On God in the Bible

God, in brief.
God, in briefs? I wear boxers.

What does the bible say about God?
God is YHWH, I am who am, or, in the JW (Jehovah's Witnesses, who came by today) bible, Jehovah, something like 'he who will prove himself to be'. It says, tell 'em "I AM" sent ya. It says God is One, love, and a man of war.

Let's look at each of these four identities of God:
1) I AM
To me, this just means that God is reality, nature, existence, the Universe, everything, all. God didn't create the universe, he IS the universe. But if you go back to before the big bang, then you can also say God is that, too. His name is I AM, and he just is. He is because he is defined as being. You can't argue with that. Atheism is negated, by definition. I think, therefore I am. I am, therefore God is. Am I saying I am the universe? I am. Just as my finger is me, I am a part of the universe, not separate from it, and so I am the universe.

existence is called "creation"
In terms of the "Creator", we ask who created God? Well, he always was and always will be because he is defined as being itself, whether or not there is even one particle of matter in the entire universe. He would still be the void. Some believe the universe was made from nothing. Poof! Presto, universe. I don't understand that realm of physics, or if that is even possible. I know physicist say stupid things like because we don't know where something is, it only exists as a probability. As if things only really exist when we perceive them. So, God created himself. Of course, there was never a "before" God, as he is defined as always and everywhere. Presto! God. Not only does he exist by definition, but "he" exists as the word itself. The word exists.

God is the Word.
The bible says, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was God." 'God.' God doesn't exist for a baby, until someone introduces the concept/word. God creates us, and we create God. God is a meme that we pass down through the generations, that survives because it helps us survive. Okay, maybe I messed that up a little. Your parents loved you, and so God existed in that sense. And they talk to you, so He exists in that respect, as well. 'He' also means laughter, and we always try and make babies laugh. Thirdly, 'God' itself is a word, which is introduced at a young age, to help children make sense of the world (that they can revise later).

2) God is Love, and God is One
God is love, and your parents making love is what (probably) created you. Presto! God the creator. Man and woman become One, in the act. Thus, one is god. You don't have to be an advanced mathematician to figure that One out. Love is not loving, of course. Love is not simply making love. It is the trinity of agape, eros, and philia. Sex is only one leg of the triangle. Making love is another way of saying creating God. For a parent, their child is God. If they have more than one child, God is still love, in the unity of purpose toward raising and loving them.

3) God is One
God is also one, because monotheism requires belief in One God, as one being. Secondly, if a religious "body" is to have unity, they can define themselves to be the body of God, one in the spirit, one in the lord, or what have you. God is a unity of being/single individual, and a unity of community.

4) God is a man of war
God is love, and evil is therefore hate, which causes suffering and all the rest. The devil is a hater, and loves to hate and make hate. This is where military psychology comes in. Should a soldier of the lord hate the haters? As my mom would say, you hate the act, not the person. Thus, you hate the hate, not the hater. But that makes you a hater, too. I would take the next step in logic to be, you shouldn't necessarily love the hate, but you should love the hater. And you should of course love yourself. What I'm saying is a soldier should not sacrifice himself as a gesture of love toward his enemy (who presumably hates him). A soldier almost always believes he must kill if it is kill or be killed. The 10 commandments say thou shalt not kill. So maybe no one should join any militaries? Presumably, God fights for peace. Jesus went by "the prince of peace." If killing is a sin, how can God be a man of war?

I answer this in 4 ways.
First of all, killing one's enemy is an act of last resort. All possible means must be taken first to turn one's "enemy" into someone who can see your perspective, at least, before ideally making them into your friend.

Secondly, war doesn't necessarily mean killing. It can be using "force" to fight for kindness, etc. against the forces of hatred, cruelty, and destruction, usually referred to as forces of "darkness." Force can be spiritual, and intellectual, and not just through the barrel of a gun or physical strength.

Thirdly, this verse comes from the old testament, and presumably applies only to "God's people", the Jews. I am not jewish, and I see no reason why God would choose a certain people, but not humanity at large, in his infinite capacity, but if the world at large is to see God as a man of war, then perhaps we can interpret this to be a reference to the military of a theocracy such as Israel, the Jewish state. It could also be the militaries of the United States, for example, "one nation under God" or of Libya, an Islamic republic, with a solid green flag to represent Islam.

Fourthly, God is love, so God fights, using any means necessary, one might surmise, for love (i.e. peace/kindness/unity). Jesus said to love your enemy. What is love? 1Cor13:4 says "love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." War, as America is in currently, is about national interests (Actually, we could say its about oil interests, or Dubya's interest in seeking redress on behalf of his father). So, presumably, loving one's enemy does not entail killing them. Kindness doesn't kill.
Aside: (debate and discuss) Love, unlike America, does not seek its own interests, the bible says. Jesus embodied this by allowing himself, without opposing, to be sacrificed on the cross, to do God's will. He identified his interest with God's more than his own, just as a soldier presumably identifies more with national interest than his own (or as much as). Soldiers are willing to die for their country. This is the meaning of honor. Or is it stupidity. Maybe both. If America is to be God's country, it must be rooted in love (not money, and oil, for example).

Obviously, "any means necessary" does not include any acts contrary to the precepts of love, such as harming someone in self-interested rage at wrongs or slights that snaps! and does not endure any longer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. But, we all know warriors kill. God says thou shalt not kill, only God is good, and vengeance is mine, sayeth the lord. So what does the lord do, how, and why, in his enacting of Vengeance? What is loving-vengeance? Is a "soldier of the lord" ever justified in violence? What about me, who is (playing with?) the identity of being God himself?

As God is love, I would say if someone is "in love" they are "in God", and therefore an extension of his being. They are not responsible for their actions, for they "let go, and let god." I admit, pairing "let go and let god" with "god is a man of war" is a bit scary. Upon reflection, I take that back. We are always responsible for our actions. If you go apeshit, and get all Mai Lai (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mai_lai) on the world, you can hardly call that Godliness. We have some measure of control over exorcising our own demons, I believe. God is pure, and has no demons in him (that he can't defeat). Can people be "possessed" by God, and not be held liable for supposedly "wrong" behavior? This is where the law is lenient toward perpetrators of violent acts. Violence is not always wrongdoing. It can be done in a spirit of love. For example, if someone is raping your child, and you knock them out cold, or kill them, if you have to, your action is an act of love, I would say. In jewish mythology, there is mention of the gollum, who is a kind of undead creature who kills to protect Jews. If someone is a gollum, does that qualify as being "possessed" by God? On the other hand, I would say joining the military is usually fuelled by the desire to kill, and to become powerful/lethal, under the guise of honor, service, integrity, and other nice-sounding values and virtues.

Like I've said before, it's all mind control, and whatever.

Personally, I believe killing is just wrong, and the strongest soldier is the army of One who fights his own inner demons to the end, refraining from any kind of violence, no matter how savage and cruel his demons or reality may be. As the bible says, he who endures to the end shall be saved. Of course, this is not always possible, and the end may come sooner than later without appropriate self-defense. Endurance can be too much to ask of someone who does not believe in a heavenly reward. A life of utter misery possessed by the devil cannot be endured, and some measure of necessary kindness to one's self must be made, even if at the expense of another. Sometimes, life is hell. Maybe the violence itself IS the heavenly reward. Maybe God wants us to fight, literally, against evil.

Love believes all things. That's a pretty crazy statement.

I don't believe in an eternal hell, or an omnipotent God, or even a heaven (after life) to be "saved" for, though. You've just gotta do what you've gotta do. Jesus was crazy. I don't even believe in YHWH. I believe in me, myself, and I. That's my holy trinity.