Theists who aren't really theists

[mohammed_beiruti]

Something that I completely do not understand is when someone says "I believe in God" and then when they go into detail about their beliefs, they end up explaining that they do not believe in God, but have instead labeled some normal, everyday thing that we already have a name for as being God. For example, God is love, God is life, God is everything.

We already know that love, life and everything exist, and we have names for all of them. We don't need new names for them, and we certainly do not need names that already mean something else, such as God, which is generally associated with things such as the creator/ruler of the universe, an energy that is the driving force of life, a supreme consciousness that guides the universe, etc.

If you believe in God, say that you believe in God. But if you believe in love, life and everything, why would you label these things as God, if you aren't just trying to confuse everyone?

Thoughts?

it is realy graet to search for the good names and attributes of Allah ,

Qura'an Ch.17

[110] Say: "Call upon Allah, or call upon Rahman[means:the most Merciful God]: by whatever name ye call upon Him, (it is well): for to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names. Neither speak thy prayer aloud, nor speak it in a low tone, but seek a middle course between."


[111] Say: "Praise be to Allah, Who begets no son, and has no partner in (His) dominion: nor (needs) He any to protect Him from humiliation: yea, magnify Him for His greatness and glory!"

If it was a good name, you might call Allah by this name.

 

[BucephalusBB]

Lol, even though everybody disagrees with you here, I agree. But only if they switch the word God with one other word. Like LOVE...

It's very hard explaining yourself as atheist if the other replaces God with love. Ofcourse I believe in love, so people either people that changes god to love are atheist, or I am theist.

 

[mohammed_beiruti]

Lol, even though everybody disagrees with you here, I agree. But only if they switch the word God with one other word. Like LOVE...

It's very hard explaining yourself as atheist if the other replaces God with love. Ofcourse I believe in love, so people either people that changes god to love are atheist, or I am theist.

I ment that Allah is the most affectionate,full of loving-kindness.

Due to that belief, Allah has an atribute of perfect love

no other can attain love perfection beside Allah.

look at the most beautiful names of Allah in Qura'an

for example there is some :

Ch.85

[14] And He is the Oft-Forgiving, full of Loving-Kindness,


[15] Lord of the Throne of Glory,

Please take my claim as there must be a monotheism in his attributes

for example : the most loving (who has the absolute perfect love ) is Allah. no one can attain this perfect Love, because perfection is just for Allah.

 

[BucephalusBB]

I ment that Allah is the most affectionate,full of loving-kindness.

Due to that belief, Allah has an atribute of perfect love

no other can attain love perfection beside Allah.

look at the most beautiful names of Allah in Qura'an

for example there is some :

Ch.85

[14] And He is the Oft-Forgiving, full of Loving-Kindness,


[15] Lord of the Throne of Glory,

Please take my claim as there must be a monotheism in his attributes

for example : the most loving (who has the absolute perfect love ) is Allah. no one can attain this perfect Love, because perfection is just for Allah.

Yeah, i have no problem here as you don't see purelly love = Allah, but love is part of Allah. In that way we can talk and I can understand.

 

[mohammed_beiruti]

Yeah, i have no problem here as you don't see purelly love = Allah, but love is part of Allah. In that way we can talk and I can understand.

But Allah has other attributes beside Love such as ,The Most merciful, the most forgiving,the all-mighty,the The Everlasting,the Eternal,the insurer,the great, the most high,the most generous,the Provider,the Creator of the universe,.....etc

in Islam we have 99 names(attributes) for Allah, all of them in term of perfection
-no one else can be named by them-

example :
in islam we can call someone "generous", but we may not call him "the generous"
because in Arabic language the Article "the" gives an absolute meaning, it means that he attained the perfection-term of generosity.therefore no one can reach the perfection-term of generosity except Allah, and so on the other names(attributes).

if we deny one of these names for Allah we may not be considered as theists , or if we thought that someone else could have this/these name(s), also we may not be considered as a theists.

example1 : if someone denied that Allah is "Eternal", we might not consider him as a theist

example 2 : if someone thought that someone else beside Allah had created the universe , we might not consider him as a theist.

