Posted by James 5:16 on July 30, 2001 at 19:19:41:
In Reply to: What is God? posted by janu on July 29, 2001 at 20:51:17:
: First of all who or what is God? Is the wrong notion people have. I belive God is a energy which privels in this world A close example is electricity which can't be seen on its own but can be felt and experinced.
: People give this energy different names. God, Jesus, Allah, Kirshna and lots more. They are only forms of this energy same like us this energy shows threw them too but since it show really well they are used as Symbols. Electircity shows threw lamps, radios, Machines. Without which they can't function. Also without this energy we can't function. So I belive you can call The Energy what ever you feel like it will be the same Energy. The universal name given to this energy is GOD.
Wow! What a big question. Many people in the world believe the way you do. That there is no real god, but a universal energy that sustains the universe in its entirety.
Could be this something Einsteinian? Namely that mass and enery (which are the same thing according to Mr. Einstein) compose all of everything. Mathematically there is a dimensionality problem. How many dimensions are there?
How does this define morality? Does it at all? How are to we interpret this morality? Each religion, including the atheist, finds morality in this energy as you define it.
So, if there is a premise that god is ONLY energy then we have a problem in our morality. There was a Christian mathematician earlier this century that helped define the physical nature of the Christian God. However, he made no attempt to work the morality. There have been millenia of men and women looking for it.
Without morality, god then becomes a composition of meaningless energy. In that there would be no god, just a mass that means nothing to anyone. Why even define it then?
Therefore, to define god, we must define morality too.
Now each religion defines morality differently, that is what separates each religion, many times with such vehemence as to cause wars.
We name religion differently constantly for the purpose of meaning and morality. Meaning of the universe and morality in our relationships with other humans.
To put a lack of meaning on god, however you concieve him to be, you define him/her/it as nothing. As I said before, people cannot make their meaning and morality nothing. Even you cannot.
The god as you have defined it, has no morality but meaning, namely substance. You have a need to define a god. Perhaps a somewhat minimalist god, but that god does exist.
The religions you listed define their gods as much, much more. They have meanings and moralities that are as unique and individual as the people that follow them. Because of that, the world shifts.
However, getting back to your original supposition that god could be created out of simply energy (removing the morality from god), is one that can never exist for some (me included). I have to have meaning in my life and there needs to be a meaning to the univese for me. An athiest feels the same way. He simply says that no superior being exists and he himself will define his own morality. So in that case, no meaning but morality included.
Many other religions also put physicality on god too so keep that in mind when you think about the religions I have not listed (and Christianity which I did).
I hope that I have answered your questions and addressed your statements in a reasonable manner that does not favor one religion or another. If I did, I am sorry.
Please send more questiosn to me here,
James 5:16