The Definition of God
3 2018-01-27 by KarmaPolice777
To speak of “God” properly, then—to use the word in a sense consonant with the teachings of orthodox Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, Bahá’í, a great deal of antique paganism, and so forth—is to speak of the one infinite source of all that is: eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, uncreated, uncaused, perfectly transcendent of all things and for that very reason absolutely immanent to all things. God so understood is not something posed over against the universe, in addition to it, nor is he the universe itself. He is not a “being,” at least not in the way that a tree, a shoemaker, or a god is a being; he is not one more object in the inventory of things that are, or any sort of discrete object at all. Rather, all things that exist receive their being continuously from him, who is the infinite wellspring of all that is, in whom (to use the language of the Christian scriptures) all things live and move and have their being. In one sense he is “beyond being,” if by “being” one means the totality of discrete, finite things. In another sense he is “being itself,” in that he is the inexhaustible source of all reality, the absolute upon which the contingent is always utterly dependent, the unity and simplicity that underlies and sustains the diversity of finite and composite things. Infinite being, infinite consciousness, infinite bliss, from whom we are, by whom we know and are known, and in whom we find our only true consummation. All the great theistic traditions agree that God, understood in this proper sense, is essentially beyond finite comprehension; hence, much of the language used of him is negative in form and has been reached only by a logical process of abstraction from those qualities of finite reality that make it insufficient to account for its own existence. All agree as well, however, that he can genuinely be known: that is, reasoned toward, intimately encountered, directly experienced with a fullness surpassing mere conceptual comprehension.
David Bentley Hart, The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss
39 comments
1 Hypocrosee 2018-01-27
Actually Judaism and Christianity both disagree heavily with that statement.
God is a being to us. Has a name. Even a "personality."
More esoteric nonsense.
1 KarmaPolice777 2018-01-27
Maybe he is referring to Jewish and Christian mysticism?
1 Hypocrosee 2018-01-27
So kabbalist and gnostic?
1 KarmaPolice777 2018-01-27
yep
1 Hypocrosee 2018-01-27
They are completely different theologies than Christian and Jew...
1 KarmaPolice777 2018-01-27
They are the origins of both of those belief systems so by "Orthodox," that's probably what he meant. Quite honestly though, it doesn't take away from his definition of God either way. I think he did a great job of articulating what the mystics mean when they use the word, God.
1 Hypocrosee 2018-01-27
LOL. No.
The God of Judaism and Christianity is in staunch opposition to the god of every other group mentioned, including gnostics and kabbalists. By both His book, and theirs.
1 KarmaPolice777 2018-01-27
Are the God of the gnostics and the kabbalists in staunch opposition to those other groups mentioned?
1 Hypocrosee 2018-01-27
No. But you seem to be missing the point. They don't serve the same God. They serve Lucifer. As in the devil.
1 KarmaPolice777 2018-01-27
Could it possible that Lucifer was actually the good guy?
1 Hypocrosee 2018-01-27
No.
1 KarmaPolice777 2018-01-27
Why not? The same way people like Snowden is made to be the villain, couldn't this be the classic case of demonizing the hero?
1 Hypocrosee 2018-01-27
Snowden is a limited hangout.
And no. It couldn't. That whole theology only arose to subvert Christianity with paganism. And well after Jesus' resurrection.
You do realize this is the religion of the elite who are responsible for all the horrendous shit we expose in this sub?
1 KarmaPolice777 2018-01-27
Gnosticism arose to subvert Christianity with Paganism?
And is Luciferianism really the religion of the elite? I thought they worshipped Moloch?
1 Hypocrosee 2018-01-27
Yes. And it's the same thing. Any god we know of here, other than the God Yahweh, is part of the fallen sons spoken of in 1 Enoch and Genesis. When God divided up the tongues of the people at the tower of Babel, He divided them, and their lands, and gave them to these other God's. Basically said "fine, you want these other God's you got them." People then, just like today, were mostly idiots. They didn't care if these other gods wanted human sacrifice so long as they got the new "iphone." The very next chapter God goes to Abraham, tests his loyalty, and begins ISRAEL.
Joshua, and then David, are sent around to kill all these other god's children, the nephilim. Stamp them out. Kill even the animals in these lands. All these other gods are loosely united under Lucifer. They are all in opposition to God.
1 KarmaPolice777 2018-01-27
At least you've thought all of this through.
1 Hypocrosee 2018-01-27
It is a blessing and a curse to see this shit my dude(tte?). I believe the blessing must be in the next life though because this one hasn't been too kind.
1 KarmaPolice777 2018-01-27
The truth will set you free. If you aren't free, you haven't found the truth yet. Keep digging.
