What is "God"?

[arensb]

This should be a fairly simple question:

First of all, what is a god? If you saw a god on the street, how would you know that he/she/it was a god?

Secondly, if that god happened to be a/the God of Christianity, how would you know?

If your answer includes the terms "soul", "spirit", "supernatural", or related terms, please define those as well.

I can think of a few problems that might appear in this thread. I'll attempt to forestall them in a followup post.

(Edit, Nov. 16, 2006: see also this clarification)

 

[arensb]

One problem I can foresee is that someone might say that "no mind can encompass the entirety of God" or something similar. I'm not asking for a full, detailed description; just the defining characteristics. I don't know everything about my friends, but I have no trouble recognizing them when I meet them on the street.

Another potential problem is that of the blind men describing an elephant to someone who's never encountered an elephant: if one says an elephant is like a snake, another says that an elephant is like a tree trunk, and a third says an elephant is like a wall, then the person who's never encountered an elephant is justified in thinking that at least two of them are wrong. The person who claims that the elephant matches all of those descriptions should explain how this is possible.

Likewise, if two posters provide different descriptions of God, I'll ask you to explain how those descriptions are compatible.

Thirdly, the description of God (or a god) should be internally logically consistent.

 

[ebia]

This should be a fairly simple question:

First of all, what is a god?

The Creator (of everything except himself).

If you saw a god on the street, how would you know that he/she/it was a god?

I don't know that I would unless he chose to reveal himself in some way.

Secondly, if that god happened to be a/the God of Christianity, how would you know?

There is only one God, so there isn't a lot of scope for it to be another god.

 

[dvd_holc]

Ok, God is the Creator, the One who has the authority and power to make everything. Everything is subjected with His power and authority. God also gives limited amounts of authority to others to share in the possession of creation. The product of the proper use of His authority will is a reflection of creation; that is when we do what God wants us to do we produce or build up life. The chief function or attribute used in this is love. The acts of proper use of the authority are acts of devotion to God.

When people don't use their God given rights to becoming whole health creations which they were designed for they are accepting lesser images of God as replacements for God to be their gods. This happens when people pursue lust, money, fame, etc...more so then God. In effect, their gods are the principals of acquiring or taking from the world rather than giving to the world. This is not a reflection of God who gave to the world and built it up.

But God did not leave the creatures of His creation to their own devices to care on. Instead, God continued to participate within creation to develop it into being the way God created. God has set further in the process of restoring creation to functioning without the continued effects of those who want and are devoted to living outside the way God made us to be. God has appointed set times for specific developments of greater signifiance and times of our continue participation of the process. In this moment, God is in working through those who believe to build up each other and those around us into becoming more complete creations in the image of God and the person of Jesus Christ. When we do this, we are living in the divine kingdom of God established in the present time.

 

[arensb]

(Gah. Accidentally hit "save" too soon. See below.)

 

[arensb]

First of all, what is a god?

The Creator (of everything except himself).

Do you mean the Big Bang?

Unfortunately, this doesn't really answer my question. I was hoping more for a description. By way of analogy, it's as if I had asked "what is an elephant?" and you had said, "the largest land mammal", when I was hoping more for something along the lines of "a land mammal living in Africa and India, with four legs, large ears, and a long trunk".

So maybe you can start by telling me whether a god is animal/vegetable/mineral/idea/arrangement of parts/other (please specify), and we'll go from there.

I don't know that I would unless he chose to reveal himself in some way.

Okay, so how might this happen? If we set up cameras or theometers to watch for such a manifestation, what should they be looking for?

 

[arensb]

Ok, God is the Creator

Okay, but this doesn't answer my question. What is a god, and how would you recognize one if you saw one? (See also "what is an elephant?", above)

 

[FallingWaters]

Your question is too broad. Can you narrow it down?

Why are you asking this question? What are you getting at? What do you really want to know?

 

[dvd_holc]

Okay, but this doesn't answer my question. What is a god, and how would you recognize one if you saw one? (See also "what is an elephant?", above)

God is not a creation. God does manifest Himself as an idea in people head, but God is bigger than an idea. God also has specifically attached His presence to actions in the world; love, joy, shalom, patience, kindness, beauty, creation, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The root of those actions is love, mercy, and life. When you expericenced any of this things, you have felt the presence of God. Yes, you can see the flesh of the person who did them, but it is God who transcends the seen things who is there.

 

[shlama]

LOVE.

 

[arensb]

Your question is too broad. Can you narrow it down?

Why are you asking this question? What are you getting at? What do you really want to know?

It's really a very simple and basic question, but one to which I don't think I've seen an answer. The famous painting of the creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel depicts YHWH as an old man with a beard. Is this representation accurate? If not, how is it inaccurate? How should Michelangelo have painted that scene? Basically, is God animal, vegetable, or mineral?

Conversely, perhaps God isn't the sort of thing that can be accurately depicted in a painting, like electrons or hunger (because photons don't bounce off of electrons or hunger in the same way that they bounce off of rocks and trees and people). At the same time, we can build devices for detecting electrons, and it is in principle possible to build a device for detecting hunger in an animal (for a suitably broad definition of "measurement device"). So how would one build a theometer to test whether a given entity is a god or not?

Partly, the question arose in a discussion about, I think, Greek mythology or superheroes or something, in which I asked my friends what a god is. For instance, if Zeus or Athena or Superman showed up in Times Square, would they be considered gods? If so, why? If not, why not? What are the defining attributes of a god (as opposed to, say, a very powerful and intelligent alien)?

Does this help?

 

[FallingWaters]

What is a god, and how would you recognize one if you saw one?

Jesus was God walking among people yet He appeared to be entirely human to the people around Him.