 

[BucephalusBB]

But Allah has other attributes beside Love such as ,The Most merciful, the most forgiving,the all-mighty,the The Everlasting,the Eternal,the insurer,the great, the most high,the most generous,the Provider,the Creator of the universe,.....etc

in Islam we have 99 names(attributes) for Allah, all of them in term of perfection
-no one else can be named by them-

example :
in islam we can call someone "generous", but we may not call him "the generous"
because in Arabic language the Article "the" gives an absolute meaning, it means that he attained the perfection-term of generosity.therefore no one can reach the perfection-term of generosity except Allah, and so on the other names(attributes).

if we deny one of these names for Allah we may not be considered as theists , or if we thought that someone else could have this/these name(s), also we may not be considered as a theists.

example1 : if someone denied that Allah is "Eternal", we might not consider him as a theist

example 2 : if someone thought that someone else beside Allah had created the universe , we might not consider him as a theist.

Now you are just changing the definition of the word "theist"...

 

[mohammed_beiruti]

Now you are just changing the definition of the word "theist"...

In isalm "monotheism" consist of three terms.

1- To consider Allah is the only creater and the provider of everything

2- to consider Allah is the only legislator of relegions and orders.

3- to consider Allah is the only one who has the perfect attribute and beautiful names. (mentioned in op)

 

[BucephalusBB]

In isalm "monotheism" consist of three terms.

1- To consider Allah is the only creater and the provider of everything

2- to consider Allah is the only legislator of relegions and orders.

3- to consider Allah is the only one who has the perfect attribute and beautiful names. (mentioned in op)

No it isn't, you just described part of the islam, not monotheism..

 

[Allfather]

Jumping in here late, but giving my 2 cents anyway. I'm also a deist in this sense, so my response might be irrelevant. I can't sleep so I post incessantly

Something that I completely do not understand is when someone says "I believe in God" and then when they go into detail about their beliefs, they end up explaining that they do not believe in God, but have instead labeled some normal, everyday thing that we already have a name for as being God. For example, God is love, God is life, God is everything.

We already know that love, life and everything exist, and we have names for all of them. We don't need new names for them, and we certainly do not need names that already mean something else, such as God, which is generally associated with things such as the creator/ruler of the universe, an energy that is the driving force of life, a supreme consciousness that guides the universe, etc.

If you believe in God, say that you believe in God. But if you believe in love, life and everything, why would you label these things as God, if you aren't just trying to confuse everyone?

Thoughts?

My belief looks at this a little differently. Instead of looking at it in the "God is _____" sense, I look at it as "_____ is God". All things are a part of this thing we call God, and God is above it, still, whatever God is. (Pandendeism). What I think the theistic approach is trying to say, is that all of these everyday occurrences are a part/facet of what their idea of God is. They are not labeling God by mundane principles, but accentuating their believe that God is all-inclusive.

 

[painted wolf]

Also adding my small change to this.

With so many faiths around the world, to expect a single definition of "God" is a bit silly.
There a great many faith systems around the world (especially "Native" ones) that have very blurry definitions of "God" compared to the big three Monotheists.

This doesn't make their definition less valid. Just different.

wa:do

 

[Allfather]

Also adding my small change to this.

With so many faiths around the world, to expect a single definition of "God" is a bit silly.
There a great many faith systems around the world (especially "Native" ones) that have very blurry definitions of "God" compared to the big three Monotheists.

This doesn't make their definition less valid. Just different.

wa:do

Also brings up another point (and this is not meant to demean the "Big 3"). Who is closer to God (or possibly have a better description/explanation) Newer religions that are so meshed with culture and civilization, i.e. human progression, or those indigenous religions that were closer to the creation in the first place?

Just a thought.

 

[danny vee]

I agree that God is often associated with these things as well, but wouldn't saying that God is these things in the literal sense defeat the purpose of believing in a deity?

