Greetings from London! I hope you’ve been enjoying my Deep Thoughts About God video series so far. Today I’m returning with the third instalment in the series, in which I describe God’s attributes (as far as I feel able to speak about them) and also explain why I believe God doesn’t reveal His nature to us completely during our lives on Earth.
I hope you enjoyed the video! Do you think my description of God’s attributes is fair and truthful? Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts.
In the next video in the series I’ll be talking about the unusual but nevertheless very interesting philosophical topic of God’s relationship with inanimate objects. The video will look at the following question: If God is omnipresent and boundless, does this mean He is actively holding objects in existence, or can objects exist without involvement from God? Stay tuned if this interests you!
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, and thank you for watching this week’s video. Just as a reminder, if you’d like to purchase a copy of the book that accompanies this video series, click here.
Til next time! 🙏🏻
Perfect Chaos 
15 responses to “What Are God’s Attributes? (video)”
Good honest thoughts in your video Steven! A point of clarification on how Christianity defines God. God is Love which is self sacrificial in the Death of Jesus Christ. God permits/allows suffering to occur. Evil is the privation or absence of a good.
I enjoy reading your stuff and keep on searching.
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Hi Matt!
Thanks for your comment, and I certainly hear where you’re coming from in relation to sacrificial love and Jesus. The point I made in the video is that Christians tend to say God is responsible for good, but not so-called evil, which is an attitude I passionately dispute.
Evil as the privation of good is one (Augustinian, I believe) view of evil among many that exist within Christianity. For instance, some Christians say sin, such as a murder for instance, is evil — but it would be hard to describe such an act as merely a privation of good. Actually, I think the privation of good definition of evil is very muddy and unclear. I’ve never found it to be a satisfactory explanation for the existence of evil, if I’m honest.
There’s so much more I could say on the subject, but I like to be brief in the comments. If you follow the series or read the book you’ll see that there’s a whole section on Morality and God which goes into more depth about good and evil.
God bless you and thanks for your kind words.
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You’re welcome! Correct on evil as privation of a good being from St. Augustine.
I never understood Catholics/Christians who ignored the ugliness of Church history. Maybe it is because I have a history degree, but whenever I talk about Catholicism to a nonbeliever and they bring up the dark marks I fully admit the corruption that happened in the past. I am still Catholic in spite of those atrocities because the best version of Catholics (the saints) show me the path of truth!
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What do you mean by “God is really our deeper selves”? I’m also curious about your conclusion that hate comes from God. If God is wholly good, and hate comes from him, it would require the conclusion that hate can be good. I’m interested to hear more on that in your future videos.
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Hi Olivia,
Many thanks for watching, and for your comment.
As I will elaborate upon in future videos, I believe that God’s essence is pure consciousness, and that our own personal consciousness can reunite with this after we die. So in that sense God is our higher self. I believe this due to some experiences I’ve had while in deep meditation.
I never said God is wholly good, you’re assuming that’s what I believe. I wouldn’t describe God as good or evil, I don’t feel qualified to judge Him in that way. But I do believe everything that human beings consider to be good or evil comes from God — that He is wholly in control of everything that happens.
If you keep watching the series, or buy the book, I’m sure you’ll find answers to many of the questions you’d like to ask me. Not to discourage you from commenting — I love responding to comments!
Thanks again and I hope that helps a little.
Steven
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Hi Steven your comments sound quite Buddhist to me. Just an observation.
QP
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Hi QP, I’ve spent a lot of time exploring Eastern spirituality, and some of my experiences with Hinduism and Buddhism have fed into the way I understand the world today.
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Oh that sounds interesting, there are few Christians who would admit to this almost heretical position. It’s too bad really we do have much to learn from one another. I recently had a small discussion with an apologetic christian about how one would describe god, he did and then I put forth a description of mind in Buddhism. There were some interesting similarities in definition. But one seldom finds a christian who is capable of such a discussion. Your thought?
QP
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Hi QP,
I’m personally of the opinion that there are amazing spiritual insights in the Eastern religions, but you’re quite right, such thinking would be considered heretical by many Christians. I personally believe that God is unfolding the lives of every sentient being, whether they are a Christian, a Buddhist, or an atheist.
What’s your take on this perspective?
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Hi Steven,
Thank you, this is a wonderful question. Is god unfolding our lives?
No, not in the “Sunday” sense in which the church conceives. I see a different approach and result. We are actively blooming ourselves. When the flowers of our true beings open we begin to see for the first time with our entirety. This transformation is happening for everyone everywhere regardless of all conditioned or relative factors. We are just all at different stages of development. Think of it as a wide open mountain meadow filled with all sorts of wild flowers. Some are seeds some have sprouts and some have leaves. It’s springtime and some even have fully bloomed.
Now I might say that Mind once it really sees without all our emotional baggage and ideas we begin to see our own divinity. A divinity that we all share. It connects us deeper than family or culture. It is the essence of everything.
Was that too much? I hope not.
Your turn…
QP
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Good point Olivia, if god did indeed create the universe he is responsible for all evil.
QP
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Hi Olivia, I somewhat I understand what you are saying here, though I would disagree with your conclusion. If you believe the Bible to be the true inspired Word of God, there are numerous scriptures that say God hates. For instance Proverbs 12 says God hates liars. Hate is an extreme aversion. Good and hate are not opposites. Just a few thoughts to ponder.
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I couldn’t agree more. For me, God is a god of love as much as he could be a god of punishment. But I think He “punishes” not for retribution per se but for correction and justice. Just as how a loving yet firm father wouls to his children.
(Oh dear, you can totally disregard this. I am no theologian; just an ordinary human who experiences God in her existence. )
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I agree with your conclusions so far. God is mysterious is actually one of my favorites. I love that I can’t understand God fully. If I did, that would put me on the same level as God, which I very clearly am not. I like that I will forever be learning more about his nature. That, I think is very cool.
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Hi Tara! Yes, I think that no human being could claim they understand God completely, so I had to include ‘mysterious’ 🙂
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