Preview of this post

This is post number 1 of 4 posts in the series that develops criteria for defining definitions used in the overall discussion of God.

1. Working Criterion

1. Introduction

Since the topic of God is so vast and is so subjective, it will be necessary to develop certain definitions so that the reader and the author of this discussion will understand both understand the topic being discussed from the same starting point.

While not defining God, it will be useful to have a term or criterion that will guide the process of forming an understanding. As such, for the purposes of this series, the term “God” will be used to mean “that which deserves to be worshiped, one to whom we will be willing to direct prayers, be obedient to, to hold in awe and be faithful to.” This criterion was outlined in  Philosophy of Religion by James Hall, published by The Teaching Company of Chantilly, VA in 1983^[1].

Other terms will be discussed.

Preview of the next post

The next post, post number 2 of 4, will begin a discussion of how religion and science treat the topic of God.

[1] It might be noted that the modern English word “God” is derived from a root meaning “to call.” The people of Biblical times often used the word “el” which means “powerful. The word YHWH is used to describe God’s essence and is not simply another name for God. When Jews translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek, they felt that it was inappropriate to place YHWH in the Greek translation, so the substituted Lord. This practice gave birth to the modern term Adonai, the Hebrew word for Lord. To further confuse the situation, when vowels were added to the Hebrew bible, the word YHWH had the vowels associated with Adonai added thereby making the word unpronounceable and basically mysterious. This means that God really has no name which is as it should be.