How do you conceptualise god?

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Just that really. Atheist, believer or agnostic what do you think of when someone says god? Not a judgement about existence, what concept comes to mind, if you’re a believer (of any faith) how do you conceptualise your god (inc in the plural and feminine)

It varies ...sometimes I think I will meet an Achual human formed higher being when I die sometimes I think I will meet several of no particular rank or organisation I think they will appear in a form comfortable to me , sometimes I think I will die and it's a biological lights out situation so NO god at all ...other times I think it could be a complete surprise turning everything on its head completely ! As I hope I'm a way of finding out

Personally, as a Goddess similar to Ishtar or Artemis but with elements of Demeter also.

Interesting-would this be the same entity pressing differently or are you imagining completely differed things?

Would this be a single Goddess or part of a Pantheon? Would there be a balancing male God?

My faith teaches that we know God through His energies. God's essence cannot be known and is beyond our comprehension and knowledge. God's energies permeate His creation though.

He is a personal God and we come to know Him through Jesus with the help of The Holy Spirit so obviously I understand him through the concept of The Trinity.

what does the Trinity mean to you?

I have a spiritual faith in a power greater than me but it's not got any human or other recognisable form. It's a force which guides everything to its destined path and we can be with it or against it.

This isn't linked at all in my belief with an after life - it's a force that's only present during life. Afterlife I don't think there is anything - only the legacy that you've left in others whilst living

I understand it to be belief in a single God who is both three and one - the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one in essence and undivided.

That's a really interesting reply, because I can safely say I have no idea at all what you mean. I see the words but they have no meaning at all in that sentence. Fascinating how people can talk a totally alien language - none of it makes any sense to me at all.

I very much agree with the description in your first paragraph and most of the second although I believe after death we are reabsorbed into that divine energy

And what do all those things mean to you. I’m esp interested in what the Holy Spirit means

A neat concept to control people's behaviour, because fear is the ultimate power.

I'm an atheist but brought up as a churchgoer (not really in faith). Tbh I see the ideas I've had about God in the past, sometimes an intense light, sometimes Aslan always telling you off and tricking you into revealing your sinfulness, sometimes the Ladybird Socrates with a long flowing white beard full of wisdom.

I'm an atheist. To me, god is a human invention, created to make sense of difficult concepts and to ease the fear of mortality, but then also used as a way to gain power and control over others. I suppose if I picture the Christian god in any way, I'd see him as the standard white-bearded old man, but only in the same way that I'd visualise a stereotypical image of other fictional entities like Father Christmas, for example.

Just to add... I was brought up in a non-religious household, do I wasn't 'taught' to conceptualise god in any particular way.

The word which conjures up in my mind often is "cult".

Yes, a lot of people find the concept of The Trinity a bit confusing and incomprehensible 😂

The Son and The Holy Spirit proceeded from The Father and all existed as one from the beginning, if there ever was a beginning. It wasn't a case of The Son and The Holy Spirit coming along afterwards.

The Holy Spirit was sent by Jesus following His ascension into heaven. The Holy Spirit acts as a guide and comforter to Christians and helps us to strengthen and to practise our faith according to the teachings and traditions of our Church.

Just to add, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit according to my church are: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.

Thanks for explaining. Is this from scripture ?

Interesting question. As a Christian the only way I can visualise God is in the person of Jesus and we don't know what he looked like other than that he was a Jew from modern day Palestine.

The concept of God is one that from my experienced can only be approached in metaphor or poetry or art to begin to capture the experience of the divine. That sounds woolly I know but words break down when trying to describe it, so it was 'as if' or 'it felt a bit like' is the nearest you can get.

The seven gifts of the spirit are from the catechism of the Roman Catholic Church and are from Isaiah 11 verses 1-3** in the Old Testament

'A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
 from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
 the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
 the Spirit of counsel and of might,
 the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.'

In the New Testament you have the fruits of the spirit which are in Paul's letter to the church in Galicia Chapter 5 verse 22

'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.'

Essentially if someone is a believer you should see it in their behaviour. Given that we are only human this is always work in progress.

Sorry, don't know where the strike through came from as I cut and pasted.

I don't find the concept incomprehensible - I can fully understand that people might want to invent something to believe in in this incomprehensible world. But the words mean absolutely nothing - they are plucked from the air. They might just as well be a Hogwarts spell.

I conceptualise god as the sum of everything that exists, both known and unknown.