Difference between revisions of "God"

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{{cquote|'''Genesis 1:1'''<br />In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.}}
 
{{cquote|'''Genesis 1:1'''<br />In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.}}
'''God''' is the sovereign creator and eternal ruler of all things and beings that exist, whether in the physical [[universe]] or in the spiritual realm ([[Heaven]]).  Not only is God the creator and ruler of the things and beings within those two realms, but He is also the creator of the realms themselves. God created the physical universe, and before He acted in this creation, the universe did not exist. Likewise God did with the spiritual realm.
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'''God''' is the sovereign creator and eternal ruler of all things and beings that exist, whether in the physical [[universe]] or in the spiritual realm ([[Heaven]]).  Not only is God the creator and ruler of the things and beings within those two realms, but He is also the creator of the realms themselves. God created the physical universe, and before He acted in this creation, the universe did not exist. Likewise God did with the spiritual realm.
 
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Read some of God's glorious acts here, Exodus 4:18-31, Numbers 31, Ezekiel 9:6, and Revelation 2:23. Now remember, no matter how shocking you find these verses, never question the benevolence of God, ever.
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== God is Revealed: How we know about God ==
 
== God is Revealed: How we know about God ==
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[[Category:Christianity]]
 
[[Category:Christianity]]
 
[[Category:Divine Beings]]
 
[[Category:Divine Beings]]
 
{{bronze}}[[File:God_G_Kinich_Ahau_2.jpg|right|thumb|165px|If you're choosing a deity to worship, choose one that's compatible with your values. Mayan god '''G Kinich Ahau''' seems easy to get along with.]]{{religion}}{{hatnote|This article is about the fictional character(s). If you were looking for the [[RationalWiki]] mascot and [[idol]], please see [[Goat]]. If you are dyslexic, you may have been looking for [[dog]].}}
 
{{cquote|At first glance, a person who is investigating the entire "God" concept for the first time might conclude that all of these diverse deities are purely human creations. That is: God did not create humanity — humanity created Gods. |||B.A. Robinson, religioustolerance.org<ref>[http://www.religioustolerance.org/comp_rel.htm What different faith groups believe about their deity/deities Beliefs about deity/deities in different religions]</ref>}}
 
A '''god''', '''goddess''', or '''deity''' is a kinda-to-über powerful dude, gal, or [[goat|creature]] that has [[supernatural]] powers to impact this world. Gods are also often attributed some degree of characterisation that gives them motive to interact with and care about the lives of [[human]]s and the [[natural world]]. Usually, though not always, someone, somewhere worships said deity.  Most people believe that every deity but their own select few are a false deity or mere "[[mythology]]".
 
 
[[Gods]] and [[goddess]]es are generally mightier than minor [[supernatural]] entities like [[fairy|fairies]], elves, or spirits; they can alter natural events and help or harm [[human|human beings]]. Most [[religion]]s believe in [[monotheism|one]] or [[polytheism|more]] deities with distinct characteristics.  Typically polytheistic religions rank their deities, some being dominant over others.  Sometimes the supreme deity started the [[universe]] up but is no longer involved in human affairs, therefore lower ranking deities that do things for people may be worshiped more intensively than the supreme god.<ref>[http://anthro.palomar.edu/religion/rel_2.htm Gods and Goddesses]</ref>
 
 
A deity is a generic description of a divine being such as a god or a goddess. In some cases, entire anthropomorphic mythologies are developed about the deities, as in ancient [[Greek]] religion - the gods have feuds, are born, die, fight and often interact quite directly with mortals in these [[myth]]s. In other religions, particularly the oldest ones, the gods are given more transcendent qualities and are simply representations of concepts such as [[sex|fertility]] or [[nature|natural]] forces.
 
 
As religion developed, the role gods played altered and [[monotheism]] developed to replace the pantheons of old. The most widely worshiped god in the present day is confusingly called "God", and is the monotheist deity of [[Christianity]], [[Judaism]], [[Bahai]], [[Islam]], and a handful of other religions, living and extinct. God is never referred to as Goddess by any of the Abrahamic faiths; even when formless or hermaphroditic, like in Kabbalah. In Islam as in Christianity, God is called by the speaker's usual word for God (this being "[[Allah]]" to [[Arab]]ic-speakers); in Judaism, God has many names, including (but not limited to) "[[YHWH]]," "Jehovah," and "[[Delusions of grandeur|The Great I Am]]." The [[Zoroastrian]] God is called Ahura Mazda. Not to be confused with Azor Ahai aka Stannis Baratheon the one true king.
 
