Theists, What is your image of God?

I’m not sure what I believe it is yet, but it’s like it’s a positive force that is everywhere – even within us. ( I belive humanity is building towards something, and if there is an ounce more happiness in the world than there is pain, it was all worth it and there must be a God)

I watched the ABC news story, and I’m not sure I fit neatly into one of the categories. I’m not sure that god predates the Big Bang. I believe in a spiritual side of life, but perhaps that side came into being with the Big Bang. I don’t know. I can’t know.

I am a firm believer in reincarnation and spiritual beings who care for me but are not omnipotent. I really wish we could resurrect the Egyptian pantheon. Just kidding. Somehow the idea of gods that have human and natural attributes makes more sense to me than having a god sitting on a throne waiting for me to do something bad so he can write it in his book. Having gods closer to my own experience makes them more approachable.

The image of God is not an image seen with the eyes but only with the mind.
whereever there is goodness without hypocrisy nor any other ulterior motive other than that good, there you find God.

any goodness that is first tried by truth, become pure and God is in the midst.

@lemming Your concept soundslike an amalgam of the Benevolent and Distant GOd if that is possible. And I guess all things are possible to God.

@hawaii_jake Careful what you wish for. That Egyptian Pantheon could turn every bit as irascible as human beings, but with godly powers to make the damage they could wreak far worse than that of human foes.

@kess Definitely the Benevolent God. Thanks.

Interesting link and question. Mine is neither of the four mentioned there in the link. I’ve actually researched alot of material related to god and spirituality. My belief system is very complicated, so much so that I do not think most would understand it.

Making a long story short I would say a creator that didn’t always exist but actually created itself, a creator that evolved itself, evolved it’s own self-awareness, consciousness, conscience, and intelligence. A universal entity that extends to the very edges of the universe in parallel universes that is a part of everything which exists, including ourselves. A great universal spirit that is continually evolving like ourselves which operates within the laws of the universe that it needed itself to exist, survive and evolve.

There’s a different answer for you. In a sense I actually believe in abiogenesis. Not in the same way that the natural selection evolutionists do. I’ve classified myself at times as being a theistic evolutionist but I’m not even sure this describes me accurately. I’m not sure deism describes me either. I’m probally the only person on Fluther that holds these beliefs.

I like to think of myself as a reasonable, intelligent individual. I work on complicated electrical/electronic systems as well as mechanical systems. I got excellent grades in school. I’ve even built a generator that my peers in my field said couldn’t be built but yet I have it and it works (not getting into details on this one here). I guess I’ve become obsessed with the issue of our very existance because of many strange personal experiences. I don’t think many on here actually know where I’m coming from.

One thing for sure is that I do not believe in any type of literal religious God. I also believe in karma and universal justice. I believe the Universe in the end is good because everything that exists is always evolving to be better (in relation to one of Einstein’s questions).

@Jabe73 Thanks for taking the time to expound on your fascinating thoughts on spirituality. I am an agnostic, but as an avid amateur scientists (Chemistry major in college, and I worked as a mechanical engineer in electronics manufacturing automation) I read a great deal about physics and cosmology. I am stunned by the incredible series of constants and forces that all had to be exactly what they are for our Universe as we know it to exist, much less for life to exist here on Earth.

I often wonder if a matter, energy, space-time universe of some sort predated the Big Bang, and if the particles within it, so many googols of them, having quantum linkages with one another gave rise to emergent intelligence. If I were a being like an intelligent, lonely Universe, I would give rise to life to watch it, and to wait for it to get to know me.

And I am quite likely the only person on Fluther who entertains that possibility.

@ETpro There is an interesting theory called i-ther. I’ve researched alot of other theories myself but the more I’ve read about this it seems to make more sense to me. It’s definately a minority hypothesis (I do not think I would call it an actual theory). There is alot to it, alot of math as well. Perhaps down the road the old abandoned Theory of the Ether will make a comeback. I wish more people were as respectful as you on here.

@Jabe73 Thanks for the kind words. I googled i-ther but didn’t find anything on it. Can you suggest a book or resource?

Benevolent, but efficient enough to deal out justice when necessary.

Love however, is God’s greatest asset.

Gen 1:26 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;”

Has a form that is like ours. Is benevolent. Is personal and involved.

@ChaosCross & @eden2eve Thanks.

Unimaginable.

@ETpro I know alot about the i-ther hypothesis. I-ther is a background medium that spontaneously devolopes a tangled filamentous structure similar to the neural networks of our brains. The i-ther is incredibly fined grained yet extends to the very edge of the expanding Universe. This i-ther appears to have the potential for evolution, by the self-organising power of chaos, until it acquires a conscious intelligence.

There is alot more to this theory. I’m not comfortable talking about this topic on this forum. Feel free to pm me if you are interested in learning more about it. I will discuss this in a pm with you if you’re interested.