# What is God?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [October 13, 2001, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257 "2001-10-13T15:19:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@the\_iconoclast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_iconoclast)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2001, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/1 "2001-10-13T15:19:23Z")
With all the myriad of God related questions why not have a definitive account of what God is? So tell me what God is.
Oh, but please note the following 3 rules:
1. Do not tell what God does (as God created this or that)
2. Do not go anthropomorphic on me (applying human qualities)
3. Do not make anything up (tempting as it may be)
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2001, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/2 "2001-10-13T15:34:31Z")
He already told you what He is–He said, “I Am.”
[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08329a.htm](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08329a.htm)
> [@](#):
>
> As the Divine name is an imperfect form of the archaic Hebrew verb “to be”, Jahveh means “He Who is”, Whose characteristic note consists in being, or The Being simply.
It is not what he does.
It is not an anthropomorphic quality.
It is not made-up.
He just–Is.
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### Author:  [@Arne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arne)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2001, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/3 "2001-10-13T16:53:09Z")
I don’t even like to use the word God because it is so limiting, restricting conception to childhood conditioning. Should I ever approach that which is God, perhaps I would sense energetic love without center or form.
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### Author:  [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2001, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/4 "2001-10-13T17:44:30Z")
Although I like the concept you posted Duck Duck, I have to take issue with your first statement:
> [@](#):
>
> _from Duck Duck Goose_
>
> ```
> He already told you what He is--He said, "I Am."
>
> ```
That wording is not only inherently sexist, but also adds an anthropomorphic quality that the OP was trying to avoid.
Other than that, I agree that God IS.
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### Author:  [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2001, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/5 "2001-10-13T18:24:36Z")
Hey, you don’t happen to the the Iconoclast from the Internet Infidels’ message boards, do ya?
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### Author:  [@the\_iconoclast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_iconoclast)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2001, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/6 "2001-10-14T00:34:22Z")
BlackKnight, no. But I’ll check out their forum.
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### Author:  [@super\_head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/super_head)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2001, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/7 "2001-10-14T01:33:26Z")
“God is?”
What does that mean? Forgive my ignorance.
God is everything? God is in everything?
If God is everything, we already have a word for that - universe. If God is in everything, then he/she/it obviously exists to some degree as a unique entity - so what is this entity?
Not trying to be difficult, but I don’t see any sense in the statement “God is.”
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2001, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/8 "2001-10-14T03:59:51Z")
God is the unknowable.
And that which is true whether we “know” it or not.
God is the reality that we cannot really perceive.
But we try. And in trying, “know” God.
This is what is meant by “God is.”
IMHO
Either that or dog spelled backwards.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2001, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/9 "2001-10-14T04:25:07Z")
God is the unknowable.
And that which is true whether we “know” it or not.
God is the reality that we cannot really perceive.
But we try. And in trying, “know” God.
This is what is meant by “God is.”
IMHO
Either that or dog spelled backwards.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2001, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/10 "2001-10-14T04:54:29Z")
God is the unknowable.
And that which is true whether we “know” it or not.
God is the reality that we cannot really perceive.
But we try. And in trying, “know” God.
This is what is meant by “God is.”
IMHO
Either that or dog spelled backwards.
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### Author:  [@the\_iconoclast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_iconoclast)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2001, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/11 "2001-10-14T05:19:26Z")
?
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2001, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/12 "2001-10-14T07:41:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Not trying to be difficult, but I don’t see any sense in the statement “God is.”
[Exodus 3:13-14](http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?passage=exodus+3%3A13-14&version=NIV&showfn=no&showxref=no&language=english)
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2001, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/13 "2001-10-14T13:57:16Z")
Naturally, I suppose I should also mention this:
[John 8:58](http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?passage=John+8%3A58&version=NIV&showfn=no&showxref=no&language=english)
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### Author:  [@super\_head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/super_head)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2001, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/14 "2001-10-14T15:45:34Z")
Well, that certainly cleared it up…
So now I have “God is” and “I am” as explanations - nevermind that for those sentences to make sense, one must understand what comes after “is” and “am” even if it isn’t clearly stated. I suppose I’m asking for what comes after.
