Is God an entity, a concept, or a definition?

If God were not first and foremost a concept, we could not even be having this exchange about his nature.

All three! No doubt you have heard of the trinity? (Pun intended). If you don't believe in "a god who is self aware" you can "maybe" throw out the word entity. Yet, for some, god is the sum total of things, which includes life, which means you have to put entity back in the mix of abstractions.

And there is your problem in the philosophy section and perhaps here. You have put up a question with four "really big" words. The words in your question are very high on the order of abstraction and worse have no philosophical or theological working definitions among responders. I don't think throwing in Webster's street definitions helps much.

Without some definition of terms you, and even I, have set ourselves up for failure; or at best a cheap but satisfying justification of our own opinions. Hey it makes Q&A work!

The Webster paperback definition of concept doesn't really say much. It does allow one to define definition. Definitions are singular ideas which in usage are associated with certain words, which are labels, which are in turn common concepts.

The best definition of concept I have ever seen was set down by Ernest Cassirer in his work Substance and Function. Cassirer goes into some detail to finally define a concept as: "A mental abbreviation." To appreciate the beauty of this simple definition for work in philosophy and life, and to see how the word concept really transcends Webster's street definition, you have to read his work.

Suffice it to say that a concept is born of reasoning and experiences involving many ideas. As such it is a very high order abstraction for even a simple person.

If you postulate God as a singular self aware being, knowing all and all seeing, then you must read Commandment One as either nonsense; or a statement which presupposes that man first deals with the word god and the idea of God's existance on a conceptual basis.

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." The only all knowing God must know that there are no other gods to put before him! So why write this in the first place? The only answer, with any logic to this postulate in the Judeo-Christian system, is that God fully understands that the human mind will manufacture gods by the very nature of its function.

While I am not a trinitarian, my answer must remains that the god I call God is to my mind an entity, a concept and a definition. There remains but one God however many we may manufacture in our minds. What all this is to the human heart is another matter altogether.

Justice is an entity; the blind lady with one breast exposed sitting atop the Supreme Court, a concept that is part of every modern society, and a definition for the statement; 'when wronged, what to good people yearn for?'

I imagine God is quite similar.

A concept that became a considered entity to believers and a definition to massive non-believers when talking about multiplex religions.

Wow! Thats a pretty deep question.

My take on it is that I would love to believe it to be a concept; something created to unify and further mankind and its ambitions. It helps gives us hope, shape our lives in a better way, and create closure for us when we need it.

God is a good thing for the mass. It helps them through the trials of every day life. When religion is used to better ourselves, then its the best darn thing we got.

Hahahaha, i believe in you, Lord. You got a fan.

"Supreme Being" is a perfectly accurate description, and that term also gives the path to God.... since we are "Human Beings."

You might notice that "Being" is the common ground for both God and humans. This public resource will explain the significance of Being in God's title, and explain the path to God in great detail..... http://gospelenigma.com/ It's in the latter chapters.

I believe God is the sum of all that exists within the universe. I suppose that would make God an entity, or billions of entities.

Have no idea if that is "creative" of not. Typically creationists believe in a monotheistic singular god-man. My answer is more evolutionary, methinks.

Blessings!

No human words can be used to describe God.

God is known to men through His Messengers by the sacred verses with inexhautable meanings. These verses are the mothers of all philosophies.

GU-UN

Being that no religion can get God to show up, he/she remains a belief. People can believe what ever they want, and that's why there are over 1500 different religious sects who have difficulty agreeing on God.

A concept created by men to explain why things are the way they are and as a means to control other men.