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Author | Topic: A Working Definition of God | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dan Carroll Inactive Member |
Very straightforward question, probably with a long and convoluted answer.
What is this "God" thing people keep going on about? Not asking for what it did. Not asking for its opinion of me, or anyone else. Asking for what it is. If we're going to be asking whether or not it exists, we might as well start by deciding exactly what it is we're wondering about. This message has been edited by Admin, 04-18-2005 02:13 PM
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Admin Director Posts: 13046 From: EvC Forum Joined: Member Rating: 2.7 |
Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.
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Faith  Suspended Member (Idle past 1474 days) Posts: 35298 From: Nevada, USA Joined: |
God is self-existing eternally existing, beginningless and endless uncreated invisible Spirit, Mind, without physicality, pure consciousness, a Who not an It, a Who that pervades all things but is not all things, who made all things and knows all things intimately, down to the smallest part of an atom, out to the reaches of the universe and way beyond that, knows the thoughts of every human being far better than we know them ourselves.
A start?
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Dan Carroll Inactive Member |
Well, for starters, let's lop off what he does/what he did.
We're left with: God is beginningless and endless uncreated invisible Spirit, Mind, without physicality, pure consciousness, a Who not an It, a Who that pervades all things but is not all things. Which would also adequately describe the Shadow King, sworn enemy of Prof. Charles Xavier. Perhaps we can narrow the field a bit more? This message has been edited by [Dan's Clever Alias], 04-18-2005 02:56 PM
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jar Member (Idle past 424 days) Posts: 34026 From: Texas!! Joined: |
I think He did it best when he said; "I am."
Aslan is not a Tame Lion
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crashfrog Member (Idle past 1497 days) Posts: 19762 From: Silver Spring, MD Joined: |
I think He did it best when he said; "I am." Yeah, but so am I.
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Dan Carroll Inactive Member |
Well, so am I. As is my cat.
Doesn't really narrow the definition to any specific place. (Oops, Crash beat me to it.) This message has been edited by [Dan's Clever Alias], 04-18-2005 03:00 PM
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crashfrog Member (Idle past 1497 days) Posts: 19762 From: Silver Spring, MD Joined: |
Jinx!
(Wise-ass minds think alike.) This message has been edited by crashfrog, 04-18-2005 03:09 PM
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Faith  Suspended Member (Idle past 1474 days) Posts: 35298 From: Nevada, USA Joined: |
Which would also adequately describe the Shadow King, sworn enemy of Prof. Charles Xavier. Perhaps we can narrow the field a bit more?
Never heard of this personage so have no idea how to narrow anything.
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Percy Member Posts: 22505 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4 |
Just to enter a formal definition into the record, this is from Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:
God - (A.S. and Dutch God; Dan. Gud; Ger. Gott), the name of the Divine Being. It is the rendering (1) of the Hebrew 'El, from a word meaning to be strong; (2) of 'Eloah_, plural _'Elohim. The singular form, Eloah, is used only in poetry. The plural form is more commonly used in all parts of the Bible, The Hebrew word Jehovah (q.v.), the only other word generally employed to denote the Supreme Being, is uniformly rendered in the Authorized Version by "LORD," printed in small capitals. The existence of God is taken for granted in the Bible. There is nowhere any argument to prove it. He who disbelieves this truth is spoken of as one devoid of understanding (Ps. 14:1). The arguments generally adduced by theologians in proof of the being of God are:
The attributes of God are set forth in order by Moses in Ex. 34:6,7. (see also Deut. 6:4; 10:17; Num. 16:22; Ex. 15:11; 33:19; Isa. 44:6; Hab. 3:6; Ps. 102:26; Job 34:12.) They are also systematically classified in Rev. 5:12 and 7:12. God's attributes are spoken of by some as absolute, i.e., such as belong to his essence as Jehovah, Jah, etc.; and relative, i.e., such as are ascribed to him with relation to his creatures. Others distinguish them into communicable, i.e., those which can be imparted in degree to his creatures: goodness, holiness, wisdom, etc.; and incommunicable, which cannot be so imparted: independence, immutability, immensity, and eternity. They are by some also divided into natural attributes, eternity, immensity, etc.; and moral, holiness, goodness, etc. I found this with Google, and at first thought I'd stumbled across a definition not influenced my modern debates, and I guess that's true. but after poking about a bit more I found that this definition seems to be at a number of sites on the web, including ChristianAnswers.net. My own definition of God? I guess I have to start by saying I have absolutely no supporting evidence whatsoever. This is strictly my opinion. My definition doesn't so much define God as it delineates what we don't know about him. First, we don't know for sure if God exists, but many believe he does. The rest of my points assume he does. Second, though they won't admit it, none of the world's religions, institutional or otherwise, have any knowledge of God. Third, we do not know any of the qualities of God, such as whether he is omniscient or omnipotent. Fourth, if he is able to leave a visible imprint on the universe, either he does it in ways indistinguishable by humans from natural causes, or he does all his work out of reach of human investigation, or he did all his work "in the beginning" when the laws of the universe were first formulated. Fifth, we do not know if God is aware of us, or if he interferes in human affairs, or if he interacts with human beings. --Percy
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Faith  Suspended Member (Idle past 1474 days) Posts: 35298 From: Nevada, USA Joined: |
quote: Hm. How can you KNOW that these religions have no knowledge of something you yourself know nothing about? Isn't it possible for other people to know things you don't know? This message has been edited by Faith, 04-18-2005 04:29 PM
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macaroniandcheese  Suspended Member (Idle past 3958 days) Posts: 4258 Joined: |
i believe i know my god (in a very superficial and character-based manner). but at least i am humble enough to accept that i could be completely wrong. what gives you the authority and the arrogance to proclaim that you know god. you cannot know him. he is eternal and exists outside of anything you can comprehend.
how dare you?
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Faith  Suspended Member (Idle past 1474 days) Posts: 35298 From: Nevada, USA Joined: |
First off, I didn't say anything about my own knowledge. I asked a debate question.
Second, you would have a point about any claim of mine to know God personally if I'd made it up myself, and made Him up, but I am simply believing what God Himself has told us in His word, and following His directives that His people have followed for 3500 years. People who dismiss what He has said to us and make up their own God are the arrogant ones. This message has been edited by Faith, 04-18-2005 06:09 PM
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CK Member (Idle past 4158 days) Posts: 3221 Joined: |
He's a comicbook badguy and Dan is right - your explanation fits him 100%!
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Faith  Suspended Member (Idle past 1474 days) Posts: 35298 From: Nevada, USA Joined: |
Apparently the comicbook creator was trying to make a point.
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