God is...

[BurtWorm]

...

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. a historical figure of imaginations stoked by a lack of knowledge,

an excess of fear f the unknown, and just plain convenience for those in power seeking ways to maintain the status quo.

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. An ellipsis?

Ellipsis Έλλειψις (plural: ellipses ελλείψεις, Greek for omission) in linguistics refers to any omitted part of speech that is understood; i.e. the omission is intentional. Analogously, in printing and writing, the term refers to the row of three dots (...) or asterisks (* * *) indicating such an intentional omission.

Wikipedia entry for ellipsis

To say that God is an intentional omission is an interesting theological statement. :hi:

[iconoclastic cat]

3. dead

and no one cares

[TechBear_Seattle]

6. They will care when the corpse starts to rot

Has anyone here ever read James Morrow's Godhead Trilogy? :rofl:

[bowens43]

4. God isn't.

[jobycom]

5. A metaphor whose existence is not relevant.

Even the question of whether or not God exists is so over-simplistic as to be meaningless. If God created the entire universe, then God created existence itself. So how can we even ask the question, much less answer it? We have no frame of reference, except to say that God cannot exist under the rules of the universe God created, since he created the rules themselves. Existence would have to be according to some definition we can't possibly understand. Thus, all of our discussions about God are about the metaphor, not about a God that "exists" outside of our understanding--we can't discuss that.

[kiahzero]

11. Well said. (n/t)

[CountAllVotes]

7. God is Red

- Vine Deloria ... Oglala Sioux ... Check-it out! :)

:dem:

[lapfog_1]

8. most likely an alien that dropped in for a visit - n/u

[meegbear]

9. a concept by which we measure our pain - John Lennon

[CrispyQ]

10. ...in each of us.

What you do to one, you do to all.

[Phredicles]

12. ...not dead; he is merely unemployed.

--Walt Kelly (of Pogo).

[grizmaster]

14. great quote

[grizmaster]

13. a fictional cloud being

invented by those who lack the imagination to deal with a world without a god

[BurtWorm]

15. ...an excuse to attempt a profound metaphor.

:think:

[Book Lover]

16. a set of ideas that are as contradictory as can be

Simple example: One person shaves her head because she thinks that is what a god told her to do. Another person never trims a single hair on his person for the same reason.

[intaglio]

17. Not what we believe it to be n/t

[Christa]

18. bah

God is for people who cannot think :think: and needs someone to lean on, and someone to blame.

[beam me up scottie]

32. ROFLMAO!!!

It's the fundie god!

I've got that one saved, thanks! :D

[Random_Australian]

49. I'd accept that the fundies worship such a thing, but I bet there's a few

smarty-pants gods around in here. (In the R/T forum, I don't think they or any other God actually exists)

Remember, we gotta be nice to the believers. :rofl:

[Gregorian]

19. Love

[Realityhack]

30. can someone explain what the heck that means?

[Gregorian]

31. It's as good as any other guess.

[Ron Green]

33. Here ya go...

1) If there is a God, he's infinite and eternal; otherwise, he's some kind of "sub-God."

2) Therefore, we are part of this infinite and eternal being, and exist infinitely and eternally, so that our time here on earth is a VERY small part of the whole.

3) Our time here on earth is subject to fear and pain, but we can learn to have moments of beauty and peace, mostly through learning to relate well to other people (love them, that is.)

4) To the extent we can love, we transcend this "separation" from God, which is after all an illusion (because we're not really separate from anything, if we're part of God.)

5) Therefore, because love is how we exist in our "God self," God is love.

[Realityhack]

34. Thanks for the explanation

It seems to me that it is some seriously flawed, presumptive 'logic' but thanks for trying to explain it to me anyway.

[Ron Green]

35. "Logic" is not the whole method when we're talking about God.

But it's still an important part of the story.

[Realityhack]

37. Guess I am just missing whatever the 'other' part is. n/t

[Ron Green]

42. Yeah, it took me a long time to know how to let go of my rigid need for corporeal

proof, without abandoning reason altogether. But I guess that's why we're given 80 or 90 years and not 30, in most cases.
:-)

[Realityhack]

43. Well

no offence intended but I think I would rather not ever 'get over' my need for evidence before believing in something.

