What is God ?

Originally Posted by Jeremy_the_Atheist:- http://www3.foru.ms/images/buttons/viewpost.gif
"When it comes to god, I'll tell you straight out that my biggest problem is that I honestly have no idea whatsoever as to what the hell people are talking about"

A 'god' is that which one respects most, believes in most, even worships...

thus 'the God' would have to be something everyone believes in, respects most as 'good'...

I have been looking for a very long time and never found anyone who thinks love is bad [but then men are capable of great denial of their desires, even of the desire to love (and be loved) which seems to be the deepest desire in all men]

Thus the scriptural description of what God is to us, appears to me to correspond to my observations in the world... also my desire to love is the only thing that never left me, even through deepest depression, I have then faith in love even though I am a sinner in failing to love all the time...

1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
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1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

Jesus showed us what perfect love is like, that love can be enabled by God in us [as His choice , not ours] by His own spirit ['spirit baptism'] and perfected in trial ['baptism of fire'] leading to return to the freedom of the spirit [beyond mortality] ...

His love he said showed us the Father, what God is like ...

John 8:19 ... if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.

I mean, what the hell is god? Is it some ultra-powerful alien?

Not an alien ..., since when we are loving 'God is dwelling in us' , moving us to know Him , and what we do as love we feel it is what we are , not something alien to us ... we are of God and return to God, we are not this body which simply gets recycled by the earth when we die :-

Ecclesiastes 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

The reality for us is ultimately the spirit then, not the body ... our bodies are just a 'temporary, and temporal, uncomfortable stop-off ...

Luke 9:58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

Man is made in the image of God , spirit, not a god made in the image of a man as in much religion , even modern christianity...

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;

Does the universe itself have an intelligent consciousness?

Not the 'universe', not the physical ... the 'universe' we have perceived is space-time , whereas God is time-less.... God is the creator of the universe, He created what we see as time, He created what we see as space ... God did not create Himself , He has no time, no change, no beginning , no end... the spirit simply is BEING and is beyond space and time, that which can make and destroy universes

Isaiah 65:17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

Hebrews 1:10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:

2 Peter 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
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2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Is it some kind of cosmic giant in a higher, greater dimensional universe (what ever that means?)

Just what are spirits? Why are they invisible?

Every time I try to get some sort of idea of what these things mean, people give me explainations that make no sense at all to me.

God is not limited to the physical , but independent of it , independent of this universe and the next one....

thus immortality of the spirit [tree of 'life'] is described as being the 'garden' , as being 'paradise' , as being the final rest, as being the third heaven where there is no earth, no physical , no time, no space ...

So I look around at the world around me and see just about everyone believing in something that I have no idea what it is and appear to be nonsense to me.

Yes, we seek to 'understand' by building 'models' from things we already know ... but what we see of God is love , Jesus explains that love is the 'model' of God for our understanding, not some image of a 'big man in the sky' , not an alien but the very essence of what we are, and value most , desiring to love and be loved ... and we would be that love but for our capacity for denial ... but denial does not go on indefinitely, eventually our 'selves' , the thing we appear to be in space and time, all yield back to love :-

Revelation 5:13 And, every created thing which was in heaven, and upon the earth, and under the earth, and upon the sea, and, all the things in them, heard I, saying�"Unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the dominion, unto the ages of ages!

51 ¶ Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep [in death!] , but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

And I ask myself, "How can all these people not realize that it doesn't make any sense? Why are so many people so mistaken?"

