Wednesday, February 22, 2006 Previous List Next
Hey, man. Who you callin' god?

  I've been calling myself agnostic, though only when I've been asked in one way or another (like for the Myspace profile), but I don't think I technically am.  If you're agnostic, then you neither believe there is a god, nor believe there isn't.

  Note that I did not say that you don't know, because that's technically a given for all people.  Having faith requires that you not know.  I suppose that means that only agnostics do not have a god-concept related faith.

  The thing with me, however, is something different.  I do believe that "god" exists, but I fully acknowledge that I do not know the nature of that "god".

  Here is something that is important to know about any person's concept of "god": it's all just their interpretation.  The odds of any two people in the world having the exact same concept of "god" is astronomical.  Even if you're in the same religion, there will be differences.

  Keeping that in mind, think about people who are actually angry at "god" or those who chose to be atheist out of anger.  However you feel about "god", you're actually feeling that about your own personal interpretation.

  What is the nature of "god"?  I'm going to use the Christian god as an example, because that's the one about which I am the most knowledgeable.

  I'm going to step outside of objectivity, just for a moment, and call it absurd to believe that the Bible can be taken entirely literally.  Most people believe it is a mixture of facts and metaphor.  It's the exact ratio that is the bigger debate.

  The Bible uses metaphor, which means you cannot take all of it at face value, which means you're giving it a significant portion of its meaning.  That being said, why is it that people would humanize God and give God faults?

  Consider what God is supposed to be, fundamentally.  Omniscient (all-knowing) and omnipotent (all-powerful).  First of all, if you're all-knowing, then that automatically means that you're all-powerful and have total wisdom.  That being said, you would be without weakness.  You would be perfect.

  Now consider some of the things the Bible says about God, keeping metaphor in mind.  It says that God is a jealous god.  It portrays God as angry at times.  It refers to God as a he.  Gender is a genetic distinction, which requires a physical body, which automatically means weakness.

  This is not to suggest that the God of the Bible is not legitimate.  I'm just suggesting that the anger and jealousy not be viewed as emotional states.

  Basically, people tend to humanize God.  In fact, pretty much all ideas of "god" are naturally infused with limitations.  Can something with a limitation truly be called a god?

  So, what is "god"?

  There is an order to the universe.  Any mathematician can testify to that.  Consider order, wisdom, the idea of good.  I have found that if I look at various religions, philosophies, and general concepts of good, and I do so without humanizing "god", all of them make much more sense and tie into each other quite significantly.  Not to mention that life in general makes much more sense.

  I do have faith that there is a "god".  I just don't know the exact nature of that "god".


    I'd like to end with a few words about peoples' views of religions.  Again, using Christianity as an example, I've been in discussions where people have bad-mouthed Christianity by using things like the Spanish Inquisition or the Crusades as examples.

  One thing that I truly do not like to see is a religion being judged by the examples of people who do not follow it correctly.  I don't care which religion it is.  If you want to judge a religion, then please study that religion's text yourself.  Do not take other peoples' intepretations as true representation.

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