Is God considered to be an imaginary friend?

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Is God considered to be an imaginary friend?

This is because if one asks exactly where God lives, no one can give a good answer as in the White House, Washington, D.C., or in Hollywood, California (a known street address).

One can try to look up God's email address on the Internet and there is nothing there.

God is not listed in the local phone book.

Is God considered to be an imaginary friend?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frk-M-C1vbE[/youtube]

iMagine topic

Imaginary is right.

I personally don't believe in Gods, but I do believe in the possability of an afterlife.

Anyways in a way Gods are sort of like imaginary friends. I'm not a psychologist, but I think imaginary friends are invented by children as a "perfect companions" to always be there for them. And a lot of children really believe their imaginary friends exists and make up detailed stories about them to try to get others to join in in the make-believe that their imaginary friend is real. That's kind of like how Gods work, they get invented with no actual proof that they exist other then the people who "claim" to have seen or been affected by these beings. They gather thousands of people to believe in their religion in order to worship, dedicate, and even kill in the name of these Gods. And over time the stories of these Gods change just like the imaginary friends of children change.

So basically Gods are like imaginary friends for grown-ups. At least that's my opinion.

That really depends on what kind of outlook a person has on the notion of 'God'.

If your belief is that God is someone interactive, someone to share your hopes and dreams with on a day to day basis, someone to talk to if you've had a bad day or are in need of one thing or another (or have loved ones in need) - its not to say that God would be imaginary but, by the motif of behavior in that regard, the capacity that he's acting in is similar.

As for whether God is truly imaginary; we can look at the whole of our existence, as far as we can view into it - present and backward, to the farthest galaxy visible in ultra-deep field photography, we can look at the nuances of human behavior and capabilities (both natural and seemingly not so natural) and come to very different conclusions. My own - God is far from imaginary, though I prefer take that through the lens of the material world and work my way backward rather than adhere to any particular doctrine.

Comedian Richard Jenny said "fighting over religion is like fighting over who has the best imaginary friend."

So, some people have considered it that way.

Well, if you have an oversimplified view of God, then I think God gets reduced to an imaginary friend. "Dear God, please let me win the lottery!" "Dear God, please let me make it big in vegas" That's the epitome anyway. On the other hand, I think we are all fragments of God, and that we are one with the universe and that if we realize out oneness, we become closer to what can be termed as "God". I believe this is a basis for morality as well.

God is our Lord and Creator, not our Friend.

ruveyn

I was in the Laundromat the other day doing my weekly laundry and this old guy was there perusing the women’s magazines. We got into a discussion about religion and I asked him if he believed in God.
“Well,” he admitted, “I am God.”
I asked him to prove it and he said he could turn water into wine, a very popular trick. With that he turned to my washing machine, made a strange gesture and grinning, disappeared out the door.
Sure enough, my washing was flooded with wine. A hell of a mess and I had to pay for a second wash.
It wasn’t that much of a trick. I watched closely and can do it myself now but it only gets me a third grade Chianti. And I make no claims about being God. But maybe he was God. He was friendly enough.

i bet he looked something like george burns.

Well God is certainly imaginary, now whether or not he is friendly is another matter entirely. I suspect those who did not get onto the imaginary ark and metaphorically died in the imaginary flood might well have an opinion.

Nope. Morgan Freeman.

ruveyn

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ruveyn - Why do you write that God is our Lord and Creator, not our Friend?

Also, in the movie - Fiddler on the Roof - it is clear (to me) that the milkman, Tevye, considered God his Friend since he had conversations with God during different parts of the film.

By the way, my preliminary approach to whether God is a Friend or something else is along the lines that when one adheres to God's Commandments (the 10 written in stone), then God is a friend; if one departs from the written in stone commandments, God may or may not be a friend.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K10C:_Kids ... mmandments

That's kind of a covenant - an agreement written in stone - between God and Moses/Moses' followers/Judaism (Judaism which was later stolen/revised a little by liberal Judaism aka Christianity).

- pgd

Tevye was constantly asking God to do the Right Thing. It didn't work.

ruveyn

Some people truly believe that Jesus exists. Some believe that Krishna or Buddha or Thor or Osiris or other Gods exist.
Who is right?

I think were manifestations of God. I don't see the point in making a distinction between God and man. The more we realize our oneness with God and the universe, the closer we get to God., The more we kill each other and hurt each other and don't do unto others as we'd want done unto ourselves, things in complete conflict to the knowledge of our oneness, the farther we slip from knowing God. I don't see sins as violations against gods wishes, so much as consequences for not loving and respecting each other enough. I also think begging to this God isn't gonna get you anywhere. God's and the rest of the universe isn't going to come to your rescue, because they're too busy running the laws of nature. Humans are the appendage of god only capable for solving their own problems for the most part. I think there's arguments that some consciousness, fractally dispersed through space-time, might make itself known through synchronicity.