Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am an atheist, but I'm reluctant to agree with this. For virtually any deeply religious person, "God" is, at the very least, a concept intertwined with a variety of profound existential and metaphysical questions. Even people who don't tend to think very profoundly (or rationally) about metaphysics might still have some profoundly deep feelings about the presence of some sort of a "higher power." These feelings can be misguided (especially when they are not accompanied by critical thinking), but feelings, as such, are never really "right" or "wrong." Feelings/intuitions/emotions simply are what they are, and they can, if properly explored, give us clues to our own deep nature if we are willing to explore them through some sort of meditation/contemplation/introspection. What I'm getting at is that "God" is not just a word with beliefs attached; it is a profound concept tied up with profound feelings, and these feelings can be clues to some very deep understanding of our existence.
As an atheist, I do not believe in an "Intelligent Designer," etc., but I am keenly aware of the profound existential concerns that haunt every one of us at some point in our lives. For some people the concept of God is left extremely vague - roughly referring to some general feeling that somehow there is "more" to life than can ever be dreamt of in the imaginations of science - whereas for others, God is thought to be the Being who underlies a particular religious viewpoint (God is the Being who, historically, created the world in 7 days, or whatever). In any case, God is not just a word. God (or, in my case, a belief that there is no God) serves as a foundational life-structuring concept/feeling out of which a vast number of other beliefs and feelings flow, including such extremely basic beliefs and feelings related to such questions as: Why should I keep on living? Why should I treat other people well? And so on.
Last edited by Gaylenwoof; 02-01-2013 at 09:57 AM..
Just like Love is just a word, with feelings attached to it???
Yes. love means very different things to different people. but real love is not attached to anything.. its free. it cannot be fully explained in words.. its not limited to words. it is beyond all wordly things...things that we cannot reason or debate
no word can reveal to the very heart of existence of life.
it lies beyond all terminology and expression, thinking cannot reach that far. but silence can reveal as much as we have courage for.
All nice posts. It seems to me that one can play about with the semantics (and even grammar) of 'God' and the ideas attached to the word, especially when it can mean so many things and choose from a mix of upper and lower case. Bottom line - rather like the recurring debate about what atheism "Is" (and whether it can be written "Atheism") it seems to me the arguments for and against the reality or validity of rather than the debate about the definition.
Which God?
One that Jesus considered His Father, its name can not be even pronounced, least to say - spelled. It takes a male and female, chanting in unison, to attempt to speak its name, as it is both. THe name sused are only its descriptors, not its name.
So which "god" is spoken of?
Semantics are a killer science, aren't they? One will likely have to go for the pra-language, to even get close to the true word to describe it. Then how it can be described, as in its nature, it is indescribable?
God is so much more. Now, "god" is just a word which can be defined but the goodness and power of the God whose shadow I walk in, no word or words could ever describe. To know God and to walk in the shadow of his warmth, I feel so blessed. We all make choices, you know, the "free will" thing so if someone wants to believe that God is just a word.............. I'm glad I'm not one of them!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
All nice posts. It seems to me that one can play about with the semantics (and even grammar) of 'God' and the ideas attached to the word, especially when it can mean so many things and choose from a mix of upper and lower case. Bottom line - rather like the recurring debate about what atheism "Is" (and whether it can be written "Atheism") it seems to me the arguments for and against the reality or validity of rather than the debate about the definition.
We all make choices, you know, the "free will" thing so if someone wants to believe that God is just a word.............. I'm glad I'm not one of them!
