Nature of God

[Lyndon]

Loving, caring/compassionate, promoting peace????

 

[Jainarayan]

In your point of view, the nature of the God(s) you believe in are defined by the character they possess?

Pretty much. Many Asatruars believe the gods and goddesses are real beings. Thunder is real; poetry is real; death is real. They are not flesh and blood, but real beings nevertheless. They have individual personalities and characteristics. They are older, wiser and greater relatives of ours. But there is also the belief that they are not "the god of [this]" or "the goddess of [that]". For example, one writer puts it that Thor is not the god of thunder, Thor is the god thunder, as well as the god protection, strength, courage. That is, it's not that they control those things, they are those things. For example, Thunder (Thor) has its/his own characteristics and personality, which is different from wisdom, knowledge, poetry, and warfare (Odin, the All-Father). Most people do not believe that Thor is a huge muscular, red-haired and red-bearded man who drives a chariot drawn by goats and flings a hammer around. It's characteristics we've ascribed to something beyond our comprehension. In the Bhagavad Gita (12.5), Krishna says this very thing... that it's difficult for those of us who are embodied spirits to comprehend these things, unless we give them characteristics we can relate to, being humans who need to use our senses.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Not everyone believes in a Creator, not all believe in a Supreme Being, not all believe that "God" is a person, and not all believe the term God defines a Spirit. So what is God?

Some even do not believe in creation. Your question presumes an omnipotent, omnipresent entity, perhaps omniscient too. If you abandon this presumption, then we can talk about it.

 

[AllanV]

Some even do not believe in creation. Your question presumes an omnipotent, omnipresent entity, perhaps omniscient too. If you abandon this presumption, then we can talk about it.

God is in a timeless zone where there is no movement or boundaries. God is an energizing Spirit who makes everything seen appear at every instant.
God wears light as with a garment and we as biological forms only know time as the movement of a rolling planet about a light source.

But the nature of God is represented in Jesus who is non rebellious and is gentle quiet and non imposing. His nature needs to be taken up. God will then energize inwardly and immortality is possible.

 

[Aupmanyav]

But the nature of God is represented in Jesus who is non rebellious and is gentle quiet and non imposing. His nature needs to be taken up. God will then energize inwardly and immortality is possible.

If Jesus was not a rebel then who was?

"Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves."
"He said to them, "Go!" So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water."
"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.
And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.
But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."

The real non rebellious, gentle, quiet and non imposing, is Lord Vishnu, who nursed the feet of Sage Bhrigu, who had kicked Him in the chest, asking Bhrigu if he has hurt his feet.
Hare Krishna.

 

[roger1440]

There is only God

 

[AllanV]

If Jesus was not a rebel then who was?

"Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves."
"He said to them, "Go!" So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water."
"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.
And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.
But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."

The real non rebellious, gentle, quiet and non imposing, is Lord Vishnu, who nursed the feet of Sage Bhrigu, who had kicked Him in the chest, asking Bhrigu if he has hurt his feet.
Hare Krishna.

Adam and Eve rebelled and their consciousness and mind then had a blind spot. They were kept out of the Garden of Eden and away from the tree of life so they could not live forever.
The rebellious nature is as witchcraft and every one has varying ability and mind power to produce feelings in another person by the mind.
And this isn't Love because a rebellious nature seeks its own (gratification) and this covers a lot of aspects in how people behave and treat each other and make them feel.

The creator, the word that manifests everything in the pattern that is seen at every instant was incarnate and came to earth as Jesus. He has produced the mind and
nature that is acceptable to God and gives access again to every one who is able to hear, to the tree of life and being able to live forever.
I have my own evidence for this, I have heard His voice and more.

 

[gsa]

Perhaps forget the word God and instead reference an experience of a Presence or an Other, which may be an emergent property of the universe, or existence itself. No reason to presuppose moral qualities, benevolence or malevolence. An idea Barbara Ehrenreich explores in her new book Living with a wild God.

 

[Aupmanyav]

There is only God

The other option is that there is none.

 

[AllanV]

Perhaps forget the word God and instead reference an experience of a Presence or an Other, which may be an emergent property of the universe, or existence itself. No reason to presuppose moral qualities, benevolence or malevolence. An idea Barbara Ehrenreich explores in her new book Living with a wild God.

There definitely is a presence but this is too powerful and awesome for the human mind to quantify or explain. This is incomprehensible to the natural mind.

