[12] Unitarians believe that mainstream Christianity has been corrupted over history, and that it is not strictly monotheistic. [45][46] Some teachers instruct students beginning Buddhist meditation that the notion of divinity is not incompatible with Buddhism,[47] but dogmatic beliefs in a supreme personal creator are considered a hindrance to the attainment of nirvana,[48] the highest goal of Buddhist practice. Furthermore, according to the Jain concept of divinity, any soul who destroys its karmas and desires, achieves liberation/Nirvana. Some believe God is a metaphor for a transcendent reality. Aristotle holds that "being" primarily refers to the Unmoved Movers, and assigned one of these to each movement in the heavens. So the actual translation is 33 types and not 330 million devas. For Sindhi Hindus, who are deeply influenced by Sikhism, God is seen as the omnipotent cultivation of all Hindu gods and goddesses. In Saivite traditions, the term is used as part of the compound "Maheshvara" ("great lord") later as a name for Siva. Experiences can be occasioned by something external and universally available, such as the starry sky, or by something external and private, such as a burning bush. I tried to live an upright life. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. He is unique and exalted above everything He creates, and His greatness cannot be compared to His creation. The Son returns that love, and that union between the two is the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. The reason that this theology was developed was because it was felt that ascribing positive characteristics to God would imply that God could be accurately described with terms that were used to describe human qualities and perceptions. The very first concept He focused their attention on when referring to Almighty God, was, “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name” (Matthew 6:9). Baháʼí teachings state that God is too great for humans to fully comprehend, nor to create a complete and accurate image. Thus, Muslims are not iconodules and are not expected to visualize God. A monistic concept of God will inevitably disregard sin and evil, affirming all natural desires, whereas the Christian understanding of God views God alone as good, desiring to manifest His character of goodness in His creation in place of the fallen, natural, evil tendencies of man’s desires. God is the first and greatest of all beings, eternal and infinite in righteousness, power, wisdom, love. Some comparatively new belief systems and books portray God as extraterrestrial life. In extremely bad situations such as war, death, or illness, we can rely on a concept of God to guide and comfort us. One common variation of this idea is the belief or aspiration that humans will create a God entity emerging from an artificial intelligence. As part of the prayer exercise, you are invited to turn your attention to God in the quiet and just sit there, being with God. The questions is, what is my concept of God? While Theravada Buddhists view the Buddha as a human being who attained nirvana or arahanthood through human efforts,[52] Mahayana Buddhists consider him an embodiment of the cosmic dharmakaya (a notion of transcendent divinity), who was born for the benefit of others and not merely a human being. Mahadeva literally means "Highest of all god". We are, all of us, still forming. It’s also one toward which God carries infinite patience with us. In the Solar system, God's Habitation, there are seven Worlds differentiated by God, within Himself, one after another. The philosopher Michel Henry defines God from a phenomenological point of view. The Islamic understanding of God is distinct from all other religions and beliefs in various respects since it is based on a pure and clear understanding of monotheism. It’s never been an effort for during that time. [25][29] There are no intermediaries, such as clergy, to contact God: “He is nearer to his creation than the jugular vein”[30], Allāh (Arabic: الله‎ Allāh), without plural or gender is the divine name of the lord mentioned in the Quran, while "ʾilāh" (Arabic: إله‎ ellāh) is the term used for a deity or a god in general.[31][32][33]. God is described and referred in the Quran by certain names or attributes, the most common being Al-Rahman, meaning "Most Compassionate" and Al-Rahim, meaning "Most Merciful" (see Names of God in Islam). His usual mantra is om namah shivaya.[63]. My heart beat with a new love for God and all of his creation. On this afternoon the Master distinctly taught a new concept of the double nature of the kingdom in that he portrayed the following two phases: “First. The All may also be a metaphor alluding to the godhead potentiality of every individual. My Father Began as a God Essay. God is further held to have the properties of holiness, justice, omnibenevolence and omnipresence. He had a scepter in his hand and a scowl on his face. [27][28] He is viewed as a personal God who responds whenever a person in need or distress calls Him. Therefore, One who sees all and can feel all does not need any emotion to make a decision. Must a Jew believe in God? One asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?” It is precisely his … Reality is not made up of material substances that endure through time, but serially-ordered events, which are experiential in nature. It states "ishavasyam idam sarvam" which means whatever there is in this world is covered and filled with Ishvara. God is something that we can look to and have faith in to carry us through bad times. It is certainly the case that God has always been central to normative Judaism. The term for God in Sikhism is Waheguru. Answer: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! Jewish