What is God?

[LAF2]

@ sp4cetiger: Sure, that would apply for some religions. Many gods of Greek Mythology were born after the creation of the universe but were considered gods for supreme qualities like immortality and, well, "powers". But generally, a god/deity is considered to be the creator of the universe.

[SuedeSwede]

[LAF2]

@SuedeSwede: Precisely!

By the way, I'm an agnostic atheist too.

[SuedeSwede]

[LAF2]

Most creation theories are fundamentally structured on the belief that the universe is too complex to exist without having been created (a premise predicated on scientific ignorance). The problem is that no religion can prove that its god is the one who created the universe.

Essentially, even if the universe were too complex not to have a designer, religions fail to explain how their said god is the one who created the universe due to lack of evidence to substantiate this claim.

[sp4cetiger]

[babyBlueSedan]

I was also raised Catholic and have always believed in God, although that belief was probably stronger at some point in the past than it is now. I would define the concept of God not so much by their intention but more so by their power - omniscience and omnipotence in particular. I believe ours has good intentions, but if there was an evil being who had the power to do whatever they wanted I would say they could reasonably be called God. (so yes, Bender is justified being called a god in that one Futurama episode)

As for whether God is perfect: it seems difficult to define what "perfect" means. Perfect in that they never make mistakes? Perfect in that everything they create turns out the way they intend? Perfect in that they never mean anyone harm?

I tend to believe in some type of creation but not in any type of seven day creation, which was probably just a story someone told early in prehistoric times. I tend to be kind of a deist in that regard, believing that God kind of set things in motion early on and let whatever happened happen. The evil in the world might have appeared but wasn't necessarily put here. I don't believe the earth was ever supposed to be perfect, since that's what heaven is for, and that the evil on earth is meant to help you keep things in perspective. Though I'd never tell someone who has cancer that that's "God's plan" since 1) that's dumb and 2) God probably doesn't have a master plan for things. People getting sick is still just random chance.

I also believe the earth is 4 billion or whatever years old because there's too much scientific evidence to deny that, though there's no evidence I've seen that states that earth wasn't but here by a divine being. Believing in creation despite the evidence is kind of the point of the word "faith", although I don't really fault anyone who chooses not to believe. I've often thought that if I wasn't raised Christian I'd probably be agnostic or an atheist, although my conception of God is also likely different than the one I was raised on.
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And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.

[SuedeSwede]

The paradoxical effect of whatever created the universe had to come from somewhere is something no human brain can begin to capacitate. All theories of the beginning of the universe are flawed, in my view. I just don't know what to believe, so I guess I believe nothing.
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[babyBlueSedan]

[RockyRaccoon]

I've probably got the unpopular viewpoint of the group, and perhaps this may come as a surprise, but I am very much a Christian. I was raised presbyterian, I currently go to a baptist church, though I don't take a whole lot of stock in denominations too much (i.e. I hate the whole "well baptists do this….methodists do this" we're Christians with minute differences, not that big of a deal). I firmly and absolutely believe all of it, that God created the universe, that Jesus was the son of God, the holy trinity, all of that. I am very involved in my church, I play guitar for my church's praise band every Sunday and I absolutely love all of it, I love being involved in my church, I love the people in my church, they're incredibly kind, very supportive and understanding people.

I will say this though, often people hear me say "I'm a Christian" and immediately associate me with the unfortunately very vocal Christian extremists out there, and I am not one of them in the slightest. I firmly believe that the biggest principle of Jesus' teachings, and therefore the biggest principle of the Christian faith, is love. Loving everyone, loving people who are good, loving people who are terrible, showing nothing but kindness and gentleness to everyone you meet. Obviously I don't do that all the time, I have my flaws, but I truly believe that is the way to live life. The way the bigoted Christians speak, it's exceptionally counter to Jesus' teachings and it bothers me a lot.

I also do not believe that religion and science are mutually exclusive. I believe (though I hate to use that word in regards to science) in evolution, I believe that God is not a simple God, that He very obviously could create an exceptionally complex Earth in a very detailed, specific way. There is no reason to have some kind of war between God and science, because the two coincide together, and it really bothers me how so many Christians roll their eyes at the idea of "science" because they think it's anti-God or something, which is ridiculous.

And a final thing, I also truly believe in faith. I am acutely aware of the fact that I don't know everything. There are questions regarding Christianity that I have to admit, I don't know the answers to, but I take it on faith, I believe in something that I don't fully understand, and I accept the fact that I probably won't ever fully understand it. I don't think we can really expect to understand something that is beyond our comprehension. There are men and women far smarter than I am who have spent decades studying certain topics in the Christian religion and they end up with different interpretations, it's the nature of trying to understand something that is beyond us.

I'll be honest, I don't know what I would do without my faith. And that's not a criticism to those who are of any other belief system, it's an expression of what my faith means to me. There have been so many times where I have been in some terrible places, and the one thing that has stayed consistent in my life is my faith, and it's a beautiful thing to be able to rely on. I have had experiences that I can't accurately describe in words that have come because of something happening in a church, feelings that I have never felt anywhere else. It's a beautiful thing and I love it.
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