1 Hypocrosee 2018-01-27
Oh I'm free. But do you know what freedom is in a world like this? It's actually quite confining.
1 Hypocrosee 2018-01-27
Interesting subject though! Can you think of a good reason God would want even the animals destroyed? I'm thinking some type of genetic engineering was going on.
1 Fake01010101010 2018-01-27
"Let US make man in OUR image..." "Let US go down and confuse their language..."
Which God from the Bible are you referring to? If there is a single God he appears to have a split personality.
1 Hypocrosee 2018-01-27
You clearly don't understand what you're talking about.
God Jesus gods Angels/demons
There is a spiritual hierarchy in the Bible.
1 Fake01010101010 2018-01-27
You're right, I don't understand. Why was God talking to himself when he created man? Why does God appear in plural terms (Elohim) throughout the Bible? You see to know, please enlighten me.
1 Hypocrosee 2018-01-27
I just did. You're not looking for enlightenment though, just to be a dick.
1 Fake01010101010 2018-01-27
And there it is. I'm a dick because you didn't/can't answer my question. You arbitrarily named demons and Jesus. If there is a single God why does he say "our image?" Or are we created in both God's and a demons imagine?
With that said, I'll open my sincere question to anyone that can answer it. Thanks.
1 Hypocrosee 2018-01-27
Elohim is plural only when the surrounding sentence calls for it. Like deer.
There's a deer.
There are some deer.
God has a divine council, a sort of round table that his Sons had seats at. The catch phrase "only begotten son" is an improper translation. It should read "unique" or "one of a kind."
Lucifer was one of these sons.
Demons are what arose from when the rebellious sons of God had children with the daughters of men. Nephilim. They walked the earth as partly divine (see Gilgamesh/Goliath) When they died their spirits were left "homeless" between the earthly and divine realms, as they belonged in neither place. These are demons.
The gods are not God.
1 Fake01010101010 2018-01-27
Ok. I'll look into the council you are talking about. I've never heard of this before. I've never heard of Christian's mention anything other than the triune God. Very interesting. Thanks.
And I really wasn't trying to be a dick but I will try now. It's not very Christian of you to call someone names that has a legitimate question about something. Have a good one.
1 Hypocrosee 2018-01-27
LOL. Sure you were. And you obviously have no idea what being Christian is. You have a pleasant evening yourself.
1 DamesEnHeren 2018-01-27
Your close, in ancient versions of the bible there were more gods. And the gods were talking among themself. They are all named in some bibles.
But in after contact with the zorastrians the Jews decided that only Yahwee could be god. Others like ELOHIM and many more and no longer being used.
When you read the bible with this info it becomes funny really the conversations.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good.
are 2 gods one creating and one looking.
Bible is filled with this stuff. more names https://www.gotquestions.org/names-of-God.html
1 Fake01010101010 2018-01-27
Very interesting. Thanks very much.
1 RunRoboRun 2018-01-27
All those romantic concepts about the beyondiness of Beyonding but whats the point if you still try to build four walls and call it Gods Country?
1 KarmaPolice777 2018-01-27
Those who are doing that, building the four walls are probably not in agreement with this definition of God.
1 Topsecretrocketman 2018-01-27
The alpha and the omega. The beginning and the end. That which can neither be created nor destroyed.
1 KarmaPolice777 2018-01-27
I like.
1 PonyUpSanFran 2018-01-27
You forgot to include the flying spaghetti monster
1 tastygoods 2018-01-27
I used to be mad at God too.
1 PonyUpSanFran 2018-01-27
You're so brave
1 tastygoods 2018-01-27
All credit to the Flyin Monster.
1 dontdothey 2018-01-27
Government
1 Averagepunpun 2018-01-27
God just means the "game of death". No matter what, death is necessary in all beliefs; but each religion has different ways to reach nirvana.
1 dsannes 2018-01-27
Anything that calls itself a god has an ego problem and should probably be politely listened to, but not taken too seriously.
1 i_am_unikitty 2018-01-27
You're a bit too polite to a parasite
1 dsannes 2018-01-27
They hate it when you are polite to them. They want all that tremble before god bafflegaff. When you dont... thats when the fun begins. You become the chooser for yourself.
1 useless_aether 2018-01-27
what is the point of this post
1 i_am_unikitty 2018-01-27
God is the sum total of all existence
No more no less ;)
1 tastygoods 2018-01-27
All credit to the Flyin Monster.
1 dsannes 2018-01-27
They hate it when you are polite to them. They want all that tremble before god bafflegaff. When you dont... thats when the fun begins. You become the chooser for yourself.