Does a "Higher Power" have to be "God"?

Answer 1

If not why seek a higher power?

Answer 2

In A.A. they use the term Higher Power for those who believe in a Power other than themselves. A Higher Power can mean anything from " The Force " be with you type to God. It is meant to be used as to avoid precisely the type of arguments as we have in this forum. Not all alcoholics believe in the same God.

Answer 3

Your Higher Power can be "the spirit of the universe". Nature . An example: I was told some time ago ... if you think you don't have a power greater than yourself go to the ocean and try holding back a wave.

Answer 4

Forgive a bit of an essay, but my brief answer is "No." Here's why:

In Alcoholics Anonymous & other 12-step programs, they refer to God ("as we understand God") as the higher power.

However, if you listen to the actual discussion, most will say that the higher power can be anything, "including the door knob."

I could never make sense of that last phrase until recently. It occurred to me that the door knob into an A.A. meeting was the access they get to the group. There is something unique in those rooms. The mutual connection of people in pain, but in varying levels of recovery, is astonishingly powerful. People often are more honest there, more vulnerable, and more healed by attending regularly.

Now I'm an atheist, and I've always felt that the higher power part of A.A. was a stumbling block to atheists who happened to have trouble controling their drinking and drug use. However, if I can get them to attend a few meetings, and encourage them to lay claim to the merging of human consciousness that can occur there, most of them can let that connection serve as a higher power.

So in truth, we as humans, en masse, are a higher power--much more of one together than any one of us alone.

.

Answer 5

Ooookay.

Higher power is a generic way to refer to whatever it is you believe in. It's generally a positive force. You can call it a he and call it God. You can call it a she and call it Goddess. Heck you could call it Fred. You could keep it nameless. "Higher power" is representative of the spiritual being that you believe in. And for some people their higher power is the Judeo-Christian god. But the higher power does not have to be that god.

Answer 6

Nope, alien beings of notable power, qualify as well, they get double points if they're of the extradimensional variety. Or for that matter a non-intelligent but creative process ultimately with some control over the universe qualifies. Though really such beings could meet all the common qualification for "God" as well.

Maybe one day our culture will culminate in the rise of machines as a higher power, ultimately decendants of humans cognitively, but capable on an incredibly greater scale.

Answer 7

No, the Highest Power is God. God is a supreme being and is now, always has been, and always will be deserving of our worship. You can call Him anything you like, only use His name with respect. God created the universe (I'm not a creationist or evolutionist.) God creating the world in an instant is not really realistic, but evolutionary THEORY has its flaws and I don't buy it, except for microevolution. Macroevolution is stupid though and genetically impossible.

Answer 8

Deamons are a higher power, and yet their power comes from God ultimately. So no, a higher power doesn't have to be God.

Answer 9

"Higher Power", "God", "Allah", "Spirit", "The All", "The One", "Jehovah", etc....there are as many names for "That Which We Cannot Comprehend But Somehow Know Exists" as there are human souls, I think. "God" is the title modern humans put to the Power many believe is behind all of creation. Call It, Him, Her, They whatever you will. It does not change anything.

Answer 10

I am my own higher power.