What does it mean to you to believe in god?

Seriously, I am not trying to be facetious.

Is it a belief in a father figure who sets rules of behavior that you will be rewarded or punished by following them or not?

Is it a sense that the world is more than just living - following the basic instincts of sex, eating, and seeking shelter (The Maslow hierarchy)? A world where you need to fill with some spirituality to know that it is more than just passing through?

Is it a sense of belonging, of community where you and your friends and family share a similar belief?

Is it just something that you got from your parents and is inside you without ever thinking about it, or even bothering to question?

I am interested in your comments and figure the next three days when many of us observe Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa is as good a time as any.

I believe in an afterlife, that life on Earth is not the end.

There is no seperation, there is only God.

No, God is not He nor She, though through wise people throughout the ages certain concepts of behavior have been shown.

The world is more, much more, than what appears to be so. There are layers upon layers of reality.

My community is one that crosses religious lines, crosses lines of time and space, and beliefs are best expressed in silence.

Did I get this feeling from my parents? Well, my earliest memories are of church, and my mother always said all roads lead to God. So one could say a door was opened. But I know my personal spiritual experiences are different than hers, sometimes beyond comprehension, and the path of my family members is a different path than mine.

I challenge anyone in this thread to make a more succinct or reasonable post.

:thumbsup:

to me, is just the better part of human nature...kindness, charity, forgiveness, and acceptiveness. To listen to that part of your conciousness is hearing the voice of "God". Very simple, really.

the godness which is in my heart and brain and guts.

Of course at some point I was taught this way, and, I suppose, those teachings came from people who believed in god, followed god's directives to do good, to take care of the poor and the orphans, the sick and the elderly. But at some point I have incorporated these "beliefs" into something that should be followed. Not because a god commended me, but because this is a way to build a real society. In this world, not in the next.

of that good in all of us is GOD.

People believe in God, or Gods, to try and find safety. Facing one's mortality and insignificance is difficult, at best. It's just much easier to have a belief that "I'm special" and don't really have to face the enevitable loss of "self". Therefore, we erect a sort of boss who lays down rules that we would like to think will preserve us if we are "good", "obedient", "worshipful", etc.

All one has to do to understand how ridiculous the notion is of a "personal" god is to take a look around the universe to see how incredibly insignificant we egomaniacs of the universe are.

God will punish the crap out of you if you don't believe exactly the right stuff.

has ever existed.

What god do I deny?

Whatever you have to make up to get you through the night, dude.

and in everything in the universe. I am God's hands. He works through me.

He (she or it) is so sacred and so unimaginable there is no word. He is the beginning and the end. Our finite minds cannot comprehend his infinite nature.

God is mystery.

I understand the nature of God by understanding love, goodness and creativity. I understand evil by noting war, destruction and hate.

My soul yearns for God, and to fit into the love of the universe and to reject evil.

being a three dimensional being. One day Mr. Flatlander was out in the back 40 and God stuck his finger into "flatland". Mr. Flatlander saw a straight line. The next day, Mrs. Flatlander was in the front yard and God stuck 2 fingers into flatland.... that night Mr. and Mrs. flatlander argued intensely, one said that God was a straight line, the other, two straight lines, and so it goes. Interesting visual, interesting story......

It's a motivation to realize the highest possibilities of human nature in every moment.

It's a feeling that no matter how much I screw up, there is always forgiveness and a chance for redemption. God sees everything I have been, am, and will be, and loves me anyway.

It's criticizing society and our government for their shortcomings in justice and mercy backed by the hope that God feels the same way, while remembering that I am just as much as fault, and that I need to change, too.

It's about facing the Day of Judgement knowing that I did the best I could.

and the non-material dimension of our lives.