Personal god

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God

A personal god is a deity who can be related to as a person[1] instead of as an impersonal force, such as the Absolute, "the All", or the "Ground of Being".

In the scriptures of the Abrahamic religions, God is described as being a personal creator, speaking in the first person and showing emotion such as anger and pride, and sometimes appearing in anthropomorphic shape.[2] In the Pentateuch, for example, God talks with and instructs his prophets and is conceived as possessing volition, emotions (such as anger, grief and happiness), intention, and other attributes characteristic of a human person. Personal relationships with God may be described in the same ways as human relationships, such as a Father, as in Christianity, or a Friend as in Sufism.[3]

A 2008 survey by the Pew Research Center reported that, of U.S. adults, 60% view that "God is a person with whom people can have a relationship," while 25% believe that "God is an impersonal force."[4] A 2008 survey by the National Opinion Research Center reports that 67.5% of U.S. adults believe in a personal god.[5] The 2014 Religious Landscape survey conducted by Pew reported that 57% of U.S. adults believe in a personal god.[6]

Views[edit]

Abrahamic religions[edit]

Judaism[edit]

Jewish theology states that God is not a person.[citation needed] However, there exist frequent references to anthropomorphic characteristics of God in the Hebrew Bible such as the "Hand of God." Judaism holds that these are to be taken only as figures of speech. Their purpose is to make God more comprehensible to the human reader. As God is beyond human understanding, there are different ways of describing him. He is said to be both personal and impersonal, he has a relationship with his creation but is beyond all relationships.[7]

Christianity[edit]

In the case of the Christian belief in the Trinity, whether the Holy Spirit is impersonal – or personal,[8] is the subject of dispute,[9] with experts in pneumatology debating the matter. Jesus (or God the Son) and God the Father are believed to be two persons or aspects of the same god. Jesus is of the same ousia or substance as God the Father, manifested in three hypostases or persons (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). Nontrinitarian Christians dispute that Jesus is a "hypostasis" or person of God.

Islam[edit]

Most Islamic sources teach that God is a personal God, he speaks in the Quran in first person and has personal attributes, yet the Quran still maintain the God is unique in nature and substance and has no similarity to anything else.[10] Islam also teaches that God is beyond comprehension and the best way for Muslims to have a relationship of God is to obey his commands.[11]

The Quran asserts the existence of a single and absolute truth that transcends the world: a unique and indivisible being who is independent of the entire creation.[12] The Qur'an clearly opposes conceiving God as resembling "the creation" and it maintains that whatever image a believer has of God is not God, and that he is truly transcendental. According to the Qur'an:[12]

"Say: He is God, the One and Only; God, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him." (Sura 112:1-4, Yusuf Ali)
Thy Lord is self-sufficient, full of Mercy: if it were God's will, God could destroy you, and in your place appoint whom God will as your successors, even as God raised you up from the posterity of other people." (Sura 6:133, Yusuf Ali)

Baha'i[edit]

In the Baha'i Faith God is described as "a personal God, unknowable, inaccessible, the source of all Revelation, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and almighty".[13][14] Although transcendent and inaccessible directly, his image is reflected in his creation. The purpose of creation is for the created to have the capacity to know and love its creator.[15] God communicates his will and purpose to humanity through intermediaries, known as Manifestations of God, who are the prophets and messengers that have founded religions from prehistoric times up to the present day.[16]

Other religions/ viewpoints[edit]

Jainism[edit]

Jainism explicitly denies existence of non-personal transcendent god and explicitly affirms existence of personal gods. All gods in Jainism are personal.

One of the major point of dispute between Digambara and Shwetambara is the gender of the gods. Digambara gods can only be men and any man of at least eight years of age can become god if he follows the right procedure.

Jain gods are eternal, but they are not beginingless. Also, Jain gods are all omniscient, but not omnipotent. They are sometimes called quasi-gods due to this reason.

