How would you define God (open to all)

[Golden Maven]

This question is open to everyone who happens to see this, not just Christians. How would define God? This question often gets overlooked. I've heard some Christians say that God is beyond understanding. What about a vague idea, then? Can you tell us what God is not?

I'm not an expert, but the Bible never actually gives us a textbook definition of God. Instead, it gives us an idea which Jesus clarifies in the NT.

Here's my view on it, as elementary as it may seem (still working on it). Jesus states that the Kingdom of God (Heaven) is within each of us. To get to this Kingdom, one must sacrifice himself. At one point, Jesus even says that he "does nothing of himself" or something along those lines.

If I reflect on these teachings, my conclusion is that the Kingdom of Heaven is a state where one feels completely in sync with the world/universe/all of existence. Rather than feeling at odds with everything around, one feels that "all is one", if you will. There is no sense of an "I".

I must admit, I feel a little saddened when I see people clinging to Jesus as God. Jesus himself puts great emphasis on his teachings, not his divinity. He calls those wanting proof of his divinity wicked.

Jesus is the Son of God, just as we all are. I think what sets Christianity apart from other religions is believing in the teachings of Jesus Christ as the way, not whether he actually existed and/or performed miracles. The message he was trying to convey is what we should be clinging to.

 

[drich0150]

Jesus states that the Kingdom of God (Heaven) is within each of us.

In Mt.12:28 Jesus is referring to himself as "the kingdom of God" and that God's kingdom in Jesus is (at the time) among the men he was addressing.

25Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Every other time Jesus mentions God's kingdom he is either speaking of it, Telling one how to obtain it or warning us about potentially loosing it. (if we ever really had it in the first place.)

To get to this Kingdom, one must sacrifice himself. At one point, Jesus even says that he "does nothing of himself" or something along those lines.

Sacrificing ourselves would be pointless. God requires a sacrifice that is "without blemish." If we were without blemish, we wouldn't need to be sacrificed. Because we are with many faults or sin we have to have something sacrificed on our behalf. Enter Jesus and all he did. His sacrifice is the only way to "Get to this kingdom."

If I reflect on these teachings, my conclusion is that the Kingdom of Heaven is a state where one feels completely in sync with the world/universe/all of existence. Rather than feeling at odds with everything around, one feels that "all is one", if you will. There is no sense of an "I".

The Kingdom of heaven is not going to be experienced here in this life. What you maybe describing is a the relationship that can develop between a believer and the God that he loves.. Kind of a foreshadowing of what the kingdom is like.

There is a diminished sense of "I", but you aren't lost to the process either.. It's kinda like getting married to the one you love. You do sacrifice some things not because this is apart of the process, but because you honestly love that person.. You do change, but you never loose who you really are.. Your strip club buddies may not like some of the changes, but any and all changes you do make, are all you. (You grow up.)

I must admit, I feel a little saddened when I see people clinging to Jesus as God. Jesus himself puts great emphasis on his teachings, not his divinity. He calls those wanting proof of his divinity wicked.

Jesus says that there is no way to "work your way into heaven." If this is true then what would be the point of strictly adhering or focusing his teachings? Jesus's message while he was here was to Extend the reach of the law to the point that it would make it impossible for anyone to "earn there way to heaven" through good deeds. So by doing this he creates a need. If no man is righteous unto himself then he needs a sacrifice to "fill in" where he is lacking.

Then in the body of his ministry he resets the devine economy from being a good works based system of righteousness to a Faith based system of righteousness.. Faith in the fact that not only Does he Claim himself to be the son of the living God but to be of God himself (It's a title not a name)

MT.16:
13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" 14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

John 6:

28Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
30So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 32Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread." 35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

Verse 40 specifically says he who looks to the Son and believes in HIM... Now if the Jesus was trying to say "we are all sons of God." Then Why would he place himself as THE SON of God in which ALL of Your Salvation Depends?

The end of his ministry becomes the sacrifice that he spoke of, and spent the rest of his time here to prepare the way for the Holy Spirit, and to set up his church.

 

[ragarth]

How would define God?

I'm making this post without looking at anyone else's answers thus far, not even yours. Assuming God exists, I would define God as an infinitely omnipotent, omniscient entity. God's consciousness and power would extend infinitely and be infinitively manipulable at both the smallest and largest levels.

As an entity that covers the breadth of all knowledge, past, present, future and all directions, the question arises, can God truly be intelligent? This depends on your view of time, of course. I personally have a loose belief in what's called a 'clockwork universe', but only because it's the simplest answer at the time being. In this cosmology, the state of every particle in the universe on a moment to moment basis is entirely dependent upon the state of the particles the moment before. In time travel, this wold eliminate the 'kill your father' paradox by stating simply: Since you exist, you have already failed to kill your father, therefore the knowledge of your paternity from your father defines a rule keeping you from killing your father. In other words, if you know something about the past or future, you cannot change it because it's already happened. If you do manage to kill your father, then your knowledge was imperfect, perhaps he wasn't your father after all... Looked at another way, knowledge of future events reduces your capacity of free will by reducing your potential future choices.