[Ron Green]

46. No offense taken. For many years I relied entirely upon "scientific" evidence

for any sort of understanding of the world, and I still am rigorous in logic and reasoning where they're called for. But as I've lived through more of my life, I've learned that "belief," "knowing," "truth," "seeing," and other such terms are more nuanced than I allowed as a young man.

When we talk about those things that are ultimately unknowable, and yet choose to believe, we often have to simply love and respect each other.

[Random_Australian]

50. Well, you say we ought to love and respect each other, so your beliefs

sound pretty great in my book - but I will say that most of what "science" says is not really what science says. General rule of thumb is that if it is english or any other spoken language, it's not reliable. (Except when words have special definitions, - like mass or 1-butyn 2,3-diol)

I tell you, almost without exception, when I hear someone making an argument in the lay world the words "science says" often precede me cringing at what they say next.

:)

[neoblues]

20. God is?

God is? (does God even exist; is that a meaningless question?)

Or God is doG spelled sdrawcab.

[Bluerthanblue]

21. part of every one of us- a connection that goes beyond what

can be proven- and exists regardless of our acceptance or recognition.

NOT a cruel 'step-father' seeking to torture and condemn the world-

We don't need anything to help us with that- we've become experts at it all on our own.


Although my prefered answer would be to remove some of the periods after your subject
and say:

God is.

[Ellis Wyatt]

22. as powerful as the flying spaghetti monster

.

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. ... something we're waiting for? (n/t)

[RaleighNCDUer]

26. No,

that's Godot.

[Xeric]

24. make believe

[RethugAssKicker]

25. The Total Sum of all of us.... With all our faults and goodness..

God (For the lack of a better term) is the sum of all its parts, and those parts are us...

[cosmik debris]

27. The hillbilly in "Deliverance"

the one who made Ned Beatty squeal like a pig.

Well you asked. If you didn't want my answer, you should have said so.

[charles22]

28. Boring

[TRYPHO]

29. A concept for the individual.

To each his own understanding of something which cannot be understood. It isn't an entirely pointless, futile or unworthy enterprise to attempt to conceptualise, but ultimately it cannot succeed, and therefore God remains conceptual. Even those who put a name to the concept, put words in the concepts "mouth", and put actions and deeds in the "body" of the concept called "God" STILL only do so for the GOD CONCEPT that INDIVIDUAL has in that persons mind of their personal God.
The individual doesn't realise their own individuality when they use the common words like God, or Church or Synagogue or Shrine or Prayer or Book or Kneel or Bow because they become absorbed by the place, the activity, the process and the other paraphernalia of the connection with "God", but DEEP DEEP DEEP DEEP DEEP down, somewhere inside EVERYONE, even atheists, agnostics and deists alike, that INDIVIDUAL has a personal CONCEPT of their UNIVERSE, their TIME and PLACE in that space, their reason for living and for wanting to live, to enjoy and to further enjoy their place, in that space, in this Universe. That is their concept of their life, and that, for the individual, of any -ist or -ism, comes with an inbuilt, subconscious, understanding of the reality in which they perceive their life to take place in - whether they moralise it, theorise it, conceptualise it consciously or not.
GOD - is the Word, the Everything, the beginning and the end, all that there was, is and will be.

Shit, my wife wants me, must dash...


TRYPHO

[immoderate]

36. A projection of idealized self.

He/She is what you would want to be if you were god.

--IMM

[Realityhack]

38. self delete

[JerseygirlCT]

39. Yes. God is. nt

[beam me up scottie]

40. I'm guessing this isn't a good venue to post my cartoon of Zombie Jesus.

Just a hunch. :D

[Realityhack]

41. Owww...

I love that pic.

[Odin2005]

44. A construct of human minds.

[kwassa]

45. God is that He is (and She is)

[NMMNG]

47. .....

God is a metaphor for that which trancends all levels of intellectual thought. It's as simple as that.

Joseph Campbell

[Brentos]

48. In God's words: "I am" n/t