What makes God God? Or unmakes God?

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Regret
This post got me thinking:Originally posted by FistOfThe North
God can defy logic.

You must understand that absolutely everything was his doing. His creation. From a subatomic particle to all of space and time, past present and future and every single thing in it. Including things like cognition and the way of things.

There never was, is or will be anything above or beyond God, ever. He is as unlimitless as absolutely anything can get.

So yes. Even rationality.

What makes God God? If there is anything defining such a being, God doing something the opposite of that definition would negate his Godhood.

Lord Urizen
Originally posted by Regret
This post got me thinking:

What makes God God? If there is anything defining such a being, God doing something the opposite of that definition would negate his Godhood.

That's what I was trying to tell Fisty



According to most people, what makes God "god" is this:




-omnipotence
-being the creator
-being incharge
-being immortal and eternal



To others you have to include

-being loving
-being perfect
-being flawless


Also, the wild card:



-God has to be omniscient...biggest problem, because it conflicts with free will


Some people are more open to the idea that just because God is all powerful, does not mean he is not flawed...

Regret
Originally posted by Lord Urizen
That's what I was trying to tell Fisty

According to most people, what makes God "god" is this:

-omnipotence
-being the creator
-being incharge
-being immortal and eternal

To others you have to include

-being loving
-being perfect
-being flawless

Also, the wild card:

-God has to be omniscient...biggest problem, because it conflicts with free will

Some people are more open to the idea that just because God is all powerful, does not mean he is not flawed... I don't necessarily agree with omniscience conflicting with free will. But then I believe there is a difference between free will and free agency, and free will isn't necessarily a concept I believe in (dependent on the definition and meaning of "free will".)

I do agree that from Fist's post, God is responsible for sin. If sin is going against God's will, and God is responsible for it, God has either undone himself or is insane, by Fist's post.

Lord Urizen
Originally posted by Regret
I don't necessarily agree with omniscience conflicting with free will. But then I believe there is a difference between free will and free agency, and free will isn't necessarily a concept I believe in (dependent on the definition and meaning of "free will".)



SAme here....free will cannot truly be free, our will is entirely dependent on influences, environment, and circumstance.


Originally posted by Regret
I do agree that from Fist's post, God is responsible for sin. If sin is going against God's will, and God is responsible for it, God has either undone himself or is insane, by Fist's post.



Yes, which is why Fist's assertion is self contradicting.

Mindship
Originally posted by Regret
What makes God God? If there is anything defining such a being, God doing something the opposite of that definition would negate his Godhood.
If you mean "God" in the broadest sense...
As far as we're concerned: what makes God God is, and forever will be, the mysterium tremendum. God is literally unimaginable. That's what makes this God God.

debbiejo
^^ I agree. To even put a name, action or meaning to god would be inept. God is beyond that which we could imagine.

Regret
Originally posted by Mindship
If you mean "God" in the broadest sense...
As far as we're concerned: what makes God God is, and forever will be, the mysterium tremendum. God is literally unimaginable. That's what makes this God God. If you are referencing the Christian God (an assumption I take from the phrase "this God"wink then I believe that John 4:22 refutes the idea that the Christian God is mysterium tremendum. Also, your statement leads to the fact that if an aspect of God is no longer an awesome mystery, that aspect is no longer God, if an aspect of God is no longer God, God is no longer God because he is no longer everything he was and is thus less than God.

debbiejo
If god could be imaginable and explained then it wouldn't be much of a god.

Regret
Originally posted by debbiejo
If god could be imaginable and explained then it wouldn't be much of a god. So, even you subscribe to the beliefs that you attack? The idea of God being a mystery was a result of Greek philosophy altering the original Christian teachings, it is an assumption originating in the incorrect Trinitarian Doctrine, and came about much later than even Paul who you also attack.

Mindship
Originally posted by Regret
If you are referencing the Christian God (an assumption I take from the phrase "this God"wink then I believe that John 4:22 refutes the idea that the Christian God is mysterium tremendum.
I wasn't sure what you had meant by God. That's why I wrote "in the broadest sense."

