Who is God?

[muhammad_isa]

What they have in common is that they're all different..

All different beliefs or creeds, yes.
..but that is not the only thing that they have in common.

The most populous belief is in One God .. the God of Abraham.
The Bible and Qur'an have spread worldwide.

 

[blü 2]

All different beliefs or creeds, yes.
..but that is not the only thing that they have in common.

The most populous belief is in One God .. the God of Abraham.
The Bible and Qur'an have spread worldwide.

Yes, but by conquest ─ the bible at the hands of the British, French, Spanish and Portuguese, the Qur'an by Arabic expansion through the middle east, Africa and Malaya-Indonesia. In each case the locals weren't attracted by the theology, but by compulsion, or political or commercial advantage.

And none of them has met a real God, a God with objective existence, not a purely conceptual god defined by imaginary qualities like omnipotence, perfection, infinite, eternal &c.

 

[muhammad_isa]

..none of them has met a real God, a God with objective existence, not a purely conceptual god defined by imaginary qualities like omnipotence, perfection, infinite, eternal &c.

Hey man, I met God yesterday in town.

God created the universe and all that it contains..
He is neither weary or sleeps .. He is aware of every atom from the begining of time until the end.
There would BE no universe if God did not constantly maintain it.
No electrons spinning round atoms .. no stars .. no nothing.

You presumably imagine a "dead" universe, whilst you yourself, is very much alive.

 

[Aupmanyav]

What they have in common is that ..

IMHO, what they have in common is absolute absence of any evidence of their God or his prophets/sons/messengers/manifestations/mahdis.

 

[Aupmanyav]

He is aware of every atom from the beginning of time until the end.

Why does your God kill babies?

 

[DNB]

I imagine too. Although I want to live on the earth, that is the desire that God allows me to have. He did, after all, create man and woman to live on the earth. And the Israelites were offered the opportunity to be kings and priests if they kept the Law. Obviously there were problems, as history shows.
In heaven there will be no man and woman gender, that is how I see the Bible to read.

Well, the Bible says 'no marriage', not necessarily 'no gender'. So, I'm unsure what the ontological make-up of us former human beings will eventually be? But, you have a profound point in that, all the biological attributes that distinguish men from women will be absolutely purposeless in heaven.

 

[DNB]

Yeah, that you state that doesn't make it a fact. Nor is it a fact, that God is She. We have different faiths. That is all.

Yes, of course, ...but, I'm offering substantiation for my views.

 

[an anarchist]

Question: Who is God?

I am (a) god!
Now for the uppercase God, I dunno

 

[DNB]

Ahm, the better understanding of WHAT, exactly? On 100% of the examinable evidence, God and gods exist ONLY as ideas, concepts, things imagined in individual human brains. God is / gods are found nowhere else, and in no other form ─ of course, humans may draw pictures of gods, and of unicorns, but there are never any photos. I'm very happy to be shown to be wrong on that, but my expectations, after a long time thinking and observing, are extremely small.

But, God, deliberately, has evidenced Himself in this manner - indirectly. For again, He left enough ambiguity in creation and doubt in people's mind in order to separate those that desire Him, and those that don't.

But, the universe has His mark all over it, as does man's innate spiritual dimension within his constitution.
The existence of God is by no means devoid of evidence, whatsoever.

 

[Jimmy]

Everything arises from God. God raises the dead.

 

[blü 2]

Hey man, I met God yesterday in town.

God created the universe and all that it contains..
He is neither weary or sleeps .. He is aware of every atom from the begining of time until the end.
There would BE no universe if God did not constantly maintain it.
No electrons spinning round atoms .. no stars .. no nothing.

You presumably imagine a "dead" universe, whilst you yourself, is very much alive.

You met God in town? Fantastic! Wow, I bet you took a selfie with [him]! Can I see it? Please?

No, I don't imagine an inert universe, far from it. According to science, and according to all my thinking about the existence of the dimensions of time and space, space is not empty, but results from and is maintained by the existence of energy, including the energy of the vacuum. If God were a synonym for energy, then it / [he] would thus be the universal maintainer of everything. However, until energy is organized in biological ways, we so far have no reason to think it can be conscious or have desires, or the power to behave in different ways in identical circumstances.

 

[blü 2]

But, God, deliberately, has evidenced Himself in this manner - indirectly. For again, He left enough ambiguity in creation and doubt in people's mind in order to separate those that desire Him, and those that don't.

Really? [He] sets traps for people then? Not a trait I admire.

But, the universe has His mark all over it,

What is [his] mark? How can I tell whether anything I'm looking at has [his] mark or not?

as does man's innate spiritual dimension within his constitution.

An 'innate spiritual dimension' would be simply a particular tendency, capacity or susceptibility of a particular working brain, would it not?

The existence of God is by no means devoid of evidence, whatsoever.

So far, it has two problems. First, there's no coherent definition of a real God, such that if we found a real candidate we could determine whether it was God or not. Thus the only way God (and gods, indeed all supernatural beings) is known to exist is as an idea, concept, thing imagined in an individual brain.

And second, to be informative about the world external to the self, reality, evidence needs to be real ie observable in reality. But when it comes to gods, there isn't any. Please correct me if you indeed have some evidence of that kind ─ I'd very much like the opportunity to examine it.

 

[YoursTrue]

Well, the Bible says 'no marriage', not necessarily 'no gender'. So, I'm unsure what the ontological make-up of us former human beings will eventually be? But, you have a profound point in that, all the biological attributes that distinguish men from women will be absolutely purposeless in heaven.

