What is God?

[TooBusyByHalf]

Giles Fraser wrote recently: "For God is the story of human dreams and fears. God is the shape we try to make of our lives. God is the name of the respect we owe the planet. God is the poetry of our lives. " I've also heard people say things like 'god is the good in all of us' or 'god is love'.
I'm not sure I really get that type of description - does that mean that there is no actual being called God? (For those who believe in god I mean)
I'm not interested in OT descriptions of God. What other descriptions of God do you know? From what sources?
I'm interested in understanding what Christian believers mean when they talk about God in the 21st century. Thank you.

I think it is common for Churches to be locked, especially smaller ones, mostly because there has been so much vandalism and theft in the past. Most big towns and city centres usually have a couple of big ones open, ususally for at least a couple of hours a day either for midweek services or for personal quiet prayer and contemplation. Opening hours are often on Church websites.

May I suggest you find a way to visit Christian churches, a Hindu temple, a sikh temple, a mosque, a buddhist temple on their religious day. Wear the correct gear and sit in the right place to respect their wishes. It is a really great way of seeing a snapshot of religious practice, spiritual meditation and communal connection with their god/gods. It might give you a bit more of an insight into what people need when they go looking for their god...and in turn answer a few more of your questions. I am sure you can just turn up on the day and introduce yourself as an interested visitor. You should be most welcome and might even get a little tour? Incidentally, buddhism does not have a god at all....have I got that right?

Tobusybyhalf my church is open from 9-5pm and lots of people come in to pray or just to be quiet. We are in the middle of a town and we get bouts of vandalism but we think it is important that we are open all the time so we pay the insurance premiums and run CCTV.

Thanks. There are at least 2 churches within spitting distance of my work which are open all day, so I just assumed they all were. Was quite surprised to find my local church locked the other day but of course there are no tourists here so I can well understand they can't afford the security that the city churches have - that explains it.

I live next door to a church. It is open one hour a week, apart from the odd funeral and wedding.

I agree with both timetosmile and madhairday in that I see that the whole being of God is impossible for me as a human to understand, God is truly mind blowing and sometimes baffling but God also gave us Jesus. In some ways Jesus came with very simple messages 'love one another as I have loved you' in other ways Jesus is a well of miraculous mysteries but the key message of God loving us enough to suffer pain and die for us is again very simple.

The dichotomy of this enables my faith to be both complex and simple but I have to accept that I will never fully understand it.

Hope that makes some sense!

It makes no sense to me.

"God works in mysterious ways" well he certainly does that.How else could you explain how he can stand back and watch children being abused.

Full, I don't know much but I do know that if there is a God s/he doesn't control us like puppets so we can't exercise free will. I don't think that issue helps either way with the question I asked.

I don't buy that.
What morals does god posess if he can sit back and watch a child be abused.

I am sure you wouldn't stand back and watch a child be hurt if you knew you could prevent it.
But for god it's fine.
THe god you claim to love is no better than the abuser. If that's your religion I am glad I am no part of it.

I think Tuo, MHD, ginger, timetosmile, you are all in learned company.

Fr Richard Rohr: I would not respect any God I could figure out with my limited, rational mind.

St. Augustine said the same in the fifth century: "If you understand it, then it is not God" (Si comprehenderis, non est Deus).

So, moving on to the Trinity... anyone?

You might like to read God by Karen Armstrong. Beautifully written, well researched, academic but very accessible.

i would not respect any god I could figure out

There are lots of things I can't figure out for one reason or another but I don't necessarily respect them, I give respect to things based on their thinking and wisdom. I can't respect any God who is portrayed as racist or violent. I also can't respect any God who makes themselves invisible and punishes people for not believing him. I don't like cruelty. Taking your philosophy to its natural conclusion I don't 'understand ' any of the gods that humans have believed in so should I believe all of them?