There isn't a problem with God, in itself, but rather with the word "God."
The trouble with the word itself is that is both inadequate and that it conveys too much. As soon as I say "God" you will assume that you know what I am talking about. But all you will have done is create a metal image of your own which will have little to do with what I may have said but will have been created by your traditions and your upbringing. A great many people go around using the word "God" as if they know what they are talking about - and a great many religious leaders will expect you to take on trust that they know of what they speak and you'd best take on trust what they're telling you. Equally, a large number of people argue that there is no God, as if they know what they are denying.
It seems that the only safe route forward is direct experience of a-God-thing. I don't know whether it is possible to see or know God directly, but I have my doubts. But I do know it is possible to have direct experience of a-God-thing; I have done it myself. That though hasn't put me in a position to describe or explain what I have experienced in any adequate way. I can give a general outline but it comes nowhere close to anything you would be able to relate to without direct experience yourself.
Now, when somebody starts talking about my God or our God, I run for cover, especially when they move on to describe the "one, true God." And it's the same with those who try to convince me that there is no God. Because I find it impossible to imagine how these people have gained their confidence in either God or no-God.
It seems to me that the name "God," and to some extent the idea of God, are both hiding what they are meant to be pointing at - principally because so few of us can entertain the idea of God without our intellectual or cultural baggage. And if your family or some preacher has managed to scare you with the idea of God, then letting go just might be impossible.
I remain comfortable with the idea that "God is." But as soon as I start to put more in the sentence, I worry that I have started talking about things I know not.
The trouble with the word itself is that is both inadequate and that it conveys too much. As soon as I say "God" you will assume that you know what I am talking about. But all you will have done is create a metal image of your own which will have little to do with what I may have said but will have been created by your traditions and your upbringing. A great many people go around using the word "God" as if they know what they are talking about - and a great many religious leaders will expect you to take on trust that they know of what they speak and you'd best take on trust what they're telling you. Equally, a large number of people argue that there is no God, as if they know what they are denying.
It seems that the only safe route forward is direct experience of a-God-thing. I don't know whether it is possible to see or know God directly, but I have my doubts. But I do know it is possible to have direct experience of a-God-thing; I have done it myself. That though hasn't put me in a position to describe or explain what I have experienced in any adequate way. I can give a general outline but it comes nowhere close to anything you would be able to relate to without direct experience yourself.
Now, when somebody starts talking about my God or our God, I run for cover, especially when they move on to describe the "one, true God." And it's the same with those who try to convince me that there is no God. Because I find it impossible to imagine how these people have gained their confidence in either God or no-God.
It seems to me that the name "God," and to some extent the idea of God, are both hiding what they are meant to be pointing at - principally because so few of us can entertain the idea of God without our intellectual or cultural baggage. And if your family or some preacher has managed to scare you with the idea of God, then letting go just might be impossible.
I remain comfortable with the idea that "God is." But as soon as I start to put more in the sentence, I worry that I have started talking about things I know not.
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