I am constantly baffled at the myriad concepts of god that people use.
For the common folk, god seems to be a sort of ruler of the whole cosmos, keeping everything in balance and in proper working order. Much like a very powerful king. It seems to be an actual entity with thinking capacity, one that can interact with reality and reality can influence it.... thoughts and prayers are believed to influence it, right? This is the god as I see described in the OT.
There is also the concept of the formless god. A bit like the above, but not like a king, more like a prime mover. Things go according to plan and so they stay. No influence possible by anything. It is everywhere and nowhere in particular simply observing, if even that...
Then there is the metaphysical god, the one that is that pure conception of existence, of being, of intelligence, of perfection, etc... Nothing can exist without existence itself giving it support for its existence (if that makes sense).
One can also consider the old gods that were actual entities in charge of particular domains of nature, but I guess no one goes for those anymore...
I find that, when one enters a discussion using one of these concepts, anyone who actually defends a different concept of god will immediately be lost in the discussion, for there is a clash that can only be surpassed with some difficulty.
With each of these concepts of god, other accompanying concepts also change slightly, like those of a soul, a saint, a demon, etc., which only serve to fuel the fruitless discussion further.
Is it possible to have a one single conception of a god so that our discussions between atheists and with theists can be more to the point?
For the common folk, god seems to be a sort of ruler of the whole cosmos, keeping everything in balance and in proper working order. Much like a very powerful king. It seems to be an actual entity with thinking capacity, one that can interact with reality and reality can influence it.... thoughts and prayers are believed to influence it, right? This is the god as I see described in the OT.
There is also the concept of the formless god. A bit like the above, but not like a king, more like a prime mover. Things go according to plan and so they stay. No influence possible by anything. It is everywhere and nowhere in particular simply observing, if even that...
Then there is the metaphysical god, the one that is that pure conception of existence, of being, of intelligence, of perfection, etc... Nothing can exist without existence itself giving it support for its existence (if that makes sense).
One can also consider the old gods that were actual entities in charge of particular domains of nature, but I guess no one goes for those anymore...
I find that, when one enters a discussion using one of these concepts, anyone who actually defends a different concept of god will immediately be lost in the discussion, for there is a clash that can only be surpassed with some difficulty.
With each of these concepts of god, other accompanying concepts also change slightly, like those of a soul, a saint, a demon, etc., which only serve to fuel the fruitless discussion further.
Is it possible to have a one single conception of a god so that our discussions between atheists and with theists can be more to the point?