There is nature and mind that gives access and that was the sacrifice of Jesus so that others could follow. It is all in the mind and presents nothing sinister or dangerous. It is more a pattern of mind that allows entry.

It does not really matter what your morals are except your own conscience will block your progress and you may not be able to separate from certain habits. Therefore a person needs to look at their actions in this sense. Morals are established by peer groups, in a society and usually imposed. My state of mind changed when I ceased my job, living on savings, and overcame the guilt and pressure of family and friends and their comments.

But there is a state of mind that will find the Presence of God spontaneously. If a person isn't seeking their own selfish desires and hurting others as they do then this is better than taking because all the taking could bring mind blocks in the connections that familiar bonding with others of the same type brings.

 

[roger1440]

The other option is that there is none.

oxymoron
a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in “cruel kindness” or “to make haste slowly.”.

 

[Aupmanyav]

I have my own evidence for this, ..

I know.

 

[AllanV]

I know.

The I doesn't know every thing. Who do you believe in?
God's request is to know Him in reality and to believe in Him.
The written word is a measure or standard to assist and confirm that what is being experienced is heading in the right direction. How could any one understand the Bible without some inspired direction. It would all become interpretation otherwise.
Personal experience should be very strong.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

We can flip what I said to negative. Some don't believe God is a supreme being. Some don't believe He is the universe. Some don't believe He is the Mystic Law.

I use He since instead of it or ? for convenience. The nature of God does not need to be a omnipotent, omnipresent entity. Not all people think that (as described above); so looking at it objectively without putting it into an Abrahamic point of view, what is the nature of God?

Some even do not believe in creation. Your question presumes an omnipotent, omnipresent entity, perhaps omniscient too. If you abandon this presumption, then we can talk about it.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

But there is also the belief that they are not "the god of [this]" or "the goddess of [that]". For example, one writer puts it that Thor is not the god of thunder, Thor is the god thunder, as well as the god protection, strength, courage. That is, it's not that they control those things, they are those things.

That makes a lot more sense. It is more profound to say something IS something else rather than being defined by the something it controls. (like thunder, storms, and so forth). Interesting.

In the Bhagavad Gita (12.5), Krishna says this very thing... that it's difficult for those of us who are embodied spirits to comprehend these things, unless we give them characteristics we can relate to, being humans who need to use our senses.

I like that. When I practice my rituals I try to stir away from putting characteristics or symbols to who I give reverence to. For example, I could not believe Thor is the God of Thunder because I have no concept or understanding of an outside deity; and if I did, when I see thunder, I don't see it as a God. That's just me, though. Its true, though. We tend to use our senses to describe things we don't understand. I think if we are trying to define the nature of God, the closer we get to relating "Him" to life as we know it, known and unknown, the more solid our understanding of Him would be. However, in my opinion, as long as we have, don't know another word, non-realistic attributes to Gods (like saying an entity Is anger rather than expresses anger), we won't know what the Gods we will just define them by characteristics we know the most through our senses.

If that made any sense?

 

[Aupmanyav]

.. that it's difficult for those of us who are embodied spirits to comprehend these things, ..

Are we embodied spirits? You see, Hinduism and Buddhism are very hard task masters. Nothing goes unchallenged. But they still give space to alternate views. 'Vipra bahudha vadanti' (nice people describe it in various ways). Yes, different things make sense to different people.

 

[apophenia]

Many years back when I was having "revelations" (I'm manic depressive) I realized God was an ENORMOUS whale with wings, Millions of millions of light years in length, the male of which had sperm the size of galaxies, and the female was the one I worshipped, while the Male was God the Father, it gave me a good concept of how powerful God is, and the idea that the Female side of God was more honest and trustworthy than the male side. I no longer have any idea if God is an ENORMOUS whale, but to this day I see God as being incredibly large and powerful, and having two Halves, male and female, and consciously direct my prayers to the female side of GOD.

Sounds a bit fishy.

 

[apophenia]

The real non rebellious, gentle, quiet and non imposing, is Lord Vishnu, who nursed the feet of Sage Bhrigu, who had kicked Him in the chest, asking Bhrigu if he has hurt his feet.
Hare Krishna.

Sweet

 

[apophenia]

oxymoron
a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in “cruel kindness” or “to make haste slowly.”.

4-bromo, 2,5-Dimethoxymoron

produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in "I am beyond time and space, yet I am just another bozo on this bus ..."

 

[Rick O'Shez]

...what is the nature of God?

I'm pretty sure it's nothing to do with "God".