 
Sometimes rulers become gods while they are alive as with the [[Roman]] emperor and the Egyptian pharaoh.  Other times rulers get promoted to become gods after they die. 
 
 
A thing like [[money]] or the [[free market]] can become a metaphorical deity,<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/deity deity]</ref> see [[secular religions]].
 
 
Among [[atheist]]s, it's common to intentionally conflate God with other gods to [[Gods Christians don't believe in|highlight the identical absurdity of their existence]].
 
 
==Origins==
 
{{cquote|God was a dream of good government.|||Morpheus, ''Deus Ex''}}
 
Since humans first appeared, the world was surrounded by unexplained phenomena: the rise and set of the [[sun]] and [[moon]]; the ever-changing weather, including seasons, storms and other natural disasters; as well as other things. Once human [[intelligence]] reached the point of being able to comprehend [[time]] as having a past, present, and future, men realized that they would someday [[death|die]], which was a quite depressing fact. The idea that these unexplained phenomena were controlled by possibly sympathetic [[spirit|entities]], and that their psyche would survive bodily death as an [[soul|immaterial entity]], was [[Wishful thinking|comforting]]. Those who were able to buy into this comfort [[woo]] would be better able to get on with their harsh and brief lives. [[Evolution]] therefore created the first gods. A possible date for these events could be the first anatomically modern humans (~150 000 years ago), or maybe the time of the [[Cro-Magnon]]s and the behavioral revolution (~40 000 years ago).{{fact}}
 
 
As time went on, though, the [[climate change]]d. Over the past million or two years, the glaciers' grip on the [[Earth]] continued changing millennium to millennium in the current [[ice age]]. Sometimes, the ice would have most all of [[Europe]] in its grasp, other times not even reaching [[Scandinavia]].{{fact}} For most of ''Homo sapiens''' life, the Earth was in its final glacial expansion, which peaked around 18 000 years ago.{{fact}} Around 12 000 years ago, the ice began receding for the final time as of now.{{fact}} This led to a change in the climate as yet unseen by men. [[Food shortage|Food was scarce]] as the megafauna (giant [[mammal]]s, such as mammoths, saber-toothed cats, etc.) began dying out. In order to keep from starving to death, some of the inhabitants of the [[Middle East|Near East]] began to grow figs and wild barley to eat. They built simple granaries so their food wouldn't spoil. The Holocene and the age of agriculture had begun.
 
 
However, in order to maintain a tribe under agriculture, it would be necessary to have some sort of [[government]] so the people did not destroy themselves over land squabbles. Some people were able to realize that [[sheeple|some]] are more easily led than others. A position of authority was created, as some men claimed to be in touch with the already-thought-of gods. Tribes would be united under these [[Theology|theological]] ties. Organized religion had formed in the earliest [[theocracy]], existing in what is now [[Turkey]] some 12 000 years ago.<ref>http://www.archaeology.org/0811/abstracts/turkey.html</ref> Organized religion was used to get the idiotic to act somewhat sensibly (e.g., the dietary laws in Leviticus). Religions would allow people to be coerced with threat of [[hell|supernatural]] [[purgatory|punishment]].
 
 
Of course, the world has changed since the [[Neolithic Revolution]]. In 1620, [[Francis Bacon]] created the modern [[scientific method]] and humanity began to [[Age of Enlightenment|actually mature]]. At first, theological ties gave way to [[nationalist]]ic ones: people felt more proud of their nation than religion.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFRc7g - "RSA ANIMATE: The Empathic Civilisation"</ref> In many ways, religion was becoming obsolete as [[science]] forced God into the continually shrinking [[God of the gaps|gaps yet to be explained]]. (Although [[Gödel's incompleteness theorems|some gaps cannot possibly be filled]], so God will always have a ''little'' gap to hide in.)
 
 
==Concepts of God==
 
As pantheons of multiple gods fell out of favour in world religions, so the concept of a more almighty and overarching god began to be developed. Although the name hints at an overly Christian bias, the idea is often captured by the name God, distinguished by a capital G. This would be a transcendent force that was responsible for creating the world, and was blessed with powers such as [[omnipotence]] and [[omniscience]], and qualities such as [[omnibenevolence|overwhelming goodness]]. The idea was described in ''[[Science of Discworld]]'' by Ponder Stibbons as "a god ''built-in'' to the universe itself", to distinguish it from the usual gods of Discworld who were merely characters within the universe controlling it. So the idea of God is far more difficult to describe than the anthropomorphic characters of older religions, and numerous views of what this force actually ''is'' have been put forward.
 
