What is It About God? | Episode 1504 | Closer To Truth 

These episodes are so good. They are like something you’d be lucky to catch on TV a couple decades ago. Hidden gems on the Internet.

I LOVE THIS CHANNEL!! this is what people should be busy with. Instead of being busy with gathering riches.

This series is so addicting!!!! I see so much of myself in Robert Lawerence Kuhn and have battle this question for 13 years.

BTW I consider it a wonderful, marvellous privilege to have access to these stellar interviews . A thousand, million thank yous, Robert. xxxxxxxxxxxx

Can’t people just enjoy the discussion for its own sake? Must we insult each other, or try to convince others of our own beliefs (or lack of). Please.

How in the world has Robert Kuhn not talked to Dr Stephen Meyer ?!?! He is the one “expert” he has always, always, been seeking.

I'd love it if Robert would interview Gregg Braden of Gaia's Missing Links show.

I think that we have a natural intuition that understands god.

God provides meaning to everything and for everyone

I've always believed that the very first thing every newborn baby learns is that there is a "higher authority" to come to their aid - a nurse, the mother etc coming to their comfort. As the days pass and the early years go there is normally a "higher authority" there to fulfill needs. As young children realize that their parents and other adults are not all powerful it is easy to see the wish for a higher authority such as a God to exist to provide security. When parents teach children there is a God it is hard to shake for many through adulthood. I think that very first lesson moments after childbirth drives many in a lifelong search for a God.

Regarding this episode: a fellow engineer friend of mine died for 30 minutes at home from factor 5 clotting, and confirmed dead for 42 minutes in the cath lab, where he fixed the c arm x ray unit used to clear his clots. We thought he would be a vegetable after revived. It's understood that he is certainly an anomaly, some say miracle. A few years later, he told me some of his experience. He told me he WAS an agnostic, and that he got sent back for his wife, he said he asked God about the religions of the world, what was the true one, and god put the image of a mountain in his mind, and the top off the mountain represented the greatest degree of spirituality any human could hope to achieve while on earth. And that the religions of the world. and my friend spirals his hands from the bottom of the mountain to the tip top, and says they are the the pathways to get to the top of the mountain . To achieve the highest degree of spirituality. They are all good. They are for you. Because you humans need that kind of thing. That's how you are. Other details were that before being seeing "god" he saw his life flash before his eyes as he died, saw a white light, but no tunnel, he was then in a black infinite void, but he felt extreme peace was able to move according to his thoughts, move around with great speed, and felt magnificent (he pounded his chest like king kong and seemed insanely excited as he stood in front of me). Before I had never witnessed him to be so excited. Then, he was surrounded by billions of orbs, that were the souls of the universe, the orbs loved him unconditionally, he saw 360 degrees and assimilated their knowledge and while over there seemed to be part of a collective of all of their accumulated experiences, and that they were one hive mind, but individual as well. He said he exchanged life experiences in first person with them. He wasn't allowed to remember these experiences, or the knowledge there because he says he's back in this tiny human mind. He said time didn't exist. He took almost 3 years to assimilate here he says because we are animals on earth, unlike over there. He says we are "animal" here, beholden to our physical needs, fears, and ego. He has no desire for earthly possessions, wealth, they are of the earth. He wished he never got sent back. He said you think this is real, don't you? I said well, yes. Feels pretty real to me. He points to the ceiling, and says: "That", "THAT IS Reality, this is the dream. Curiously, another engineer a few years later told me the night my friend died, he with several on call engineers and co workers came in to observe the surgery, and he stayed out in the waiting area with my friends wife to provide support. But he says she was beside herself with grief and was praying out loud and on the floor of the waiting area praying profusely for God to bring her husband back to her. He said she was almost prone on the floor, it was a scene. And my friend who died knows none of this other than, he got sent back for his wife, and he feels he got pulled out of the void because at first, the orbs welcomed him, but then after what seemed to him like 30 years in the void, they all of a sudden said , he's got to go back. But they didn't have the authority to do anything about it, they were just saying it. He knew this because they were one collective consciousness, that's when he says God came without form and he was told he was going back for his wife. He also said he realized the void was a temporary holding area, and if he left it, he could never go back to earth.

I think this episode wraps up Dr Kuhn's journey so far. I found the diverse opinions interesting -- not convincing, but interesting. I like this channel: The content keeps me informed of the different opinions and approaches to God.

I very much liked what John Polkinghome had to say about God.

I have a question about where God is in relation to ourselves. It is possible that we are in the mind of God living in existence as one with him?

