Meanings of “God” in some scriptures

[jimhabegger]

Since there are thousands of gods (which is just a title) please be kind enough to specify which one you're discussing. Hell, even Paul and Barnabas were called gods.

Party pooper. You’ve ruined everything! I was going to say, the ones in Christian and Baha’i scriptures. Then I was going to say, *some* of the ones in Christian and Baha’i scriptures. Then, of course, I would need to specify which ones, which might be impossible without itemizing them, which might take days. Now I have to go back and start all over again. Way to ruin the great day I was having. Have a good one, anyway.

[jimhabegger]

Whateverist, I love your questions.

This new idea, about what “God” means in the scriptures, is part of that process.

Why do you suppose what "God" means is a question? Does the idea of God arise naturally or is it a cultural hand me down?

I’m not sure. Partly curiosity? Partly to see what I think about what other people say? Partly because a different way of understanding it might help me get more out of my scriptures?

But my question is, why do people assume that the God they imagine to be the architect of cosmology has anything to do with the God they imagine they commune with inside? Why the merge?

It might have been because I thought my scriptures were saying that there is only one God.

If God really was the architect of every facet of the cosmos, He would truly have to be something supernatural. Or so it would seem from our perspective. But perhaps there is no creator and therefore nothing supernatural. An inner God could be accounted for by entirely natural means. Shouldn't nature be enough?

I don’t see how it could possibly have any consequential meaning to say that there is or isn’t a creator of everything. I don’t know what it means to you to account for something by natural means. Can you explain what you mean by that, and give some examples and counter examples?

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You could take it a step farther, OP, and posit that all gods throughout all of time have been anthropomorphic projection.

Some of them, but not all of them. Some gods have actually been human.

[chimp3]

Here’s how I’m thinking of it now: What Christian scriptures and some other scriptures say about God is sometimes about a few of the human characters in the stories (“Manifestations of God” in Baha’i terminology), sometimes about some kind of power and influence that helps people learn to live better lives (“Holy Spirit” more or less in Christian terminology and “divine assistance” more or less in Baha’i terminology), and sometimes as the first creator in considering the world figuratively or metaphorically as being created by someone or something (“God in His Essence” in Baha’i terminology). It looks to me like, in Christian scriptures and some other scriptures, “God” can mean any of those, or any combination of them.

God is a concept of the human imagination. People make shit up.

[Whateverist]

You could take it a step farther, OP, and posit that all gods throughout all of time have been anthropomorphic projection.

Some of them, but not all of them. Some gods have actually been human.

I think real people who think they are gods are like the guy on they psych ward who imagines he is Napoleon. In a sense they are anthropomorphic projections still, but the projecting has been done on to themselves.

[downbeatplumb]

What rob said.  Words need to have a generally agreed-upon meaning or communication becomes impossible.  Suppose that instead of saying, 'I put on my best suit, got in my car and drove to the interview', I told you, 'I put on my best Thursday, got in my Germany and coffee cup to the delightful', you'd have no idea what I was going on about.

Similarly, if you use the word 'God' to mean something other than, 'The supranatural being who created and sustains the physical universe as a home for human beings', you're left with the choices of either people looking at you as if you're some new species of wombat or getting bogged down in explaining your new definitions and never getting round to the point.

That being said, you seem like a very nice person.

Boru

And Brexit means Brexit is not a useful response to the question "what is Brexit"

[brewer]

Some of them, but not all of them. Some gods have actually been human.

Maybe worshiped as gods but ultimately, not gods.

[jimhabegger]

Some of them, but not all of them. Some gods have actually been human.

Maybe worshiped as gods but ultimately, not gods.

I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying that some other gods ultimately *were* gods?

[brewer]

Maybe worshiped as gods but ultimately, not gods.

I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying that some other gods ultimately *were* gods?

Nope, no gods ever existed except in the minds of man's fantasy.

[The Grand Nudger]

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You could take it a step farther, OP, and posit that all gods throughout all of time have been anthropomorphic projection.

Some of them, but not all of them. Some gods have actually been human.

Not on the least, on that count.  The humans conscripted as gods have been routinely made "more than human".  It;s silly.

"Bobs so awesome, he not even fucking human, hes a god!"



I get it, you really like Bob......but..........

[robvalue]

I think it's great to try and self-improve.

I'm rather baffled why you would direct your efforts at ancient books of mythology though, rather than books about ethics, say.