

 

[Shiranui117]

Speaking to our gods is a common activity for many theists. When we speak to our gods, we typically use whatever our native language is. This begs a question:

Do the gods understand human languages? If so, which ones? What is the theological basis for your answer? Does it matter if the gods understand human languages? Why or why not? ​

If God created the entirety of the universe, I'm sure He can understand the languages spoken by a few billion mortals. After all, He watched all of these languages develop.

...Damnit now I wanna pick God's brain about linguistics.

 

[Serpent Child]

Speaking to our gods is a common activity for many theists. When we speak to our gods, we typically use whatever our native language is. This begs a question:

Do the gods understand human languages? If so, which ones? What is the theological basis for your answer? Does it matter if the gods understand human languages? Why or why not? ​

In my opinion yes they do, they can simply telepathically communicate with us.