Ah, good point. And yes, the Bible does declare that there will be neither man nor woman in heaven. I do not contest that. Evidently they won't have stomachs either. So they will be transformed. I may wonder about it a little, but that's what it says. On the other hand, I accept that I do not want to go to heaven. I want to stay on the earth. In fact, it is a privilege now that we're talking about it. However that works out. Revelation brings out that there are those who will be in heaven, and those who will be on the earth.

 

[muhammad_isa]

Why does your God kill babies?

Why does satan oppose righteousness?

 

[Aupmanyav]

Why does satan oppose righteousness?

I find no difference between the actions of the two.

 

[dybmh]

I find no difference between the actions of the two.

You can't see any good, you only see evil? What about the spectrum in between?

 

[Aupmanyav]

You can't see any good, you only see evil? What about the spectrum in between?

What spectrum are you talking about? And why should you ascribe good or bad to imaginary entities?
Wars, disasters, diseases, deprivations; God has much to answer for.

 

[DNB]

Really? [He] sets traps for people then? Not a trait I admire.

What is [his] mark? How can I tell whether anything I'm looking at has [his] mark or not?

An 'innate spiritual dimension' would be simply a particular tendency, capacity or susceptibility of a particular working brain, would it not?

So far, it has two problems. First, there's no coherent definition of a real God, such that if we found a real candidate we could determine whether it was God or not. Thus the only way God (and gods, indeed all supernatural beings) is known to exist is as an idea, concept, thing imagined in an individual brain.

And second, to be informative about the world external to the self, reality, evidence needs to be real ie observable in reality. But when it comes to gods, there isn't any. Please correct me if you indeed have some evidence of that kind ─ I'd very much like the opportunity to examine it.

God employing a certain discretion within His creation as to its source of existence, is not a ploy to deceive nor misguide, but, again, to extrapolate the sincere and devout adherents. This is a reasonable approach that all men often use in order to avoid feigned agreement or confessions for a particular purpose - you don't ask a liar if he is lying. One poses the question in a manner that the object of your inquiry is not aware that you're suspicious of them, obviously. God coming out every morning with His name written in the sky undermines His objective, for even the fool or defiant will have to at least admit that He exists - it doesn't mean that they love Him.

If it is possible, that you or anyone, cannot see an architect behind the design and creation of the universe, then I believe that it is one's own oblivion or resistance that would elicit such a denial. I'm sorry, is it a presupposition that causes me to make such an assertion (rhetorical)? Impossible.

 

[DNB]

Ah, good point. And yes, the Bible does declare that there will be neither man nor woman in heaven. I do not contest that. Evidently they won't have stomachs either. So they will be transformed. I may wonder about it a little, but that's what it says. On the other hand, I accept that I do not want to go to heaven. I want to stay on the earth. In fact, it is a privilege now that we're talking about it. However that works out. Revelation brings out that there are those who will be in heaven, and those who will be on the earth.

Hmmm, the stomach and foods part I get - I've read it and understand the point. But, sorry, I may have overlooked the part where there will be men & women on both earth & heaven? I would think that, at least after the Great White Throne Day, that there will be only one environment for all the saints to cohabit with Jesus and God, and the entirety of the elect.
Maybe you were refering to either the millennium, or a time before Judgement Day?

 

[blü 2]

God employing a certain discretion within His creation as to its source of existence, is not a ploy to deceive nor misguide, but, again, to extrapolate the sincere and devout adherents.

I would happily determine whether I wished to be a sincere and devout adherent if only there were something more substantial than words and concepts to adhere to.

This is a reasonable approach that all men often use in order to avoid feigned agreement or confessions for a particular purpose - you don't ask a liar if he is lying.

Perhaps not. But I don't see the analogy. Either I vote for X or I vote for Y or I vote informal or I go to my favorite bar and do none of those things.

If God is a candidate for selection, let [him] step up, and state [his] policies ─ how [he] would deal with Covid, the Ukraine, global warming, the inequality of nations, the Taiwan question, the road toll. If [he] has no such policies, what's the point? If [he] has such policies but doesn't tell anyone, what's the point? If [his] purported human representatives on earth, the leaders of any faith, including Patriarch Kirill (who thinks it's fine to invade Ukraine), can't agree, why would we think God had any policies, any benevolent intentions, at all?

His objective, for even the fool or defiant will have to at least admit that He exists - it doesn't mean that they love Him.

Well, I'm more than happy to witness any satisfactory demonstration of the objective reality of God ─ but since there's never been an authenticated appearance to humans by any God, let alone a statement of [his] policies, pardon me while I don't hold my breath.

If it is possible, that you or anyone, cannot see an architect behind the design and creation of the universe, then I believe that it is one's own oblivion or resistance that would elicit such a denial.

No, I can't see an 'architect' behind the design and creation of the universe. If the purpose of the universe was to bring humans into being then such a creator's techniques are inefficient to the point of absurdity, since the universe appears to be about 14 bn years old, and to contain no one knows the exact number but one guesstimate says 20 to 21 septillion stars, with however many planets that may entail. And yet intelligent life as we understand the term is known to exist on only one planet in the universe, and has only been around, in the form of H. sap, for maybe two million years, and H sap sap for maybe 200,000 years. Oh, and artificial intelligence, which has taken serious forms in the last two decades.

This makes much more sense if purely by chance we're one of the rare goldilocks planets where conditions for life are possible, and natural forces and chance have thrown up the first self-reproducing cell, whence evolution, with more than 3 billion years to play with, has done the rest.