Definitions
A Biblical Definition of God
"God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth." (Westminster Catechism).
One of the reasons I'm including this definition of God is because some professed atheists say that God cannot be meaningfully defined and therefore they argue it's absurd to believe in God. However this argument from positivism is absurd. Philosophers abandoned it half a century ago because it was too restrictive and ended up being self-refuting. If God is said to be a meaningless word because we can't fully define or empirically test it then all words become meaningless including the words in the phrase 'The term God is meaningless' because the word 'term' and the word 'meaningless' can also not be perfectly defined or empirically tested. (They are concepts and you can't put a concept in a test tube.)
Just because you can't fully understand something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And just because you can't empirically test something doesn't mean it doesn't exist either. To argue in that way is absurd. (Try empirically verifying and defining the existence of laws of logic for example.)
"The positivists have a simple solution: the world must be divided into that which we can say clearly and the rest, which we had better pass over in silence. But can any one conceive of a more pointless philosophy, seeing that what we can say clearly amounts to next to nothing? If we omitted all that is unclear we would probably be left with completely uninteresting and trivial tautologies." (Werner Heisenberg - discoverer of Quantum Mechanics).
For more on the absurdity of positivism see the article 'Defining God' by William Lane Craig.
God is...
One of the reasons I'm including this definition of God is because some professed atheists say that God cannot be meaningfully defined and therefore they argue it's absurd to believe in God. However this argument from positivism is absurd. Philosophers abandoned it half a century ago because it was too restrictive and ended up being self-refuting. If God is said to be a meaningless word because we can't fully define or empirically test it then all words become meaningless including the words in the phrase 'The term God is meaningless' because the word 'term' and the word 'meaningless' can also not be perfectly defined or empirically tested. (They are concepts and you can't put a concept in a test tube.)
Just because you can't fully understand something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And just because you can't empirically test something doesn't mean it doesn't exist either. To argue in that way is absurd. (Try empirically verifying and defining the existence of laws of logic for example.)
"The positivists have a simple solution: the world must be divided into that which we can say clearly and the rest, which we had better pass over in silence. But can any one conceive of a more pointless philosophy, seeing that what we can say clearly amounts to next to nothing? If we omitted all that is unclear we would probably be left with completely uninteresting and trivial tautologies." (Werner Heisenberg - discoverer of Quantum Mechanics).
For more on the absurdity of positivism see the article 'Defining God' by William Lane Craig.
God is...
- The Creator of Everything (Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." )
- A Spirit (John 4:24 "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." )
- Omnipotent (all-powerful), Omniscient (all-knowing - Psalm 147:5 "Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit." )
- Omnipresent (Present everywhere / Universal - Colossians 1:17 "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." )
- Omniscient (All knowing - 1 John 3:20 "If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." )
- Perfectly good (Psalm 107:1 "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." )
- All wise (Romans 11:33 "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!" )
- Perfect (Psalm 18:30 "As for God, his way is perfect: The LORD's word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him." )
- Invisible (Colossians 1:15 "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." )
- Personal (Not just a force - Romans 8:14-15 "because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." )
- Eternal (He has always existed and is uncreated - 1 Timothy 1:17 "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen." )
- Immutable (Unchanging - Malachi 3:6 "I the LORD do not change." )
- Holy (Totally pure - Leviticus 19:2b "Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy." )
- Love (1 John 4:16 "... God is love..." )
- A Warrior (Exodus 15:3 "The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name."
- Jesus (Colossians 1:16 "For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him." )
Absurdity
ab·surd (əb-sûrd′, -zûrd′)
adj. 1. Ridiculously incongruous or unreasonable. See Synonyms at foolish. 2. Of, relating to, or manifesting the view that there is no order or value in human life or in the universe. 3. Of or relating to absurdism or the absurd. n. The condition or state in which humans exist in a meaningless, irrational universe wherein people's lives have no purpose or meaning. Used chiefly with the. [Latin absurdus, out of tune, absurd : ab-, intensive pref.; see ab-1 + surdus, deaf, muffled.] ab·surd′i·ty (-sûr′dĭ-tē, -zûr′-), ab·surd′ness n. ab·surd′ly adv. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/absurdity.
adj. 1. Ridiculously incongruous or unreasonable. See Synonyms at foolish. 2. Of, relating to, or manifesting the view that there is no order or value in human life or in the universe. 3. Of or relating to absurdism or the absurd. n. The condition or state in which humans exist in a meaningless, irrational universe wherein people's lives have no purpose or meaning. Used chiefly with the. [Latin absurdus, out of tune, absurd : ab-, intensive pref.; see ab-1 + surdus, deaf, muffled.] ab·surd′i·ty (-sûr′dĭ-tē, -zûr′-), ab·surd′ness n. ab·surd′ly adv. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/absurdity.
Reductio Ad Absurdum
Reductio ad absurdum means to reduce the argument of an opponent to absurdity by taking their position to it's logically absurd conclusion. This is a powerful form of debate which I have used in this website, and all great debaters have used, including Jesus.
For example, Jesus told the Pharisees that they obeyed the law to the extreme - even tithing their garden herbs - but they neglected the most important part of the law - loving God and loving people. (Luke 11:42-46).
The purpose of this argument is to expose the foolishness of the false beliefs in the hope that the person will abandon them and embrace the truth. I hope and pray that if you have not done so that you too would come to know the truth.
For example, Jesus told the Pharisees that they obeyed the law to the extreme - even tithing their garden herbs - but they neglected the most important part of the law - loving God and loving people. (Luke 11:42-46).
The purpose of this argument is to expose the foolishness of the false beliefs in the hope that the person will abandon them and embrace the truth. I hope and pray that if you have not done so that you too would come to know the truth.
Note: Pictures depicting Christ are not idolatry. http://bnonn.com/are-pictures-of-jesus-idolatry-1/
