DEFINING GOD I recently came across a forum in an online magazine called Crosscurrents. It posed the question of God's existence. Of course I couldn't resist. Below is my response: You have to say what God is before you can properly decide whether It exists. But...... Who exactly would be making the statement, i.e., about what God is? What kind of rational sense does it make to create a definition of a non-sensory entity and then make inquiries about the possibility of its actual existence? When you think about it, you could conceivably formulate all kinds of definitions of invisible beings, create entire worlds of them, which, in a way, is what writers of fantasy do. It is difficult, however, to get past the fact that it is we who are creating the definition of that which we are looking for. How could you ever be sure, if you were to somehow encounter this pre-defined entity, that it was indeed the entity that you had so (previously) defined? Perhaps the entity you have in mind is not at all like that which you have pre-defined, does not conform to the parameters of your own preconceived defintion. If so, you could experience contact with it, but never know it, because your pre-defined conditions would preclude your ability to accurately make the perception. In other words, how could you ever know it was God if he walked right up to you? You defined Him as one thing, but (just maybe) He's another thing. You might have the experience of meeting a great and powerful being, but does that necessarily mean that the great and powerful being is God? Perhaps it's just a member of an alien species from some other solar system. Who could say so but you? (and remember, it would be you saying so.) We say, as a part of our own pre-conceived definition, that God is a great and powerful being. But that is our definition. Perhaps the great and powerful being has its own definition of what it is, a definition that is conceivably completely at odds with our own. We only self reference whenever we talk about God. We only speak of a definition that we have created. It is therefore, in a very real sense, completely meaningless. How Did We Find Out About God? The Bible: Why God Had Nothing To Do With It
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