Gods are said to be free from the following eighteen imperfections:[17]

  1. janma – (re)birth;
  2. jarā – old-age;
  3. triśā – thirst;
  4. kśudhā – hunger;
  5. vismaya – astonishment;
  6. arati – displeasure;
  7. kheda – regret;
  8. roga – sickness;
  9. śoka – grief;
  10. mada – pride;
  11. moha – delusion;
  12. bhaya – fear;
  13. nidrā – sleep;
  14. cintā – anxiety;
  15. sveda – perspiration;
  16. rāga – attachment;
  17. dveśa – aversion; and
  18. maraņa – death.

The four infinitudes of god are (ananta cātuṣṭaya) are:[17]

  1. ananta jñāna, infinite knowledge
  2. ananta darśana, perfect perception due to the destruction of all darśanāvaraṇīya karmas
  3. ananta sukha, infinite bliss
  4. ananta vīrya – infinite energy

Those who re-establish the Jain faith are called Tirthankaras. They have additional attributes. Tirthankaras revitalize the sangha, the fourfold order consisting of male saints (sādhus), female saints (sādhvis), male householders (śrāvaka) and female householders (Śrāvika).

The first Tirthankara of the current time cycle was Ṛṣabhanātha, and the twenty-fourth and last Tirthankara was Mahavira, who lived from 599 BCE to 527 BCE.

Jain texts mention forty-six attributes of arihants or tirthankaras. These attributes comprise four infinitudes (ananta chatushtaya), thirty-four miraculous happenings (atiśaya), and eight splendours (prātihārya).[17]

The eight splendours (prātihārya) are:[18]

  1. aśokavrikśa – the Ashoka tree;
  2. siṃhāsana– bejeweled throne;
  3. chatra – three-tier canopy;
  4. bhāmadal – halo of unmatched luminance;
  5. divya dhvani – divine voice of the Lord without lip movement;
  6. puśpavarśā – shower of fragrant flowers;
  7. camara – waving of sixty-four majestic hand-fans; and
  8. dundubhi – dulcet sound of kettle-drums and other musical instruments.

At the time of nirvana (final release), the arihant sheds off the remaining four aghati karmas:

  1. Nama (physical structure forming) Karma
  2. Gotra (status forming) Karma,
  3. Vedniya (pain and pleasure causing) Karma,
  4. Ayushya (life span determining) Karma.

And float at the top of the universe without losing their individuality and with the same shape and size as the body at the time of release.

Hinduism[edit]

Vaishnavism and Shaivism,[19] traditions of Hinduism, subscribe to an ultimate personal nature of God. The Vishnu Sahasranama[20] declares the person of Vishnu as both the Paramatma (supreme soul) and Parameshwara (supreme God) while the Rudram describes the same about Shiva. In Krishna-centered theology (Krishna is seen as a form of Vishnu by most, except Gaudiya Vaishnavism) the title Svayam Bhagavan is used exclusively to designate Krishna in his personal feature,[21][22] it refers to Gaudiya Vaishnava, the Nimbarka Sampradaya and followers of Vallabha, while the person of Vishnu and Narayana is sometimes referred to as the ultimate personal god of other Vaishnava traditions.[23][24]

Deism[edit]

In general, most deists view God as a personal God. This is illustrated by the 17th-century assertions of Lord Edward Herbert, universally regarded as the Father of English deism, which stated that there is one Supreme God, and he ought to be worshiped.[25] However, deism is a general belief encompassing people with varying specific beliefs, and the notion of God as a personal God cannot be ascribed to all deists.

Classical deism[edit]

Classical deists who adhere to Herbert's common notion certainly believe in a personal God, because those notions include the belief that God dispenses rewards and punishments both in this life and after it.[25] This is not something which would be done by an impersonal force. However, a personal relationship with God is not contemplated, since living a virtuous and pious life is seen as the primary means of worshiping God.[25]

Christian Deism[edit]

Christian deism is a term applied both to Christians who incorporate deistic principles into their beliefs and to deists who follow the moral teachings of Jesus without believing in his divinity.[26] With regard to those who are essentially deists who follow the moral teachings of Jesus, these are a subset of classical deists. Consequently, they believe in a personal God, but they do not necessarily believe in a personal relationship with God.