 
[[Image:SistineGod.jpg|thumb|right|God looks remarkably like an elderly Italian man from the Renaissance. Quite possibly because this was painted by one.]]
 
* [[Monotheism|Monotheists]] ([[Abrahamic religion]]s, with the possible exceptions of [[Trinity|trinitarian]] [[Christianity]] and, of course, [[Mormonism]]) believe that there is a single entity which is the supreme being, responsible for the creation of the Universe. This god usually nurtures its creation, watches over proceedings, and intervenes from time to time in the affairs of humanity. Claims made for such a god can verge on the dramatic: [[Omniscience|omniscient]], [[Omnipotence|omnipotent]], and omnibenevolent. Given [[Dictator|how most religions portray God]], such claims may be hyperbole inherited from less-enlightened times. Adherents of the religion wishing to honour their god credit him with supreme powers, without considering whether or not such powers might be self-contradictory.
 
** The [[Holy Trinity]] doctrine of Catholic Christianity is seen as polytheistic by [[Judaism]] and [[Islam]], as well as many splinters of Christianity itself such as Oneness Pentecostalism, [[Marcion of Sinope|Marcionism]], and Unitarianism. Most Christians strenuously disagree, going so far as to assert (as the Eastern Orthodox churches do) that it's not ''supposed'' to make sense because we can't explain with our limited terms the unexplainable; hence why all metaphors for the Trinity <s>are clearly wrong</s> break down at some point.
 
 
* [[Polytheism|Polytheists]] (some branches of Hinduism, Maya and Aztec mythology, ancient Greco-Roman mythology, and numerous others) believe that there are multiple divine entities, which are usually responsible for different aspects of human life and the natural or supernatural world. There are, broadly, two sorts of polytheism:
 
** ''Hard polytheism'' holds that all the gods are distinct and separate. Many ancient pagan religions and some [[neopagan]] religions, such as [[Asatru]], fall into this category.
 
** ''Soft polytheism'' holds that while there are many gods, they are all manifestations of a single god (kind of the different versions of James Bond and Doctor Who played by different actors). Modern-day [[Hinduism]] falls into this category.<br/><br/>Pure polytheism implies that these entities are worshiped more or less equally, according to the needs of the individual worshipper, but several other subtypes exist:
 
** Henotheists, like pure polytheists, recognize a pantheon of gods, but only worship one of these at a time. The Israelite religion was originally henotheistic; [[Yahweh]] was the Israelites' god, but not the only god that existed, as seen in the wording of the [[Ten Commandments|First Commandment]].
 
** Monolatrists believe that while multiple gods of similar power exist, only one of these is worthy of worship (another position which is attested in the Old Testament, where Yahweh orders the destruction of shrines to other gods).
 
** Dualists (not to be confused with [[Dualism|Cartesian dualists]]) are midway between monotheists and polytheists, seeing nature as being ruled by opposing forces in a constant conflict. The two forces can be seen as either opposite, but complementary (think of [[yin and yang]] and [[Taoism]], or the creator/destroyer aspects of the Hindu triad<ref>The Hindu triad, or {{wpl|Trimurti|Trimūrti}}, consists of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, representing creation, preservation/balance and destruction.</ref>), or defined as good and evil struggling for domination, the latter view often being described as {{wpl|Manichaeism|Manichaean}} after an extinct [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] religion (such views are also found in [[Zoroastrianism]], some aspects of Norse mythology, and, paradoxically,<ref>Despite adhering to a faith which is, depending on the interpretation of the trinity, either strictly monotheist or belief in a {{wpl|triple deity}}, but certainly not dualistic/Manichaean. Nevertheless, the tendency among Christian fundamentalists to see the world in terms of an [[List of predictions of the end of the world|apocalyptic]] struggle between [[Good]]/[[YHWH|God]]/[[Jesus]] and [[Evil]]/[[Satan]]/[[Antichrist]] is ''de facto'' far closer to Manichaeism than either strict monotheism or worship of (a) triune god(s).</ref> among many Christian fundamentalists (see [[spiritual warfare]])).
 
 
* [[Pantheism|Pantheists]] and Animists believe that God is Nature and Nature is God. Pantheism is sort of a theologized ancestor to [[vitalism]], but is embraced by many [[neopagan]]s as well as native religions around the world. [[Greco-Roman religion|Greek mythology]], though polytheist, included hints of pantheism in its nymphs, naiads, and other assorted nature spirits.
 