Also, your statement leads to the fact that if an aspect of God is no longer an awesome mystery, that aspect is no longer God, if an aspect of God is no longer God, God is no longer God because he is no longer everything he was and is thus less than God.
If you're still referring to the Christian God, your logic works for me. But if you refer to God as understood by (eg) the perennial philosophy: because this God is unimaginable, this God is ineffable. Words help to talk about this God, but ultimately, logic leads to paradox. One may accept paradox as proof this God does not exist, or one can see paradox as the limit of logic when applied to the unimaginable.

debbiejo
Originally posted by Regret
So, even you subscribe to the beliefs that you attack? The idea of God being a mystery was a result of Greek philosophy altering the original Christian teachings, it is an assumption originating in the incorrect Trinitarian Doctrine, and came about much later than even Paul who you also attack. I never said I don't believe in god/spirit or what ever. I just don't believe in the myth god as portrayed by the bible.

Regret
Originally posted by Mindship
I wasn't sure what you had meant by God. That's why I wrote "in the broadest sense."


If you're still referring to the Christian God, your logic works for me. But if you refer to God as understood by (eg) the perennial philosophy: because this God is unimaginable, this God is ineffable. Words help to talk about this God, but ultimately, logic leads to paradox. One may accept paradox as proof this God does not exist, or one can see paradox as the limit of logic when applied to the unimaginable. The thread is for any god believed to exist, prior to your post, the discussion had been on the Christian one. So, I apologize for my wrong assumption.

I have difficulty believing in an unimaginable deity, and would see the paradox as evidence of the absence of a God.

Regret
Originally posted by debbiejo
I never said I don't believe in god/spirit or what ever. I just don't believe in the myth god as portrayed by the bible. Ahh, ok, I had thought you believed in the Biblical God, just from a differing perspective from most of Christian/Jewish theologies.

Mindship
Originally posted by Regret
So, even you subscribe to the beliefs that you attack? The idea of God being a mystery was a result of Greek philosophy altering the original Christian teachings, it is an assumption originating in the incorrect Trinitarian Doctrine, and came about much later than even Paul who you also attack.
It also (supposedly) comes from meditation ("Enlightenment"wink, a technique going back thousands of years. It is a common idea? experience? in every mystical school of thought, Eastern or Western.

Regret
Originally posted by Mindship
It also (supposedly) comes from meditation ("Enlightenment"wink, a technique going back thousands of years. It is a common idea? experience? in every mystical school of thought, Eastern or Western. Yes, it probably also had roots in mysticism. I am unaware of documented material as to solidly supporting such though, the Christian concept of God being a mystery is documented solidly enough to state that the idea came from Greek philosophy.

debbiejo
Originally posted by Regret
Ahh, ok, I had thought you believed in the Biblical God, just from a differing perspective from most of Christian/Jewish theologies. Though I do believe that there are some truths in the bible about what god is, just that it has been so dissected that it almost isn't worth the time to figure out what is true and what is not.....I speak very much to god in my own way and I am happy with my view. smile

Mindship
Originally posted by Regret
Yes, it probably also had roots in mysticism. I am unaware of documented material as to solidly supporting such though.
An example would be nirvikalpa samadhi, mentioned in the Indian/Hindu Vedas. This is the state of unknowable / unimaginable "nothingness" which is the source of all things.

Atlantis001
Originally posted by Regret
Yes, it probably also had roots in mysticism. I am unaware of documented material as to solidly supporting such though, the Christian concept of God being a mystery is documented solidly enough to state that the idea came from Greek philosophy.

There where roots in the jewish mysticism(qabbalah), the greeks and hinduism. Those cultures were all interconected.


I agree with the interpretation of God being a mystery and undefinable. It is an elelegant answer, something undefinable is beyond everything, and is omnipotent. The problem is epistemological, you have to adopt a new epistemologic way to think.

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