God, being an omniscient entity, has perfect and complete knowledge of past and present, this makes God effectively a non-intelligent entity, incapable of action outside a choreographed movement, in other words, God is a marionette on strings if the universe is clockwork.

 

[DrBubbaLove]

He is that IS (I AM) and the reason for all that is. "I AM" can be seen as expressing no cause, everything else finding cause for being in something else.
He made all that is, everything there is, from nothing. Being the Infinite Power capable of making ALL from nothing, it can only be that Power which makes the difference between existence and nothingness. Which means without Him holding All in existence - nothing would be, everything would cease to be (annihilated - return to nothing).

 

[Golden Maven]

drich0150 - Thank you for your viewpoint. Admittedly, I'm still studying the sayings of Jesus Christ. As I said, my view might be a little immature at this point. I get the impression Jesus was more concerned with setting an example to follow rather than proving his divine nature to people. I believe he wanted people to follow his teachings out of their hearts, and not because God was ordering or recommending them to.

 

[drich0150]

I believe he wanted people to follow his teachings out of their hearts, and not because God was ordering or recommending them to.

This is true, but the important thing here is why. He didn't want us to do these things because they were the right thing to do, or because it would represent a positive credit in the righteousness column.. He wanted us to do these things because we loved God.. Not because we were commanded, but because we wished to express our love for him.

It's like being married to the woman you love, and your wife asks you to take out the trash.. You don't take out the trash because if you don't you will be divorced, nor do you take out the trash because your commanded by your wife.. You do it because your heart is full of love for her and taking out the trash is an opportunity to express that love.

Through Jesus's example we are shown how to Love God.

 

[talitha]

This question is open to everyone who happens to see this, not just Christians. How would define God? This question often gets overlooked. I've heard some Christians say that God is beyond understanding. What about a vague idea, then? Can you tell us what God is not?

I believe that God is the Omnipotent One who is perfect (completely good) and eternal, out of whom all life proceeds and by whom all that exists was created.

Here's my view on it, as elementary as it may seem (still working on it). Jesus states that the Kingdom of God (Heaven) is within each of us.

Actually, Jesus was talking to the disciples. If you study the gospels, you will find that when Jesus says "you" we need to look at who He's addressing - he says very different things to the pharisees, His disciples, and the masses.

To get to this Kingdom, one must sacrifice himself. At one point, Jesus even says that he "does nothing of himself" or something along those lines.

Right - during his earthly life he did ONLY what He saw the Father doing. He lived in communion with the Father - understanding that the Father is God, aka Yahweh, who is the initiating divinity of the Jewish religion. He is not amorphous - he has a personality and opinions, which are expressed first through that religion and its prophets, then through Jesus in particular.

If I reflect on these teachings, my conclusion is that the Kingdom of Heaven is a state where one feels completely in sync with the world/universe/all of existence. Rather than feeling at odds with everything around, one feels that "all is one", if you will. There is no sense of an "I".

That is, pardon me, quite a jump.

I must admit, I feel a little saddened when I see people clinging to Jesus as God. Jesus himself puts great emphasis on his teachings, not his divinity. He calls those wanting proof of his divinity wicked.

Hmm, consider these sayings of Jesus:
"This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent."
"I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst."
"Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."
And they all said, "Are You the Son of God, then?" And He said to them, "Yes, I am."

Jesus is the Son of God, just as we all are.

We become sons of God by believing in Jesus and accessing Him as the way to the Father God.
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.(Galatians 3:26)
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
(John 1:12-13)

I think what sets Christianity apart from other religions is believing in the teachings of Jesus Christ as the way, not whether he actually existed and/or performed miracles. The message he was trying to convey is what we should be clinging to.

If we are clinging to His teachings, we have made them an idol. He Himself is to be lifted up - and one way to lift Him up is to believe His teachings.

blessings
tal

 

[Quaero]

This question is open to everyone who happens to see this, not just Christians. How would define God? This question often gets overlooked. I've heard some Christians say that God is beyond understanding. What about a vague idea, then? Can you tell us what God is not?

I'm not an expert, but the Bible never actually gives us a textbook definition of God. Instead, it gives us an idea which Jesus clarifies in the NT.

Here's my view on it, as elementary as it may seem (still working on it). Jesus states that the Kingdom of God (Heaven) is within each of us. To get to this Kingdom, one must sacrifice himself. At one point, Jesus even says that he "does nothing of himself" or something along those lines.

If I reflect on these teachings, my conclusion is that the Kingdom of Heaven is a state where one feels completely in sync with the world/universe/all of existence. Rather than feeling at odds with everything around, one feels that "all is one", if you will. There is no sense of an "I".

I must admit, I feel a little saddened when I see people clinging to Jesus as God. Jesus himself puts great emphasis on his teachings, not his divinity. He calls those wanting proof of his divinity wicked.

Jesus is the Son of God, just as we all are. I think what sets Christianity apart from other religions is believing in the teachings of Jesus Christ as the way, not whether he actually existed and/or performed miracles. The message he was trying to convey is what we should be clinging to.

Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm!

That hymn pertty much summs up God. For me he is something that is, there is no need to define it. God is there, always, but it is up to you to find him. Jesus and the bible bought his word and the new covenent.

 

[AdJesumPerMariam]

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