What is god?

[Legobricks]

From a thread on deviantART that I found interesting:
A lot of people have different definitions of what a god is, and what a god would do. Therefore, in that light, what is your definition of god? What is a god to you, and what would you expect a god to do?

So I got curious about what the good folk of PC would say.
Not that one should be able to contrive an argument from this question, but remember we are in OVP; I'm just interested in your thoughts.



My answer:
In modern times the nature of a deity describes a concept of a being which transcends the scope of nature's laws. It is simply not bound to act within them as everything we actually know to be extant is.

As an apatheist, I do not assume that such a being would actually have any power within our universe, within the scope of nature's laws. Nor do I assume that if such a being can act within our universe, that it even cares to. No deity has affected my life, and so I don't pay it any mind.

 

[Hannah]

For me, God is this guardian spirit of some kind. We can't see him, but he can see us -- all our actions, all the little things on our mind -- everything. He knows each lie we tell, and each fact we say. He knows our faults, and our deeds. He's here to protect us from something evil, even if we ourselves are evil. He's there to look after us. He's here to teach us lessons instead of punishing us. He's a perfect, er, something. He's not human, but he's not something to be afraid of, either.

I expect that one day, God will give all of us a test. A test to see if we really believe in him.

 

[♣Gawain♣]

God is our Eternal Father/Heavenly Father. All I could say(to prevent some unnecessary debates) that he is all powerful and all loving and kind. He knows all of us and wants us to be like Him someday. He is not just a spirit, he has flesh and bones. He is not a giver of trails of challenges, he only allows that to happen to test us if we are really worthy to be like Him. All we have to do is to show a particle of faith so that we can act according to His will.

 

[Yellow Silver Nostalgia]

God is not something separate to us, God a metaphor used to explain the consciousness that we all share, the consciousness that allows us to experience our collective imagination.

 

[Nick]

God is spiritual and internal. It's within each and every one of us and it's part of nature itself. Spiritually, God is all around us. I don't look to 'Him' as an eternal deity that watches from above.

 

[Esper]

It's just a word into which people put whatever makes them feel right about the world. In this sense I don't believe a god "does" anything. The idea of it is a blank canvas onto which people are the ones "doing" something. Since I personally don't believe in gods any definition I give to them would just be idle speculation, but if one did exist I would assume it's completely detached from the workings of the world, either from lack of desire or ability, because there's been no discernible divine influence on the world.

 

[Shiny Celebi]

I think God is a concept made by humans to explain the unexplainable and to give themselves something to believe in and hope.

 

[Shining Raichu]

God, to me, is a psychological safety net. People need to believe that there is something out there looking after them, so they will do what they need to do to get by. In this sense, God is nothing but that which we make him. He does nothing, it's what we do that's important.

 

[Sableye~]

I agree with ♣Gawain♣ and Laugh
My family is Christian and I was raised as one. I have my reasons to believe, though I don't find it to be necessary to share them all on a public forum. Partially because I don't want to be posting off-topic stuff here. After all, the question is "What is God?" not "Why do you believe in God?" (: