God

[John Evans]

What does the word 'God' mean to you?

[Karen Molenaar Terrell]

Ooh - this is a great question, John! thanks for starting us off with a bang. Or maybe a Big Bang. Depending...  I look forward to hearing what people have to say. Oh... what do I think God means? Umm... I will get back to you... :)

[Karen Wingoof]

My belief regarding God has... evolved... I've always believed that God was the power of Good - the power of Love and Truth - and I guess I still believe that...and have been able to prove that in my own life. But in the last couple years I've begun to think that power is maybe the collective consciousness of Good that we all share together and maintain. I think it's available to all of us. I'm sure that God is not anthropomorphic. I don't believe God is something "out there"... 

On Monday, December 16, 2013 2:57:34 PM UTC-8, John Evans wrote:

[Karen Wingoof]

[aardwizz]

I'm willing to admit that I haven't got a clue.

Everyone has their personal definition, which are usually incompatible with other's personal definitions.  Some descriptions are anthropomorphic.  Some descriptions are so nebulous as to create no image or definable trait.  Some attribute world- or universe-creating power; while others merely allow for great power (usually differentiated by upper-case 'God" and lower-case 'god';  near as I can make out, YHWH is usually more of the lower-case type (see his speech in Job about what he is capable of), except for the Genesis 1 bit.))

The way I figure it, we'll never be able to understand what "God" is or isn't until we can cut through all the noise surrounding the idea.  As long as people keep adding their own take on what they think God "must" be like (in order to fit into other things that they already attribute to "God" for no other reason than someone else told them God was this way), we'll never be able to sort out the truth from the fiction.

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[Karen Wingoof]

Ooh - another good post! 

[Brendan McBride]

It means I should keep an eye on my wallet.

[Karen Wingoof]

Okay, I'm snickering here. 

Which... that's probably not very reverent, ay? 

God (or Nogod, depending) help us all.

[Runny Babbit]

To me, God is a very specific word. When it is capitalized like this, it might be defined as a supernatural being that created the Universe, is revered, and holds judgment over the beings He/She has created.  If it is not capitalized, then it could be any supernatural being that has some kind of control over something in the material world, like a god of trees, or a god of oceans.  These words were used by early civilizations and cultures to explain things that didn't seem to have a logical cause, but could cause great harm or great fortune.

I would give more intellectual leniency to a term like Higher Power.  A Higher Power could be God, but it could also be the laws of physics, or simply, Nature.

I think when you use the word God, it implies personification of the unknown to a supernatural being to most people, even if you don't mean it that way.

[Karen Wingoof]

You know, it's not a really pretty word, is it? Kind of guttural and abrupt. I bet we could come up with a better word to give to the power of Good, Love, Truth (what I call "God"). "Karen" might work.

(Kidding. Sort of. ) :)

[Karen Wingoof]

And hi, Runny Babbit! So good to see you here! :)

On Friday, December 27, 2013 11:32:09 AM UTC-8, Runny Babbit wrote: