What Is God?
by
Gary DeVaney
God is the first Corporation, a fictitious entity, with an agenda
and bylaws. Like any Corporation, as long a people finance and support this fictitious entity referred to as God, It will
continue to affect and control Its supporters as an assumed authority. Gary DeVaney
In God's creation: Life is cannibalistic. Life devours life.
In God's creation:
For something to live - things must die. For something to live well - more
things must die.
The following is linked, edited and commented on:
Christian Conceptions of God: Can God be judged?
Theists insist that we can not "judge" God. Because God is so much greater
than we are, it is inappropriate for us to try to use our puny human reason to evaluate whether God's actions are good or
bad.
Do theists understand the implications of this position?
God does not exist in reality but - yes we can judge what God is said
to be - just like we can judge history. The courts, made up of a jury of human beings, insist, by law, that we are to judge
selected deeds.
What is God? Defining and Understanding the Alleged Nature of God
How do you list 'existence' as an attribute of God? Of course believers think
that their God exists.
What is at issue is how God exists.
According to philosophical theism, God exists in a very special and unique
way:
Can you personally define that way?
God's existence is necessary rather than contingent.
Nonsense. The God facade is only used to fulfill one's ego-driven, self-serving,
obedience-demanding agenda.
Importance of Defining God
Can you define what is
meant by the concept “God”?
Does your personal concept of God boil down and amount to an indefinable
feeling? Without that indefinable feeling, would you have any concept of God? Yes? No?
You can't debate the existence of something unless everyone is clear on what
it is they are talking about. Otherwise, people might be talking about completely different things.
God as Abuser: Similarities Between the Christian God and Abusive Spouses
It's common for Christians to compare the relationship between humanity and
God to that between husband and wife.
God is "the man of the house" to whom humanity owes obedience, respect, worship,
humility and honor. Usually this relationship is idealistically portrayed as one of love and caring, but in far too many ways,
God is more like a tyrannical, abusive spouse Who only knows how to love and care through intimidation, violence and murder. A
review of classic signs and symptoms of spousal abuse reveals how abusive the "relationship" people have with God.
Index of Attributes and Characteristics
Theists believe in some sort of God while Atheists don't.
If believers are going to debate the existence of any gods, it's
critical to understand and accept just what it is they are talking about - and why they are talking about it.
What's the point of debating the possible existence of God if no one has tried
to come to an agreement as to what they mean by God?
If it is all a matter of faith, what does faith is God have to do with reality?
Why Defining God is Important
Discussing the nature,
attributes, and character of a supposed god doesn’t make a whole lot of sense unless there is some reason to think that
this God exists in the first place.
Isn’t discussing whether or not a God is omnipotent or omniscient just
a waste of time - if we have no good reason to suppose it even exists?
God is the Creator & Sustainer of Existence
Gods is of our creation -
our universe, our world, and indeed our very selves.
We owe our existence to creative acts of God.
The existence of everything is owed to a single creative act by a single perfect
God.
God is Worthy of Worship: Divine Perfection
God is perfection and
worthy of our worship.
These are reasons why the existence of God is the subject of so much debate.
God is Omnipotent: What does it mean to be all-powerful?
Omnipotence, all-powerful,
refers to God's ability to do absolutely anything God wants.
This characteristic is implied from God's characteristic as absolute creator.
The most absolute sense of omnipotent has been found to be incoherent.
God is Omniscient: What does it mean to be all-knowing?
Omniscience, all-knowing,
refers to God's ability to know absolutely everything.
God exists either outside of time, or God exists as part of time.
This sense of omniscience has been found to be incoherent.
God is Omnibenevolent: What does it mean to be all-loving?
The concept of omnibenevolence
stems from two basic ideas of God:
That God is perfect and is morally good. God must possess perfect goodness.
Being perfectly good must entail being good in all ways at all times and towards
all other beings.
There stirs the questions.
What is the content of that goodness?
What is the relationship between that goodness and God?
If something is good – good for who?
If something is good – can the same something be bad for someone
else?
If so, how can it be considered perfectly good?
God is a Person: Personal Relationships with God
For some, God is a “person”
as a necessary and fundamental part of their beliefs.
That God might not be a person is almost inconceivable for that would render
them unable to adequately explain their religious history and their own religious experiences.
I support every human being's right to have their own
views and beliefs - as long as they do not imperialistically or authoritatively infringe them on others.
To the honest
and realist human being - please be just and fair: If
you are going to promote, support and finance the Biblical God, at least know what this God is documented, by Bible C&V,
to have done.
Regards, Gary DeVaney
God & Gender: Is God Really Male?
In many religions throughout
history, gods have been portrayed as male and female, embodying important masculine and feminine attributes.
The tradition of philosophical theism has had difficulty with the issue of
gender. Many people act as though God is male rather than female or genderless, but theologians argue that God is genderless.
Why does this difference exist?
God is Free: Constraint vs. Freedom
God is absolutely and perfectly free. There are no constraints, forces or limitations
on God whenever God acts. God’s freedom is absolute.
God is Eternal: Timeless vs. Everlasting
God is eternal, everlasting,
which means that God has existed through all of time.
If Jesus is to sit at the right hand of God, how can God
sit next to Himself?
God is "timeless. God exists outside of time and is not affected by cause and
effect.
God is Provident & Sovereign: God Acting in Human History
God is ‘provident,‘
which requires God to become involved with humanity and causes the course of human history to be aligned with God's ultimate
desires and purposes.
God is Incorporeal: Mind without Body?
God has no body, is not
constructed from matter or energy - both of which are features of the "created universe" rather than the "uncreated God."
God is Immutable: Why can't God change?
God is "immutable". God
cannot and does not change. Whatever God is like now is the way that God was for all of the past and the way God will be for
all of the future. It doesn't matter what happens elsewhere, God always and inevitably remains the same.
Why do people believe this? Does it make sense to say God cannot change?
God changes His mind and actions often in C&V scripture. Is this the same
God?
God is Transcendent & Immanent
A transcendent God is
one who is beyond perception, independent of the universe, and wholly "other" when compared to us.
An immanent God is one which exists within - within us, within the universe,
and much a part of our existence. How can these qualities exist simultaneously?
Conclusion: No God exists in reality.
The fantasy that Jesus is / was god is baseless. To believe that is to
ignore
a number of passages in the scriptures that say the opposite:
God cannot be tempted; the idea is absurd. Yet Jesus
was: Matthew 4:1
God was also moved / tempted by Satan in Job 2 when God admitted
to be responsible for the deaths of Job's children and servants.
In "The Lord's Prayer" believers pray to God by saying "lead us not
into temptation". Is it God or Satan that leads God-fearing believers into temptation? Why do believers pray to God to lead
them not into temptation?
If someone wants to argue that he is quoting Psalm 22, fine, that Psalm also has the character it is about say that Jesus
is less than a man, a mere worm. Would God refer to Himself as a worm?
God is the source not the receiver of authority.
Jesus said He received authority: Matthew 28:14.
Jesus talks about God: Mark 3:35
Jesus said only God was good:
Luke 18- 19
The verses taken out of context and even mistranslated are John 1:1, can be more accurately translated, in context, with
this ending: and the Word was God's. That translation places everything that follows into context compared to what a mistranslation
said. IMO, the early Christians were so obsessed with the mystery religions that Jesus was invented to go along with it.
John 1:18 is mistranslated to make it appear that God begot God. If that is true, then Jesus was not coeternal and
the
whole Trinity doctrine comes crashing down.
John 8:58 is the most common verse taken out of context. In John, Jesus merely says: "I Am", but when one goes back to
check what is actually written in Exodus, one gets far more words: Eheyeh asher eheyeh, translated it is I will be who I will
be, or I Am that I Am. Jesus did not say in John, "I Am that I Am". Therefore the apologetic is based on pulling a half sentence
out of Exodus.
John 10:30 only means that Jesus and God were in agreement, this makes sense if he was doing the will of another and
giving the message of another - something the New Testament asserts.
One need only look at John 10:30 in light of John 17:20-23 - are we supposed to believe that God now includes the apostles!
Col. 2:9 is made clear with Col 1:15-16; some people say I am the image of my father - but that does not make me my father.
The
Trinity doctrine grew out of Asia, or more accurately the Roman province by that name. In II Tim 1:15 Paul complains that
"all those in Asia turned away from me" and in Romans 1:21 that these heretics invented foolish notions about God. The Trinity
easily is one of those foolish notions.
There simply is no Trinity and to believe in one, one must ignore at least
15, in context, quotes from New Testament to the contrary.
Peace, Rev Peter