I liked that all the academics interviewed pointed to the ineffable, unknowable nature of God. The mystics of all religions teach that we need to EMPTY our minds of concepts, to know the transcendent, not fill our minds with more. “Be still and know that I am God” etc. IMO, conceptual ideas of God therefore start in the wrong place. I want to ask instead “what are people relating to when they pray, or meditate or attempt to interact with God?” and then “What is our (human) experience of God?”. In the former case, it seems to be some deeper part of our mind, that speaks when we are still, whether that is some Ultimate Reality or Universal Mind we can only guess. In the latter case, it is an often life changing, transcendental experience of unity, or ultimate otherness, universal love, or awesome infinity/eternity, spiritual release or the destruction of ego. All these things are experiential. Hence whether they are “real” or not depends whether you assume reality is fundamentally physical, or experiential. That is the profound change in perspective I think that Christopher Knight alluded to, where the world looks both the same, and yet totally different to the theist and the atheist.

Thank you

If this life were some kind of test, or step, or path to perfection, even a simulation...it makes sense the abscense of clear indisputable evidence of God. It would be too easy if there were

He's all Loving the highest of all Love

It's a shame he doesn't do more interviews outside the Anglo-Saxon World. You know, just to get a different Weltanschauung. Still, it's a very good show. It seems that Kuhn is obssessed with death and the actual possibility of it being the end of our existence and that concept is not only frightening but also unfathomable.

These episodes are thought provoking and presented in an easily accessible way which encourages the viewer to look at the subject from multiple viewpoints and with excellent production values ! As a student of Vedic philosophy primarily reading The Bhagavad Gita and The Srimad Bhagavatam it amazes me that these deeply profound philosophical and scientific questions have been answered by these books in such an eloquent and measured way it makes me appreciate them even more 😊

The marvellous single thing about “god” is how your individual imagination can create a myriad of variations about your personal invisible friend.

The guy Hugh McCann, his little segment was quite interesting, I dont think I have read anything from him, but I certainly will now.

There's something incredibly scary in the way that religious people can talk with a sure heart about such unknowable matters.

Another excellent episode. There is something much more basic - visceral about the notion of “god”. It should instill the idea and importance of humility. We are WAY far from being the biggest kids on the block, and so backwards we “haven’t found aliens yet”.

"Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child." ... Robert A. Heinlein

God explains human experience of consciousness, free will, language and awareness. God makes sense of reality.

He's so Loving caring and funny He makes me laugh all the time and feeling happy and good inside Love God this is all that matters ask Jesus for forgiveness God Bless

If there's such a thing as The Ultimate Paradox, no doubt it will have to do with God. Even if God won't have existed.

It is really interesting that some of these commentators can get away with so much of circular logic and/or self referential logic. In any other discourse of human activity one will be laughed out of the room. Think of this scenario: They: "Robert, you owe me 1 million dollars." Robert: "Why?" They: "Because the first statement said so". Should Robert even entertain such logic? I would not. Would you? Just defining something with arbitrary properties to a thing does not make it exist. And lastly, how do these commentators know what they are saying about it? They have special receivers not every one has? And they differ among themselves!

“You can’t raise any scientific questions that are relevant to the existence of such a being...” convenient AF.

I am not sure this line of questioning can lead to the ultimate answer, the truth. I think the truth is to be had in much simpler ways, in ways to overcome one's skepticism of how to reach the faith. The facts of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus should point the way. The rest is up to us, to our action. Beyond that there is unending philosophy.

As an atheist I'd say Inwagon had the best to say, limited as it was. A God so tenuous his calling God a being should have 'being' in quotes, meaning 'kind of like'. In terms of regular religions, what he said would be a pebble they build a basilica on. Is Inwagon's God seperate form its creation or does 'he' reside in it?

God, God, oh God!!!!

"God must be the end of explanation." God as an explanatory device to end a infinite regress of infinite regresss. 'Ha, ha, ha. We got the answer. We're the rational ones. If you can't answer, say, where the world came from, then you must bow to us.' I've always thought that was the big gun of religion.

Dear Mr. Kuhn, There is no meaning in all these concepts I analyse, viz. "Free will, consciousness, Truth, ... ", so long as I haven't defined "I" as a particular sequence of particles and specify a definite criterion of proof related to satisfaction of my needs to verify the accuracy of the theory I assume as to the origin of those particles.

You want to know more than you know, and that more is about God. Someone said....

Very interesting discussion.

God not a person (Keith)? Or is God the source of all personality, being the ultimate, even the absolute, personality. And that we can, (and should), have our very own interpersonal relationship with God... (Our possible mission, should we choose to accept it...)

I try to leave God alone, but He won't leave ME alone !@#%!

