How do you feel about the word "God"?

The word "God" is loaded with so much baggage sometimes I wonder if it's worth using. Do you think we should ignore the garbage and reclaim the "G-word" for ourselves or do you think we should come up with something new or different?

I use other words when talking to myself or other sentient beings. When telling jokes to the un cognizant I use the G-word.

Well you know what I'm going to say. Since God=Truth=God, so just say Truth.

But I don't think it's that simple. That only works if the person/people you're talking to understand the the necessary underlying agnosticism implied. On the other hand, maybe we could just do it and people would just have to ask what that means. On the other hand, they'd just knee-jerk with "that's your truth, not mine". I mean I have a hard enough time e'splainin' in to reasonable people (present company included of course), much less the terminally indoctrinated.

Sorry, not much help.

In any serious discussion, words like god, love, truth, etc. usually eventually need to be defined or the debate ends up being a semantic one.

That's actually just the nature of the english language which I understand allows for much creativity and imagination in use of its words.

Aaron wrote:

The word "God" is loaded with so much baggage sometimes I wonder if it's worth using. Do you think we should ignore the garbage and reclaim the "G-word" for ourselves or do you think we should come up with something new or different?

Since I never really went through an anti-God phase, I don't feel the negative emotions that many Atheists associate with the "G-word".

Also, because my personal definition of the deity is compatible with the essential God-concept of most world religions, I don't hesitate to use the impersonal term "God" in serious dialogues with people of various traditions. It's not a name, it's a job description.

However, in an attempt to avoid offending both Theists and Atheists burdened with conventional Judeo-Christian anthro-morphic images of G*d, I have searched for a less provocative term. The only thing I could come up with was to refer to the deity as "George". But I discovered that many people find such blatant evasive tactics offensive. So I now just use the good-ole traditional "G" word as the most commonly-understood generic label for the Creator of the universe.

Here's an excerpt from a God definition in a recent essay entitled Intelligent Evolution:

"The God of IE is the ultimate impersonal principle of all philosophers and sages of all cultures of all times, but not the tribal god of any specific culture or religion. God is the eternal I AM; the infinite TAO; the formless Brahma. All human attempts to define God—Monotheism, Atheism, Pantheism, Deism—are partly true and partly false, but totally inadequate. "

"All human attempts to define God—Monotheism, Atheism, Pantheism, Deism—are partly true and partly false, but totally inadequate"....

....all but one--Truth.

Gnomon wrote:

The only thing I could come up with was to refer to the deity as "George"...

LOL. I like it!

Welcome Gnomon. Good quote BTW, and I agree.

Aaron wrote:

The word "God" is loaded with so much baggage sometimes I wonder if it's worth using. Do you think we should ignore the garbage and reclaim the "G-word" for ourselves or do you think we should come up with something new or different?

What I don't like about the word God is that most people think I'm talking about their God. After I lost my faith in Christianity people would ask me if I still believed in God. When I say yes they wonder why I don't worship his son Jesus. They think I'm talking about Bible God.

Maybe since we're deist we should use the word Deity.

I prefer to use words that have a description of the God I believe in. So, I prefer to call him The Divine Mind.

Schizophretard

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I prefer to use words that have a description of the God I believe in.

Ah, just so. Therefore, since God=Truth, and we don't KNOW for sure if that means there is a supersentient spiritual creator, you could say that you worship Truth, and no matter what that Truth turns out to be, you will have been right, as long as your pursuit of Truth was honest.

The Paineful Truth wrote:

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I prefer to use words that have a description of the God I believe in.

Ah, just so. Therefore, since God=Truth, and we don't KNOW for sure if that means there is a supersentient spiritual creator, you could say that you worship Truth, and no matter what that Truth turns out to be, you will have been right, as long as your pursuit of Truth was honest.

Yeah, I want to know truth and if God doesn't exist I want to know that. I wouldn't use the word truth in a conversation to define God though. I mean I wouldn't call him Truth but if I wanted to express that his existence is true and he possesses all truth then I would call him The Divine Truth.

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I mean I wouldn't call him Truth

Call "It" Truth then.

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but if I wanted to express that his existence is true and he possesses all truth...

But you can't express that His existence is true since you don't know that it is. And I don't believe that He possesses Truth,...

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... then I would call him The Divine Truth.

...or that Truth is necessarily divine. He/It is Truth.

Perhaps instead of saying that God is Truth, it's better to say Truth is God...the one, all-encompassing God, in the same metaphorical sense that money, power, sex, fame, glory etc. are gods.

I agree with what you're saying. I can't prove the truth of God's existence. I'm just saying I believe it's true he exists. If you talk to an atheist and say you believe in Truth they would say the same thing but you both would believe that different things are the truth and the atheist wont know that you're calling God Truth. Also, if you talk to an athist about God they may think you're talking about Jesus. When talking about God we should clarify which god we are talking about.

Schizophretard wrote:

If you talk to an atheist and say you believe in Truth they would say the same thing but you both would believe that different things are the truth and the atheist wont know that you're calling God Truth.

My deism and his atheism are both beliefs. But if we're honest, we're both agnostics because we don't know. Therefore, I'm an agnostic/soft deist and he'd be an agnostic/soft atheist.