* [[Panentheism|Panentheists]] (most other branches of Hinduism) believe that God exists inside of everything, but is at the same time, transcendent of everything.  God is seen as an eternal spark of all things, the Prime Mover, the First Wind from some Native American religions, [[Fun:Star Wars|the Force]], etc.  God is not creator, for all things are part of God (god), the manifest, physical parts of god.<ref>As defined by German philosopher, Krause, who first coined the term</ref>
 
 
* [[Deism|Deists]] (many forms of Buddhism and some branches of Hinduism) believe that God/Gods/deities exist(s) but is/are irrelevant to the workings of the universe, sitting behind the scenes but seldom if ever interacting with the material world. Buddhists, in particular, do ''not'' believe in a supreme, all-knowing, all-perfect being, but believe in Karma, heaven and hell (both based solely on karma, not the belief in Buddhism), and 'angels' (deities that people become after they have done enough merit in their lifetime). It is a common misconception to think that this means that God may as well not exist - some deists, such as [[Thomas Paine]], believed in the immortality of the [[soul]] in a condition outside the universe. Many of the people of the Enlightenment, particularly American revolutionaries such as [[Benjamin Franklin]] and [[Thomas Jefferson]], were deists.
 
 
*[[Maltheism|Maltheists]] (from "mal" meaning bad, or illness, and theism, from... well, [[theism]]) is the idea that [[God]] is just out to get us and that he or she or it is malicious, like a kid who keeps removing the pool ladders in ''The Sims''. A Maltheist, therefore, is someone who believes that a god or gods exist, and that they are evil, malicious, incompetent, or otherwise causing the suffering of humanity. In essence, Maltheism is the idea that God exists and is not worthy of worship.
 
 
* [[Agnosticism|Agnostic]]s would contend that it is impossible to determine whether or not God exists, and that arguments about the existence or non-existence of God are counterproductive.  Other agnostics maintain that, as it is very difficult to prove a negative, and hence absolutely disprove Gods (or God) exist, then the most logical scientific position is that of extreme skepticism.  This position is separate from atheism, but usually accompanies it.
 
** Fideists (a term coined by [[Martin Gardner]], one of the few prominent theist skeptics) are essentially agnostics that have chosen to believe in a god despite an acknowledged lack of evidence.
 
 
* [[Atheism|Atheists]] do not believe in deities.  There are many types of atheism, discussed elsewhere, but generally atheists can be classified as ''pragmatic'' (or ''"weak"''), where they live life as if no gods exist, or ''theoretical'' (or ''"strong"'') where they make an explicit statement of lack of belief in gods. It is generally believed that "strong" atheists are rather uncommon, though most arguing in favor of God's existence believe that they are the norm. The Ajivika and Charvaka branches of Hinduism also hold the same views.
 
 
==Existence==
 
Do gods exist? We may never ''truly'' know, but we can damn sure try to find out.
 
 
===For===
 
[[Image:Ceiling Cat Iz Awsum.jpg|thumb|right|Our God is an awesome God]]
 
Throughout [[history]], various arguments have been proposed that supposedly prove God's existence. Sadly for their proponents, not one of these arguments has yet been successful.
 
 
*[[Cosmological argument]]
 
*[[Ontological argument]] ([[Oenological argument]])
 
*[[Argument from morality]]
 
 
There is also the question of the nature of the god whose existence is being debated, a question at the heart of [[theology]]. Muslims see Allah as powerful, remote, and unfathomable by man. Jews argue that Yahweh is focused on the descendants of Jacob. Christians argue that God is united with humanity in the flesh in the person of Jesus. Pantheists say that God is the whole universe. Deists say that God created the universe in the beginning but now has nothing to do with it. [[Mormon]]s say that God and man are the same species at different levels of advancement, and God was once a man, and man will someday be God. Others say that God did not create the universe (but does create life), yet gets the credit for it anyway.
 
 
===Against===
 
[[Image:Godisnotgreat.jpg|thumb|right|WolframAlpha's take.]]
 
The concept of the God of classical theism, with what Anselm described as its 'perfections', may lead to logical impossibilities.<ref>For example, no being can be both omniscient and omnipotent. An omniscient being would know everything, including the course of its own future actions; this means that it would be unable to change them, and hence would be denied free will; this denies omnipotence. Conversely, an omnipotent being can do anything, including change its own mind about what it can do, even up to the last moment prior to acting. That means that any attempt at omniscience would fail. This argument is explored in depth in Augustine c. 415, ''The City of God'', and elsewhere</ref> There is a great deal of debate, to put it lightly, over this topic - one of the most common contentions is that the [[problem of evil]] renders God's existence with the above attributes impossible.<ref>'Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?', Epicurus.</ref>
 
 
For some believers however, there are versions of God which appear to be at least logically possible, and as it is impossible to [[Russell's Teapot|prove that something does not exist]], even the most hardened skeptic has to concede that there is a [[Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence|remote possibility]] that such a being (or for that matter [[fairies]]) might conceivably exist in some form or another.
 
