The Definition Of God

Citizens of western society, when discussing the issue of God's existence, seem to have assumed a certain type of deity to be the one that exists, if there is a God at all.  Within the context of their conversations, people seem to mean by the word "God" a personal "male" deity very much resembling the one worshipped by the planet's three primary monotheistic religions.

This represents a problem.

Americans are often assuming an inherited definition of God largely without inquiring whether or not the culturally preconceived idea of God is the most rational one to search for.  The Kalam cosmological argument would only prove the existence of one "uncaused cause", not multiple ones, and thus applying Occam's Razor shaves off polytheism as a likely reality.  But proving that a deity or first cause exists tells us nothing about certain features this being possesses.  Is the deity what we would refer to as "male" or "female", a god or goddess?  Androgynous?  Does it have limited or full foreknowledge?  Does it have a concern with personally connecting with or fulfilling our lives?  Is it still in a current active relationship with events in the universe or on the earth?

Clearly the answers to each of those questions dramatically alters the way we would refer to and understand the type of deity that exists.  Still, the concept of a monotheistic god with attributes shared by the gods of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam seems to be what someone is generally speaking about when they mention the word "God".

As always, people must use caution in defining terms and assuming something when searching for truth.