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"God"
One big complication that arises in theological discussions is that there is no single, uniformly accepted definition of
the word "God." Different people hold radically differing views of what the word "God" means, and an argument relevant
to the question of one sort of God's existence might be completely irrelevant to the question of another sort's
existence. Ask ten different people to characterize God, and you'll get ten different answers.
A few examples follow:
1) God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibeneficent. (The meanings of the three terms differ from person to person.)
2) God is the creator of the universe, and is active in the universe now.
3) God is the creator of the universe, but is not active in the universe now.
4) God is the arbiter of morality.
5) God is that entity which presides over the afterlife.
6) God is that entity which judges who gets into the afterlife (or the good afterlife, anyway).
7) God is the hearer and sometimes-answerer of prayers.
8) God is nature.
9) God is a spiritual substrate underlying physical reality.
10) God is a substance of love suffusing the universe.
11) God is personal.
12) God is impersonal.
And so on. Merely discussing God requires having a common conception of God. But there is no common conception
of God!
I will, then, try to specify, as far as possible, which God I am referring to when discussing God on this site. That
seems to be the best I can do.
(© 2007 by Keith Brian Johnson)
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