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Author Topic:   Can You define God?
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


(2)
Message 3 of 318 (584652)
10-03-2010 10:05 AM


Beyond stating that I believe GOD is the creator of all that is, seen and unseen, no, I can't.
In fact I'd go so far as that any god we can describe is almost certainly not GOD.
We are limited by being human, we simply can't really know or understand GOD.

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Replies to this message:
 Message 10 by 2ndReign, posted 10-03-2010 7:28 PM jar has seen this message but not replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 35 of 318 (660189)
04-21-2012 5:45 PM
Reply to: Message 34 by ringo
04-21-2012 5:37 PM


Re: Defing God
All the other "only one Gods".

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 34 by ringo, posted 04-21-2012 5:37 PM ringo has seen this message but not replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 40 of 318 (660225)
04-22-2012 9:51 AM
Reply to: Message 39 by Buzsaw
04-22-2012 9:34 AM


Re: Defing God
Buz writes:
Neither have any significant fulfilled prophecy whatsoever, etc.
Can you provide any evidence of fulfilled prophecy that first appeared in any of the New Testament?

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 39 by Buzsaw, posted 04-22-2012 9:34 AM Buzsaw has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 41 by Buzsaw, posted 04-22-2012 11:39 AM jar has replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 42 of 318 (660228)
04-22-2012 11:46 AM
Reply to: Message 41 by Buzsaw
04-22-2012 11:39 AM


Re: Defing God
You have yet to provide a link to any post where you "cited and debated scores of them".
Perhaps this time you can provide a link to a post where you "cited and debated scores of them"?

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 41 by Buzsaw, posted 04-22-2012 11:39 AM Buzsaw has seen this message but not replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 45 of 318 (660233)
04-22-2012 1:55 PM


humans have always been very good at defining God.
Folks have always been making up and defining God, some folk go so far as to give their God a personal name like Allah or Zeus or Coyote or Isis. Often the people grow up and send the God to Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends where the God gets a chance to be put up for adoption. For example, Zeus was adopted by the Romans and renamed Jupiter; Allah has been adopted many times and Buz calls him Jehovah. Usually the Gods are pretty flexible and have gotten used to being renamed over time.
It's not just names that evolve over time. Sometimes it seems that a God or Goddess gets tired of their current mate and so change partners. They also evolve over time; for example the God found in Genesis 2&3 is quite different from the God defined in Genesis 1. Different owners have been very, very flexible about giving an adopted God new powers or limitations or friends or enemies or clothes.

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

  
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 61 of 318 (667553)
07-09-2012 1:40 PM
Reply to: Message 60 by Phat
07-09-2012 1:27 PM


Re: If Intelligence Exists....
Almost certainly.

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 60 by Phat, posted 07-09-2012 1:27 PM Phat has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 62 by Phat, posted 07-09-2012 1:49 PM jar has replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 63 of 318 (667559)
07-09-2012 3:05 PM
Reply to: Message 62 by Phat
07-09-2012 1:49 PM


Re: If Intelligence Exists....
Humans have always sought belief and confirmation of favorable gods and not unfavorable ones.
Not true at all. Almost all religions have recognized benign gods, mischievous gods, even down right nasty gods.

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 62 by Phat, posted 07-09-2012 1:49 PM Phat has seen this message but not replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 82 of 318 (674867)
10-03-2012 4:57 PM
Reply to: Message 81 by Phat
10-03-2012 4:29 PM


Re: God did the job for us
Idolatry?
Huh?
Remember how YOU are told to pray?
"Our Father..."

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 81 by Phat, posted 10-03-2012 4:29 PM Phat has seen this message but not replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 89 of 318 (674985)
10-04-2012 7:01 PM
Reply to: Message 87 by Phat
10-04-2012 6:26 PM


Re: To define God is to define an Ultimate
Ah, but why should there even be merit badges?
That is actually what Jesus taught.
But heading back towards the topic, of course man can define god and has done a bang up job over time. Some of them were even pretty neat like Coyote and Nun and Thor and Ganesha.
Edited by jar, : left out "be"

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 87 by Phat, posted 10-04-2012 6:26 PM Phat has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 90 by Straggler, posted 10-05-2012 6:51 AM jar has replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 91 of 318 (675025)
10-05-2012 8:55 AM
Reply to: Message 90 by Straggler
10-05-2012 6:51 AM


Re: To define God is to define an Ultimate
I can't think of anything they all have in common except being creations of the Human mind. They tell us very little about GOD but much about man.