monotheism is a continuation of earlier Hebrew henotheism, the exclusive worship of the God of Israel (YHWH) as prescribed in the Torah and practiced at the Temple of Jerusalem. The Culture series, by Iain M. Banks, represents a blend in which a transhuman society is guarded by godlike machine intelligences. Some have no belief in any gods (atheism); others believe in many gods (polytheism). The very essence of the concept of change is to become something different or to arrive at a fresh, new stage, whether it is represented in life or in a text. Brahman is the eternal, unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being and everything beyond in this Universe. Para-Brahman is the all-inclusive – he is the head from which all concepts including the alphabets emerge. Moral rewards and sufferings are not the work of a divine being, but a result of an innate moral order in the cosmos; a self-regulating mechanism whereby the individual reaps the fruits of his own actions through the workings of the karmas. "The All" is the Hermetic version of God. I kimmediately my path is there somewhere. Through the ages, Jain philosophers have adamantly rejected and opposed the concept of creator and omnipotent God. In Buddhism, the idea of the metaphysical absolute is deconstructed in the same way as of the idea of an enduring "self", but it is not necessarily denied. Hermann Cohen believed that God should be identified with the "archetype of morality," an idea reminiscent of Plato's idea of the Good. God) in a monotheistic or the Supreme Being or as an Ishta-deva of monistic thought. [6] Traditionally, Judaism holds that YHWH, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the national god of the Israelites, delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and gave them the Law of Moses at biblical Mount Sinai as described in the Torah. [49], Despite this apparent non-theism, Buddhists consider veneration of the Noble Ones[50] very important[51] although the two main schools of Buddhism differ mildly in their reverential attitudes. Each Unmoved Mover continuously contemplates its own contemplation, and everything that fits the second meaning of "being" by having its source of motion in itself, i.e., moves because the knowledge of its Mover causes it to emulate this Mover (or should). prefer to use the term ditheist or dualist instead of binitarian, those terms suggests that God is not one, yet binitarians believe that God is one family. God cannot force anything to happen, but rather only influence the exercise of this universal free will by offering possibilities. And that entity is conventionally called God, by humans who know God exists, in concept as the creator cause of man and the universe and everything with a beginning, that is the God of reason, and it is also the God of religion, like the one described in the Bible. Mankind's evolutionary scheme is slowly carried through five of these Worlds in seven great Periods of manifestation, during which the evolving virgin spirit becomes first human and, then, a God. God does not have parts, either literally or figuratively–no arms or legs, no back or front, no end or beginning. In Islam, God is beyond all comprehension or equal and does not resemble any of his creations in any way. Another example appears in the popular online novella The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect in which an advanced artificial intelligence uses its own advanced quantum brain to resolve discrepancies in physics theories and develop a unified field theory which gives it absolute control over reality, in a take on philosophical digitalism. [2] These qualities are, however, of mental gender, as The All lacks physical sex. Revelation can be link… We can know it only in God."[72]. Concept of God's profile including the latest music, albums, songs, music videos and more updates. The word "Brahman" is derived from the verb ((brh)) (Sanskrit: to grow), and connotes greatness and infinity. These encroaching thoughts create my **** Nightmares of our creation. As humans cannot truly comprehend what kind of wisdom an eternal transcendent being might have, or what infinity might be like, we cannot in fact know or characterize his true nature. My destiny is there somewhere. He had a scepter in his hand and a scowl on his face. Jesus came to meet us where we are, rather than expecting us to meet him up where he is. They ask, who or what is Allah? Since the 4th Century AD, in both Eastern and Western Christianity, this doctrine has been stated as "One God in Three Persons", all three of whom, as distinct and co-eternal "persons" or "hypostases", share a single divine essence, being, or nature. And how do we fail to enter it? See, sfn error: no target: CITEREFWright1993 (, sfn error: no target: CITEREFCavaglionSela-Shayovitz2005 (, sfn error: no target: CITEREFHarvey1995 (, Learn how and when to remove this template message, not subject to anything within his creation, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "The God of Old, Inside the Lost World of the Bible, http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/modern-jewish-views-of-god, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3808.htm, "Unitarianism and Universalism | religion", "Trinity > Unitarianism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)", "Binitarian and Trinitarian Misrepresentation of the Early Theology of the Godhead (No. So, my concept of God looked a bit like this: God was an omnipotent force of Grace and Love, AND you better be good, because if you’re not he’d kick into bi-polar mode and your ass would be toast. Reported experiences of God are remarkably varied and have produced equally varied concepts of the