Define God

At the exit Rotterdam Alexander on the A20, there is a huge advertisement sign that in bold letters has the following text: "GOD IS LIEFDE" (GOD IS LOVE), without the quotes. Our house is very close to that sign so I see it often. Yesterday, my son read the text out load and to me it sounded like a definition: 'God' = 'liefde'. Not really a equality in the mathematical sense of the word, I said. Fortunately my son ignores reactions like that. I did get me started about how I define God.

God for me is the weighted combination of the set of good intentions, believes, rules, and customs and rituals of the people in my community and of the people in their families. God has a strong voice and in my head; I can have conversations. Faith to me is the believe that knowledge about your God is good thing to have.

Being born in the Netherlands about 40 years ago, it is no my family happens to be associated with a Christian-based faith, Roman Catholics, in particular. My parent value free thinking, and The Bible was not required reading. They preferred to lead by example which worked perfectly fine for me. One of their customs we still practice in our house is to thank God in a small prayer before starting a meal. If you realize how many people had to work hard for us to get that meal, a word of thanks seems very appropriate.

The Bible to me is the written form of the weighted combination of a community of people who lived about 2000 years ago. I believe that what these people wrote was the truth for them. I like that they wrote down their history as they remembered it. It serves as a wonderful anchor to ground them and future generations. This year, I did read large parts of The Bible. I learned that the birth of Jezus changed the way followers of Christ see God. For one thing, that one can look at God as a Father figure.

Time has past by. Believes changed, rules changes, customs and ritual changed. Communities look very different now than 2000 years ago. Did God change? Of course. But make the set of weighing parameters narrow enough and your God is still immutable. :-)

Through centuries of conditioning, communities of people learned to be wary of outsiders to protect their way of life, possession, and very health. And it is still in full effect. Nowadays, it is fashionable to debate how bad it is that the number of people practicing Islam in Holland (the Netherlands of old days) is on the rise. One particular, visible custom of that woman wear a headscarf. For me, it is her way of telling the world that she loves the family and community in which she is born. I think that a woman or girl looks more beautifully without that piece of cloth, but, then she is not the one for me, now is she? Respect for customs, that is what different communities living together ask for. That means don’t stare and don’t preach. Just let them be. And give it time; remember how we Dutch like to dress? Fashion is very unpredictable. And what is fashion other than a weighted combination of the moving average of what communities of people are wearing and the textile techniques of the moment? Make the set weighing parameters narrow enough and we are all naked! :-)

Does the above definition of God seem appropriate for you?