RE: A book that can change you: The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
The Western conception of God is the god with personhood. Most of humanity and history perceived god or gods as impersonal force of the universe, given a conceptual image. In my experience, many in the West conceptualize God, and their relationship with God, as idealization, magnification, and myth of their childhood experiences with their parents. It is difficult to engage in conversation regarding a personal god because the experiences of human interactions seem to always cloud such discussion.
We tried to help another family regarding their finances, but was met with extreme hostility. Apparently, earning money using financial investment vehicles is "dishonest." The ingrained childhood experience regarding their perception of the world prevented this couple from understanding the reality of the world. And so with God and religion. It is quite true what the Christian God says, when he declared that He will hide truth from men, in order that "they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven."
In the modern world, most so-called Christians I've encountered either perceive God as Santa Claus or an accountant, divorced from sociocultural history that is Europe. Their personal God is reduced to some imaginary rabbit's foot to be called upon when they want something from life. For few others, God is mere intellectual exercise to "debate" with others; though, if God can be reduced to mere logic exercise, He would be quite unimpressive as a god.
That's interesting. Lol, yes, God is Sky Daddy, rabbit foot or Santa. I once asked God to function as a pimple remedy before a first date (it didn't work). Seems a bit silly to me and I can never understand why adults subscribe to it. It's all so obviously contrived.
Wow, that family sound pretty ungrateful. Yes, they let their so-called morals get in the way of a leg-up out of their misery. That reminds me of the joke...
There's a massive flood. A religious guy is standing on the roof of his house, already the water is lapping at his heels. The water keeps rising. He prays to God for help. Soon, a boat chugs towards him. The crew throw him a lifebelt but he says, 'No thanks. I've prayed to God. He'll rescue me.' The boat chugs away. Soon, the water is up to his chest. Then comes a helicopter. The crew throw down the rope ladder but he says, 'No thanks. I've prayed to God. He'll rescue me.' All the time the water is rising. He drowns. When he gets to heaven he asks God why He didn't rescue him. God says, 'I sent you a boat and a helicopter; what more do you want?' :P
I think it's true that humans will always have difficulty understanding; there's so much we don't know about the universe. It's a big mystery for the most part.
God as a logic exercise: yes, it's difficult to translate ideas of what is a god into language or communicate it successfully to others, hence the embarrassing attempts we've seen so far. The same can be said for 'spirituality' or 'the soul' or anything else beyond our limited brain power. If it can't be described or understood or it doesn't shape our reality, it's as good as nothing. Maybe god is nothing, whatever 'nothing' is. It's impossible to know that too.