WHO IS GOD?

There’s no single answer—“God” means different things in different religions and philosophies. Broadly, it refers to a supreme or ultimate reality, but how that reality is described varies widely.

Abrahamic traditions

· Judaism: God is YHWH, the one eternal Creator, holy, just, merciful, and in covenant with Israel. God is not divided into persons and has no physical form.

· Christianity: God is one being in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—the Trinity. Jesus Christ is believed to be God incarnate.

· Islam: God is Allah, the one, unique, all-powerful, all-merciful Creator. Allah has no partners, equals, or offspring.

Dharmic traditions

· Hinduism: Ultimate reality is often called Brahman—infinite, eternal, beyond full human comprehension. Many Hindus also worship personal deities such as Vishnu, Shiva, or Devi as manifestations or expressions of the divine.

· Buddhism: Often non-theistic. It generally does not center on a creator God, though some forms include celestial Buddhas or bodhisattvas.

· Sikhism: God is Waheguru, one eternal, formless, omnipresent Creator, known through grace and meditation.

Philosophical views

· Classical theism: God is the necessary, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good ground of all being.

· Deism: God created the universe but does not intervene.

· Pantheism: God and the universe are identical.

· Panentheism: God is in everything and beyond everything.

· Agnosticism: Whether God exists is unknown or unknowable.

· Atheism: There is no God or gods.

Common divine attributes in many traditions include: creator, sustainer, eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, perfectly good, and worthy of worship. But not every tradition accepts all of these—or even a personal God at all.

So the short answer is: “God” is whatever a particular tradition or person means by ultimate reality, the supreme being, or the ground of existence.