BTW, I believe atheism and deism are the only two rational beliefs about the existence of God.

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Also, if you talk to an athist about God they may think you're talking about Jesus.

So many people can't get the Judeo-Christian version of God out of their head. With atheists, its usually the ones who are rebelling against Christianity and not for their atheism. I face something similar trying to get people to understand the all encompassing concept of Truth as the fabric of the universe, and of the mind--whether it be vivified or not.

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When talking about God we should clarify which god we are talking about.

Exactly so, which is why I call Him/It, Truth.

So, if someone asked you what religious beliefs you have would you answer that you believe the Truth and do you believe that person would know that you're talking about God without them needing to ask more questions? If an atheist told you they don't believe in God would you asked them why they don't believe in the Truth?

When I use the word God most people think I'm talking about a theistic god and it confuses the conversation. I think if I started using the title the Truth it would be even more confusing. Christians call Christ the Truth all the time.

Instead of calling God the Divine Mind sometimes I use she instead of he to show that my God isn't an Abrahamic God.

I agree with you about the agnostic/soft deist and agnostic/soft atheist thing though.

Truth Bless You

Schizophretard wrote:

So, if someone asked you what religious beliefs you have would you answer that you believe the Truth and do you believe that person would know that you're talking about God without them needing to ask more questions?

I've been defending this position long enough to know that I've got to volunteer my belief that God=Truth.

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If an atheist told you they don't believe in God would you asked them why they don't believe in the Truth?

No, considering that the case for atheism are deism are nearly equal, I would point out that their belief that there is no God is not knowledge, and that they could be right in the end, no matter what, if they held Truth to be the ultimate ideal.

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When I use the word God most people think I'm talking about a theistic god and it confuses the conversation. I think if I started using the title the Truth it would be even more confusing. Christians call Christ the Truth all the time.

The dictionary is the first target of anarchists and demagogues. Those choosing to pursue Truth and righteousness can only acknowledge that integrity and consistency are inherent disadvantages favoring their opponents.

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Truth Bless You

Thank you. And may you be so blessed.

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So many people can't get the Judeo-Christian version of God out of their head..

In my experience any discussion of the arcane and abstruse Deist G*d concept will be misunderstood at first. So whatever terminology we use, we should be prepared to define them and defend them. If you're feeling lucky, you can answer: "I'm talking about the G*d above your God". But be ready to run.

I'm not an evangelist for Deus, but I do enjoy discussing philosophical profundities. The fun is not in reaching the unreachable destination of a Vulcan mind-meld, but in the journey of mutual discovery. Besides, most people will quickly see where you are going with it, and change the subject.

I'm afraid that referring to G*d as Truth, or Love, or Justice, or Reality or any other generality will only elicit a raised eyebrow, and "what do you mean by that". To paraphrase the Apostle Paul, "be ready in season and out of season to give an answer for the reason that is in you".

G*d bliss y*u, my s*n!

BTW, I say I am a deist, which could then lead to ...
Yes I do believe in God ... which could then lead to ...
Well, I don't believe in an intervening God.

And the conversation dies or carries on ...

That's my 2c

Regardless of whether God intervenes or not, the old Deist axiom that Truth=Deity is, IMO, correct.

I don't like the word "God" because I feel it's too narrow and limiting. Plus, it conjures up images of "Bible-God", something beneath me and unworthy of respect. Nevertheless, I use it when talking with others, simply because it avoids a lot of headache. In my own mind, however, I like the terms Absolute, Real, Ground of Being, Ultimate Reality, Tao, Truth, etc. My all-time favorite, though, is the one I use most frequently in my own mind - The Ineffable.

Sounds good to me. Welcome Thoreau.

Thank you. I'm looking forward to the conversation.

Thoreau wrote:

I don't like the word "God" because I feel it's too narrow and limiting. Plus, it conjures up images of "Bible-God", something beneath me and unworthy of respect. Nevertheless, I use it when talking with others, simply because it avoids a lot of headache. In my own mind, however, I like the terms Absolute, Real, Ground of Being, Ultimate Reality, Tao, Truth...

Aha!

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I don't like the word "God" because I feel it's too narrow and limiting. Plus, it conjures up images of "Bible-God", something beneath me and unworthy of respect.

Well young fellow, you may feel you can let the Christians co-opt the word God which has been used throughout the ages, but not myself. Why let the Christian, or anyone else for that matter, set the agenda.

Thoreau wrote:

I don't like the word "God" because I feel it's too narrow and limiting. Plus, it conjures up images of "Bible-God", something beneath me and unworthy of respect. Nevertheless, I use it when talking with others, simply because it avoids a lot of headache. In my own mind, however, I like the terms Absolute, Real, Ground of Being, Ultimate Reality, Tao, Truth, etc. My all-time favorite, though, is the one I use most frequently in my own mind - The Ineffable.

The advantage of "God", is that the term is generic. It can apply to any belief system, but it has a fairly narrow definition. Most of the other names are either specific to a historical religion, or ambiguous in meaning.

Anyway, to avoid confusion with the bible-god, I sometimes spell it G*D. Or sometimes I just call He/r George.