 
However, in rational terms, logic and evidence appears to dictate that there almost certainly is no requirement for God to exist in the monotheistic sense,<ref>See for example, the [[God of the gaps]] article</ref> and it can be argued that the existence of God leads to logical contradictions.<ref>The Transcendental Argument for the Non-Existence of God concludes that Logic, Science and Morality are inconsistent with the existence of God. see http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/michael_martin/martin-frame/tang.html</ref>
 
 
God, in the meantime, has usually declined to participate in this discussion. This is unfortunate, as it is certain that she would have many fascinating insights to add.<ref>In [http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=113 this Sinfest comic]  God offers her unique perspective on a theological debate.</ref> However, she is just too busy. (After all, being god, she has other civilisations and even alien races to attend to. You wouldn't expect her '''''not''''' to be busy! Especially if they're as messed up as this species.)
 
 
In general, it would seem to make little sense to seriously discuss the existence of a particular god, as the many tales about gods tend to be mutually exclusive.
 
 
==Examples==
 
*[[Allah]]
 
*[[Baal|Ba'al]]
 
*[[Cernunnos]]
 
*[[Gaia]]
 
*[[Eris]]
 
*[[Fidem Turbare]]
 
*[[Flying Spaghetti Monster]]
 
*[[Invisible Pink Unicorn]]
 
*[[Loki]]
 
*[[Pan]]
 
*[[Quetzalcoatl]]
 
*[[Satan]]
 
*[[YHWH]]
 
*[[Church of the SubGenius|JHVH-1]]
 
*[[Alain de Botton]]
 
 
==Quotations==
 
Some people like talking about god(s).
 
 
===Physicist(s) on god(s)===
 
{{aquote|I don't think that physics tell us how to behave to our neighbor.|||Stephen Hawking<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKQQAv5svkk#t=46m16s</ref>}}
 
{{aquote|God is subtle, but he is not malicious.|||[[Albert Einstein]]<ref name=einstein>[http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein Albert Einstein], Wikiquote.</ref>}}
 
{{aquote|It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly.|||Albert Einstein<ref name=einstein/>}}
 
{{aquote|The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.|||Albert Einstein<ref name=einstein/>}}
 
{{aquote|I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals Himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings. |||Albert Einstein<ref name=einstein/>}}
 
{{aquote|I am not an Atheist. I do not know if I can define myself as a Pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. May I not reply with a parable? The human mind, no matter how highly trained, cannot grasp the universe. We are in the position of a little child, entering a huge library whose walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the [[language]]s in which they are written. The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of the human mind, even the greatest and most cultured, toward God. We see a universe marvelously arranged, obeying certain laws, but we understand the laws only dimly. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that sways the constellations. I am fascinated by Spinoza's Pantheism. I admire even more his contributions to modern thought. Spinoza is the greatest of modern philosophers, because he is the first philosopher who deals with the soul and the body as one, not as two separate things. |||Albert Einstein<ref name=einstein/>}}
 
{{aquote|Scientific research can reduce superstition by encouraging people to think and view things in terms of cause and effect. Certain it is that a conviction, akin to religious feeling, of the rationality and intelligibility of the world lies behind all scientific work of a higher order... This firm belief, a belief bound up with a deep feeling, in a superior mind that reveals itself in the world of experience, represents my conception of God. In common parlance this may be described as "pantheistic" (Spinoza). |||Albert Einstein<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Albert_Einstein#cite_note-10]</ref>}}
 
{{aquote|God does not play dice with the universe.|||Albert Einstein}}
 
{{aquote|Einstein, stop telling God what to do.|||Niels Bohr<ref>http://www.businessinsider.com/solvay-conference-1927-2015-4</ref>}}
 
 
 
====God(s) on physicist(s)====
 
{{aquote|Niels, stop telling my man AE what to do.|||God}}
 
 
===Philosopher(s) on God(s)===
 
{{aquote|Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?|||Plato's Socrates, [[Euthyphro dilemma]]}}
 
{{aquote|<i>Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer.</i> If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.|||Voltaire}}
 
{{aquote|If God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him.|||Mikhail Bakunin}}
 
{{aquote|God is dead.|||Friedrich Nietzsche}}
 
 
====God(s) on philosopher(s)====
 
{{aquote|Nietzsche is dead.|||God}}
 
 
====Nietzsche(s) on God(s)====
 
{{aquote|Some are born posthumously.|||Nietzsche}}
 
 
===God at the movies===
 
George Burns played God in the ''Oh, God!'' movies, based on the novel by Avery Corman.  In the third installment, ''Oh, God! You Devil'', Burns played the dual roles of God and [[Satan]].
 
