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Old 06-06-2007, 05:02 PM
 
Location: Nashville, Tn
7,915 posts, read 18,597,697 times
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This is the most fundamental question in religion. What exactly is God and what is the nature of his existence? By that I mean what sort of qualities or characteristics does God have. Do you believe that he's always existed and also how did he come into existence in the first place? Is there anything physical about God or does he exist in some other manner that human beings are not familiar with? I think it's interesting that even though believers put God at the center of everything I don't think I've ever heard a very clear definition of what God might actually be. Generally people make statements like "God is love" or something along those lines but that's not very descriptive. I suppose the reason I'm an atheist is because the concept of God is such a vague and nebulous thing that it seems to mean whatever people want it to mean and I don't see anything to support the belief in a God. But to those of you who are believers, what do you think God actually is and how would you describe him?
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Old 06-06-2007, 05:31 PM
 
Location: God's Country
23,001 posts, read 34,321,507 times
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When Moses asked God who should he say sent him, Exodus 3:14 "God replied I am the one who always is, just tell them I am has sent me to you".
God is saying I am all the you will ever need. I would describe Him as fair, loving, faithful, comforter, friend, but most of all His character and nature is love, if you really want to about the nature of God 1 Corth 13:4-7 " Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustices but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance". You can substitute love with God here and know exactly what He is like.
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Old 06-06-2007, 06:15 PM
 
1,932 posts, read 4,785,328 times
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Who is God and where did he come from?

Rev. 1:8 - "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

This tells me that God has always existed -- He just 'is'. He is the great "I am". He is beyond time, because he created time. He is the Creator of all. IMO, he exists beyond our physical realm but can interact within our physical realm, and has. Jesus is God in the flesh. God took on human form and left heaven to come to earth and suffer and die to save ALL mankind. The Holy Spirit is God manifest spiritually. The Holy Spirit was sent during Pentecost to fill all the earth to guide those preaching about him, those seeking him and allow communion between our physical selves and God.

The characteristics of God are many: good, loving, holy, just, righteous, jealous, all knowing, all seeing, ever-present, comforting, unchanging, merciful, wise, patient, kind, gentle, accepting, and <most important> forgiving. I'm sure I probably forgot some but that should give you at least a beginning picture of God's characteristics. He is the same yesterday, today, tommorrow and for eternity.
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Old 06-06-2007, 07:35 PM
 
Location: Anywhere but here!
2,800 posts, read 9,996,218 times
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As for physical traits, we will not know His exact physical traits until we get to Heaven.

I know you're not looking for the "God is love" answer. But I don't know if anyone will be able to give you a satisfactory description.
God has always existed, no one created God. Even if (which I know you do) believe in evolution, I think there is a pretty good argument that even the beginning of evolution would have had to be created somehow...it didn't "just happen". There had to be some kind of defining force that created the "something" that evolved into everything...We as believers, believe that god created all things. There may be some certain aspects of evolution that a lot of Christians can concede to, however, God is still our creator.
God is the Almighty all Powerful being. Personlly (IMO) I think that the whole issue with God and Satan took place BEFORE Adam and Eve were created. God is the governor and the ruler of all that ever has been and ever will be.
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Old 06-06-2007, 08:04 PM
 
30,907 posts, read 32,923,411 times
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I'm pretty sure He looks something like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v115/Melsie/GodSprinklesJerks.jpg (broken link)
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Old 06-06-2007, 09:45 PM
 
Location: Between Here and There
3,684 posts, read 11,802,095 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JerZ View Post
I'm pretty sure He looks something like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v115/Melsie/GodSprinklesJerks.jpg (broken link)
Ha ha ha!...LOL I just cracked so loud my husband had to come see what I was looking at...good one!
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Old 06-06-2007, 10:05 PM
sun
 
Location: Central Connecticut
683 posts, read 2,122,502 times
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I'll post this again:


Everything in the universe is interconnected. What's beyond the known universe is still connected to the universe. If nothingness exists beyond the known universe, then what connects that nothingness to the know universe "is" God.
God is all.
God connects all.
God is the one, He is the Neo of the Matrix.
He transcends the known universe.
He is all that is known and unknown.
He is connected to all that ever was and all that ever will be.
He is not matter, nor energy, yet is all matter and energy and everything else in between.
He can permeate matter undetected, through the space between atoms.
He transcends time and space.
His boundaries are limitless.
His miracles are endless.
God overcame death and resurrected Christ.
He does not require your love or your respect.
What is is what is.
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Old 06-06-2007, 11:19 PM
 
Location: Just a few miles outside of St. Louis
1,921 posts, read 5,614,121 times
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Hey Jerz! I liked this! Too funny! But, gosh, I sure wish he would have left the jerk "spice" out of it, don't you?
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Old 06-06-2007, 11:42 PM
 
Location: Tempe (Phoenix) AZ
46 posts, read 283,857 times
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Montana Guy! I sure hope it's okay to send information provided with the reference:

Subject: FW: Rick Warren Interview

If you will read this and think about it you may get a brand new insight on the question why??? Why am I here, why is this happening to me and more...

This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren , "Purpose
Driven Life " author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California .

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life
is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.

I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years
in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal.

God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out
of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.

The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your
comfort.

God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life
happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of
life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest,
with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and
valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.

Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two
rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and
something bad in your life.

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.

And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.

If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,
"which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to
Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually,
sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past
year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me
instantly very wealthy.

It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I
don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to
live a life of ease.

So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.

*First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle
one bit. We made no major purchases.
*Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the
church. *Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace
Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and
educate the next generation.
*Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I
started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to
serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I
don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better... God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more
interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.
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