This is our first in what we hope will be a long and meaningful string of blog posts. For this first posting, we thought we would start a discussion on a particularly difficult question – what is God?
Fundamental to a discussion of religion and its pros and cons is the question of defining God or gods. What we mean by any particular god is always problematic because a god is merely a concept, not something you can see or hear or touch. Therefore, the existence of such a being cannot be positively either proven or disproven.
Because a god cannot be seen or heard or touched, whether it exists or in what form it exists is open to a broad spectrum of interpretations. That’s why religion, as a practice, is so problematic. Religion is the human interpretation of what is perceived to be the makeup and intent of the god or gods being worshiped. But why worship something that is completely intangible, whose existence depends totally on faith, which ultimately requires the suspension of logic and reason.
The larger question is not whether God or gods exist, but what influence they have, if any, over our daily lives. To us, the answer is clear, being that except for the forces of nature, we humans are in control of our own destiny and are the only ones that are capable of influencing our lives, whether for good or for bad.
Humanity is currently facing a real threat to its existence in the form of climate change, perhaps within decades. Climate change is a direct result of human activity, largely from the burning of fossil fuels over the past few centuries. It is clear to us that there is no god or other supernatural being that will intercede to save us. Only humanity itself, banding together, can halt and reverse the effects of climate change. The question of God, then, becomes moot, because humanity must look to itself to save its future and the future of the millions of species with whom we share the planet.
Congratulations on the new blog! I look forward to reading many thought-provoking posts in the future.
God isn’t a person or a religion. God is the feeling that you get when you watch the starry night sky on a clear night away from city lights. God is the feeling of awe when you view a beautiful sunset on a deserted beach or when you survey the world from a high mountain. God is being one with nature and our fellow humans and animals. Do not mistake God for dogma and scripture.
God defined as a word of open definition and usage, in that any person could give any usage or define it in any way, whether logical, provable, real, surreal or not.
There are some things labeled by this word that have more popularity than others. There are groups of people that give a certain definition to this word that the agree on and follow for that group. There are those that would say there is nothing in existence that this word would properly label.
There are those that do not have evidence for a reason to label anything with this word. There are those that could never know what to label with this word.
A very uncommon word for how it is used comes from Germanic origin of meaning to call or invoke and now in fact exist as a word in English spelt with the letters G, O, and D.
Biblical defination of God by John.
Cognition – the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.
synonyms:perception, discernment, awareness, apprehension, learning, understanding, comprehension, enlightenment, insight, intelligence, reason, reasoning, thinking, (conscious) thought
Logos – “word, speech, statement, discourse,” also “computation, account,” also “reason,” from PIE *log-o-, suffixed form of root *leg- (1) “to collect, gather,” with derivatives meaning “to speak,” on notion of “to pick out words.”
You think and you move atoms, molecules, complex compounds, body matter, muscle etc. The first representation of a person would be zygote that grows by chemical reactions. Our first cognative logos intellectual capabilities starts as a single cell chemical reaction and grows, increases, adds matter. To think is to be God as compared to atoms laying around on a periodic table of elements. To think is to control chemical reactions and atoms of the body and the body capable of moving matter in surrounding environment of the body. John 1:1 To start was the logos, the logos was with God and was God. Psalms 82:6 I have said, Ye are gods; … John 1:14 … the logos become flesh …
To think, to logos, to do cognative activities is the HIGHEST of any ability. What would any ability be with out the thinking ability or logos with it?