Defining God

[11 to 1 0]

Here is another quote to introduce the topic: what is God? To each of us, of course, not some absolute dogmatic definition. It could be argued that if you have any conctere conception of God, it can't really encompass what God is, so if you worship your own conception, you practice idol worship. Or, you are worshipping yourself. In this excerpt are some quotes from theologians and mystics (Thomas Merton being one of the best-known Christian mystics of our time) that give us the idea "God is nothingness." I think it makes a lot of sense since this is what God created the Universe from.

The Hebrews may have had the most reasonable idea, which is not to speak or write a name that represents that which created. Any time we use a word, we believe we have a meaning for that word, a "definition of." Using a word to refer to (*), we have defined, and therefore limited, that which can be neither. If we use a noun then we have left out action, if we use a verb, we remove that action from that which acts and we must use two words, representing that which is the penultimate oneness with two. (I AM) If we have many words, then soon we create a structure, a paradigm, something with boundaries, inherently contradicting the nature of what we wish to identify. The Hebrew mystics created the Kabbalah, including a sort of Diagram of God, including names for various aspects of God and concomitant body parts. Yet, the most mystical name Kabbalists have for God is Ayin: nothingness. A common Hindu reference to God is neti-neti, “not this, not this,” referring to the idea that the truest search for God would be one where you walked through the entire Universe pointing at everything you encountered and said, “not this.”Know that the identification of God by means of negations is the correct identification, … Negative attributes conduct the mind toward the utmost reach that one can attain in the apprehension of God…MaimonidesNothingness (ayin) is more existent than all the being of the world.David ben Abraham hu-LavanGod’s nothingness fills the entire world; His something though is nowhere.Meister EckhartIn the end the contemplative suffers the anguish of realizing that he no longer knows what God is. … There is no such thing as God because God is not a what or a thing but a pure "who." He is the "thou" before whom our inmost "I" springs into awareness. He is the "I AM" before whom with our most personal and inalienable voice we echo "I am"…Thomas Merton All faith systems have depictions of what cannot be truly comprehended in the physical body in an attempt to communicate what they perceive in spirit. Whether they create a set of transmittable ideas, an icon, or a designated holy place, they have manifested something of the Truth, and often begin to believe they can know everything, instead of only something, about that which is entirely Unknowable and yet, intimately known.Having said all of that and believing it, we must use words: Creator, Transcendental Force, Loving Intent. God. Very hard to not use words when communicating through writing. Artists do it better, with form and color and negative space. Composers do most purely, in music. Words are traps for the intellect and emotion, like roads on maps that keep us on beaten paths when all the greatest sights are in the bush. In the end, theology (God knowledge) is experiential and that experience can never be written, sung, painted or spoken in any way that translates the experience completely to another.

[semaj550 0]

Personally, I like the definition that God is that than which none greater can be conceived.

[crowTrobot 2]

Here is another quote to introduce the topic: what is God? To each of us, of course, not some absolute dogmatic definition. It could be argued that if you have any conctere conception of God, it can't really encompass what God is, so if you worship your own conception, you practice idol worship. Or, you are worshipping yourself. In this excerpt are some quotes from theologians and mystics (Thomas Merton being one of the best-known Christian mystics of our time) that give us the idea "God is nothingness." I think it makes a lot of sense since this is what God created the Universe from.

your post can be simplified to "god is indistinguishable from a hallucination"

[crowTrobot 2]

Personally, I like the definition that God is that than which none greater can be conceived.

god is tiger woods?

[11 to 1 0]

Personally, I like the definition that God is that than which none greater can be conceived.

"Greater" is interesting here, because it's an adjective but it has nothing to describe. Like, not greater size, not greater power, not greater...whatever. Just....greater. Cool.

[crowTrobot 2]

"Greater" is interesting here, because it's an adjective but it has nothing to describe. Like, not greater size, not greater power, not greater...whatever. Just....greater. Cool.

further proof theistic philosophy and drugs don't mix

[semaj550 0]

god is tiger woods?

I'm sorry but I don't have even the slightest difficulty in conceiving of a better golfer than Tiger Woods. That's the whole point. It's not, "God is the greatest that we observe to exist."Edit: Haven't you ever heard the following?Three guys are out for a round of golf. Moses is the first to tee off and slices his drive into a water trap. He then walks over to the water, parts it, and knocks his ball up on to the fairway. Jesus is up next and hits his drive into the same water trap but his ball rests on the surface of the water as Jesus walks across the water and hits his ball on to the green leaving a short putt. The last golfer tees off and hooks the ball far the other way. It then proceeds to bounce off a rock, high up into the air where it is caught in the talons of an eagle who flys over and drops the ball in the cup for a hole in one. Moses then leans over to Jesus and says, "Man, I really hate playing with your Father."

[WrongWay 0]

In the old days, God was the big stick that would womp you on the head if you didn't say and do what the rich and powerful told you to say and do. But, then came the renasance and (western) people challenged this claim of authority.Deciding that you can get more flys with honey than sugar, God transformed from big stick to into imaginary friend/father/big brother, that believers build in the image of their greatest desire.If they don't like something, then God doesn't like it too.If they strive to do or be something, then God has deemed this their purpose of life.If something good happens, God did it. If something bad happens, then the Lord works in mysterious ways and has a master plan which will make everything work out for the best in the end.

[semaj550 0]

In the old days, God was the big stick that would womp you on the head if you didn't say and do what the rich and powerful told you to say and do. But, then came the renasance and (western) people challenged this claim of authority.Deciding that you can get more flys with honey than sugar, God transformed from big stick to into imaginary friend/father/big brother, that believers build in the image of their greatest desire.If they don't like something, then God doesn't like it too.If they strive to do or be something, then God has deemed this their purpose of life.If something good happens, God did it. If something bad happens, then the Lord works in mysterious ways and has a master plan which will make everything work out for the best in the end.

This is a very narrow and false view theism. Any rational theist is going to tell you that the attributes of God exist completely independant of one's tastes. In fact many Christians take the doctine of self-denial very seriously.