Who (or What) is God?

It seems like every religion has their own version of "god" but everyone seems to know who He is or at least have some idea of who "He" is? Even calling Him the "Father" seems more like a personification if anything, almost most religions believe that their "God" is the true. God has been called a lot things "the First Cause", "the Unmoved Mover", "Supreme Being", "The Ultimate Concept" or "The Alpha and Omega" and He has introduced himself to some people or at least some idea of His existence to others. I just wonder who is God? I read the Bible and gives me an idea yet I feel as though it is only a small part of the mystery, there are other religions that seem to possess some idea of God as well. Who is God really? Or the Being we know as God?

A figment of imagination created from our insecurity.

This thread will surely only attract atheists and frustrated theology students unable to express their stance accurately within a pithy post format.

Atheists win! Technicality!

edited 1st Dec '10 2:03:59 PM by mmysqueeant

God is Science.

That's all I have to say.

God is the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient creator of the universe which all theist religions revere. He is suppose to be unlimited in every kind of perfection and every conceivable perfection belongs to Him in the highest conceivable way.

edited 1st Dec '10 2:19:30 PM by Pentadragon

God is vaguely enough defined in most denominations. Trying to generalize it across all religious will end in failure.

Gnosticism! Demiurge! Holy Trinity!

I think these three things alone problematise your definition (more than?) a little, and I don't know very much about theology. Listening to some of my friends talk makes my head spin.

I know it is a rather poor definition, but God is such a vague concept and defining him one way would contradict the beliefs on several other religions.

I was just speaking from a perspective I am familiar with, a Catholic one.

I do not see a 'right' way to respond to the OP, unfortunately.

edited 1st Dec '10 2:29:43 PM by Pentadragon

True. I think the Catholic definition is certainly one of the more coherent definitions, personally, and opens up some interesting philosophical defences(sp?) of His existence. So, the most useful definition to work with (for me).

But we are just talking about the God of the Jews here, the God of the O.T. and possibly the N.T. as well, as far as I'm concerned, and in that area there is a great deal of room for interpretation.

Eh, yeah.

edited 1st Dec '10 2:36:00 PM by mmysqueeant

God is the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient creator of the universe which all theist religions revere.

All theist religions? A set that includes Islam and Asatru, and the worship of the Greek gods?

I think this is the 'different paths to God' theory. I should really let them answer for themselves, but hey, I get antsy waiting, and they might not.

edited 1st Dec '10 2:43:02 PM by mmysqueeant

As Voltaire said, if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. I believe that we all believe what we want to believe, and every person's conception of God is different from every other person's. You may decide to adopt a general notion from a church, you may study and theorize, but you will disagree on some point with anyone you talk to about God.

If God has an independent existence outside our minds (and I'm not saying he doesn't), we still have differing impressions of him. Organized religion is therefore an oxymoron.

Put another way, God is a symbol for everything we don't understand. We all have different bodies of knowledge, therefore we all have different bodies of ignorance.

A God of the Gaps?

Is that valuable?

^^^ Yes. That.

But not all religions actually involve an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent being to be revered.

Hopeful answer:God is a dog owner.

Less hopeful answer:God is an insecticide researcher. I can't find it anywhere, but Isaac Asimov's got a story about such a researcher, who is considered a wrathful god by the flies he kills.

This troper is curious as to why god in most monotheistic religions is portrayed as a male? If he is everything, wouldn't he be sexless? And if he is above everything, wouldn't that make him something of an eldritch abomination?

Strictly speaking, monotheistic, omnipotent deities are generally considered to be above the concepts of "gender". And Eldritch Abominations are basically considered to be "ugly"; in the Old Testament, God is stated to possess a form that is incomprehensible to humans (and would induce Critical Existence Failure just by looking upon it), so he always appeared in the form of something Awesome Yet Practical...like a burning bush.

edited 2nd Dec '10 9:38:37 AM by KingZeal

The "he" comes from most languages assigning a gender value to things regardless of whether or not something reproduces.

And the father is normally the one who disciplines and commands, so, naturally, God is a "He."

Aren't a lot of creator gods female?

Most are male. Most goddesses represent fertility and sex.

And/or the earth.

A Sufficiently Advanced Alien.

Actually, I don't think there's a way to tell the difference.

As Voltaire said, if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. I believe that we all believe what we want to believe, and every person's conception of God is different from every other person's. You may decide to adopt a general notion from a church, you may study and theorize, but you will disagree on some point with anyone you talk to about God.

True...but then again, people disagree about everything. Heck, find a bunch of people who all know the same person and have them talk about that person in detail. Disagreement is bound to arise.

As someone else once said: One God, many lenses.