What is your concept of God?

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   lovetherainposted 7 years ago

   Deistic, theistic? A personal God who intervenes in the lives of humans?
   
   What are the attributes you ascribe to God?

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      Kathryn L Hillposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I have a Shelter God! ha ha ha … I rescued Him because he looked into my eyes from His Kennel!   Just being funny and creative, ltr …

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         lovetherainposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Ok, post a pick of your Shelter God lol

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            Kathryn L Hillposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Okay, hold on …. 
            ( JK I am not that savvy …)

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      jonnycomelatelyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      My favourite analogy of "God" is the sea and the wave. 
      
      A wave is a manifest part of the surface of the ocean. It's a demonstration of energy exerting up and down movement throughout the ocean's depth.  It can be seen, measured, compared in its dimensions.  It's substance is off and not separate from the substance of the sea. 
      
      The sea, without manifestion that a wave provides, is invisible.  The force being applied to the substance is invisible.  Without disturbance that occurs in the water's surface in the form of waves/ripples, producing contrast, we would not be able to differential sea from sky.
      
      So, at one and the same moment a wave is finite, I.e., it's defined as separate; and it's infinite, I.e., it's limitless.
      
      The wave is the sea and the sea is the wave.  At any one moment, each and every one of us "waves" can choose how we see it, the Universe.  Quantum Choice indeed!

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      promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      The word "concept" implies an abstract description of God. Is it better to ask people to describe their spiritual experiences, if any?

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         jonnycomelatelyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Sure, my latest is pretty abstract, isn't it?   Yes, for most of us a description of our Spiritual dimension will be more satisfying.  For this we will use metaphor and analogy, the only way to describe the indescribable.

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            promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            I agree. That said, I find most people struggle to define the Spiritual dimension even with metaphor and analogy.

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      arksysposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Interventions are only made when a request is sent out. Like an SOS signal. Otherwise the silent observer.
      
      An irregular, huge and calm cloud of smoke; releases a pigeon made out of the same smoke leaving a trail of smoke.
      The cloud of smoke is how I perceive God to be. The pigeon is one of the creations, the trail is the link between the creator and the creation. The link never breaks; it's thickness increases or decreases depending on your closeness.

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   wildernessposted 7 years ago

   A sentient being.  It might wear the body of a human being, but it might (might!) wear the body of a cetacean or even a gorilla.  Or something with tentacles or no limbs or even a physical body.
   
   It "intervenes" in the lives of humans...in the sense that it can change those lives if it is in the area.
   
   Gods have the attributes of a human being, and might have others as well - we are not knowledgeable enough to know the attributes of every sentient being in the universe (even if humans are the only ones).

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      Kathryn L Hillposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      sentient |ˈsenCH(ē)ənt| adjective
      able to perceive or feel things. D
      sentience: noun
      sentiently: adverb
      sentient: adjective
      (capable of) feeling, living, live; conscious, aware, responsive, reactive. T
      
      So, wilderness thinks God might be a living, feeling being who feels and is conscious, aware, responsive and reactive. Where did he get that?

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 7 years ago

   I believe God is a force rather than a being. The force manifests as (all) beings. In every being God manifests as a separate one of a kind being who forgets he was ever just Himself … a Force.
   or something like that.

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      jonnycomelatelyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Kathryn, greetings.  I had not read this post of yours until now.  What you express is quite close to my understanding.  The idea that "God" is the collective consciousness of all living forms present in the here-and-now.   That "force" which you speak of also fits in with this understanding, to my way of thinking.   If we as humans are to be considered the ultimate expression of that "God," then this also can answer the question, "What are the attributes of God?"   Thus, "God has all, any and every attribute of every human expression."  Plus all the attributes of every bird, animal, insect, plant, microbe.
      
      And this brings my thoughts back to my previous analogy of the ocean and waves.  God is dualistically each and every one of these life forms, whilst at the same time Life Force itself.
      
      Deep, I know.  But worth thinking over.  Maybe we will hear the voice of God coming through...

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         Live to Learnposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         I like your thoughts on this. Although, adding 'the here and now' limits the idea. What is the here and now? Time, itself, is a poorly understood development.

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            jonnycomelatelyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            " I AM"    I see this as the one verb and the one tense that relates to timelessness and infinity.
            
            It is, as you rightly say, limited.  Yet at the very same moment it is without limit.  Two sides of the same coin?
            
