What does God mean to you?

Question

I ask this question because God has given me (among MANY other things) personally so much strength, courage, and determination to live my life. This has resulted in me having the faith to face any problem heading my way - head on, which allows me to have faith - in that everything will always be ok.

God to me means an ever-lasting light and love of such purity we can not understand it. To me God means everything that is good, pure and holy, but God is also a friend who will never tire of listening to you, helping you and carrying you when you need help...

Answer 1

God for me is the guiding light and power behind my being.He is the One reason why I am who I am.

Answer 2

The Bible was written by many different authors. They all put their spin on things and the theology's at the time. Literal interpretation of the Bible is to miss it's point. There is so many metaphors in the bible it is unbelievable and most Christians don't even know it. EDIT: After reading my post I feel I must also say that there is much wisdom in the Bible - man made or God made. Myself I have read most of the New testament ans some of the old. I suggest to only focus on the words and parables of Jesus. They are very wise if you think about them, and meditate on them. Ignorance is to focus on the ifs and buts like "If he was real" Or "but there is no evidence". If you do this then you will miss the point, real or not- evidence or not - his teachings were amazing. I'm not a Christian I'm a Taoist. Peace.

Answer 3

(just from the answers i've read i'll say now that i in no way connect god and religion. i have no place for someone who would tell me that my relationship with god must be experienced in a specific way.)

the idea of god is a bit of an issue for me at the moment (my notion of god being a greater power, something that lies beyond science). i definitely feel something, a connection of some sort. in the last while i've found myself going to different churches and reading different books, almost trying to put what i feel in some sort of denominational box. but each time it feels forced and insincere. and i think "if there is a god, he/she/it'll know that in my heart i would be a hypocrite to attend religious meetings and go through the motions". so where i'm at now is here:

if there is a greater being, i am a product of it. i can't fight how i think or feel, even if i change how i act and talk. so i'm just going to carry on being the best person i can be and if one day i experience a spiritual epiphany then so be it. but if not, well i've done my best.

that's all for now :)

Answer 4

Allow me to be as precise as possible.

God with a capital G (particularly the ones who are also male) is a certain kind of entity. The only reason why anybody would capitalize that word was to use it also as a personal pronoun. There is one god, who is God.

And here's the problem: while I do have personal experiences with some gods, the only one of them who would claim that he is the one and only all-powerful god is an arrogant liar. That leaves me in one of two positions:

Many people who refer to God are trying to negate my gods. Their belief in the divine simply has no room for my beliefs, so as far as they are concerned mine are false (which is too bad, because mine are roomy enough to allow other people all kinds of gods). Such an unflexible attitude I find funny, offensive, and sad.

In fact, most monotheists I've met seem to regard the idea of direct, two-way communication with the Divine as kind of blasphemous, so it would seem that they typically have LESS experience than I do. Why then should I trust their non-experience over my definite experience? It is like a blind man insisting that the colour red does not exist.

The other way I can take this is that most monotheists are actually just being fooled by one of the gods I know or another like him. Which is a hard thing to tell someone... and something not likely to be received well even in the best of circumstances. Perhaps it is weak of me, but most of the time I just permit them their illusion.

So, in short, to me God is either a liar or a lie. I'm sorry. But that's just the way it seems to me.

Answer 5

Sounds like you are talking about your girlfriend. Unable to see the negative side. God is EVERYTHING, good and bad.
God is your guidance towards your happiness, but on a way a stupid dog may have left a smelly surprise there for you in the middle of it.

Answer 6

My God's and Goddesses are pure love,understanding,accepting all who come in peace, judging none, they have many name's, I worship them as the ever loving Lady Of The Moon,Gaia. The Horned God The Lord Of The Greenwood. I suppose now the nice christian's
would like to burn me at the stake.

Answer 7

Adam, follow your heart, buddy, it seems to be leading you down the right path. The goal is to be a good man/person. It sounds like you have the right idea.

