A practical definition for "God"

[timrees]

Agree completely, Rob. the word god is a word without definition and a word without definition has no meaning. A word without meaning is worthless, nay, dangerous, because it only serves to confuse. You can talk to ten different people and they will each have a different definition of the word god, therefore the word should be banned because if I'm talking to someone who defines god as universal consciousness and another who defines the word as an omnipotent being we will only ever makes fools out of each other because we are talking about very different things. The biggest problem with the word god is, were I talking about the perfect mathematical balance of the universe and the person I am talking to pops up with the word "god", the conversation is immediately dragged down to the mire of religious doctrine that is nothing more than ignorance and discussing ignorance is only ever going to result in... well, more ignorance...  

I've never truly been convinced by this argument.  I take a different look at it.  Let's say we are talking about me.  Now ask my wife, each of my kids, my parents, my co-workers, my friends, to describe me.  Do you think they will all come to the same description?  Perhaps in some areas (physique for example), but isn't it more plausible that their descriptions would be completely subjective to the level of experience and interaction with me?  But because of those numerous descriptors, do you then say you cannot have any meaningful discussion about me, because which one are we talking about?  Kingpin the father, Kingpin the coworker, Kingpin the son, Kingpin the friend?  Just my thoughts.

You are defined as a human being. We could break the definition down further and say you are male... But the point is, were we talking about you or human beings in general terms, everyone involved in the discussion will have a clear meaning of what we are all referring to... Simples. It isn't rocket science...