 
"The Supreme Being" in ''Time Bandits'' is played by Sir Ralph Richardson.
 
 
Now he is usually played by Morgan Freeman (or, on one <s>regrettable</s> impressively iconoclastic occasion, Alanis Morissette).
 
 
God is the only recurring character to have appeared in all but one of the "[[Monty Python]]" motion pictures (The exception being ''Life of Brian'', and [[Jesus|his son]] was in that one).
 
 
===Other people chat about God===
 
{{aquote|The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; [[Irony|a misogynistic, homophobic, racist,]] infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.|4=[[Richard Dawkins]]; [[The God Delusion]]}}
 
{{aquote|Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!  But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money!|||[[George Carlin]]}}
 
{{aquote|''I handed them a script and they turned it down. It was too controversial. It talked about concepts like, 'Who is God?' The Enterprise meets God in space; God is a life form, and I wanted to suggest that there may have been, at one time in the human beginning, an alien entity that early man believed was God, and kept those legends. But I also wanted to suggest that it might have been as much the Devil as it was God. After all, what kind of god would throw humans out of Paradise for eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. One of the Vulcans on board, in a very logical way, says, 'If this is your God, he's not very impressive. He's got so many psychological problems; he's so insecure. He demands worship every seven days. He goes out and creates faulty humans and then blames them for his own mistakes. He's a pretty poor excuse for a supreme being.||| Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek, The God Thing}}
 
{{aquote|[[Beer]] is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.|||not Benjamin Franklin {{nofact}}}}
 
 
==Why do some people write G-d or Gd?==
 
[[Judaism]] holds that, as a mark of respect to God, His name should not be erased or defaced. There is no prohibition on writing God's name (or names), but Orthodox [[Jews]] (and some Christians) avoid casually writing his name in order that they lessen the risk of defacement or erasure.<ref>[http://www.jewfaq.org/name.htm The background relating to usage of G-d]</ref> This custom would have begun in [[Hebrew]] - which lacked indications of vowels in its written script before the 7th century CE anyway - but some carry it over to English and other languages. This practice prevented God from ordering business cards and [[advertising]] space/airtime, thus restricting Judaism to being a tribal religion focused on a relatively small ethnic group.
 
 
The practice of not writing down the name of God, either for fear of its defacement or for the same reason you don't say "Beetlejuice" out loud, has been around since the time of the [[Septuagint#YHWH_versus_.22Lord.22|first major translation of the Old Testament]]. It has carried over into the [[King James Version]], and all other English translations of the Old Testament that render the Hebrew [[YHWH]] as "the L<small>ORD</small>".
 
 
As with the majority of inconvenient religious customs, some smart-ass will always find a workaround that respects the letter of the law, if not the spirit. This is done by writing "G-d" or "Gd" instead of '''''God'''''. The omniscient creator of the universe has yet to see through this devious trick, allowing theologians to safely use a black board or Etch A Sketch® without risking the [[Examples of God personally killing people|ineffable and baffling vengeance]] of He whose Name shall not be written in any way that makes sense. The ridiculous thing is that "God" is not even his name<ref>[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isa.%2042:8;&version=HCSB; It is, of course, Yahweh.]</ref>—it is a title or position<ref>Or species.</ref>—so, by analogy, people should also write "L-rd" or Lrd".
 
 
The word "God" may also be omitted or obliterated in contexts where it would be perceived as blasphemous or improper, along with other perceived obscenities.  This was common in publishing in the Christian world during the 18th and 19th centuries, and explains why it is not uncommon in novels from those eras to find characters using phrases such as "by G___" or "d___ it".  This practice continues in the use of "f**k" and similar typography in [[tabloid]]s and other contexts where it is handy to repeat a swearword while pretending that you haven't.
 