The "enlightened" people who are answering your question with such spite can't possible reason in their arrogance that a "being" created them. They take everything too literally in the teachings. I think it is amazing that God blessed them with such intelligence, and yet, they aren't smart enough to realize that.

God Bless them anyway, they need it.....

Answer 8

After all, he says HE is the light from out of the darkness that we follow.That sums it up pretty good to me. Imagine all those who have now clue as to living in the dark. I must sadden him so. I have tried to understand what GOD See's, I have read most of what everyone else wrote and I realize that everyone is entitled as to what they believe. I also like the one post that someone wrote, "I would rather live my life as if there is a GOD and find out there isn't, than live my life as if there is no GOD and find out there is." Because I believe there will come a point when we will be held accountable for our words and actions. And I would rather be standing with Jesus on my side, then standing next to the Devil! We have all the chances in the world now, but when our judgement comes, those who put off GOD will not have anymore oppertunities to switch sides.

Answer 9

Your faith is beautiful, may it always give you strength.

I see God as a talented playwright. I'm the monkey with a flute:

And the Old Man with the pen, Who has kindly writ us in,
Drew Christ and Satan from the selfsame quill.
He reminds me of that fellow, gave Iago to Othello.
I love Him not too wisely but too well.

So stand I in awe, at the perfection of the flaw,
And cherish light and dark without a strain.
It doesn't take a sage to know that all the world's a stage.
I think, therefore I am....to entertain.
-Phoenix Quill-

** Also of relevance - Jethro Tull:

The river is full of crocodile nasties,
And He who made kittens put snakes in the grass.
He's a lover of life, but a player of pawns,
The king of the sunset sits waiting for dawn.
To light up His jungle as play is resumed,
The monkeys seem willing to strike up the tune.

Answer 10

God to me is a symbol of fear, corruption, abuse etc. on one level. "God" has been used throughout time corruptly, as a means of social control, as the means through which rulers of men - kings, queens, tzar's, commie-tzars, emperors etc. even the bourgeoise have kept the peasentry, the serfs, etc. from revolt. Submission to blind faith out of fear of some sort of omnimalevolent human-punishing masochist.
On another level I find God to be the product of the development of the human brain. With imagination, as well as an ability to question, "Gods" were beings which they felt existed because they knew no better, the "Gods" were merely "Gods" "of gaps", to explain issues which perplex man and this is still the case now. Religion has been passed down through socialisation and civilisation embedding in our conciousness and our sub-conscious and as such We as humans have developed a dependency, which is decreasing due to reason and increasing secularism within western societies in particular.
God in my opinion is a manifestation of the mind, a mistake of evolution, but the hope it provides to those who embrace this defect is a joy to see, although at times it appears pathetic, it is a delight to see a product of imagination which can be embraced by so many fearful.

Answer 11

Whatever floats your boat, go for it. God to me is a fairy tale first postulated by our primitive barbaric ancestors to explain the unkown universe around them.

Reminds me of the movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy,” a native in the Kalahari Desert encounters technology for the first time--in the shape of a Coke bottle. I found this to be very amusing, but I also began to see parallels between his thought process, and that of the modern day Theist. Both are using CAVEMAN LOGIC to explain their world. I fail to see the difference between “hmm, bottle fall from sky, must be gods” and “hmm, trees and butterflies prove the existence of god.”

In both of these cases, someone is simply replacing one unknown for another unknown, but proving nothing!

Not only can God not be proven, but I will also go so far as to say that God can be disproved. It is impossible for something to be all knowing and all good. If you are aware that something bad is going to happen, and you allow it to happen anyway, then you cannot be all good. If God created everything, then he also created evil. It is also impossible to be all-powerful; can God create a rock that even he himself cannot move?

I would have thought that as man became more knowledgeable and logical that he would have pushed aside his caveman beliefs, but it seems to be just the opposite.