I've met someone like that.


A lawgiver who controls everything.
The major religions refer to God as a great spirit that fills everything. When God spoke to Moses he specifically commanded Moses not to make graven images. He gave his name - YHWH or "I am" - the self existent one. Christianity defines God as omnipresent. The Islamic faith still forbids images of spiritual things. So we are looking for a great spirit that fills everything and governs everything? God sounds like the laws of nature.

Intensely personal
The personal and the social are opposites, by definition.

If you want to feel personally empty then get a million "friends" on Facebook, and live in the middle of a big city. You'll be on Prozac in no time. But if you want to really know yourself, climb a hill and gaze at the stars. Get a pet dog - preferably two or more. Dig the earth and grow food.

No matter how lucky you are with other people, your deepest, most personal relationship will always be with nature, the universe.

Made in her image
We share the same DNA (with very minor variations) with all other living things. The carbon that makes your body was forged in the heart of a long dead star, using the exact same laws of nature that make you what you are today. If an alien in a different dimension, with different physical laws, were to discover a single human being, they could deduce what our entire universe looks like, more or less, because we are made in her image.

The creator and parent
The universe created everything. What more needs to be said?

She has a purpose for life
If you are alive then you have purpose: to survive. That is how evolution works: we adapt in order to survive. Any other purpose, and we would not be here. And survival leads to happiness. By definition, because happiness is our brain's recognition that things are going right. We survive best if we expand our horizons. So survival means onwards and upwards, and always something new! The purpose of life is exciting!

Moral laws, rewards and punishments
All moral laws are based on survival. Individuals have a better chance of survival if we work in groups. Cooperation is the basis for all moral laws: do not steal, do not kill, do not lie, do unto others as they would do to you, etc. So the laws of nature are the final authority on cooperation, and thus on morality. Break these moral laws and your society is less likely to survive. Keep them and your society will prosper.

A conscious being
Every part of the universe interacts with every other part, through numerous forces and particles that continuously spread out at light speed. So by definition the universe is aware.

The universe is aware of some events more than others. Some things are so far away that light cannot yet reach you. Others are so close that every tiny interaction has almost instant results. So from your point of view, the universe's awareness is concentrated on you. Concentrated awareness is the definition of consciousness.

She wants us to believe
It is easy to argue that the universe is just a thing, a soulless collection of atoms, a machine. But it is just as easy to argue the same about humans. The more we study biology the less room we find for "the ghost in the machine."

The difference between humans and machines is who controls who? Ultimately, the universe controls everything. So whatever it is that makes us "not machines," it counts even more for the universe.

Answering our questions.
The universe will answer our questions through science. We only have to ask, and listen (by recording the results of experiments), and the answers come.

Help in times of crisis
If your needs and questions are urgent, the universe has provided us with brains and with friends. No matter what the problem, if we use these tools we are more likely to survive and prosper.

Miracles
A miracle - or magic - is any event that is too complex for us to understand. The natural world is full of miracles. Technology is full of miracles. If you do understand something, you merely push back the boundaries, until you find something you do not understand.

As for urgent miracles, the universe has given us an infinite store of the unknown, plus brains that are very bad at statistics. So coincidences and unexpected events happen more often than we expect. So if everything seems hopeless, try again and trust in the universe for help. Miracles do happen!

Prayer
Prayer is a way to:
* think about moral laws,
* talk about our problems,
* take time to meditate, blocking out external noise.
* declare our allegiance to others,
* and promise to act.
All of those things makes a positive outcome more likely.
So prayer works.

Feelings
Feelings are summaries of multiple past thoughts and experience. Sometimes they are hard wired through DNA - we feel something is dangerous because over thousands of generations only those who feared it have survived!

However, feeling are an average of many past experiences, so the judgment may not not apply to every experience. And they refer to our own experience, so may not apply to others.

So the universe communicates truth through feelings (if the problem is complex or urgent) as well as through science (if the problem is simple or we can afford the time).

The universe loves us.
The universe has created us and provides all we need, and is open to give us anything else we could possibly want. It's always there for us and will never condemn us. If that isn't a definition of love then what is?

The sum of all truth
What is truth? Logic. It can be expressed mathematically. 

Physicists have shown that the particles that make up the universe can only be explained in terms of math. (As Pythagoras pointed out thousands of years ago.) Ultimately the universe could be explained as one vast equation. In other words, the universe is literally the sum of all truth.

Eternal and unchanging
Time does not flow. How could it? Things only flow with respect to something else. How could it begin? Nothing can make it happen, as change implies that time already exists.

What is time? A way to organize connected realities. The universe - the sum of those connected realities - is thus eternal and unchanging. Theoretical physicists know this, and treat time as one more factor in their equations, albeit a very interesting one.

Life after death
God gives us life after death - see link.

Why say 'God' - why not just say 'universe'?
It is frequently claimed that the universe is uncaring: I want to challenge that view. It is frequently claimed that there is no evidence for God: I want to challenge that view. It is frequently claimed that science and religion are fundamentally opposed: I want to challenge that view.

