... I just can't get Rev to agree to some form of vocab to refer to the divine in all its forms...
I have no idea what you have in mind. What do you mean by "form of vocab"? I presume you simply mean, vocabulary. OK, let's dialogue about this rather small vocabulary--stock of words--which we have in English, to refer to "the divine in all its forms".
In my World Book Dictionary (WBD) there are only three such words, or nouns: god, goddess and God--all anthropomorphic (human like) nouns. And in my opinion, none of these describe real beings which exist as objects of worship.
In my opinion, these nouns in no way express what I have in mind when I think of the divine--which I think of as total, universal and all encompassing Being, or Spirit. This includes the no-thing, which we call vacuum, or space (GØD, for short), and the every-thing (GOD, for short) into which the cosmos is expanding--at the speed of light? Awesome.
WE NEED A NEW WORD
==================
BTW, every letter category in WBD begins with a set of acronyms, with meanings added. G has 11. If I had the power, I would add number 12 and 13: GØD and GOD, for the reasons given here.
Keep in mind, as WBD spells out, the ancient Greeks and Romans had an anthropocentric theology--a belief in many human-like gods.
The idea of monotheism--one, and only one invisible god--was foreign to their way of thinking. Plato--he probably was a moral and ethical monotheist--was condemned as an atheist because he doubted there were any special and human-like gods on mount Olympus.
Eccles, what do you make of this: In John 10:22-39, we read that Jesus was condemned by his fellow monotheists because he said that we are all gods,
if we choose live and
act like it. He and Plato were on the same track, IMO. Both were advocates of living moral, ethical, or god-like lives within what I call the GOD-ness, Order and desirable Design of Reality [in short form, GOD]. Nowhere do I insist that anyone has to use the acronym that I use.
ANNOYING?
Ellis, why is this "very annoying"? Where did I insist on "all the possible permutations of supposed divinity"? I don't!
You say,"I think he knows that, and only 'does it to annoy, because he knows it teases." Believe you me, this is the farthest thing from my mind.
Incidentally, it seems that atheists have no problem describing non-existent fairies and unicorns, agreed?
Well, how come some--not all--draw a blank when asked: Describe the kind of gods, goddesses, or God--for which you say there is no evidence--talked about in the god hypothesis? What comes to your mind when you hear believers talking about gods, God?
