Can we renew the God-/question/?

[Psyduck]

Can we renew the God-question? I've really trouble understanding many discussions concerning God. When people refer to God, it seems the disccussion is immediately about "Does God exist? Is there an afterlife? Is there a creative designer?" I don't want to be the annoying Socrates (yes, I want), but I don't even understand the question. I would probably even find the (correct) answer to those questions completely wortheless. What does this question even mean? Does the God-question really reduce to this kind of reasoning, like it were a matter of epistemology.

People seem to fight, argue, and put their faith in the binary answer (i.e. yes/no) of the question "Does God exist?" But the emptyness of this question seems to drain out the true meaning of the name "God". I'm not agnostic, atheist, nor am I a believer (in the sense "yes" is the answer to the binary question). It seems to me that this kind of questions don't encompass the true meaning of the name "God". Is it possible to put forward the God-question again, or can we give meaning to the name "God" beyond ontological terms. What do we mean when we say "God"? And can we put forward the question differently such that it makes more sense, makes the God a more divine God (and just not a matter of faith reduced to epistemology).

 

[Psyduck]

Some first suggestions (from a Christian point of view):

- "Is there something worthy about Being" that deserves to be praised through symbolic acts of gratitude, ritual, prayer or dance.
- "Is there something we can trust in" whenever we start the day despite the futility and finitude of everything we try to accomplish in life. Where is the basic trust of human life coming from?
- "Is there any reason to transcend our own finite ego and sacrifice our time for the other." What does it mean that there is a surplus of energy at work in our being and that we have the possibility to go beyond our own finite self-realizations.

These questions make more sense to me than the questions "Does God exist?," "Is there an afterlife?," or "Did the historical Jesus Christ exist?" respectively.

Please note that I underlined the "there is" which is used differently then in "there is an entity called God".

 

[hobhead]

''Is there something worthy about Being" i shouldn't think so as we just do exist -no woo woo.

"Is there something we can trust in" certainly we trust that all mammmals have finite lifespans.

"Is there any reason to transcend our own finite ego and sacrifice our time for the other." - i find volunteer service in my community a sacrifice that has huge payback .

all manner of superstition is a complete waste of time . we live, we die and our carcass goes through the same biological decomposition as, for example, a roach does .

 

[socko]

You might enjoy reading the [Mega]God thread: http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?t=503428

 

[Tromps]

What an interesting topic. I'm baffled by this question. Is God really a divine being? Is he really a good God? I'm not too sure...
I was taught God is all knowing and is all present. Wouldn't that mean God knows all evil and is with all evil?
Is God even a being at all? For my own definition I tend to think of God as a spirit living through everything. God is the entire universe. God is in you and he is in me. God is everything everywhere at every time.
I think the idea God could be used for good or bad, all depending on how you interpret 'him'.

If I'm wrong hopefully he understands and forgives me. How could anyone truly deserve to go to hell if they couldn't understand?

 

[vegan]

"god" is a word whose definition a few billion people would agree on

in this forum, people call "god" whatever they want to

it doesn't have any signification anymore

in particular, many posters who are not deists absolutely want to stick that word to the things they believe in.
as if they couldn't feel secure or whatever without putting a known label to their different vision of things because it's not categorized as a religion

...
invent new words instead of recycling one that is heavy with historical meaning!
...