What qualifies something as a god?

[RosieMoonflower]

Soo I've been thinking this since I got a response on another thread: what qualifies something as a god? See I was raised Christian and I'm slowly wading through learning pagan ideas, but this one is difficult for me. In Christianity, it's easy because there is suppose to be only 1 God and that God is suppose to be the creator of all things in the universe. This god is also all powerful, all knowing, and can make things happen with his word, or by speaking it.

But, let's just say I don't exactly believe in that god, and think that all those stories come from stories about other deities and were rolled together to represent one god, in order to promote monotheism. There are many spiritual beings out there. If one were to contact you, how would you prove its a god? What qualifies it as a god and not just a spirit?

Basically, what I'm asking is: What is a god?

And, if you can, tell me, where did the gods come from?

Thanks to all who respond!

Rosie

[Xiao Rong]

Hi Rosie, I think that's a very interesting question, with so many different possible answers. There's monotheism, like you mentioned. There's pantheism, which is that everything in the universe composes God/dess. There's duotheism (in Wicca, the belief in the God and the Goddess). There's polytheism, the belief in many gods, and within that there is hard polytheism (the belief in gods as distinct, independent beings) and soft polytheism (that all gods are aspects of a single God/dess or Divine). And there are plenty of other kinds of theism that I haven't even touched on yet or know about!

In mythology, it also gets complicated. There's of course deities like Isis or Thor, who are these very powerful (though not all-powerful) beings. But some mythology considers the spirits of rivers, mountains, or individual trees to be gods. Some gods began as human at one point, and then were later elevated to the status of gods, including historical kings and queens. The Romans believed that there were gods for everything, from thunderstorms to door hinges. Ancestors could be considered gods as well.

So -- the definition of "god" is pretty expansive. Nowadays, I think many pagans would agree that deities differ from spirits in that the former are very powerful and usually quite old. But there are still others who say that all the deities we know are facets of a larger Divine source, which is difficult to know and understand except by these individual faces and personalities.

As to the question of where did gods come from, I guess that answer depends on what you think a god is! In my own spirituality, I think that consciousness or spirit is a property of the universe; that all things have some kind of consciousness, including human beings, animals, plants, rivers, mountains, the weather, cities, Earth, ideas, even the universe herself. They simply are.

Proving someone or something is a deity is also a complicated question. There's an entire art to it called "discernment" that you might be interested in. (I'll let the folks who are well-versed in discernment to talk about it more).

[SilverWort]

In Christianity, it's easy because there is suppose to be only 1 God and that God is suppose to be the creator of all things in the universe. This god is also all powerful, all knowing, and can make things happen with his word, or by speaking it.

I think the same. Creator is only one, but has many faces. He is God only in his created universe. Lot of symbols (mostly from masonry) suggest this and other things, I can explain more if you want, but Ouroboros, square and compass, spiral, the snake ... are the key.

But, let's just say I don't exactly believe in that god, and think that all those stories come from stories about other deities and were rolled together to represent one god, in order to promote monotheism. There are many spiritual beings out there. If one were to contact you, how would you prove its a god? What qualifies it as a god and not just a spirit?

You're right, there are spiritual beings, and that's the key. God is creator. Spiritual beings (some) knows creation language too, but they are no-created and doesn't belongs to this universe. Spirits are no-created, souls are created. An example, Odin (Wotan, Navutan) is not a god, is not creator, but is a spiritual being who knows creation language, and birds language, who came to this world in human form to understand the spiritual chain and break it. Same for other Norse deities.

Basically, what I'm asking is: What is a god?

And, if you can, tell me, where did the gods come from?

Thanks to all who respond!

Rosie

God is creator, and is no-created.

As to the question of where did gods come from, I guess that answer depends on what you think a god is! In my own spirituality, I think that consciousness or spirit is a property of the universe; that all things have some kind of consciousness, including human beings, animals, plants, rivers, mountains, the weather, cities, Earth, ideas, even the universe herself. They simply are.

I think soul is property of created universe, not spirit, and human beings have spirit and soul, so there is a part which is not from this universe, is not created, not from God. The rest is from God, is God himself.

Proving someone or something is a deity is also a complicated question. There's an entire art to it called "discernment" that you might be interested in. (I'll let the folks who are well-versed in discernment to talk about it more).

What is discernment? Is like hermeneutic?

[Xiao Rong]

Discernment is the art of judging and interpreting messages from the gods/the Divine/the other, since communication with them is rarely clear cut or easily understood. Part of it involves ensuring that the entity you are communicating with is really a god, and not a malicious spirit, someone looking to make a quick buck, or your own ego. Other aspects of discernment include clarifying the message itself and ensuring one's readiness to receive a message.

[ChosenUndead]

Having divine qualities

[RosieMoonflower]

Having divine qualities

Okay, such as..?

[ChosenUndead]

All knowing
All powerful
Transcendent
Self existent
Infinite.
if you think about it if a god were less then they would they necessarily be a god?

It helps to clearly define what a god is.

[ChosenUndead]

There's more but I didn't want to break out my notes and type it all lol. I hope that helps?

[Xiao Rong]

ChosenUndead, that seems to be a very Christian/monotheist definition of God. As I mentioned before, in mythology we have lots of examples of gods who were none of these qualities, and yet still worthy of reverence. Even very, very powerful ones, such as Zeus or Odin, were nowhere close to all-knowing or all-powerful.

[SnowCat]

All knowing
All powerful
Transcendent
Self existent
Infinite.
if you think about it if a god were less then they would they necessarily be a god?

It helps to clearly define what a god is.

In my point of view, we are transcendent, self existent, and infinite. Personally, I'm still working on all knowing and all powerful.

Snow

[SilverWort]

Discernment is the art of judging and interpreting messages from the gods/the Divine/the other, since communication with them is rarely clear cut or easily understood. Part of it involves ensuring that the entity you are communicating with is really a god, and not a malicious spirit, someone looking to make a quick buck, or your own ego. Other aspects of discernment include clarifying the message itself and ensuring one's readiness to receive a message.

Thanks, understood.

[SilverWort]

In my point of view, we are transcendent, self existent, and infinite. Personally, I'm still working on all knowing and all powerful.

Snow

Agree, at least a part of us.

[RosieMoonflower]

All knowing
All powerful
Transcendent
Self existent
Infinite.
if you think about it if a god were less then they would they necessarily be a god?

It helps to clearly define what a god is.

In my point of view, we are transcendent, self existent, and infinite. Personally, I'm still working on all knowing and all powerful.

Snow

So, could an ET be all of these things too?

Rosie

[ChosenUndead]

Of course. Anything in possession of divine qualities could be called a god.
The trick there though is if something actually does posses a divine quality or just simply aspires to

[SnowCat]

I think a lot of it also is how the power is handled. Spiderman's Uncle Ben told him that with great power, comes great responsibility. Some individuals wouldn't qualify as deities due to a lack of maturity and responsibility. At least in my opinion. I still would like at least a few minutes of being all knowing. Just enough to hit the Mega Millions jackpot. That would give me the time and funding to go back to school full time, and complete a Bachelor of Nursing degree. Meanwhile, I'll keep working on things the old fashioned way.

Snow