Simulation hypothesis makes most sense to me

Yes, I think one of God's very essences is perfection. But where do we get our sense of perfection? Why do we care about it (other than perhaps the fact that things that are perfectly made, work very well, for a long time). One could even call it a "perfection hunger". One book says we have a spirit fragment of God indwelling our mind, which serves as our perfection compass. It's there to help us make the relatively speaking, perfect choice, with regard to relationships, for example. I do not think it has anything to do with choosing the perfect outfit.

God is the universal quantum wave function .

What is it about God? It's a simplistic catch-all answer to difficult questions.

“I AM” God reveals himself to all people through their reason and built-in desires and to teach them about himself, and to prepare them for the coming of Christ.

One have to consider the following... God could just as well be just a creation of the human mind ! That is why we find so many human manifestations of a higher being, we call "God"... we have to understand... we cannot, and will never know completely !!!!

God is a spiritual being, you can't see him unless he wants you to.

What difference does it make whether God exists or not?

God is a feeling,a thought,a vision, in everything and everyone until we know and feel it how can we know god.

How ru imagine after life, how long we will stay after life, are we going work there to make liveing

If we are allowed to be skeptical about God, then we should be allowed to be skeptical about our own existence.

Regardless of how God is being defined here I think by definition he would have to be a person of some sort. Primarily because obviously we are all racking our finite brains to understand someone we have very limited knowledge of and have a difficult time grasping. The only way I believe we can know him on a personal attribute level is that by necessity he reveals himself to us. Which to me implies intent or will to be known. Now we have to ask has he already revealed himself to us? If so when, how, etc?

You dont dig too deeply, just sometimes where there is no water..

God Be Cause

19:45 Is there a ping pong tournament going on in the background?!

There is no easy way too say this then to just say it and say it because it serves as the best example. First let me ask do you think your annus which is part of your own body is aware that it is part of a sentient being that is aware and has free choice, or part of a being that can think ,create, love, recreate? That is the same problem God had with Cosmologist.

Maybe God is simply the collective wisdom of thousands of years of ancestors and has been perhaps attributed more than He deserves?

We do not exist but nothing do exist ...

Thumbs up if you watched this episode to the end.

It seems that whatever the god, it must follow the rules of logic. So how can he then be incomprehensible and transcendent?

In the 20th Century it is absurd that intelligent people Believe THAT AN ACTUAL God exist Beyond being JUST A WORD WE USE TO EXPLAIN OUR IGNORANCE OR INABILITY TO UNDERSTANDING the mystery of OUR BEING.

God is Rick Sancez!

Oh God, please sir! Just come down or from wherever you dwell and just tell us once and for all what you are to end all of this mystery. I wish! ...It's driving me crazy. My brain hurts. So many opinions and arguments it's exhausting. I don't know what to think anymore

Any God with a mind is not perfect by the fact that minds are not perfect. So if you like to start debating what kind of unthinking unconscious God exists I'm very interested in hearing an argument about a God that has no intentions. Azathoth anyone?

How many people here would be absolutely livid if in fact God exists? And why?

Its fascinating. Gravity is much like god it spans the universe. But it can't be seen. It has no mass or molecules. And we don't know really how the attraction works. We only see what we deem the. Effect of gravity. It's a the,phenomena. That we often call gravity. But there isno hard evidence. Of it. Just and effect of attraction. In the universe. But that's it,,,

god cannot be evaluated no enough words and meaning can give value ,because if we give value or evaluate what god mean we give the limitation of what god is

With all expansion he becomes more ov watt he iz...

God is a programer

Yes, please give it up. All claims for such have either been falsified or are unfalsifiable. “We don’t know” is the only honest answer to the question, “Is there a God,”

They make a lot of differentiation between we shouldn't assume God and we should assume it's not God. They're different yeah but God if you don't assume it is no different than not assuming magical unicorns exist.

A lot of people, who believe in God, also believe in Angels, Fiends, and the Devil. And ancient Greeks and Romans believed in multiple gods, who had all kinds of conflicts and problems with each other. These gods were powerful, but they weren't perfect. According to recent archeological finds, anatomically modern humans have existed for close to 200,000 years. But people's idea and belief in one almighty and all powerful God has arisen only about 3,000 years ago. And one big reason why many people have converted to this new idea of God is religious violence, coercion, and discrimination against unbelievers. Although God is supposed be perfectly good, people have often used the idea of God to justify all kinds wars, war crimes, and atrocities. This idea of perfect goodness has led to a lot of badness in human behavior. Which is a paradox to think about.

Arguably the most problematic concept is God.

