Who?What Is God?
Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2025 6:54 am
As I approach the twilight of my life (I am 80) and the day comes ever closer when I will meet my Maker: I find myself contemplating the concept of God. And that is what God is: a concept, an idea, a universal being who is everywhere at the same time. And it is that very abstractness that makes it hard to comprehend who God is.
Ordinary mortals have a difficult time grasping the reality of a formless, invisible, omnipresent and omnipotent divine being. They need symbols – idols, icons, crucifixes - that they can see and touch and worship. Indeed, the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans needed symbols to explain the mysteries of nature and the intricacies of the human psyche that they could not comprehend. And so, they invented gods like Osiris and Apollo and Athena; giving each one an attribute that would rationalize their ignorance and let them off the hook, so to speak. The subsequent world religions amalgamated the pagan gods into one Supreme Being whom they named God, or Allah or Jehovah.
In the immediate aftermath of Jesus’s departure from the earth, his apostles and disciples carried on his message and teachings; and essentially stuck to the script. However, as the early Christian church grew in size and influence, they believed that they need not restrict themselves to being the stewards of Christ; they could obtain real power by posing as the sole interpreters of Christ’s message. Jesus had to portrayed as the Son of God, so perfect that he could not possibly be just human. This despite the fact – according to some Biblical scholars – that Jesus himself did not claim divinity during His sojourn on earth. To start with, they handpicked four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John which served their purpose. They also ignored – and virtually banished – some other contemporary gospels that did not conform to the message they wished to convey. To consolidate and perpetuate their power, the clergy proclaimed themselves as God’s representatives on earth – a view that prevails even today, particularly among Catholics; although much less so than in the Middle Ages, when the threat of religious sanctions like excommunication was so terrifying that the general populace was completely cowed down. To be sure, the recent revelations about pedophile priests have shown that if these worthies were indeed God’s representatives on earth, then God has chosen very poorly.
Another tactic the Church employed to consolidate their power was GUILT. I have often wondered why – despite the many wonderful teachings and miraculous events of Jesus’ life – the most potent and prevalent symbol of Christ is the method of his execution. It is almost as if Christians need to be constantly reminded that their Lord and Saviour died for their sins – and therefore they owe Him, big time. Indeed, the concept of Original Sin has been a powerful weapon in the armoury of the Church, almost since its inception. We are all sinners – and who alone can absolve us of our sins? You got it.
I would like to make it clear that I am using Christianly only as an example. Right from the time of the ancient Egyptians, religion – or gods, as they called them – have been suborned by self-styled priests. Priests (or novices) train in seminaries or madrassas or whatever, where they are taught by other priests. And those priests are trained by…you get the picture. I am still trying to figure out where God enters into this equation. Do we really need interpreters or intermediaries to understand the Bible, or the Koran, or the Torah, or the Avesta? Isn’t the word of the God clear enough? And which version of God is being addressed by the ubiquitous rituals and ceremonies – of which we are so enamoured? Let’s face it. Most of us have performed pujas or masses and so on (which themselves are manmade) in expectation of a quid pro quo – a promotion or a cure or whatever. Very few of us offer prayers merely for the exaltation of communicating with our Maker.
Which brings me back to my original question: who is God. Is He some benevolent, merciful, all-seeing entity who exudes only goodness and light? Is He an all powerful being who controls every aspect of our existence? If He is indeed all powerful and good, why does he permit atrocities like wars and the Holocaust; and permit one group of humans to inflict unbearable pain and suffering on another group of humans. Does Satan really exist, or is he an excuse we made up for evil behaviour? It’s the devil who is making me do terrible things – not really my responsibility. And what happens when we shuffle off this mortal coil? Do God and Satan compete for our souls? Or did God grant us free will so that we alone are responsible for our actions, both good and bad. Like Yul Brynner famously declared in The King and I; is a puzzlement.
Ordinary mortals have a difficult time grasping the reality of a formless, invisible, omnipresent and omnipotent divine being. They need symbols – idols, icons, crucifixes - that they can see and touch and worship. Indeed, the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans needed symbols to explain the mysteries of nature and the intricacies of the human psyche that they could not comprehend. And so, they invented gods like Osiris and Apollo and Athena; giving each one an attribute that would rationalize their ignorance and let them off the hook, so to speak. The subsequent world religions amalgamated the pagan gods into one Supreme Being whom they named God, or Allah or Jehovah.
In the immediate aftermath of Jesus’s departure from the earth, his apostles and disciples carried on his message and teachings; and essentially stuck to the script. However, as the early Christian church grew in size and influence, they believed that they need not restrict themselves to being the stewards of Christ; they could obtain real power by posing as the sole interpreters of Christ’s message. Jesus had to portrayed as the Son of God, so perfect that he could not possibly be just human. This despite the fact – according to some Biblical scholars – that Jesus himself did not claim divinity during His sojourn on earth. To start with, they handpicked four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John which served their purpose. They also ignored – and virtually banished – some other contemporary gospels that did not conform to the message they wished to convey. To consolidate and perpetuate their power, the clergy proclaimed themselves as God’s representatives on earth – a view that prevails even today, particularly among Catholics; although much less so than in the Middle Ages, when the threat of religious sanctions like excommunication was so terrifying that the general populace was completely cowed down. To be sure, the recent revelations about pedophile priests have shown that if these worthies were indeed God’s representatives on earth, then God has chosen very poorly.
Another tactic the Church employed to consolidate their power was GUILT. I have often wondered why – despite the many wonderful teachings and miraculous events of Jesus’ life – the most potent and prevalent symbol of Christ is the method of his execution. It is almost as if Christians need to be constantly reminded that their Lord and Saviour died for their sins – and therefore they owe Him, big time. Indeed, the concept of Original Sin has been a powerful weapon in the armoury of the Church, almost since its inception. We are all sinners – and who alone can absolve us of our sins? You got it.
I would like to make it clear that I am using Christianly only as an example. Right from the time of the ancient Egyptians, religion – or gods, as they called them – have been suborned by self-styled priests. Priests (or novices) train in seminaries or madrassas or whatever, where they are taught by other priests. And those priests are trained by…you get the picture. I am still trying to figure out where God enters into this equation. Do we really need interpreters or intermediaries to understand the Bible, or the Koran, or the Torah, or the Avesta? Isn’t the word of the God clear enough? And which version of God is being addressed by the ubiquitous rituals and ceremonies – of which we are so enamoured? Let’s face it. Most of us have performed pujas or masses and so on (which themselves are manmade) in expectation of a quid pro quo – a promotion or a cure or whatever. Very few of us offer prayers merely for the exaltation of communicating with our Maker.
Which brings me back to my original question: who is God. Is He some benevolent, merciful, all-seeing entity who exudes only goodness and light? Is He an all powerful being who controls every aspect of our existence? If He is indeed all powerful and good, why does he permit atrocities like wars and the Holocaust; and permit one group of humans to inflict unbearable pain and suffering on another group of humans. Does Satan really exist, or is he an excuse we made up for evil behaviour? It’s the devil who is making me do terrible things – not really my responsibility. And what happens when we shuffle off this mortal coil? Do God and Satan compete for our souls? Or did God grant us free will so that we alone are responsible for our actions, both good and bad. Like Yul Brynner famously declared in The King and I; is a puzzlement.