Questioner
Senior Member
- Nov 26, 2019
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- #1
I've attempted to elaborate on this before, but here it is again for emphasis:
A "god" is simplistic, often childlike icon, graven image, or pictorial representation possibly akin to on of Carl Jung's archetypes. Such simplistic types of images can be used as a representation for anything, much as a simplistic image of "Marvin the Martian" could be used for representing an "alien", whatever a "real alien" would be like.
Such simplistic images are akin to pagan or heathen deities, often believed by the superstitious to merely be "powerful mortals" of flesh and bone, and not "perfect" qualities, often amoral or immoral; akin to how superstitious and empty-headed voyeuristic people view "celebrities" or "famous people" or "historical figures" on TV, or the idiot box, as it's better known, having a superstitious, childish and idolatry, magical or mythical view of them
God, on the other hand, is the Supreme Being of the Cosmos, not a simplistic image, icon, idol, though such images, such as Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" have been used to depict God, despite such images hailing more from Classical Roman or Greek culture. God, of course is not an "image", nor has any physical form, but is a transcendent and abstract entity, only able to be depicted or represented by such images.
In all major world religions that I know of, some type of Supreme Being of the Cosmos, or equivalent thereof in nontheistic religions (e.x. Taoism and some forms of Buddhism) is recognized, often, in some cases, a historically pagan diety was elevated to the status of this Supreme Being, or identified with the Supreme Being, rather than just one of a many other of paganistic gods and their pantheons. (In the Biblical Old Testament, for example, idolatry or graven images of God were forbidden, likely as a means of distinguishing God as a Supreme Being, rather than a heathen deity or idol to be worshipped).
Such mental conceptions of a "supreme being", or entity which takes the place of one, can of course exist in any religion or philosophy, whether "religious" or "secular" (as many secularistic philosophies, such as Secular Humanism, for example view "Science" as a concept or an institution as a quasi-supreme being of sorts, often based on some mythical or historical teleology in relation to the invention of Francis Bacon's scientific method, and its methodologies for gaining knowledge or aiding progressive via technological innovations and such, almost akin to a cargo cult religion, in as far as the popular and superstitious attitudes toward the scientific institution promoted on mass media are viewed by those with low IQ and low reading or literacy levels).
Other social institutions or theoretical institutions, such as the Common Law systems of government, are sometimes quasi-deified in this way as well (the philosophy behind the Common Law, as per Oliver Wendell Holmes, for example, was that law as a system and institution represented a chivalric evolution up from more primitive forms of law and conflict resolution systems, such as blood feuds and informal or private vendettas which were a means of resolving grievances in more primitive and archaic times, prior to the notions of Constitutions, civil rights, courts of law, and so forth, as well as older legal systems such as that of Exodus, or Rome).
A "god" is simplistic, often childlike icon, graven image, or pictorial representation possibly akin to on of Carl Jung's archetypes. Such simplistic types of images can be used as a representation for anything, much as a simplistic image of "Marvin the Martian" could be used for representing an "alien", whatever a "real alien" would be like.
Such simplistic images are akin to pagan or heathen deities, often believed by the superstitious to merely be "powerful mortals" of flesh and bone, and not "perfect" qualities, often amoral or immoral; akin to how superstitious and empty-headed voyeuristic people view "celebrities" or "famous people" or "historical figures" on TV, or the idiot box, as it's better known, having a superstitious, childish and idolatry, magical or mythical view of them
God, on the other hand, is the Supreme Being of the Cosmos, not a simplistic image, icon, idol, though such images, such as Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" have been used to depict God, despite such images hailing more from Classical Roman or Greek culture. God, of course is not an "image", nor has any physical form, but is a transcendent and abstract entity, only able to be depicted or represented by such images.
In all major world religions that I know of, some type of Supreme Being of the Cosmos, or equivalent thereof in nontheistic religions (e.x. Taoism and some forms of Buddhism) is recognized, often, in some cases, a historically pagan diety was elevated to the status of this Supreme Being, or identified with the Supreme Being, rather than just one of a many other of paganistic gods and their pantheons. (In the Biblical Old Testament, for example, idolatry or graven images of God were forbidden, likely as a means of distinguishing God as a Supreme Being, rather than a heathen deity or idol to be worshipped).
Such mental conceptions of a "supreme being", or entity which takes the place of one, can of course exist in any religion or philosophy, whether "religious" or "secular" (as many secularistic philosophies, such as Secular Humanism, for example view "Science" as a concept or an institution as a quasi-supreme being of sorts, often based on some mythical or historical teleology in relation to the invention of Francis Bacon's scientific method, and its methodologies for gaining knowledge or aiding progressive via technological innovations and such, almost akin to a cargo cult religion, in as far as the popular and superstitious attitudes toward the scientific institution promoted on mass media are viewed by those with low IQ and low reading or literacy levels).
Other social institutions or theoretical institutions, such as the Common Law systems of government, are sometimes quasi-deified in this way as well (the philosophy behind the Common Law, as per Oliver Wendell Holmes, for example, was that law as a system and institution represented a chivalric evolution up from more primitive forms of law and conflict resolution systems, such as blood feuds and informal or private vendettas which were a means of resolving grievances in more primitive and archaic times, prior to the notions of Constitutions, civil rights, courts of law, and so forth, as well as older legal systems such as that of Exodus, or Rome).