Humanistic deism[edit]

Humanistic deists accept the core principles of deism but incorporate humanistic beliefs into their faith.[27] Thus, humanistic deists believe in a personal God who created the universe. The key element that separates humanistic deists from other deists is the emphasis on the importance of human development over religious development and on the relationships among human beings over the relationships between humans and God.[27][28] Those who self-identify as humanistic deists may take an approach based upon what is found in classical deism and allow their worship of God to manifest itself primarily (or exclusively) in the manner in which they treat others. Other humanistic deists may prioritize their relationships with other human beings over their relationship with God, yet still maintain a personal relationship with the Supreme Being.

Pandeism[edit]

Pandeists believe that in the process of creating the universe, God underwent a metamorphosis from a conscious and sentient being or force to an unconscious and unresponsive entity by becoming the universe.[29] Consequently, pandeists do not believe that a personal God currently exists.

Polydeism[edit]

Polydeists reject the notion that one Supreme Being would have created the universe and then left it to its own devices which is a common belief shared by many deists. Rather, they conclude that several gods who are superhuman but not omnipotent each created parts of the universe.[30] Polydeists hold an affirmative belief that the gods who created the universe are completely uninvolved in the world and pose no threat and offer no hope to humanity.[31] Polydeists see living virtuous and pious lives as the primary components of worshiping God, firmly adhering to one of the common notions set forth by Herbert.[25] Thus, polydeists believe that there are several personal Gods. Yet, they do not believe they can have a relationship with any of them.

Scientific deism[edit]

Scientific deists believe, based on an analysis utilizing the scientific method, that a personal God created the universe. This analysis finds no evidence of a purpose God may have had for creation of the universe or evidence that God attempted to communicate such purpose to humanity. It therefore concludes that there is no purpose to creation other than that which human beings choose to make for themselves.[32] Thus, scientific deists believe in a personal God, but generally do not believe in relationships between God and human beings, since there is no proof of a purpose for creation.

Spiritual deism[edit]

Spiritual deism is a belief in the core principles of deism with an emphasis on spirituality including the connections between humans and each other, nature and God. Within spiritual deism, there is an absolute belief in a personal God as the creator of the universe along with the ability to build a spiritual relationship with God.[33] While Spiritual deism is nondogmatic, its followers generally believe that there can be no progress for mankind without a belief in a personal God.[34]

Arguments[edit]

An impersonal god does not choose between different possibilities and cannot enforce any preference on its creations. An argument for why the God is personal comes from the notion that science cannot explain the base of its rules.[35] According to that, we cannot find any reason for why the laws and constants of the science are what they are.[36]