Eventually all men are brought to understand all truth , then it will make sense , it is however necessary for the purpose in THIS earth that men do not most understand yet ... thus most men , even most in religion , are strongly deluded in what we believe by God for the very purpose behind the illusion that what we are is not love, but our limited physical 'selves' [Joel 2:28, John 16:13, 2Thess 2]

1 Timothy 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

2 Thessalonians 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

Romans 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

Obviously most men are not going to accept this yet , especially those in religion ... nor are they meant to

Rev 13:3 ... and all the world wondered after the beast.
4 And they worshipped the dragon

But God's 'pleasure' is to do His will and save all men from dependence to the physical, from mortality.... [yet in immortality one is changed , not a 'self' , but part of the one spirit , integrally ONE with God , or rather whole since there is nothing 'else' in the spirit]

Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

This can sometimes be stressful because sometimes, I have to wonder if maybe it's me who just doesn't get it.

It isn't ... God requires that almost all do not 'get it' in this life ... as Jesus says , only 144,000 are redeemed first to spirit at his return [Rev 7:3-4]

Revelation 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
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Revelation 14:3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

God explains why in 2Thess 2, but few understand what Paul is writing here... one can ask God for understanding of it though, who knows what is your future understanding in this life... you already asked the right questions instead of going along with the delusion of creedal religion of sinners... perhaps you will be one of the few [about one in a million, whom God informs now, in this world... but realise that if one knows then the world will reject one... ]

So I sometimes come on this board trying to see if someone can put it into terms that I can understand. No one ever does though and I often get the impression that people themselves don't understand what they are talking about. It fuels my skepticism but I'm also baffled that the other person thinks it does make sense.

Be re-assured then that most people do pretend ,even to themselves, that creedal religion of sinners makes sense ... equally be aware that you cannot teach anyone God's truth about our destiny to all return to he spirit and be one with God whom we know now only as the love we sometimes see in ourselves and others in this world...

Religionist creedalists are NOT consistent with all the scripture although they pretend that they believe it all.. that is something one can check for oneself... the best place for getting to know one's self, and God is alone with Him, without the thoughts one has from the world ... it is loosely called 'meditation', simply ceasing a while from thought to listen to what we really are ... then one begins to recognise what those who wrote the scripture are saying , that they knew what they are and what they will be...

If god is real, I would like to know it but first, I got to understand what 'god' is. I don't even know how to evaluate evidence for his existence until I know what it is I'm looking for.

What we know of God is the love we would to be , to love and be loved... thus ,in meditation one's barriers of mind set by the world are removed and one discovers the love one would be [and how far from it the self is... one begins to see what living paradox a man is, why we have no rest because we are living in conflict with the love we want to be... man is all about denial in this world, but it is required of us by God... just for a 'while' as -it-were ....maybe even through death, as many have of course died without knowing all truth as promised by Jesus to all his followers (John 16:13) ... clearly most 'christians' are sinners, do not follow Jesus in perfecting love and trial f this love... again the hypocrisy is required, you will come to see why if you persist in seeking the truth from God, just by yearning to know it... even that yearning is only there through God... we are not independent of our spirit !

James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Does anyone ever feel this way?

Yes, I have felt very much as you do, it is a fairly long trip abck to the complete freedom of the spirit from our mortality , and one few yet even begin to understand, as indeed the bible explains why... the thing is that one does not need to listen to it, indeed most must not do so [2Thess 2, Matt 7, Isaiah14, Ezek 28 , ... ]

Be interested then that you are moved to ask questions that other men do not even see... know that they will not necessarily see even if you find part of the answer, and they may well hate you if you even try to tell them... come to see why this must be so

I don't often [understatement! ] recommend people read 'Philosophy' , but this might possibly help your self in your current mindset... feel free of course to ignore me and this writing by Spinoza , and indeed all the bible , if you are moved to do so... follow your spirit, where you are moved to go...

Be aware that most people misunderstand Spinoza since very little agreement on what he meant exists... Shopenhauer interestingly states that he believes that Spinoza is a saint ... creedal religion of course rejected him completely without even understanding what he said , because he rather comprehensively proved religion of men's tradition is false...

"Since all that happens radiates from the common core, everything hangs together as part of the coherent whole which just is 'god 'or 'nature' in itself."

http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/4h.htm#god