God states "I am what I am". Perfection is beyond identification isn't it?

Question

It says this in the Bible here: Exodus 3:14. As a buddhist I accept that God is the "Alpha and Omega" but the first being to exist and last being to exist is something in time. What God truly is, is beyond time. Any described quality fails to describe who God is since it is all so based on things of this time/space we live in.

Answer 1

Yeah, if you make everything predicated of God in Scripture univocal. But, some language used in Scripture to describe God is analogical. When we say God is good we don't mean it univocally (in the same way we use the term to describe our own goodness). When we say God is powerful it isn't univocal to the term we use to describe power of human beings. Secondly, I'm not sure the statement "Perfection is beyond identification" is even an intelligible one. If it's true that perfection is beyond identification, then how could we know anything about it? Wouldn't we need to identify it in order to study it and understand it? Yet, if we couldn't do this it doesn't seem like we could even know that perfection is something beyond identification.

When discussing God we may talk about God in three different senses:

1) Univocal sense—simply describing God in human terms or applying human characteristics to God (this reduces down to idolatry).

2) Equivocal sense—saying God is "good" and that people are "good" without recognizing that the word "good" is used in a different sense (this reduces talk about God down to agnosticism).

3) Analogical sense—in a sense that recognizes language to describe God in a way that is somewhat similar yet somewhat different. This means the only way we can know anything positive of God is to say what he is LIKE. Everything else must be negative, i.e. "God is not a human", "God is not a duck", God is not..." (get the picture).

So, yeah, if you make all terms said of God univocal then maybe it seems like God is a being in time. He seems more like a created being than an infinite, uncreated one. And, yes, it seems like it fails to accurately represent who He is. But, univocal language isn't the only way to go when interpreting statements of Scripture. This is your mistake (I mean that in no disrespect either).

Answer 2

I think the "I am the I am" speech is saying that ONLY God exist and everything else is nothing and an illusion, like Buddha said it was. Perfection is a combination of the Reality of God Consciousness and ordinary human consciousness, or Reality and illusion. I guess it's called "Perfection" since it includes illusion and illusions inherent relative concepts of comparison as perfection and what is not perfect.

Answer 3

I'mna hafta go with what Leslie said.

don't think I've read that one.

Of course, I've never read the entire Bible, so who am I to say anything?

Answer 4

Well stated.  If only we all could live in the reality not that of time. Unreality

Answer 5

As the taoists say "the name that can be named is not the eternal name"  

Answer 6

That depends on whether existence is possible beyond time/space and whatever other dimensions there might be.  I don't suppose it is possible to determine whether God is beyond the container of the universe or not.  That's because we ourselves and our observations are trapped inside of the existence of universe with little hope of escaping it.  The only resort for us is therefore to imagine it possible, yet thought could only carry us so far.  As for the confirmation, that would be out of our hands with our level of technology and imagination at the moment.  We have yet to find out how we came to be in this form of existence in this universe or if we could exit it intact.

Answer 7

God States.... "I am the way the truth and the light".  

There is a song that says I am what God says I am.

I haven't heard your quote before.

Answer 8

9. THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM - P.1037 9. http://www.urantia.org/papers/paper94.ht...

P.1038 - §4 Buddhism is a living, growing religion today because it succeeds in conserving many of the highest moral values of its adherents. It promotes calmness and self-control, augments serenity and happiness, and does much to prevent sorrow and mourning. Those who believe this philosophy live better lives than many who do not.

Part I. The Central and Superuniverses

1. The Universal Father

  

2. The Nature of God



3. The Attributes of God

  

4. God's Relation to the Universe

  

5. God's Relation to the Individual

Short of The Universal Father perfection is doing the very best that can be done with what ever capacities and capabilities we have.

Answer 9

Well, Popeye says this too.  In both cases the words are man made.

Answer 10

"i am that I AM" is the actual quote. referring to one of his known names he refferred to himself as the I AM to moses .

to answer your question......perfection is to be good, and noone one earth is good according to scripture, b/c we cant control our thoughts and the perfect person would have onl holy thoughts be non-selfish,do good for others always......no person is perfect its not possible but god alone is perfect and thats the only way to define perfectness  

Answer 11

god's too lazy to explain anything properly.

Answer 12

Yes, but nothing is perfect. Not even the Christian idea of god fulfills this. Because perfection is self contradicting; something that is perfect is perfect for all things; good and evil, right and wrong, lawful and chaotic.

I agree with you on the sole idea that we will never be able to see something perfect. We will never experience that perfect night, that perfect meal or that perfect god. It cant happen because they would have to be the best and the worst at the same time.

Answer 13

It is odd that as a Buddhist, you would ascribe to the concept of a superior or supreme being / god as the Gautama Buddha, with his last breath, told his followers that there was no god and that each should look for their own answers within themselves.

A better translation from the original Hebrew might read, "I am he that is as he is".

If a supreme or divine being existed and was outside of the temporal reality of the present moment, such would not only be unknowable by humans but it could not exist as all that has physical manifestation is in the present moment, which is the only true temporal reality as past and future are illusions.

As god has been presented by the supposed prophets of the same and in supposed divinely inspired scriptures, the same is simply an exaggeration of man used to explain mans limitation in realtion to what is often understood to be the forces of nature.

One may practice the Noble Eightfold Path and even accept the Four Noble Truths without actually being a Buddhist.

Be well and, please, be wise.

Answer 14

Your question is meaningless. There is no evidence of a god and no verifiable record of a god saying that.

And, if you take the bible at face value, there is evidence that the god of the bible is not perfect.