To make it more clear, we can consider a painting image. Without regarding a person who decides and chooses to paint it, there is no justification for the colors and lines on the paper. "We may assume that a painting is a result of sticking particles of dye in different colors on paper. By taking the brush into account, it will become more clear why many particles of the same color are placed close to each other resulting in regions with green, regions with yellow and so on. But without recognizing a person as the creator of the painting who uses the brush to paint various regions of the paper in specific colors, it is impossible to explain why some parts are colored in green, some parts in yellow and some parts in other colors. Any effort to justify the painting will not give something more than an incomplete description of the process that the dye ingredients have displaced from their package to the paper surface."[36]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's concepts of God". Plato.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-16.
  2. ^ Williams, W. Wesley, "A study of anthropomorphic theophany and Visio Dei in the Hebrew Bible, the Qur'an and early Sunni Islam", University of Michigan, March 2009
  3. ^ "The man who realizes God as a friend is never lonely in the world, neither in this world nor in the hereafter. There is always a friend, a friend in the crowd, a friend in the solitude; or while he is asleep, unconscious of this outer world, and when he is awake and conscious of it. In both cases the friend is there in his thought, in his imagination, in his heart, in his soul." Inayat Khan, quoted from The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan
  4. ^ "Chapter 1: Religious Beliefs and Practices". U.S. Religious Landscape Survey: Religious Beliefs and Practices. Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. 1 June 2008. II. Religious Beliefs: God.
  5. ^ Smith, Tom W. (18 April 2012). "Beliefs about God across Time and Countries" (PDF). NORC at the University of Chicago. Table 3: Believing in a Personal God (2008).
  6. ^ "Most Christians Believe in a Personal God, Others Tend to See God as Impersonal Force". U.S. Public Becoming Less Religious. Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. 29 October 2015.
  7. ^ "Judaism 101: The Nature of G-d". Jewfaq.org. Retrieved 2018-04-16.
  8. ^ Fairchild, Mary. "Who Is the Holy Spirit? Third Person of the Trinity". Christianity.about.com. Retrieved 2018-04-16.
  9. ^ "Is the Holy Spirit a Person or an Impersonal Force?". Spotlightministries.org.uk. 1973-12-08. Retrieved 2018-04-16.
  10. ^ Quran,112 Surat al ikhlas
  11. ^ Norcliffe (1999), p.32-33
  12. ^ a b Vincent J. Cornell, Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol 5, pp.3561-3562
  13. ^ Smith, Peter (2008). An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 106. ISBN 0-521-86251-5.
  14. ^ Effendi, Shoghi (1944). God Passes By. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. p. 139. ISBN 0-87743-020-9.
  15. ^ Smith, Peter (2008). An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 111. ISBN 0-521-86251-5.
  16. ^ Effendi, Shoghi (1991). The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. pp. 113–114. ISBN 0-87743-231-7.
  17. ^ a b c Jain 2014, p. 3.
  18. ^ Jain 2013, p. 181.
  19. ^ Satguru Sivaya, Subramuniyaswami. "Dancing with Shiva". Himalayan Academy. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
  20. ^ "Sri Vishnu Sahasaranama - Transliteration and Translation of Chanting". Swami-krishnananda.org. Retrieved 2018-04-16.
  21. ^ Gupta, Ravi M. (2007). Caitanya Vaisnava Vedanta of Jiva Gosvami. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-40548-3.
  22. ^ Gupta, Ravi M. (2004). Caitanya Vaisnava Vedanta: Acintyabhedabheda in Jiva Gosvami's Catursutri tika. University Of Oxford.
  23. ^ Delmonico, N. (2004). "The History Of Indic Monotheism And Modern Chaitanya Vaishnavism". The Hare Krishna Movement: the Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-12256-6. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
  24. ^ Elkman, S.M.; Gosvami, J. (1986). Jiva Gosvamin's Tattvasandarbha: A Study on the Philosophical and Sectarian Development of the Gaudiya Vaishnava Movement. Motilal Banarsidass Pub.
  25. ^ a b c d González, Justo L. (1985). The Reformation to the Present Day. The Story of Christianity. 2. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-06-063316-5. LCCN 83049187.
  26. ^ "Christian Deism". Enlightenment Deism. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  27. ^ a b Jone, Brian (9 October 2006). "Just Ask! Brian "Humanistic" Jones about Deism". ReligiousFreaks.com. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  28. ^ Coon, Carl (16 July 2000). "Humanism vs. Atheism". Progressive Humanism. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  29. ^ Große, Gottfried; Plinius Secundus, Gaius (1787). Naturgeschichte: Mit Erläuternden Anmerkungen (in German). p. 165. ISBN 978-1175254436. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  30. ^ Broad, C. D. (1953). Religion, Philosophy and Psychical Research: Selected Essays. New York, New York: Harcourt, Brace. pp. 159–174. ASIN B0000CIFVR. LCCN 53005653.
  31. ^ Bowman, Jr., Robert M. (1997). "Apologetics from Genesis to Revelation" (Essay).
  32. ^ deVerum, Alumno (12 March 2012). "Scientific Deism Explained". Institute of Noetic Sciences. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  33. ^ Clendenen, Chuck. "Deism in Practice". Spiritual But Not Religious. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  34. ^ "Spiritual-Deism". Yahoo! Groups. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  35. ^ Seddiq, M. "Science fails to define base of its rules | God Existence Arguments". On The Signs. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  36. ^ a b Seddiq, M. "Why is God not impersonal?". On The Signs. Retrieved 2018-09-20.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Christianity[edit]

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