Does analogy provide the best way to understand the nature of God?

Question

if it doesnt what does?

Answer 1

Not trying to patronize...

Isn't that all 'God' is? A great big Analogy?

Analogies help us explain the Intelligent Design within all that surrounds us.

In saying 'God created all of this', it is a sort of analogy to say 'Intelligence developed all of this'.

As I suspect that Intelligence exists at the cellular level, I also suspect that Intelligence is the closest thing we will ever get to the truly Divine.

Answer 2

Let me answer the question with a question....is it possible to reduce the universe to the size of a pinhead and observe it through the lens of a microscope? Metaphysics would argue....yes, indeed it is.

God is not a subject, he is not an algorithm, a solution or a problem. He is (as the Bible states) the Alpha AND the Omega, the beginning and the end, everything and nothing all at once.

To best understand "the nature" of God, the best and time tested and true way of going about this is through personal reflection, meditation and prayer. For a source that is meant for guidance outside of prayer, the bible serves us. There is no one sure fire way, or an easy solution for that matter, to "understand" God's nature as God's nature is not meant to be understood. This is why we have a thing we call faith.

Only God himself can enrich your understanding and relationship with him through prayer and reflection, not a method of analysis or any other form of deduction. God's timing is perfect and his nature is sincere love. He teaches us through his son, our brother and savior Jesus the Christ by way of Parables and lessons through the paradigm of existance....life.

You can look to the Kaabala to understand the way in which the universe and God, as well as us, "work", but there is no cliffs notes version of how God is, there is only personal understanding and unification with he himself.

Answer 3

What's better, learning that a burner on a stove is hot by touching it or by being told?

In most every religion, God is incomprehensible by mere mortals - greater than we can imagine (and we can imagine quite a bit;-).

And so - we try to approximate what we understand in lessons, rules, and yes, analogies.

If someone doesn't understand the concept of light because they have never learned the physics behind it, you can still get some understanding by making an analogy - and lessons about God are like that.

Answer 4

The BEST way is through experience. Until then, "god" is a theory unproven in your life.
To experience him, live the lifestyle you understand him to have.
Talk to him in prayer, too
Find the person you think most embodies your ideal of a follower of god and get some ideas from them, then do even better than them

and when people mock you, you can look to one of 2 quotes:
Matthew 5 says rejoice
or a latin quote:-
........ "NIL CONSIDERATE ILEGITIMOS".......

(Don't let the bastards get you down)

Answer 5

The best way to understand god is to forget about logic and rationality.