Meanings of “God” in some scriptures

[The Grand Nudger]

For example.

https://www.amazon.com/Geometry-Desert-S...+of+desert

People differ in terms of how morally deserving they are. And it is a good thing if people get what they deserve. Accordingly, it is important to work out an adequate theory of moral desert. But while certain aspects of such a theory have been frequently discussed in the philosophical literature, many others have been surprisingly neglected. For example, if it is indeed true that it is morally good for people to get what they deserve, does it always do the same amount of good when someone gets what they deserve? Or does it matter how deserving the person is? If we cannot give someone exactly what they deserve, is it better to give too much-or better to give too little? Does being twice as virtuous make you twice as deserving? And how are we to take into account the thought that what you deserve depends in part on how others are doing? The Geometry of Desert explores a number of these less familiar questions, using graphs to illustrate the various possible answers. The result is a more careful investigation into the nature of moral desert than has ever previously been offered, one that reveals desert to have a hidden complexity that most of us have failed to recognize.

[jimhabegger]

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.

Thank you. All these comments and questions are helping me think more clearly about what I'm doing.

I use some religious scriptures to help me do what I want to do in life, but that isn't all I read. Last year I was reading about the life and teachings of Confucius, and I'm planning to read more. I have one book about Confucius with Chinese and English face-to-face, and I'm hoping to use that to help me learn Chinese. I'd like to do the same with "Journey To the West." Sometimes I like to read the Oz books again, and last year or the year before I read Lord of the Rings again. I've been tempted to read Asimov's Foundation series again, and some Lovecraft stories again. Possibly most of the reading I've been doing in the last fifteen or twenty years has been in blogs and Internet discussions, for example with gay and anti-gay activists, atheists, Red-pilled people, feuding Baha'is, evangelical Christians, and in Gamergate and Elevatorgate. I often read Web sites about various topics that interest me, about history, science, or social issues for example. Yesterday or the day before I was doing research on the Internet to try to find out how and when "United States" changed from plural to singular. Right now I have three tabs up on my browser about how to get rid of bloatware, and one on the pre-patch for "Battle for Azeroth. A while ago I was reading articles about Mr. Rogers.

A few months ago I was reading and posting in a Trinity debate forum, and I did a lot of research in Christian and Baha'i scriptures to see what I thought they might be saying about it. The way I read meanings into religious scriptures is by imagining a person that I call "God" using them to communicate with me, and trying to understand what He's telling me. Recently I was discussing my views with some Baha'is. Suddenly the pieces of a puzzle I've been trying to solve for decades all fell into place. Then I wanted to see how it would look to people who don't believe in anything they call a god, so I came here.

The puzzle was that it has always looked to me like my imaginary God was telling me that there are two Gods, and that there is only one, at the same time. Now I don't think He's telling me how many there are, at all. Zero, one, two, three or any other number, it doesn't matter. Sometimes when my scriptures say "God," they're talking about a few of the human characters in the stories. Sometimes they're talking about some kind of power and influence above and beyond all human power and influence, that allegedly helps things happen that those human characters want to happen. Sometimes they're talking about an imaginary first creator in an analogy between the world and someone's creation. Sometimes they might be talking about all three at the same time.

[brewer]

You might find some answers in myth, magic and fantasy, and they may work for you. Just understand that everything you read/hear/discuss all came from man.

[The Grand Nudger]

Then I wanted to see how it would look to people who don't believe in anything they call a god, so I came here.

It looks like an organizational crutch.

Its a strange and interesting route to and through islamic mysticism, though, I'll give you that, lol.

[jimhabegger]

Update on my thoughts: Some religious scriptures that I use to help me do what I want to do in life use the word “God.” I’ve learned some ways of using that word too, in my thinking, because that helps me also. It also helps me in communicating with other people sometimes. For those times when it does not help in communicating with people, I’m trying to learn to say what I think without using that word, and that’s helping me also.

I have nothing to say about the meaning of the word “God,” by itself, in my scriptures or in my thinking, or whether or not it corresponds to some being that exists or is real.

Anything anyone wants to say about that would be welcome.

[Angrboda]

[The Grand Nudger]

Update on my thoughts: Some religious scriptures that I use to help me do what I want to do in life use the word “God.” I’ve learned some ways of using that word too, in my thinking, because that helps me also. It also helps me in communicating with other people sometimes. For those times when it does not help in communicating with people, I’m trying to learn to say what I think without using that word, and that’s helping me also.

I have nothing to say about the meaning of the word “God,” by itself, in my scriptures or in my thinking, or whether or not it corresponds to some being that exists or is real.

Anything anyone wants to say about that would be welcome.

If the goal is accurate communication...it;s generally best to say what you mean rather than employ some catch-all term.  You don;t really know whether or not it;s helped you in communicating with people who believe in gods, even. 

They might think you;ve been talking about something...or someone....else, all this time.

It;s worth considering, and it;s one of the more amusing things I noticed about people in the bahai periphery. They take for granted that the term "god" can be employed in this way. That the referrent is malleable. They even imagine that other people are referring to essentially the same thing when they use the term. They take this for granted because it;s taken for granted in their faith. This is not a point of agreement with other believers. Nor is it a point of agreement for lunguists, or cultural anthropologists.

[robvalue]

I think it's a meaningless word that theists mutate to mean whatever they want in different circumstances.

Here, I think you're giving the scriptures too much credit. The writers were just talking about this superhuman who supposedly made everything and then interfered with people for a while.

(The following is meant to be friendly constructive criticism )

I think my earlier comment here still applies. I don't understand why you're using this word "God" to mean almost anything, when you already have words to describe all those things. It seems to amount to a dumbing down of reality and thought processes, and then anal twats like me will still have no idea what you mean each time you use the word! It's great you're finding all this meaning in the scriptures, but I think you're just adding it all yourself.

You totally lose me when you talk in such a manner; I really have no idea what you mean or what it's supposed to achieve. However, if it's meaningful and useful to you, then I wish you all the best with it! I appreciate that you're not restricting yourself to just this one avenue, which I think is very wise and this is where many theists fall down.

[jimhabegger]

Well, I did say that anything anyone wants to say would be welcome. Good test. Thank you.

[jimhabegger]

... in communicating with people who believe in gods, even. ... They might think you’ve been talking about something...or someone....else, all this time.

Yes. I’ve learned that the hard way, many times.