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different ways of defining divinity.
May 21, 2009 at 6:38 am
(This post was last modified: May 21, 2009 at 6:40 am by Everyman's Prey.)
Hi all,
As you can tell my affliation is Polytheist. Being a Polytheist in a mainly christian/christian influenced society I often find that most people are unaware that not everyone conceives of a god in a way different from that abrahamnic religions. It's interesting the reaction I get from people both theist and atheist when I tell them I do not believe that gods necessarily have to be all seeing and all knowing. People with in my particular group commonly think of the Gods as simply beings that are older and wiser then us. But not necessarily perfect or all powerful.
I'm wondering how do people here define the concept of a god?
In my opinion a god is simply a an spirit that helps a person or community.
I think there are varying levels of Gods. Small Gods who handle more localized affairs and big Gods who take care of things on a higher level.
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RE: different ways of defining divinity.
May 21, 2009 at 6:53 am
(May 21, 2009 at 6:38 am)Everymans Prey Wrote: In my opinion a god is simply a an spirit that helps a person or community.
I think there are varying levels of Gods. Small Gods who handle more localized affairs and big Gods who take care of things on a higher level.
Similar to hinduism, in a way.
But anyway, how do you know this?
- Science is not trying to create an answer like religion, it tries to find an answer.
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RE: different ways of defining divinity.
May 21, 2009 at 7:16 am
I find it rather difficult and frivolous to attempt to define something I've never personally observed.
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RE: different ways of defining divinity.
May 21, 2009 at 7:48 am
(May 21, 2009 at 6:53 am)Giff Wrote: Similar to hinduism, in a way.
But anyway, how do you know this?
I've found a number of polytheistic traditions believe this, Hinduism, Shinto, Hellenismos, Religio Romana, etc.
How I do know this? Well I don't know this for certain. But it is coherrent with polytheism.
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RE: different ways of defining divinity.
May 21, 2009 at 8:34 am
How do you sense/detect this in some way Prey? (hey that rhymes!)
Oh, and welcome to the forums! Greetings. Enjoy your stay.
EvF
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RE: different ways of defining divinity.
May 21, 2009 at 12:48 pm
(This post was last modified: May 21, 2009 at 12:49 pm by lilphil1989.)
(May 21, 2009 at 6:38 am)Everymans Prey Wrote: Being a Polytheist in a mainly christian/christian influenced society I often find that most people are unaware that not everyone conceives of a god in a way different from that abrahamnic religions.
Yeah, in my experience that's definitely true, any time I've discussed religion or gods with anyone it's always the montheistic model that gets debated/discussed.
But I would say adding more gods just gives you more to prove 
(May 21, 2009 at 6:38 am)Everymans Prey Wrote: It's interesting the reaction I get from people both theist and atheist when I tell them I do not believe that gods necessarily have to be all seeing and all knowing. People with in my particular group commonly think of the Gods as simply beings that are older and wiser then us. But not necessarily perfect or all powerful.
I'm wondering how do people here define the concept of a god?
Well, I think the concept of an absolutely all-powerful god is ridiculous, the old "can god create a stone so heavy he can't lift it himself?" question, whilst perhaps being a little frivolous, demonstrates the silliness of believing in a being with infinite power/wisdom/etc.
As for a definition of god, I don't define gods for myself, because I don't believe in them, and as lrh9 pointed out, have never observed one so it would be pointless for me to try to lay out a definitive definition. Because something could not meet my personal definition but still be a god, if you follow.
I leave the definition to the one claiming the existence of god(s).
(May 21, 2009 at 6:38 am)Everymans Prey Wrote: I think there are varying levels of Gods. Small Gods who handle more localized affairs and big Gods who take care of things on a higher level.
What do you base this belief on?
(May 21, 2009 at 6:38 am)Everymans Prey Wrote: How I do know this? Well I don't know this for certain. But it is coherrent with polytheism. Well, of course. Any multi-god model is consistent with polytheism!
Galileo was a man of science oppressed by the irrational and superstitious. Today, he is used by the irrational and superstitious who claim they are being oppressed by science - Mark Crislip
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RE: different ways of defining divinity.
May 21, 2009 at 2:18 pm
(This post was last modified: May 21, 2009 at 2:18 pm by fr0d0.)
(May 21, 2009 at 6:38 am)Everymans Prey Wrote: I think there are varying levels of Gods. Small Gods who handle more localized affairs and big Gods who take care of things on a higher level.
Abrhamic faiths allow for several gods.. just one in charge. Different in that they're always the baddies I suppose.
(May 21, 2009 at 7:16 am)lrh9 Wrote: I find it rather difficult and frivolous to attempt to define something I've never personally observed.
Like love, for example?
(May 21, 2009 at 8:34 am)EvidenceVsFaith Wrote: How do you sense/detect this in some way Prey? (hey that rhymes!)
A gun would be good here :p
(May 21, 2009 at 6:38 am)Everymans Prey Wrote: I'm wondering how do people here define the concept of a god?
God Wrote:God is a concept, by which we measure our pain.
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RE: different ways of defining divinity.
May 21, 2009 at 4:55 pm
By coincedence I made a video about this last night.
Theres millions of different definitions for a god or gods made by man. I also suspect that just about every theist beleivs in a different god then all the other ones, at some point they will disagree. I think this is because everyone creates a personal god in their mind that fits them, the same way children create imaginary friends that are everything they ever wanted in a friend.
However, why would I be any more likely to beleive in lesser gods than one big sky daddy? Every test ever done with prayer has failed, divine predictions fail and so far there has not even been one thing to give credit to a god. Aliens, maybe but, they would have also evolved just like we did.
So far, with all the tests we can do with this earth everything behaves exactly as we would expect it to if all the stories we had about god or gods were simply that, stories.
And welcome to the forums, it's nice having more people around that I disagree with and I've never been able to speak to a polytheist in depth before.
@ fr0d0 love? I observe that daily, and I don't think I'm in a special circumstance to do so. Your comment confuses.
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RE: different ways of defining divinity.
May 21, 2009 at 5:23 pm
(May 21, 2009 at 2:18 pm)fr0d0 Wrote: Like love, for example?
There's hundreds, possibly thousands, of journals dealing with pshychology, neurology and so on many of which have observed & measured emotional phenomena so, whilst I grant we know less about such things than some others, it strikes me that this is a particularly (and fairly common for theists) naive comment.
Kyu
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RE: different ways of defining divinity.
May 21, 2009 at 7:43 pm
I was aware of the frailty of the example. I was just cutting the noob some slack. You guys leap in like he's incapable!
Personal observation is different to speculative observation so the statement fails. To elevate science to theology you could say that one day science could know everything. But that would be a leap given our current understanding.
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