Always interesting to see some fairytales hold more reality in some people's than others. Might be a God, sure. If there is, I'd wager everything that I have and am that this God is nothing like any religion pretends they know is the true God. There Ya go theists - prove me wrong

Perhaps humans are not even capable of defining who God is in terms we can understand? Once he created the rules of THE universe is even he capable of playing outside the rules? Could he have a triangle where the interior angles do not equal 180º?

Interviewing physicists, theologians, and philosophers is fine, but i would think that by including others who claim to have had some type of direct experience in the topic might provide another perspective. For example, many psychonauts and near death experiencers have reported profound and even life-changing encounters with what they describe as God.

If you want to know what it is about god, you have to ask the creator of god, that would be man.

Infinity is not a real number, because any real number minus itself would equal 0, but infinity minus infinite is not a definite number. Therefore, assuming God with infinite power and infinite knowledge does not exist and is not real.

I don't understand, why these people in the comments seem so closed minded? I don't believe in god but I love entertaining the idea, reading and learning about the perspective of others about him. Why does talking about anything other than science make you people so bothered? God at the very least as he exists in the mind of believers, is a very interesting concept in my opinion, the way these sciency atheistic folks talk sounds like they are in some kind of secular religion. Please, Im genuinely curious, why the need to be this hard headed and defensive, no one here is questioning science, we are just curious humans like you questioning and exploring ideas about reality and our existence.

We are born with the Spark of Divinity ! We are Sovereign we are Free ! We love our neighbor as we love ourselves ! We are Stewards for Nature and all life !!!

imagine a green world. if you lived in a green world, it would probably look a lot like this one, maybe exactly the same. you would have no idea the entire world was green. now, imagine somebody comes up to you one day, saying "hey by the way the entire universe is green." how would you react?

There must not be a contradiction between this very abstract concept of God as being itself and God as being an entity of some sort you can have a personal relationship. At least the great philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas didn't seem to have this kind of difficulty. Alas, for myself this is not the case so far.

Which one u threst , good atheists person, or evil religion person

I think a lot about what if they made a good movie out of the Stranger. Like if Paul Thomas Anderson or David Fincher or Denis Villeneuve or a woman's name that's not coming to mind at the moment directed it. When have you ever seen an unattractive picture of a revolver?

Want to understand god? Study the rosicucians. Their craft seems to understand the tools to help one grasp the nature of the architect and it's duality.

8:24

I appreciate people having different views and I applaud you for surviving this painful discussion. I wouldn't have the patience for these people you interviewed in this episode. Such illogical positions and so many false dichotomies

7:10. God as hypostation of mind, intelligence. Mind, apparently, without context, without a reality to have to deal with.

Karl Barth: "Let God be God." If God does not reveal himself to you, you will never be able to know God. Human reason is useless here. God speaks; we listen.

ACHRISTIANS are totally lost in their views of God's being, descriptions, attributes and characteristics; they seem to worship their own views of God instead of worshipping Him.

Some thoughts when you the observer came into existence say 1967 wouldn't this literally mean the universe began when I came to be can you close your eyes aren't you limited in doing anything answer no you can travel at the speed of light with a thought maybe hmmm

What about the kalam argument?

*EXISTENCE itself is proof to know there is a HIGHER* power. To say *otherwise is a HUGE fallacy! (Whether we want to anthropomorphize it or NOT!)* Thank YOU💖😇💖!

God is the will to exist, pure and simple.

....it’s that whole playing hard to get thing inherent to non existence 😉

The theist is out to prove the atheist is out to disprove I'm neither out to prove nor disprove whatever is is whatever is not is not

The people in this video are delusional for believing in things without EVIDENCE. These people are living a fantasy

I bet odd nerdrum was rembrandt in an earlier life.

I like turtles

The Buddha gave a perfect answer to the Q who is God? Does God exist? God is the absolute ultimate beyond of existence and non-existence. The Buddha just remained silent. For God cannot be defined by words, conscripts or human constructs. Laozi gave similar answer: The Way that can be said or described is not the Way道可道非常道. Perhaps God is beyond the dimension or realm of the human mind or understanding. The modern civilisation is overwhelmed or conditioned by the Western definition of God as described in the Christian Bible. As if God were like a person full of flaws of human emotions of jealousy, prejudice, vengeance, and of course also love, wisdom and compassion. God is symbolised as a judge and sanction morality, human conducts and behaviour. It would be great if Professor Lawrence Kuhn can interview Hindu gurus for their ideas. Perhaps the Spanish mystic put it beautifully: When you know yourself, you know God.

God is an excuse... A panacea... An answer to an unknown question A pacifier A way to cure your cognitive closure problem God exists, but only in the head of believers