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Originally Posted by 411314  I thought this might be an interesting game to play. I realize that the dominant religions in today's world seem to believe in an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and omni benevolent god, but in your opinion, must a theoretical being poses these characteristics to be defined as a "god". If you had to come up with a theoretical power level and theoretical characteristics for a "god", what would you come up with? |
To me, the notion of a "being" prevents the label of god from being applied. Being denotes something with a boundary. It indicates something that is "there" and not "here"... It necessarily limits the concept of God.
Applying all the "omnis" to a notion of God creates a paradox if you also give this notion a definition as an entity/being. The moment someone defines a "omni" notion as a being, they have created an oxymoron. This is why there is a conflict between science and religion. Modern theistic religion has solidified the notion of god into a concrete form (being/entity). This solidification blinds them to the truth of the divine.
To me, god is a metaphor for the divine mystery of existence. It's a metaphor that speaks to the fundamental mystery of all things. God is the fundamental ground from which we are all expressions. Our most basic nature is divine whether we are murderers, rapists, parents, lovers, poets, or warriors. We are all expressions of this same mystery. We are not separate from it. God is like the ocean and we are like the waves on the ocean. We rise and fall, and crash into one another or enhance one another or dampen one another, but we are all expressions of the same substrate.
That's what God is to me. The notion of God as a Being is an oxymoron unless you create a very specific and limited definition. The problem with this is that it is then open to testing by the scientific method. For example, if a god is a being who punishes us based on our action as free agents, then this god can be demonstrated as false by showing how we are not, fundamentally, free agents.
Anytime someone binds the notion of God into a concrete form, they sink like a rock and close their minds to the mystery of existence.