The modern idea of God has been changed by modern attitudes, but God has always been around, regardless of our perceptions.
In an increasingly scientific and technological disposable society, the nature of God is one of those topics which just won’t go away. Is God good, is good bad, why is there suffering and isn’t God a man anyway? Throughout history, these questions have been raised, argued and debated over and over again, but now society demands more. Proof. There must be proof for something, otherwise it doesn’t exist. That is, of course, unless it’s science, in which case it must be right.
So who is God?
The Bible refers to God as male but the Qur’an says that Allah has no gender. The problem is that if God is male, doesn’t that sort of go against the whole idea of equality? Well, perhaps. Yet religions, as part of history, have been very patriarchal. Male dominated societies talk in male dominated language, which has been passed down the generations and hasn’t yet fitted in with the more equal 21st century ideal.
Suffering
Many people argue that if there is a God, there would be no suffering in the world and this is one argument that could blow the whole idea of religion out of the water. So much of human suffering is due to freewill and the individual decisions people make which impact on others. Yet much suffering is also out of human hands. Think of the insurance claims which are deemed “an act of God”, or the baby born with a genetic illness. These surely can’t be because of human actions or a punishment for past misdeeds.
Religions would argue in favour of the devil, the ruler of hell, who causes pain and misery for those on Earth in an attempt to turn them against God. For if there was no evil, then the good times wouldn’t be as good, there would be no point to life and temptation would be drastically reduced. Yet whether the devil offers a concrete argument or a get-out clause is debatable for some and the idea that some things in the world are beyond human understanding is little reassurance for others.
Proof
Many millions of people each year have prayers answered, witness miracles or have some sort of divine experience, but there are many others who ask for help and don’t receive it. Does this mean that God doesn’t exist? Sometimes it’s easy to pray without opening hearts and minds fully. There may be signs and messages it’s too easy to miss, just as Bruce Nolan missed the signs offered to him in the film Bruce Almighty before he crashed his car and met with God.
The question is not always what proof is there, but what proof is acceptable. Too many people want God to appear to them, but would still refuse to believe simply on the grounds that they don’t really want to. There is evidence everywhere for God if people want to look for it but it is far easier to deny God than to accept God’s existence is a possibility. That’s the difference between believing and knowing on the one hand and having faith on the other.
God is not dead in the 21st century, but human ideas of God have changed. In an instant society, people look for instant solutions, but sometimes patience and perseverance bring hope and peace. It is not God who has changed, but humans’ perception of who or what God is. Individual needs have changed, hopes and visions have altered, there are new challenges and obstacles, but believing in God was never meant to be easy.
The copyright of the article Who is God? in Religious Intolerance is owned by Ben Hughes. Permission to republish Who is God? must be granted by the author in writing.
Many questions were asked in the ancient Hindu texts about the nature of Parama Atama (infinite soul, or Almighty) and Atma (soul). In the olden days, Gurus used to put these questions to disciples to test their knowledge.
What is the constituent material of Almighty? All created materials are subject to decay and annihilation, Almighty is above the influence of decay and annihilation. He is eternal.
Then is Almighty a void? In terms of material characteristics, Almighty is void (Soonya).
Can this lead to the logic that Almighty is not there? No. Almighty is there. He is consciousness, the infinite consciousness. The Atma which is a finite piece of Almighty, according to Advaita Vedanta - the personal consciousness. Soul was created in the likeness of Infinite Soul.
Since Atma is only a minute piece of Almighty, is it subjected to annihilation? No. Atma is also eternal.
Male and female are attributes of the created. Almighty is beyond the attributes of creation.
Punishment for past deeds is known as Karma in Hinduism. A person's suffering is due his own deeds in his past life.
"Proof: Many millions of people each year have prayers answered, witness miracles or have some sort of divine experience, but there are many others who ask for help and don't receive it."
There is a better proof in Anthropology. During 1800s, Anthropologists had a problem as to how to classify human beings. One researcher proposed the expression "intelligent animal". After advanced studies on monkeys, it was dropped. Another researcher proposed "tool using animal". After observing some animals making wooden tools and sharpening them with knife like stones, it was dropped. Another researcher proposed "weapon using animal". A decade ago, a rare film was shot by an amateur in an African forest. One short monkey was hit very badly by a big monkey. The short monkey prepared a wooden knife using stones and hid it on the top of a tree. After some days, when the big monkey came to attack the short monkey, it ran up to the tree for the weapon it has hid and killed the big monkey. The one thing that the anthropologists found with any group of human beings, even if they did not have contacts with the out side world for thousands of years, is spirituality with some form of religion. So, man is a "spiritual animal" if you want to call him that way.
The Upanishads say that "Manush" (human) was so named because he has "Manas" a mind hi
Jun 25, 2007 8:10 PM
V. Siva Prasad
:
"Science tells us about the Big Bang and Evolution, but some scientists also say that it's unlikely that the universe came about by chance because too many variable factors would be involved in creating it. Who is right?"
Why Atheism and "Evolution" are not good ideas:
A. There is order in the universe, not "random chaos" nor "chances."
C. Mutations are harmful and deadly, not useful as "evolution" requires. Cancer is an example of a mutation.
D. Livings things are amazingly complex, including cells, many of which appear more "advanced" than modern space shuttles.
E. DNA is a language. Languages require Intelligence. Therefore, an Intelligent Being made the DNA (language).
Evidence #1
There are no transitional links and intermediate forms in either the fossil record or the modern world. Therefore, there is no actual evidence that evolution has occurred either in the past or the present.
Evidence #2
Natural selection (the supposed evolution mechanism, along with mutations) is incapable of advancing an organism to a "higher-order".
Evidence #3
Although evolutionists state that life resulted from non-life, matter resulted from nothing, and humans resulted from animals, each of these is an impossibility of science and the natural world.
Evidence #4
The supposed hominids (creatures in-between ape and human that evolutionists believe used to exist) bones and skull record used by evolutionists often consists of `finds' which are thoroughly unrevealing and inconsistent. They are neither clear nor conclusive even though evolutionists present them as if they were.
Evidence #5
Nine of the twelve popularly supposed hominids are actually extinct apes/ monkeys and not part human at all.
Evidence #6
The final three supposed hominids put forth by evolutionists are actually modern human beings and not part monkey/ ape at all. Therefore, all twelve of the supposed hominids can be explained as being either fully monkey/ ape or fully modern human but not as something in between.
Evidence #7
Natural selection can be seen to have insurmountable social and practical inconsistencies.
Evidence #8
Natural selection has severe logical inconsistencies.
Thank you for your full and enlightening contributions. From spending most of my day discussing religion in some form, one of the main objections I get told is that if God is good, then surely everyone would be treated well, everyone would go to heaven/paradise and innocent people wouldn't suffer (I'm thinking here of newborn babies who are ill). Surely a merciful God would show pity on these people even if their past lives have been bad. This can't be such a testing and learning game that God would punish someone for a past life? Yet there still seems something so appealing to most people are religion and spirituality that even the majority of atheists don't like to rule out everything; and I suppose this is the where the idea of the "spiritual animal" comes into it. It just may be that some people are trying to find out the right spiritual path to take. In terms of evolution, isn't everything becoming so science-based now? There has to be concrete proof for everything, except science itself which works from theories. The idea of trust and faith have been superceded. Just out of interest, do you see all religions as paths to the same God, or paths to different Gods? Do they all have truth or is there one truth and the others are completely wrong? Ben.
