How do you regard God?

[Compassionist]

I am a Strong Agnostic regarding the true nature of reality and the existence of God(s). Hence, I have selected the last option in the poll. Thank you for your participation.

[cnorman18]

I am a liberal Jew and have also selected the last option. In the Jewish faith, God is not to be defined; He is other than anything in this Universe and anything that we know. Further; my own personal belief, as I have written elsewhere, is more properly expressed as a hope than as certain knowledge.

[Compassionist]

I am a liberal Jew and have also selected the last option. In the Jewish faith, God is not to be defined; He is other than anything in this Universe and anything that we know. Further; my own personal belief, as I have written elsewhere, is more properly expressed as a hope than as certain knowledge.

Thank you. I understand what you mean. I appreciate your honesty.

[bernee51]

I am a Strong Agnostic regarding the true nature of reality and the existence of God(s). Hence, I have selected the last option in the poll. Thank you for your participation.

As there is evidence of the evolution of the god concept and its concomitant religions and I know of no need or reason for the existence of any god the only conclusion to which I can come is option #3.

[Munchskreem]

I see the concept of God as being necessary to define before it is even determined to be an extant being. With every religion there is a different conception of God, but it is best approached from a case-by-case basis, because there are so many definitions that to use one for all cases would be a gross over-generalization.

If I had to define God, then it would necessarily leave out commonly-accepted attributes of God such as perfection and benevolence, but such that it would be nearly indistinguishable from a universe devoid of such an entity. And it certainly would not be anything even remotely close to resembling the human mind. As such, attributing normal human incentives, desires, or flaws to it would be a gross misunderstanding of its vastness, though we can at least see this entity indirectly through the universe which we know is connected to it. So I guess it somewhat resembles the modern Jewish conception, but not quite.

All in all though, that explanation is mostly conjectural and hypothetical until evidence presents itself that would support some higher being.

[True Believer]

God, for me, has changed drastically over the past year alone. As a former Christian, I held the common view that God is perfect, all loving and all knowing. But I eventually found that the inherent contradictions in the Bible concerning everything from the nature of God to how he wants us to live were too much for me. I was no longer able to suspend reason.

God is God. I really like how cnorman18 put it, saying that God is other than anything in this universe. He is simply beyond our comprehension, and the more we ask about why he wants this, and how he does that, leads us further away from what God really is.

God has given us enough evidence in our world to understand as much about him as we need to know. We need to look within ourselves, both physically and mentally, and understand our world (how it works, how to take care of it, etc.) in order to become what we truly are.

[Compassionist]

As well as being an Agnostic Compassionist Humanist, I am an ex-Muslim and an ex-Christian. I have found suffering and injustice to be irreconciliable with the existence of an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and omnibenevolent God because with omnipotence comes omniculpability.

Both Atheism and Theism are beliefs - one does not truly KNOW about God or Gods. The world as we perceive them may be all there is to reality. Then again, may be the perceived world is an illusion e.g. the concept of Maya in Hinduism. It is impossible to prove the non-existence of something whether that be God or fairies.

[bernee51]

As well as being an Agnostic Compassionist Humanist, I am an ex-Muslim and an ex-Christian. I have found suffering and injustice to be irreconciliable with the existence of an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and omnibenevolent God because with omnipotence comes omniculpability.

That is the logical conclusion.

Both Atheism and Theism are beliefs...

I beg to differ....

Without theism there would be no atheism.

All that is required to claim atheism is to have no belief in the existence of deities.

Some atheists may also believe that gods do not exist.

- one does not truly KNOW about God or Gods. The world as we perceive them may be all there is to reality. Then again, may be the perceived world is an illusion e.g. the concept of Maya in Hinduism.

What we perceive of the world - our perceptions being thiughts, ideas, relationships is a mental construct and therefore IS illusory.

It is impossible to prove the non-existence of something whether that be God or fairies.

Really?

Do married bachelors exist? Do squared circles?

Can an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and omnibenevolent god exist?

[Compassionist]

As well as being an Agnostic Compassionist Humanist, I am an ex-Muslim and an ex-Christian. I have found suffering and injustice to be irreconciliable with the existence of an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and omnibenevolent God because with omnipotence comes omniculpability.

That is the logical conclusion.

Thank you for confirming my logic. You are the first one to do so!

Both Atheism and Theism are beliefs...

I beg to differ....

Without theism there would be no atheism.

All that is required to claim atheism is to have no belief in the existence of deities.

Some atheists may also believe that gods do not exist.

Thank you for providing me with food for thought. Isn't the belief that "There are no gods" itself a belief, and thus dependent on faith?

- one does not truly KNOW about God or Gods. The world as we perceive them may be all there is to reality. Then again, may be the perceived world is an illusion e.g. the concept of Maya in Hinduism.

What we perceive of the world - our perceptions being thiughts, ideas, relationships is a mental construct and therefore IS illusory.

I realise that we do not truly know the reality we exist in, we only know our sensory-cognitive-affective model of reality as it is updated all the time we are alive. We even have a model of ourselves within this model of reality. I agree that this is illusory. I do not think it is possible to transcend this sensory-cognitive-affective construct - not unless one becomes omnipotent and omniscient. I am not convinced it is possible to become omnipotent and omniscient. In a sense, this construct is Maya. I would be grateful for your comments on this.

It is impossible to prove the non-existence of something whether that be God or fairies.

Really?

Do married bachelors exist? Do squared circles?

Can an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and omnibenevolent god exist?

Again, thank you for giving me food for thought. I agree that married bachelors and squared circles can't exist because bachelors are by definition unmarried and circle is by definition circular.

I also agree that given the reality of suffering and injustice, an omniscient and omnipotent and omnipresent and omnibenevolent God is illogical. Although it is logically possible for an omniscient and omnipotent and EVIL God to exist. That is why I added the second option in my poll. Of course, I cannot be certain that this is the case. What do you think? Which option did you choose?

I still say that it is impossible to prove the non-existence of fairies. What do you think? Thanks again for giving me so much food for thought.

[Heterodoxus]

I chose "construct" because, IMU, the word God refers synonymously to the same "God," but with different, man-inspired and propagated theological spins.

FWIW, I see "God" as whatever discipline motivates one's believes and actions. But, perhaps the quote attributed to Martin Luther better expresses whatever "God" is or may be:

Whatever is most important to a man is his God.