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2001, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/15 "2001-10-14T16:31:22Z")
Whatever you add will take away. He is the I AM. But if you must have a predicate nominative, slowly add each of these, blend them together, and then let them quietly disappear.
Existence.
Reality.
Eternity.
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### Author:  [@super\_head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/super_head)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2001, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/16 "2001-10-15T15:55:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Libertarian \*
> Whatever you add will take away. He is the I AM. But if you must have a predicate nominative, slowly add each of these, blend them together, and then let them quietly disappear.
>
> Existence.
>
> Reality.
>
> Eternity.
Perhaps it’s my wee atheist brain, but I still don’t think you’ve said anything substantive or cleared up the concept of god for anyone other than yourself.
For instance - in conceiving of this deity, how does one “slowly” add nouns together? I can see blending the concepts, much like I could imagine a chair and a big yellow dog being merged, but I’m afraid I’m still no closer to a conception of anything other than the universe itself when I merge existence, reality, and eternity. Also, how do these nouns then quietly disappear? Is your faith built solely on obfuscation?
Hopefully (that’s for **Ogre** ), someone else can attempt to clarify.
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2001, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/17 "2001-10-15T16:43:26Z")
Wow, another GD/GQ thread questioning belief in God. Is it noon already?
GOD is the conscious force that created the universe.
Any talk of omniscience or omnipotence sort of goes without saying, and in any event the true extent of such traits could not be understood by mortal, limited beings.
Stuff like “God is,” “God is in everything” etc. are attempts to explain something that cannot be fully comprehended by human beings and for which our language in inadequate to describe. God, having created the universe, does not exist in the universe by the same rules that we live in and understand. God isn’t matter or energy, and does not exist on a set number of dimensions, so talk of where God “is” is sort of nonsensical. God isn’t a person, or an animal, or anything which has definable boundaries, motivations, and limits. So God’s answer in Exodus, “I am,” is in a funny sort of way a good explanation, because most anything else you could say would be incorrectly limiting.
Even my initial line, “God is the conscious force that created the unoverse,” is sort of limited. “Conscious” is a state that animals have, but God is not an animal. “Force” is a physical term, but God isn’t physical. I think the sentence touches on what God is, but it’s still just an approximation.
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### Author:  [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2001, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/18 "2001-10-15T17:24:22Z")
I always liked this. Not that I’m necessarily an abject believer, but it’s my fond hope.
This is It
and I am It
and You are It
and so is That
and He is It
and She is It
and It is It
and That is That
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### Author:  [@Lolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lolo)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2001, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/19 "2001-10-15T18:06:12Z")
God, IMHO, isn’t
God is a contradiction
God wasn’t there before, God isn’t here now, and God isn’t anywhere after
You’re a human, you’ve got some time on your hands, so you decid eto realize you’re going to die or you juts can’t figure something out
voila!
God is your answer
of course after you figure some stuff out, you’ve got to change your God, until finally you realize there is no God
so now you’ll all it love b/c love makes you all goooey inside
God isn’t
it isn’t this and it isn’t that, b/c we’ve given those things names
So God isn’t
it isn’t anything anyone can see or even imagine (aside from love, but why isn’t love just love?)
If you can’t conceive of it, it isn’t
and anything you can conceive is restricted to what is
so God isn’t
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2001, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-god/87257/20 "2001-10-15T19:47:45Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by super\_head \*
> Perhaps it’s my wee atheist brain, but I still don’t think you’ve said anything substantive or cleared up the concept of god for anyone other than yourself.
I don’t think it’s your “atheist brain”. Gaudere is an atheist, and she is enormously competent in comprehending the many ontological definitions of God, including, no doubt, the one offered here.
> [@](#):
>
> For instance - in conceiving of this deity, how does one “slowly” add nouns together? I can see blending the concepts, much like I could imagine a chair and a big yellow dog being merged, but I’m afraid I’m still no closer to a conception of anything other than the universe itself when I merge existence, reality, and eternity. Also, how do these nouns then quietly disappear?
It’s an exercise in disciplined abstract thinking. Granted, it’s not for everyone.
> [@](#):
>
> Is your faith built solely on obfuscation?
Oh, be nice. You _asked_ for a prediate nominative. I _told_ you it would take away.
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