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Chapter One: Defining God

Section 3: Perception and reality

Our perception of God may be very different from the reality.

3.a Reality

Is there such a thing as Ultimate Reality? It's the kind of question that has entertained and baffled philosophers and scientists for centuries.

Let's define Ultimate Reality as the Answer to Everything. It explains the Universe, it IS the Universe. It's whether God exists and whether time has a beginning and an end and if anything travels faster than light. Ultimate Reality is whether there is life after death (or before birth), the number of dimensions there are (three, four, eleven or innumerable) and whether there is only one universe or an infinity of multiverses. And so on.

Restricted as we are in time and physical space, with a limited ability to perceive and interpet the universe around us, human beings are far from recognising and perceiving Ultimate Reality. But that doesn't matter. We can observe and deduce the simpler reality that directly affects us: laws of nature such as the temperature of boiling water at sea level and the chemical composition of blood, the existence of such phenomena as other human beings, radio waves and distant planets.

3.b God's reality

Let us assume, temporarily, that God exists. He is either real in the simple sense that we can prove his existence, or he is Ultimately Real in the sense that we may never be able to prove that he exists.

If God is real, he has some or all of the characteristics described in the previous section. But his reality is limited. He cannot be at the same time the Christian God (knowable) and the Islamic God (unknowable). He cannot be both the Jewish / Christian / Islamic God who is involved in his creation and the Deist God who is uninterested in it. And of course he cannot be both the believer's God and the atheist - non-existent God.

In other words, God's reality is limited. If he exists, he can only conform to one description. That description may be the broadest possible - knowable and involved


Chapter One: Defining God

Does God exist? Before we try to answer that question we need to have a clear idea of who or what God is. How do we describe God? What versions of God are on offer?

1.1: God, faith and religion
Do they need each other?

1.2: What is God?
God comes in several styles and models

1.3: Perception and reality
Is what we see what we get?

1.4: The evolving God
From prehistory to today

1.5: El, Yahweh et al
The Old Testament family of gods

1.6: Three's company
The Christian Trinity

1.7: Allah
Over to Islam

1.8: Majors and minors
Polytheism

1.9: The unknowable God
Is he there?

1.10: Your god or mine?
Made in our image

1.11: Summary



Finished this chapter? Move on to

Chapter Two
Problems with God


The real God – if such a thing exists – may be very different from the god portrayed by Jewish, Christian or Muslim scripture.

But whichever picture of God we look at - from the Bible and Koran to the images presented by other faiths and believers - we are confronted by problems. When examined closely, God's nature is so contradictory that it is unlikely, if not impossible, for him to exist.



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in human affairs; it may be narrower - unknowable, but still involved; it may be the narrowest possible - unknowable and uninvolved. It may even be non-existence. But God can only have one reality.

3.c Our perception

Now, temporarily set the reality of God to one side. Consider people's perceptions of God and see how different they are. Christians do not agree with Hindus, nor Muslims with Buddhists. Within each religion there are strong disagreements. Even the most minor of issues - such as whether women or gay men can become priests - are ultimately disagreements over the nature of God. (God's nature is such that he welcomes breasts behind the altar, or such that he abhors them.)

What is going on here, of course, is not the reality of God, but believers' perceptions of him. And as we all know, our perception may be wrong. We think that our friend John is arrogant, but he is desperately insecure and shy. Our ancestors were convinced that the sun revolves around the earth, but the reality is that it is the earth that moves. Some of us believe that easy access to guns reduces crime, and ignore the statistics that show that gun-free nations have fewer violent deaths.

3.d Perceptions and reality are different

The lesson to be drawn from this is simple: perceptions do not always match reality. Pat Robertson's perception of God differs from that of Rick Warren, as they both do from Ayatollah Khamenei and the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. Each of them, along with every other believer, may argue that their perception of God reflects reality, but we know that that is impossible. Only one of them can be right, and maybe none of them is. (And, as we will see later, each believer perceives - creates - the image of God that suits them rather than reality.)

And at this stage of our investigation we have to accept that even the atheist's perception of reality - that God does not exist - may be wrong. So let's come to the conclusion that only one of the following statements is possible and the other two are wrong:


i. God exists and and some people's perception of him is accurate;
    some believers are right, some believers are wrong and all atheists are wrong
OR
ii. God exists and nobody's perception of him is accurate;
    all believers and all atheists are wrong
OR
iii. God does not exist.
    all atheists are right and all believers are wrong

3.e So what?

Surely this is common sense? Do we need to be reminded of this? Actually, yes. Most believers are convinced that their perception of God matches reality. Many get upset when you tell them, well, yes, God may exist, but he may be very different from the way you think he is.

But you can only have a rational discussion about God when you separate perception from reality. If God exists, he does so independently of each of his believers - our goal is not to investigate people's ideas of God, but the reality that may, or may not, be out there.



Next:
Chapter One: Section 4: The evolving God


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If God existed, he would...

admire the beauty of a universe that he did not create

recognize that eternity is meaningless

deny both heaven and hell

disown all men and women who speak in his name

denounce the harm caused by religious "morality"

help the human race to thrive without him

If God existed, he would be an atheist.


What is the difference between science and faith?

science is certain of nothing and requires proof of everything

faith is certain of everything and requires proof of nothing

Which do you trust?


"I know there is no God"
or
"I believe there is no God"
???

Check the answer


wear the Scarlet letter





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