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Who is God?
Rank: Veteran Joined: 5/11/2010 Posts: 918
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Yes, seriously. Who is God? What is your perception of him? Curiously enough, this thread has it's genesis in another one about marriage. @kenmac makes good points there, but he intricately ties marriage (or at least the success of it) to Christianity. He suggests that for a marriage to succeed, it must be founded in Christ. @tycho, contributing to the same thread, implies that all of life must conform to Godliness in order to make sense. Yet the character of God appears consistently discordant depending on who you ask. Multiplicity of different religions with different doctrines, for one, is clear testimony to this assertion. So is disagreement over how many "gods" there are, where they live and the level of their influence on mankind and nature in general. Learn first to treat your time as you would your money, then treat your money as you do your time.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 7/1/2011 Posts: 8,804 Location: Nairobi
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If you ask 'Who', then you already know 'him'. If you ask 'what' then you already know 'it'.
And when you say 'God', you commit to a symbol. A symbol can't be univocal. It always points beyond itself, to nothingness.
So God is the symbol of participation from the known and 'literal' to the unknown and inscrutable. Nothingness.
As such, all cultures and religions do not only appear to differ, but necessarily converge.
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Rank: Veteran Joined: 5/11/2010 Posts: 918
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To say that "a symbol cannot be univocal", is the same thing as to say "a symbol will necessarily mean different things to different observers of it". To say that about the symbol "God" is to imply, for all intents and purposes, that there is more than one God. To introduce the notion of inscrutability is to commit infanticide to this thread. Learn first to treat your time as you would your money, then treat your money as you do your time.
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Rank: Veteran Joined: 5/11/2010 Posts: 918
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tycho wrote:If you ask 'Who', then you already know 'him'. If you ask 'what' then you already know 'it'.
And when you say 'God', you commit to a symbol. A symbol can't be univocal. It always points beyond itself, to nothingness.
So God is the symbol of participation from the known and 'literal' to the unknown and inscrutable. Nothingness.
As such, all cultures and religions do not only appear to differ, but necessarily converge. @tycho, what do you mean by "necessarily converge"? Learn first to treat your time as you would your money, then treat your money as you do your time.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 7/1/2011 Posts: 8,804 Location: Nairobi
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seppuku wrote:To say that "a symbol cannot be univocal", is the same thing as to say "a symbol will necessarily mean different things to different observers of it". To say that about the symbol "God" is to imply, for all intents and purposes, that there is more than one God. To introduce the notion of inscrutability is to commit infanticide to this thread. Yes. If symbols aren't univocal, then it follows that each participant has his/her God. But the story doesn't end in subjectivity only. There must be communicative action, and shared meaning. Once this is considered, then the number of Gods reduces along the dynamics of communication and sharing, and being. For example, crops grow in the same way all over the world. This is the process of convergence. Inscrutability on the other hand, invites humans to communicative action. If it were not there we'd have neither religion nor science.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 7/1/2011 Posts: 8,804 Location: Nairobi
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seppuku wrote:tycho wrote:If you ask 'Who', then you already know 'him'. If you ask 'what' then you already know 'it'.
And when you say 'God', you commit to a symbol. A symbol can't be univocal. It always points beyond itself, to nothingness.
So God is the symbol of participation from the known and 'literal' to the unknown and inscrutable. Nothingness.
As such, all cultures and religions do not only appear to differ, but necessarily converge. @tycho, what do you mean by "necessarily converge"? The world came out of 'nothing'. Everything ends up in 'nothing'. Nothingness is the necessary point of convergence. For example, most religions I know share this ultimate value though different symbols and metaphors are used.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 3/19/2013 Posts: 2,552
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God vs the Infinity of Nothingness.The irresistible force vs the immovable object.To understand this is to understand why God is Love.
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Rank: Veteran Joined: 2/3/2010 Posts: 1,797 Location: Kenya
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how would a two year old answer this question? how about a 90 year old on his deathbed? I may be wrong..but then I could be right
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Rank: Elder Joined: 3/19/2013 Posts: 2,552
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digitek1 wrote:how would a two year old answer this question? how about a 90 year old on his deathbed? How would God answer this question?
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Rank: Elder Joined: 7/1/2011 Posts: 8,804 Location: Nairobi
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symbols wrote:digitek1 wrote:how would a two year old answer this question? how about a 90 year old on his deathbed? How would God answer this question? The two year old and the ninety year old would each answer in accordance to their participation in the symbol. Nothingness would answer with silence.
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