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adition sometimes with different titles of god used in reference to god s various attributes under polytheistic beliefs a god or god with lesser case g is a spirit or being believed to have created or to control some part of the universe or life for which such a deity is often worshipped 6 etymology and usage main article god word the earliest written form of the germanic word god comes from the 6th century codex argenteus containing a gothic translation of the bible the english word itself is derived from the proto germanic ǥuđan the reconstructed proto indo european form ǵhu tó m was probably based on the root ǵhau ə which meant either to call or to invoke 7 the germanic words for god were originally neuter but during the process of the christianization of the germanic peoples from their indigenous germanic paganism the words became a masculine syntactic form 8 in english capitalization is used when the word is used as a proper noun as well as for other names by which a god is known consequently the capitalized form of god is not used for multiple gods or when used to refer to the generic idea of a deity 9 10 the english word god and its counterparts in other languages are normally used for any and all conceptions and in spite of significant differences between religions the term remains an english translation common to all general conceptions see also conceptions of god hindu deities vishnu lakshmi shiva parvati and ganesha who are often viewed as aspects of the same ultimate reality called brahman in hindu theology oneness see also monotheism and henotheism a deity or god with lowercase g refers to a supernatural being 11 monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity referred to as god with uppercase g comparing or equating other entities to god is viewed as idolatry in monotheism and is often strongly condemned judaism is one of the oldest monotheistic traditions in the world 12 islam s most fundamental concept is tawhid meaning oneness or uniqueness 13 the first pillar of islam is an oath that forms the basis of the religion and which non muslims wishing to convert must recite declaring that i testify that there is no deity except god 14 the ancient greek philosopher xenophanes referred to one god greatest among gods and men highlighting one god who is greater than the multiple gods 15 in christianity the doctrine of the trinity describes god as one god in father son jesus and holy spirit 16 in past centuries this fundamental mystery of the christian faith was also summarized by the latin formula sancta trinitas unus deus holy trinity unique god reported in the litanias lauretanas god is viewed differently by diverse strands of the hindu religion with most hindus having faith in a supreme reality brahman who can be manifested in numerous chosen deities thus the religion is sometimes characterized as polymorphic monotheism 17 henotheism is the belief and worship of a single god at a time while accepting the validity of worshiping other deities 18 monolatry is the belief in a single deity worthy of worship while accepting the existence of other deities 19 transcendence see also pantheism and panentheism transcendence is the aspect of god s nature that is completely independent of the material universe and its physical laws many supposed characteristics of god are described in human terms anselm thought that god did not feel emotions such as anger or love but appeared to do so through our imperfect understanding the incongruity of judging being against something that might not exist led many medieval philosophers approach to knowledge of god through negative attributes called negative theology for example one should not say that god is wise but can say that god is not ignorant i e in some way god has some properties of knowledge christian theologian alister mcgrath writes that one has to understand a personal god as an analogy to say that god is like a person is to affirm the divine ability and willingness to relate to others this does not imply that god is human or located at a specific point in the universe 20 pantheism holds that god is the universe and the universe is god and denies that god transcends the universe 21 for pantheist philosopher baruch spinoza the whole of the natural universe is made of one substance god or its equivalent nature 22 23 pantheism is sometimes objected to as not providing any meaningful explanation of god with the german philosopher arthur schopenhauer stating pantheism is only a euphemism for atheism 24 pandeism holds that god was a separate entity but then became the universe 25 26 panentheism holds that god contains but is not identical to the universe 27 28 creator see also creator deity god blessing the seventh day 1805 watercolor painting by william blake god is often viewed as the cause of all that exists for pythagoreans monad variously referred to divinity the first being or an indivisible origin 29 the philosophy of plato and plotinus refers to the one which is the first principle of reality that is beyond being 30 and is both the source of the universe and the teleological purpose of all things 31 aristotle theorized a first uncaused cause for all motion in the universe and viewed it as perfectly beautiful immaterial unchanging and indivisible aseity is the property of not depending on any cause other than itself for its existence avicenna held that there must be a necessarily existent guaranteed to exist by its essence it cannot not exist and that humans identify this as god 32 secondary causation refers to god creating the laws of the universe which then can change themselves within the framework of those laws in addition to the initial creation occasionalism refers to the idea that the universe would not by default continue to exist from one instant to the next and so would need to rely on god as a sustainer while divine providence refers to any intervention by god it is usually used to refer to special providence where there is an extraordinary intervention by god such as miracles 33 34 omnipotence and omniscience main articles omnipotence and omniscience omnipotence all powerful and omniscience all knowing are attributes often ascribed to god the omnipotence paradox is most often framed with the example could god create a stone so heavy that even he could not lift it as god could either be unable to create that stone or lift that stone and so could not be omnipotent this is often countered with variations of the argument that omnipotence like any other attribute ascribed to god only applies as far as it is noble enough to befit god and thus god cannot lie or do what is contradictory as that would entail opposing himself 35 omniscience implies that god knows how free agents will choose to act if god does know this either their free will might be illusory or foreknowledge does not imply predestination and if god does not know it god may not be omniscient 36 open theism limits god s omniscience by contending that due to the nature of time god s omniscience does not mean the deity can predict the future and process theology holds that god does not have immutability so is affected by his creation other concepts god has also been conceived as being incorporeal immaterial a personal being the source of all moral obligation and the greatest conceivable existent 1 these attributes were all supported to varying degrees by the early jewish christian and muslim theologian philosophers including maimonides 37 