 
== Lording it and lauding it ==
 
The idea of a "Lord" makes a lot of sense in the conditions of medieval feudal or semi-feudal society - as in the [[Middle Ages | golden age of Christianity]] - where every decent person had a lord to serve loyally - a patron and a superior of great power and importance who nevertheless had an interest in looking after the relative well-being of his collective of human economic assets.<ref>
 
{{cite book
 
| last1                = Davies
 
| first1                = Rees
 
| author-link1          = Rees Davies
 
| chapter              = Apologia
 
| editor1-last          = Smith
 
| editor1-first        = Brendan
 
| title                = Lords and Lordship in the British Isles in the Late Middle Ages
 
| url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=rAkUDAAAQBAJ
 
| location              = Oxford
 
| publisher            = Oxford University Press
 
| publication-date      = 2009
 
| page                  = 1
 
| isbn                  = 9780199542918
 
| accessdate            = 2016-10-26
 
| quote                = 'Lordship' as a concept is currently not a common term in English parlance [...]. '[L]ordship' [...], ''dominium'', was a key word in the political, social, and indeed academic vocabulary of medieval Europe. It was a ubiquitous and fundamental term, be it (for example) the lordship of God or of the lord king (''dominus rex''), the lordship of the abbot over his monks, or the legal power that a husband (''seigneur'') had over his wife. It was an elastic, protean word. It could refer to the area over which a lord exercised his dominion - be it a manor, a duchy, or even a kingdom; but it could also be used to characterize conceptually the nature of that authority. Contemporaries could likewise refer to 'the law of lordship' (''ius dominii'') as shorthand for the relationship between lord and dependant. Theologians and philosophers argued learnedly about the justification and credentials of secular lordship (''de civili dominio''). In short, it was an infinitely adaptable concept (and word) in the medieval construction of the ordering of human relationships and in the justification of the exercise of power at all levels of society.
 
}}
 
</ref>
 
It makes a good deal less sense in [[the West | the degenerate 21st century West]], where equal citizens have become infected with the [[meme | mind-virus]] of seeing themselves semi-[[solipsism|solipsistically]] as individuals and seldom even think about barons and dukes and sundry nobility and their social rank in [[social class | a divinely-ordained hierarchy]].<ref>
 
Many former kingdoms have become republics (think Nepal (2008) and France (1793 and 1848)); some republics have abolished or marginalized their former aristocratic classes (think Austria (1919) and Russia from 1917 onwards). And elsewhere monarchs have given way to constitutional monarchs, while nobilities decay and lose heft - note for example some of the work of David Cannadine, as in {{cite book
 
| last1 = Cannadine
 
| first1 = David
 
| author-link1 = David Cannadine
 
| title = Aspects of Aristocracy: Grandeur and Decline in Modern Britain
 
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Q0dyn1YNmUEC
 
| location = New Haven
 
| publisher = Yale University Press
 
| publication-date = 1994
 
| isbn = 9780300059816
 
| access-date = 2016-10-17
 
}} or in {{cite book
 
| last1 = Cannadine
 
| first1 = David
 
| author-link1 = David Cannadine
 
| title = The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy
 
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BR6mPwAACAAJ
 
| edition = revised
 
| publisher = Picador
 
| publication-date = 1992
 
| isbn = 9780330321884
 
| access-date = 2016-10-27
 
}}.
 
</ref>
 
 
==See also==
 
{{Fun|God}}
 
*[[Babel Fish]]
 
*[[Fun:Eric Clapton|Eric Clapton]]
 
*[[GodTube]]
 
*[[Idolatry]]
 
*[[Essay:What God would have to be]] (an opinion piece by [[User:EVDebs]])
 
*[[Essay:of Islands]] (a piece by [[User:Eira|Eira]] arguing that a perfect Christian God could not exist in a finite universe without an intelligent designer establishing the rules of existence)
 
*[[Examples of God personally killing people]]
 
*[[Evidence for God's existence]]
 
*[[Misotheism]]
 
*[[Wak mythology]]
 
 
==External links==
 
*[http://www.400monkeys.com/God/index.html The "Official" God F.A.Q.]
 
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch5MEJk5ZCQ True Facts About God]
 
*[http://www.godlessgeeks.com/LINKS/GodProof.htm Over Three Hundred Proofs of God's Existence]  (Silly)
 
*[http://www.tektonics.org/guest/300proof.html Over Three Hundred Disproofs of God’s Existence] (Also Silly)
 
*[http://god.com god.com] (She's commercial), [http://god.org god.org] (She's organized), [http://god.net god.net] (She's 'networking'), [http://god.edu god.edu] {{unbroken}} but not much for education.
 