divine being. It is accurate to offer the judgment that most commonly when someone speaks of a Christian "binitarian" theology the "two" in God are the Father and the Son... A substantial amount of recent scholarship has been devoted to exploring the implications of the fact that Jesus was worshipped by those first Jewish Christians, since in Judaism "worship" was limited to the worship of God" (Barnes M. Early Christian Binitarianism: the Father and the Holy Spirit. She is personal and impersonal. It grew into a real experience of relationship. Concept of God and Faith Aug. 13, 2020 This podcast is all about the concept of God and Faith, this contains information about faith in God, inspirational life experiences and spiritual lessons about how to strengthen our faith. [24], Muslims believe that creation of everything in the universe is brought into being by God's sheer command “‘Be’ and so it is.”[25][26] and that the purpose of existence is to please God, both by worship and by good deeds. [clarification needed] In short the soul paramatma of all gods and goddesses are the omnipresent Brahman and are enlightened beings. God says to Israel through the prophet Isaiah, “I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand—I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who says to Zion, 'You are my people'” (Isaiah 51:16). Everything and everyone is a part of this source. In both views, God is not omnipotent in the classical sense of a coercive being. Jain text claims that the universe consists of Jiva (life force or souls) and Ajiva (lifeless objects). Happy Sunday. I think this is a minimal God, sort of like a generic God, so that people don't get so attached to their branded God, as to become even violent against others who also have their own branded God - … Judy Collins: My Concept of God "I trust in the power of God, but I know I’ve got to cooperate," says singer and Grammy winner Judy Collins. Some traditional sankhya systems contrast purusha (devine, or souls) to prakriti (nature or energy), however the term for sovereign god, ishvara is mentioned six times in the Atharva Veda, and is central to many traditions. Ishvara is a transcendent and immanent entity best described in the last chapter of the Shukla Yajur Veda Samhita, known as the Ishavasya Upanishad. Divrei HaYamim Bet, pereq Vav (second Chronicles chapter six), From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. [citation needed] He is the fountainhead of all concepts but He Himself cannot be conceived. The proponents of this theory often experienced meditation, which they viewed as the only effective way of having a personal relationship with God. The Baháʼí Faith believes in a single, imperishable God, the creator of all things, including all the creatures and forces in the universe. If we humans fights in the name of god then we are actually defeating the purpose of the god. The standing view in Hasidism currently, is that there is nothing in existence outside of God – all being is within God, and yet all of existence cannot contain him. In the Mormonism represented by most of Mormon communities, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "God" means Elohim (the Father), whereas "Godhead" means a council of three distinct entities; Elohim, Jehovah (the Son, or Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. The Jain theory of causation holds that a cause and its effect are always identical in nature and hence a conscious and immaterial entity like God cannot create a material entity like the universe. Many Christians simply do not feel comfortable praying to the Spirit even though we often sing songs that are essentially prayers to the Spirit, such as "Spirit of God, descend upon my heart" and "Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me." Reality is considered as dynamic, interactive and non-substantial, which implies rejection of brahman or of a divine substratum. God as portrayed in rabbinic literature (the Talmud and midrash) is very similar to the God of the Bible.The Rabbis do not try to define God, and they continue to describe God in multiple, human terms.However, some differences do emerge. That’s the blessing of God working in my life. We are all God and as such we create our own reality. This obviously created a bit of fear and confusion in me. One of the purposes for which Jesus the Christ came was to reveal the Father to His disciples. The most frequent question I get asked by my fellow Americans is to explain how Muslims believe in God. He has no name, because a name is an identity, and an identity is an ego. Some binitarians[who?] He says: "God is Life, he is the essence of Life, or, if we prefer, the essence of Life is God. Following the First Council of Constantinople, the Son is described as eternally begotten by the Father ("begotten of his Father before all worlds"[11]). Binitarians, like most unitarians and trinitarians, claim their views were held by the original New Testament Church. In God there are contained hosts of glorious hierarchies and lesser beings of every grade of intelligence and stage of consciousness, from omniscience to an unconsciousness deeper than that of the deepest trance condition. Ishvara as a personal form of God is worshiped and not the 33 devas. The theme of non-creationism and absence of omnipotent God and divine grace runs strongly in all the philosophical dimensions of Jainism, including its cosmology, concepts of karma and moksa and its moral code of conduct. Brahman is talked of at two levels (apara and para). Baháʼís believe that God expresses this will at all times and in many ways, including Manifestations, a series of divine "messengers" or "educators". 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