            I seem to remember reading that a man of antiquity said this of himself.  As a result, others have called him God.
            
            If each of us can say "I Am." then it follows that each of us may be called God.  Herein is that analogy of the ocean and the wave.  The latter is part of the former, yet one with it.  The former is part of the latter, yet one with it.....at any and every moment in ..... Time.

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               Live to Learnposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Yes, I do believe it is two sides to the same coin. By design, I believe. A choice was made to be.
               
               Since we see eye to eye on that part I'll share my insanity with you. The eternal universe theory fascinates me, no end. On the one hand, I think it showcases why the idea of God cannot be extinguished. No theory we can come up with precludes the existence of God, in some sense of the word usage. Especially in one such as yours. It appears there is evidence that time does not expand at a consistent rate throughout the universe. Think about the possibilities for train of thought on this topic.
               
               1. If we are stardust, ourselves, if that 'essence' of our beings is tied to a different rate of time passage (say one prior to the emergence of Dark Energy or one somewhere near the beginning of it); think about what effect that would have on you, as an individual biological being. If your neurons within the biological form are firing about 200 times a second and if time for biological forms is slowing down; then even a slight slowing in the passage of time on the biological level would allow the energy that compels that form more processing speed. More progress, more innovation.  I wonder if some reason behind our massive expansion of knowledge within our life times somehow is tied to this. Crazy, yes?
               
               2. If time is expanding, we have evidence that the expansion is not necessarily a universal constant. We also know that our earth sits in what we have calculated as a slight time warp. We have only been observing a very minuscule percentage of the universe for a very short time. How much variation is there? What if our 'time warp' has varied at times through human history. How would that effect our understanding of the age of our universe? What if the universe, looked at through a lens of something which existed prior to the expansion, was a completely different time line than the one we have calculated?
               
               That is one thing I find fascinating about our condition. We find answers which create even more questions.

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                  jonnycomelatelyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  Thank you for that. 
                  
                  I am now in my final quarter of life.....assuming that I will live to reach 100!  I do like to contemplate, to question with those interminable wonderings (a.k.a. the wanderings of the mind).  but sometimes it gets very tiring, so I do what many others do....I step back, sit down or stroll.  Use all the senses I have at my disposal come into play, because I think:  "..only 24 more years to enjoy them." 
                  
                  And what is before me to enjoy?  A bumble bee.  A  Super Blue Wren.  The tiny yellow flower of the Acacia, viewed through the tiny lens of my amazing Samsung smart phone.  The sharp barb at the end of hitchiking burr.  Anything that inspires me, surprises me, that lets me sink into union with this I am part of.
                  
                  As to the arguments which are likely to flow from your statements or mine, who ultimately cares?  It can be fun at times, to argue.  But mostly it's irksome, pointless, waste of time. 
                  
                  That's at least one lesson learned from a lifetime of making mistakes!...they were made in the past.  Leave 'em there.  Just keep opening up doors here and now.

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   Paul Wingertposted 7 years ago

   God is no different from the other 4,000 gods out there. God(s) were created in the image of man sharing the same faults and personalities as their creators. Depending on which god you worship all depends on when and where you were born. If you were born in the US or Europe, you'd be worshiping Yahweh. if you were born in the age of the Vikings, you'd be worshiping Oden. If you were born in ancient Babylon, you'd be certain that An, Ea and Ishtar were the true and only gods.

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   cheaptrickposted 7 years ago

   What IS that old saying ...Oh...where there's smoke there's fire?...and sometimes a set of horns as well...

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      arksysposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Sticks and stones buddy. 

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   Castlepalomaposted 7 years ago

   The only source I can find is imagination of being Godlike. There is too many wrong translations & a great lack of evidence to manifest an ancient spirituality from books into a God. Imagination was there with human 100,000s years before God and Religion were thought of. Everything everyone has achieved in their entire live was all once imagined.  You spend your whole life imagining a heaven, then you imagine a hell forever. Then most Christian imagine cancelling hell because it's dose not agree with their comfort zone. Too bad it is written as much as Heaven in your books, better get rid of those books and just use your imaginations. Then make a dream list with a deadlines, if you really want to make them come true..

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      jonnycomelatelyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      ++ Very practical and down to earth.

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         Castlepalomaposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks
         I bless you.

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