An old, tongue-in-cheek, explanation for the Western concept of God goes like this; “God made man in His image and man, ever grateful, returned the favor.”
Most people do not want to talk about God with those of a different belief system because they consider it very personal; they also fear that the discussion will become contentious. This reluctance has gotten worse recently because religious beliefs have been closely related to terrorism in public opinion.
A commentary is a good place for me to address the issue because you, the reader, can’t talk back – so this is not really a “talk” about God, it’s purely an opinion piece. Let me start by saying I’m an agnostic by choice. The standard definition of an agnostic is, “a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.”
One may argue about the existence of God, which cannot be proven; however, one cannot argue about the existence of the concept of God, it is everywhere – from a staple in most of the world’s religions to the bedrock of personal faith for billions. Even though I am an agnostic, I do sometimes speculate on what a human-centric God would be, if there were a God and if we could know God. I say human-centric because as far as we know, only humans have the concept of God although not all religions have God, gods (or goddesses).
The concept of God fulfills many roles for humans based on religious and/or personal beliefs, usually a mixture of the two. We have given God many functions, including, but not limited to; God the creator and destroyer, the overlord of heaven, the rule maker, and God the leader, comforter, and savior. None of that explains what is God, it’s only a partial list of some of God’s functions. Is God a being, a spirit, a thought, or some combination of all three and what concept of God allows for all the terrible things that happen in the world between humans?
The only answer I could come up with is that if God exists it has to be made up of all prevailing human consciousness rolled into one at a specific time and, like humans, that would include both good and evil (for lack of better words). Individuals see God from their personal perspective, but rather than seeing human beings as a reflection of God, I believe that if there is a God, it is the reflection of all human traits distributed proportionally.
That concept means I never have to credit or blame God for things that are under the full control of mankind. That explanation works for me and I like it much better than the idea that God did not act because God just does not care or has other things to do.