Do you worship the universe?
Worship comes from the Old English 'worth-ship.' It simply means something is worthy of respect. It is good to respect the laws of the universe - such as gravity, statistics, or the benefits of cooperation.

Conclusion
Believers and nonbelievers should not argue when we all believe basically the same thing.

·	God is a lawgiver who controls everything
·	God is personal
·	We are created in God's image
·	God is the creator and parent
·	God has a purpose for us
·	God is the moral authority
·	God is a conscious being
·	God wants us to believe
·	God will answer our questions
·	God will help in times of crisis
·	God intervenes through miracles
·	God answers prayers
·	God can speak through human representatives
·	God loves us
·	God is the sum of all truth
·	God is eternal and unchanging
·	God offers life after death

What is God?

Summary

Everything that can be said about God can be said about the universe.
We use the word "God" when we speak of the universe's personality, love, and purpose.
We use the word "universe" when we speak of God's atoms.

Jesus Christ

I was raised as a believer in Christ, so this section is about him. Many of the principles probably apply to other religious leaders.

Prophets, messiahs, avatars
How do we learn about the universe and about moral laws? Through people. Therefore those people represent the universe. For some it's Jesus, for some it's Carl Sagan. For some it's Nelson Mandela.

Why follow anyone?
Humans work better as groups. Groups need leaders. The best leaders inspire, they do not need force.

But Jesus is God?
Most of the "Jesus is God" claims come from the letters of Paul. Paul did not know Jesus personally. I am not a follower of Paul.

Can you follow Jesus and also someone else?
You can be a Christian and also something else, as long as that something else does not contradict.
* Jesus said "he that is not against us is for us" (Mark 9:40)
* Jesus said "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's" (remember that Caesar was considered divine)
* Jesus remained a practicing Jew until his death. The first generation of believers remained as Jews as well.

But he said "follow me"
Whenever Jesus says "follow me" it is in the context of him leaving (Mark 9:31 etc.), so it simply means "follow these teachings." Dozens of times he said he was sent from God. So he simply meant follow God: he was only the messenger (Mark 9:37 etc.)

What does he save you from?
Any leader saves us from the disadvantages of being alone. Jesus provides entrance to the biggest group in the world, the Christians. Of course, some people like being alone, but most things work better when we work together.

"Is Jesus your personal savior"?
Yes. I benefit from him personally, just as I personally benefit from many great teachers.

Is Jesus greater than other great teachers?
Not according to his own words. Jesus' followers are always obsessed with "who is greatest" but Jesus condemned that question (Matthew 23:12, Mark 9:31-40, Luke 22:24-27, etc). To emphasize the point, just a few lines after John 14:6, Jesus said that others would do greater things than he did (John 14:12).

The way, the truth and the life
"Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the father except by me." (John 14:6)
Read the whole chapter, and the one before and after. Peter is worried that Jesus will go away and the people won't know how to get to heaven. So Jesus said, "Getting to heaven, finding truth and life, is simple - just follow my teachings. And it works the other way around too: anyone who finds heaven finds my teachings."

The resurrection
Jesus spoke about his leaving in John chapters 14 through 17. He explains how one person lives after death through another person:
"I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you."
Jesus had to leave in body so he could return in spirit, he gave his life so he could be with them always.

The physical resurrection?
We all regenerate forever, but the idea of same-body ascension comes from the last verses in the book of Mark. By comparing the gospels, and seeing who misses out what, you can see that Mark came first and the others are largely based on him. Those last verses of Mark are not in the oldest copies, they were added later.

It seems like that Jesus survived a short time after the crucifixion, as the gnostic gospels teach: he still had the same damaged body, not a perfect resurrected body - he showed the wounds to his disciples. Nobody saw him after a few days, except in dreams and visions, but he lives on through his disciples exactly as he said he would.



The true church

Is there only one true way?
There may be shades of gray, but everything involves choices. In most choices, one choice is better than another. In that case the best choice is the "right" or "true" choice. It is the only right or only true way for you at that time.

Is there only one true way for the world?
Sometimes one leader or other will claim that his way is the only right way for everyone. Usually that leader has only limited authority. For example, if you follow Jesus then you do not have to believe every church leader, only Jesus.

Your local religion is (probably) true
But if the universe has chosen to place you in a certain culture and time, then your ideas and relationships will be formed by that culture and time, so you will usually function best there. So nine times out of ten the local religion is right for you.

What if your local religion has problems (or you have unusual talents)?
All churches have problems of some kind, but if the problems are insurmountable then you must decide: come to some agreement (e.g,. "I will do X but not Y, agreed?") or leave.

Appeal to covenants
Churches often require a covenant to obey (e.g. by baptism). But the church's involvement is based on the church representing God. if a church ceases to represent God then it breaks its part of the covenant and is no longer part of the equation.

Appeal to authority
An appeal to authority is a sign of apostasy. Jesus said "by their fruits ye shall know them." And when he sent forth his apostles he promised miracles. Later he promised the Holy Spirit. So the good works, miracles, and the feeling you get when listening to them is your proof. If a person needs to state his authority then he doesn't have any.