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVbnciQYMiM Video on the conversation which brought organized religion into the world]
 
*[http://www.cnet.com/news/stephen-hawking-makes-it-clear-there-is-no-god/#ftag=YHF65cbda0 Stephen Hawking makes it clear: There is no God]
 
*[http://www.facebook.com/thegoodlordabove/ God's Facebook]
 
*http://www.conservapedia.com/God (Super silly)
 
 
==References==
 
{{reflist|2}}
 
[[Category:Biblical figures]]
 
[[Category:Blasphemy (probably)]]
 
[[category:religious terms]]
 
[[category:deities| ]]
 

Revision as of 07:39, February 27, 2018

This article is about the biblical God. For the term as used to refer to any divine being, see Other gods

God is the Alpha and Omega, the first and last, the beginning and the ending [1]
The Godhead
center}}}
God the Father
God the Son
God the Holy Spirit
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

God is the sovereign creator and eternal ruler of all things and beings that exist, whether in the physical universe or in the spiritual realm (Heaven). Not only is God the creator and ruler of the things and beings within those two realms, but He is also the creator of the realms themselves. God created the physical universe, and before He acted in this creation, the universe did not exist. Likewise God did with the spiritual realm.

God is Revealed: How we know about God

Other than creation itself, God is revealed in several ways, including theological correlates, conscience, and special revelation (the Bible, and prophets). Most importantly though, God is revealed in Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God.


Cathedral Cordoba, Spain.

Attributes or Character of God

Rembrandt, Ascension.

The attributes of God are things that describe who He is. Similar to the way one might describe a close friend to another individual, so too do these attributes describe God's character and nature. Attributes of God include but are not limited to Wisdom, Infinitude, Sovereignty, Holiness, Trinity, Omniscience, Faithfulness, Love, Omnipotence, Self-existence, Self-sufficiency, Justice, Immutability, Mercy, Eternal, Goodness, Graciousness, and Omnipresence. These attributes all work in complete and perfect harmony with one another.

God exercises eternal and righteous judgment of the wicked in hell, because of an inherent problem in the human heart, namely Sin. According to the Bible, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross of calvary and then resurrection, is God's merciful and gracious response to the problem of the human heart.

God is Triune

For a more detailed treatment, see Trinity.

Although the Bible does not use the term, it is clear that God is a triune God, or three in one. These are sometimes referred to as God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.

The first hint of the Trinity is in Genesis 1:26 which relates God saying, "Let us make man in our image", indicating that God is a plurality.

The three persons of God are treated as equivalents in these words of Jesus shortly after His resurrection:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19 (NIV)

Jesus is God

The first verse of the Gospel of John, in which Jesus is referred to as the "Word", makes clear that Jesus is synonymous with God:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 (NIV)

This verse not only says that "the Word" (Jesus) is synonymous with God, but also says that the Word was "in the beginning", which means that He existed before all else existed, something that is only true of God.

This is reinforced two verses later, in which Jesus is described as the creator. Genesis refers to God as being the Creator.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. John 1:3 (NIV)

The Holy Spirit is God

In the following passage, the Holy Spirit is referred to as God:

Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." Acts 5:3-4 (NIV)

God is omniscient

For a more detailed treatment, see omniscience.

God knows everything:

This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 1_John 3:19-20 (NIV)

Because God is outside of time, He can see and knows the past and the future as well as the present.

"God" sometimes used to refer to God the Father

God the Father by Jose Maria Velasco (1840-1912).

In the Bible, the word "God" (θεός) does not always refer to God's being as a whole, but more specifically refers to the Person of the Father (God the Father). Here are some verses which demonstrate this:

John 3:16 (NASB)
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
1 John 4:10 (NASB)
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Notice how in each case, "Father" can be substituted for "God." For example, "For the Father so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son," and "not that we loved the Father, but that He loved us and sent His Son."

Terminology

The Bible uses several different words to refer to God. "God" itself is not a name, but an Old English word meaning supreme being, deity,[2] which the translators who translated the Bible in to English chose as the appropriate English word for the Hebrew elohim and the Greek theos used in the Old Testament and New Testament respectively.[3]

The other main term for God is the Hebrew adonai, usually translated Lord. There are various compound words also used in the Bible, such as el shaddai, which means God Almighty ("el" is a short version of elohim).[3]

YHWH is given in the Bible as God's actual name. In most English Bibles it is translated as Lord, in small capitals. The name has various other English versions, including Yehovah, Jehovah, and Yahweh.[4]

Resources on becoming a Christian

Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane by Heinrich Hofmann.

see also: Resources on becoming a Christian


Below are some resources on becoming a Christian:


Tips on choosing a Christian church:


Spiritual growth as a Christian:

See also

References

  1. Revelation 22:13
  2. God Online Etymology Dictionary.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Kruse, Dale P.,More on the Names of God In the Bible, Advanced Training Program of Evangelism.
  4. McHyde, Tim, God’s Name: LORD, Yahweh, Yahveh, YHWH, YHVH, Jehovah or Yehovah?

External links