augustine of hippo 37 and al ghazali 4 respectively theologians of theistic personalism the view held by rené descartes isaac newton alvin plantinga richard swinburne william lane craig and most modern evangelicals argue that god is most generally the ground of all being immanent in and transcendent over the whole world of reality with immanence and transcendence being the contrapletes of personality 38 relationship with creation an sculpture depicting worship to the great spirit deism holds that god exists but does not intervene in the world beyond what was necessary to create it 39 such as answering prayers or producing miracles deists sometimes attribute this to god having no interest in or not being aware of humanity pandeists would hold that god does not intervene because god is the universe 40 of those theists who hold that god has an interest in humanity most hold that god is omnipotent omniscient and omnibenevolent this belief raises questions about god s responsibility for evil and suffering in the world dystheism which is related to theodicy is a form of theism which holds that god is either not wholly good or is fully malevolent as a consequence of the problem of evil worship praying hands by albrecht dürer see also worship prayer and supplication religious traditions that include a supreme deity often require its worship and sometimes hold that the purpose of existence is to worship god 41 42 to address the issue of an all powerful being demanding to be worshipped it is held that god does not need or benefit from worship but that worship is for the benefit of the worshipper 43 mahatma gandhi expressed the view that god does not need his supplication and that prayer is not an asking it is a longing of the soul it is a daily admission of one s weakness 44 invoking god in prayer plays a significant role among many believers depending on the tradition god can be viewed as a personal god who is only to be invoked directly while other traditions allow praying to intermediaries such as saints to intercede on their behalf prayer often also includes supplication such as asking forgiveness god is often believed to be forgiving for example a hadith states god would replace a sinless people with one who sinned but still asked repentance 45 sacrifice for the sake of god is another act of devotion that includes fasting and almsgiving remembrance of god in daily life include mentioning interjections thanking god when feeling gratitude or phrases of adoration such as repeating chants while performing other activities salvation main article salvation transtheistic religious traditions may believe in the existence of deities but deny any spiritual significance to them the term has been used to describe certain strands of buddhism 46 jainism and stoicism 47 among religions that do attach spirituality to the relationship with god disagree as how to best worship god and what is god s plan for mankind there are different approaches to reconciling the contradictory claims of monotheistic religions one view is taken by exclusivists who believe they are the chosen people or have exclusive access to absolute truth generally through revelation or encounter with the divine which adherents of other religions do not another view is religious pluralism a pluralist typically believes that his religion is the right one but does not deny the partial truth of other religions the view that all theists actually worship the same god whether they know it or not is especially emphasized in the baháʼí faith hinduism 48 and sikhism 49 the baháʼí faith preaches that divine manifestations include great prophets and teachers of many of the major religious traditions such as krishna buddha jesus zoroaster muhammad bahá ú lláh and also preaches the unity of all religions and focuses on these multiple epiphanies as necessary for meeting the needs of humanity at different points in history and for different cultures and as part of a scheme of progressive revelation and education of humanity an example of a pluralist view in christianity is supersessionism i e the belief that one s religion is the fulfillment of previous religions a third approach is relativistic inclusivism where everybody is seen as equally right an example being universalism the doctrine that salvation is eventually available for everyone a fourth approach is syncretism mixing different elements from different religions an example of syncretism is the new age movement revelation main article revelation see also prophet and fideism revelation refers to some form of message communicated by god this is usually proposed to occur through the use of prophets or angels al maturidi argued for the need for revelation because even though humans are intellectually capable of realizing god human desire can divert the intellect and because certain knowledge cannot be known except when specially given to prophets such as the specifications of acts of worship 50 it is argued that there is also that which overlaps between what is revealed and what can be derived according to islam one of the earliest revelations to ever be revealed was if you feel no shame then do as you wish 51 the term general revelation is used to refer to knowledge revealed about god outside of direct or special revelation such as scriptures notably this includes studying nature sometimes seen as the book of nature 52 an idiom in arabic states the qur an is a universe that speaks the universe is a silent qur an 53 fideism is the position that in certain topics notably theology such as in reformed epistemology faith in god is superior than reason in arriving at truths some theists argue that there is value to the risk in having faith and that if the arguments for god s existence were as rational as the laws of physics then there would be no risk such theists often argue that the heart is attracted to beauty truth and goodness and so would be best for dictating about god as illustrated through blaise pascal who said the heart has its reasons that reason does not know 54 a hadith attributes a quote to god as i am what my slave thinks of me 55 inherent intuition about god is referred to in islam as fitra or innate nature 56 in confucian tradition confucius and mencius promoted that the only justification for right conduct called the way is what is dictated by heaven a more or less anthropomorphic higher power and is implanted in humans and thus there is only one universal foundation for the way 57 on matters of theology some such as richard swinburne take an evidentialist position where a belief is only justified if it has a reason behind it as opposed to holding it as a foundational belief 58 traditionalist theology holds that one should not opinionate beyond revelation to understand god s nature and frown upon rationalizations such as speculative theology 59 notably for anthropomorphic descriptions such as the hand of god and attributes of god they neither nullify such texts nor accept a literal hand but leave any ambiguity to god called tafwid without asking how 60 61 physico theology provides arguments for theological topics based on reason 62 specific characteristics titles main article names of god the mesha stele bears the earliest known reference 840 bce to the israelite god yahweh the hebrew word for god is el which also as a proper noun referred to the chief deity in ancient semitic religions throughout the hebrew bible there are several titles used for god such as ...
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