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https://soundcloud.com/psalmstogod/defining-god
15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. 1 Peter 1:15-16 KJV
👩🏽 REE: Hey guys! Welcome to the PSALMS to God podcast. Today we're going to be talking about the concept of defining God; this has been a concept—or a question—that I found is particularly important as we're talking to people who don't necessarily hold the same views that we do. Being that, I asked one of my good friends to come and join me to have this conversation, because I know for a fact that we have very different views on religion, and consequently, on God and who God is. So, without further ado, I want to introduce you guys to my friend Walt. Tell us a little bit about you.
👨🏾WALT: I am not religious.
👩🏽 REE: 😂
👨🏾WALT: I'm going to go ahead and put that on the table for context, because I think that is going to come into play in the conversation today.
👩🏽 REE: Of course, of course.
👨🏾WALT: And I'm an academic.
👩🏽 REE: OK.
👨🏾WALT: And, I don't know, anything else will come out as it comes out.
👩🏽 REE: 😂OK. I promise no trick questions! So, I guess the first thing that I want to jump into is when you hear people say "god" what is your first instinct or reaction—like what do you think they're talking about?
👨🏾WALT: So, because I live in the United States—particularly the Southern United States—I usually assume people are talking about the Christian conceptualization of God. And then, I usually start from that frame of reference, where if I do not know anything else about them, I usually think they're talking about god in the sense of a religion that believes in one god; I believe it's monotheism. So that's usually where I go, initially. I think they're talking about an all-knowing, all mighty, powerful being outside of our realm of reality...that is aligned with whatever religion they practice. But I usually see that it's from the perspective of Christianity given that the United States is...the likelihood that that being the dominant religion in our country right now—I'll use the word dominant.
👩🏽 REE: Yeah, statistically I think in the world, in general, the largest religions are Christianity and Islam,[1] which either way you're going to get the monotheistic, all-knowing, all-powerful God figure.
But one of the things that I have encountered is that... I feel like people just throw out the word "god," and even from a Christian standpoint, I feel like people kind of are doing their own thing. The attributes that they may assign to God, kind of fit their own personal beliefs—I guess if you will. As you said, like you generally assumed that they mean Christian because that's the dominant religion in the US. I found, as a Christian myself, when you talk amongst Christians how they describe God may change slightly whether you're talking to somebody who's Baptist or Catholic or Jehovah's Witness or Mormon. Even within denominations maybe depending on how conservative or liberal they are. From an outside point of view, have you ever noticed this?