Why would it? If there is a being of love, life, and understanding, then why would that defeat any purpose?

 

[jtartar]

Something that I completely do not understand is when someone says "I believe in God" and then when they go into detail about their beliefs, they end up explaining that they do not believe in God, but have instead labeled some normal, everyday thing that we already have a name for as being God. For example, God is love, God is life, God is everything.

We already know that love, life and everything exist, and we have names for all of them. We don't need new names for them, and we certainly do not need names that already mean something else, such as God, which is generally associated with things such as the creator/ruler of the universe, an energy that is the driving force of life, a supreme consciousness that guides the universe, etc.

If you believe in God, say that you believe in God. But if you believe in love, life and everything, why would you label these things as God, if you aren't just trying to confuse everyone?

Thoughts?

jake6000.
The only way we can communicate effectively is through speech, even though many of our words are superfluous.
There are lexicons of names called onomasticons, which explain the meaning off names. Names, in the past were very important to their owners.
We all have names, which are called Personal or Proper names, that distinguish us from others.
When talking about God, we find that He thought so much of His personal name that he inspired the writers of the Holy Scriptures to put His name in His book over 7,000 times. Most Bibles today have, either left His name out altogether of just use the TITLE, God or LORD.
In the King James Version of the Bible, every place in the text that now has LORD and GOD, in all capitals, God's proper name was there in the original inspired scriptures. God's personal name, JEHOVAH has been left out of changed to a title. This was because of a superstition of the Jews, thinking that God's person name was too Holy to be spoken by sinful men. Does that thinking make sense, when God Himself had it put in His book over 7,000 times, and they were supposed to read in the scriptures every day??
In the original Hebrew Language God's name was symbolized by four Hebrew letters, called The Tetragrammaton.
Think about this; God could have chosen any name in the universe, but He chose JEHOVAH to be His memorial.
Also, we all have names, it seems that all the angels have names, even all the stars God has named.
God Himself has given Himself many other names, but these are descriptive names, or Proper Adjectives, not God's personal name.
The Bible tells us that God is Love, 1John 4:8. He is spoken of as Jehovah of armies, The Almighty God, a consuming fire, a jealous God, and many others, but He has only ONE personal name, JEHOVAH, which is the most important name in the universe, Jere 10:25, Micah 4:5, Rom 10:13, Acts 2:21.
There is nothing wrong with people calling God by some other name, but they want to make sure they distinguish Jehovah God, The Almighty Creator, the Father of all and the giver of Life to all, from all other gods, because they are all really NONEXISTANT, and God is going to destroy all thought of them and the people who worship them, Jere 10:11, Ps 115:1-8.

 

[Heneni]

Something that I completely do not understand is when someone says "I believe in God" and then when they go into detail about their beliefs, they end up explaining that they do not believe in God, but have instead labeled some normal, everyday thing that we already have a name for as being God. For example, God is love, God is life, God is everything.

We already know that love, life and everything exist, and we have names for all of them. We don't need new names for them, and we certainly do not need names that already mean something else, such as God, which is generally associated with things such as the creator/ruler of the universe, an energy that is the driving force of life, a supreme consciousness that guides the universe, etc.

If you believe in God, say that you believe in God. But if you believe in love, life and everything, why would you label these things as God, if you aren't just trying to confuse everyone?

Thoughts?

They have mistaken the creation for god. So everything is god..and the next natural step would be. I AM GOD.

The bible predicted that it would happen. Its rather sobering to see how accurate that prediction was...and indeed, not only are people thinking that god is in their KFC but they themselves are god. THE GOD.

They say that god is in everything, when he himself has had no trouble in the past, to cast out and banish satan from before him, and he had no trouble sending Adam out of the garden. If he sent out satan from before him, while he remained in him, that would be defeating the object.

Heneni

 

[Storm]

Given the thread title, it should be noted that I don't consider myself a theist. I'm not sure I should've posted, now.