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 90 by Straggler, posted 10-05-2012 6:51 AM Straggler has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 92 by Straggler, posted 10-05-2012 9:08 AM jar has replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 93 of 318 (675028)
10-05-2012 9:26 AM
Reply to: Message 92 by Straggler
10-05-2012 9:08 AM


Re: To define God is to define an Ultimate
Of course they would simply because they were identified by a population as a God or god.
No, the GOD I mention as GOD is not really a God or a god.
As I said, the one thing they have in common is being Gods or gods, things we as humans have or can describe. Unfortunately, humans are limited by our hardware; we are natural critters and have no experience beyond the natural world. We have no means of testing or even describing anything except in terms of how we experience the natural world.
The issue as I have said many times in the past is one of specificity. If we consider a phrase like "Christian God" we can get some general agreement but no universal catholic (in the lower case sense) agreement. This appears to be true of all the various Gods.
Now when it comes to gods we find even greater specificity. We can describe Ganesha or Apollo or Thor in pretty great detail, outline their capabilities and limitations, describe their appearance, list their attributes. Very seldom are they a general or universal ultimate.
But GOD, if GOD exists is completely beyond anything we find in the Natural World. As long as we too are part of the Natural World we are limited.

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 92 by Straggler, posted 10-05-2012 9:08 AM Straggler has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 94 by Phat, posted 10-05-2012 10:04 AM jar has replied
 Message 98 by Straggler, posted 10-05-2012 11:42 AM jar has replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 95 of 318 (675031)
10-05-2012 10:07 AM
Reply to: Message 94 by Phat
10-05-2012 10:04 AM


Re: To define God is to define an Ultimate
That's fine, but be a good atheist.
Forget credit, merit badges, salvation, reward and just do what's right.

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 94 by Phat, posted 10-05-2012 10:04 AM Phat has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 96 by Phat, posted 10-05-2012 10:12 AM jar has replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 97 of 318 (675033)
10-05-2012 10:21 AM
Reply to: Message 96 by Phat
10-05-2012 10:12 AM


Re: To define God is to define an Ultimate
Change the questions.
Why are YOU not always fair? How can YOU promote justice? Why are YOU so selfish?

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 96 by Phat, posted 10-05-2012 10:12 AM Phat has seen this message but not replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 99 of 318 (675043)
10-05-2012 11:47 AM
Reply to: Message 98 by Straggler
10-05-2012 11:42 AM


GOD is NOT a god
No, I am not an atheist.
I've explained my position before to you but I'm willing to yet again if it is necessary.

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 98 by Straggler, posted 10-05-2012 11:42 AM Straggler has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 100 by Straggler, posted 10-05-2012 11:54 AM jar has replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 101 of 318 (675048)
10-05-2012 12:16 PM
Reply to: Message 100 by Straggler
10-05-2012 11:54 AM


Re: GOD is NOT a god
Like I said, I have no problem repeating myself.
There are three words that are not synonymous, GOD, God and god.
As I pointed out in Message 93
quote:
Of course they would simply because they were identified by a population as a God or god.
No, the GOD I mention as GOD is not really a God or a god.
As I said, the one thing they have in common is being Gods or gods, things we as humans have or can describe. Unfortunately, humans are limited by our hardware; we are natural critters and have no experience beyond the natural world. We have no means of testing or even describing anything except in terms of how we experience the natural world.
The issue as I have said many times in the past is one of specificity. If we consider a phrase like "Christian God" we can get some general agreement but no universal catholic (in the lower case sense) agreement. This appears to be true of all the various Gods.
Now when it comes to gods we find even greater specificity. We can describe Ganesha or Apollo or Thor in pretty great detail, outline their capabilities and limitations, describe their appearance, list their attributes. Very seldom are they a general or universal ultimate.
But GOD, if GOD exists is completely beyond anything we find in the Natural World. As long as we too are part of the Natural World we are limited.
God(s) and god(s) are human constructs.
The have the attributes we as humans assign to them.
God(s) are less specific than god(s) as I pointed out.
GOD though, if GOD exists is beyond human understanding. Humans are limited to understanding or experiencing only that which is natural.
Edited by jar, : fix link to previous post

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 100 by Straggler, posted 10-05-2012 11:54 AM Straggler has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 102 by Straggler, posted 10-05-2012 12:42 PM jar has replied

  
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