Has your idea of God ever changed?

Question

Ask 20 people for a detailed description of God and you get 20 different answers.

Even more interesting is that each of those 20 ‘answers’ can change from morning to night, day to day, year to year. But with each moment the believer will often state an absolute certainty in their belief (often with enough certainty to try to force that belief onto other people).

How do you reconcile the certainty you show now with your own ambiguity over time?

Answer 1

Well, my belief changed from no belief at all to a certainty that God is indeed there. As to WHAT I believe about God that may change...it won't. I believe that God is the Almighty, and that He is wiser, fairer, stronger, older, more powerful and more loving than I am. I believe that He sent His son to the earth to make certain that I again had the chance to live forever that Adam lost for me, and that He has a plan for my life, and for mankind. Those things that I know will not change. I may grow in knowledge of God, and my knowledge will expand, but the basics are a rock-solid foundation that I wake up to each day.

Answer 2

Yes. Amazingly! Ask 20 people for a detailed description of me and you will get 20 different answers.

Even more interesting is the fact that each of these 20 answers will can change depending on the time of day! Each person will emphatically claim that I exist! (Often with some certainty to try to force that belief onto other people) I mean if it really mattered!

Explain the ambiguity?
Human nature.

Answer 3

The Christian God? Many times, first, as a young child I believed in a just, good, All-powerful God who loves everyone, just like most of the christians on this site. As an older child, I was certain God existed, but convinced he was a prick who capriciously punished people for no reason. As a pre-teen, I became Atheist for a while, because I wanted to seriously re-evaluate the whole " God thing". I determined that if God existed at all, he was evil, not good, so I became sort of a Satanist. Then, as I read more about different religions and learned about paganism, I decided I felt most comfortable there and abandoned the whole "God hates me" stance. I've always leaned toward Paganism somewhat in my life. Since, I am an eclectic pagan I don't see any problem with incorporating what I learned from my earlier life-experiences into my new philosophy. I borrow a little from every religion that appeals to me, always checking it against scientific fact. That is to say, when I study Herbcraft or Green Witchcraft, I believe, from what I know of herbology, that willow bark made into a tea will cure a headache. I do not believe that rubbing a stone against my forehead will have any other effect than a psychological one.There is no inherent property in the stone itself that cures headaches.

Answer 4

Learning of the Divine Unity will show the way to unity.
When each man claims to be exclusive possessor of truth, he chooses the way to division.
When each man contributes the part of his narrow knowledge to the ideas of all humanity, he will realize the broad picture. This picture is not the whole truth, but it is the way to human unity.
This united humanity will continue to peacefully grow to higher unity, and their concept about Divine Unity will grow. And they keep on growing without end in an ever-advancing civilization.
If they can fully conceive the Divine Unity, then God is no longer the One True God.

Answer 5

Of course it has changed, as my growth and insight has changed (and hopefully improved).

1Corinthinas 13:11--When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

My certainty is on the core aspects: that God is love, that Jesus died to atone for my sins, that we must accept Jesus into our hearts to be saved from hell, etc. The details change as I grow, but the core remains intact.

Answer 6

Everyday

Answer 7

I do not think my idea of God has changed significantly but we do experiance him in different ways and as with the weather we may see things differently after each experiance.

Answer 8

Before, I believe in a nameless God...i was one of those singing the song, One of Us... (If God has a name what would it be?...)

Well, now that I learned God's true name I have been stable in my beliefs and im sure it is the truth.

Answer 9

Yes. Drastically.

Answer 10

I've had G-d teach me things about Himself that challenged my current understanding of Him. That's what a relationship is; living & a journey. If it got stagnant, we'd both be bored.