It wasn't until He began to do miracles, ie. heal the sick, raise the dead, give sight to the blind, make the lame walk, make the deaf hear, etc., that people realized He was something more than He appeared.

Jesus proved Himself to be equal with the Creator of Genesis Who made something "ex nihilo" "out of nothing". Only God can do such a thing.

In addition, after he was raised from the dead, He was seen alive by over 500 people over a period of 40 days [Acts 1:3] until He ascended into Heaven.

During that 40 days He taught His disciples the meaning of the Law and the Prophets and how He fulfilled the Scriptures.

In turn, generation after generation, the baton has been passed to us.

 

[arensb]

God is not a creation. God does manifest Himself as an idea in people head, but God is bigger than an idea. God also has specifically attached His presence to actions in the world; love, joy, shalom, patience, kindness, beauty, creation, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The root of those actions is love, mercy, and life. When you expericenced any of this things, you have felt the presence of God. Yes, you can see the flesh of the person who did them, but it is God who transcends the seen things who is there.

So God is a certain set of emotions and actions?

If I chose a different set of emotions, e.g., hatred, fear, and anger, would that be a different god?

 

[FallingWaters]

It's really a very simple and basic question, but one to which I don't think I've seen an answer. The famous painting of the creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel depicts YHWH as an old man with a beard. Is this representation accurate? If not, how is it inaccurate? How should Michelangelo have painted that scene? Basically, is God animal, vegetable, or mineral?

Conversely, perhaps God isn't the sort of thing that can be accurately depicted in a painting, like electrons or hunger (because photons don't bounce off of electrons or hunger in the same way that they bounce off of rocks and trees and people). At the same time, we can build devices for detecting electrons, and it is in principle possible to build a device for detecting hunger in an animal (for a suitably broad definition of "measurement device"). So how would one build a theometer to test whether a given entity is a god or not?

Partly, the question arose in a discussion about, I think, Greek mythology or superheroes or something, in which I asked my friends what a god is. For instance, if Zeus or Athena or Superman showed up in Times Square, would they be considered gods? If so, why? If not, why not? What are the defining attributes of a god (as opposed to, say, a very powerful and intelligent alien)?

Does this help?

Jesus said, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father."

John 14:8-11
"Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves."

 

[FallingWaters]

God is invisible. He is a Spirit-being.

 

[FallingWaters]

So God is a certain set of emotions and actions?

If I chose a different set of emotions, e.g., hatred, fear, and anger, would that be a different god?

God is a "Person" who is described at length in the Bible. God does not change. We can learn everything we need to know about Him by reading about who He is and what He does. There is only one true God. All the others are false gods.

 

[FallingWaters]

I still don't understand why you are asking these questions since you are self-identified as an atheist. Why ask questions about someone you believe does not exist?

 

[HolyGuardianAngels]

This should be a fairly simple question:

First of all, what is a god? If you saw a god on the street, how would you know that he/she/it was a god?

Secondly, if that god happened to be a/the God of Christianity, how would you know?

If your answer includes the terms "soul", "spirit", "supernatural", or related terms, please define those as well.

I can think of a few problems that might appear in this thread. I'll attempt to forestall them in a followup post.

(Inspired by Olly at Doubting the fish)

SEE


y' started off wrong . . .



It' s WHOM is GOD . . .


HE is a LIVING " BEING " . . .


GOD can not be a Female cuz

no rightly thinking person would ever

worship her . . .



She could not even fix menstruation,

commonly known

as The Curse . . .











O Holy Night !!

 

[arensb]

Jesus was God walking among people yet He appeared to be entirely human to the people around Him.

It wasn't until He began to do miracles, ie. heal the sick, raise the dead, give sight to the blind, make the lame walk, make the deaf hear, etc., that people realized He was something more than He appeared.

Okay, now we might be getting somewhere. If I understand you correctly (and, of course, assuming that you're saying that Jesus was a god), a god is a human who can cure diseases better than what is possible with the medical technology of the time and place where that human lives. Is that correct?

Let's say that I set up a radio telescope and receive a transmission from aliens on another planet; this information allows me to build a hospital where people can be cured of cancer, Alzheimer's, severed limbs, and some of the less-extreme forms of death. Would that make me a god, by your definition?

Jesus proved Himself to be equal with the Creator of Genesis

How?

Who made something "ex nihilo" "out of nothing". Only God can do such a thing.

Particle-antiparticle pairs appear all the time in space. This sort of thing goes on all the time everywhere, even inside our own bodies. So presumably this is subsumed in the criterion that a god is a human, above, right?

dvd_holc said, above, that God is a set of emotions. Does this contradict what you say here, that God is a human? Or are you talking about different gods? If so, what do they have in common that you both apply the label "God" to them?

Is a god a human being who a) exhibits certain emotions, and b) can heal people better than the medical technology available allows?

 

[WashedClean]

God is a "Person" who is described at length in the Bible. God does not change. We can learn everything we need to know about Him by reading about who He is and what He does. There is only one true God. All the others are false gods.

Excellent answer.

To elaborate, a couple of things came to mind when I was reading your OP arensb.

God is described in the Bible as a consuming fire. He is Holy, so to ask if I would recognize him, my answer is "yes" because Jesus said "my sheep hear and recognize my voice". But the Bible also says that when Jesus returns, everyone will recognize him. There will be no question who he is.

Getting back to God's holiness, Jesus humbled himself and took on flesh. However, I don't believe God the Father would take on flesh so your question is a little obscure. Anyone who is not protected by the blood of Christ would be consumed in the complete presence of God. They would recognize their sinfulness and be in total surrender and be mortified before him. So to those who know and love God, we experience him as love. But to those who reject him, they will experience his just and righteous nature first. That's not to say Christians won't recognize his just character, but we are protected from his wrath.

Gotta run, but I'll be back later to try and explain better.