To me, God is a word, my beliefs have more the names Universe or Goddess, but it ultimately is all the same thing. My mother says multiple names sometimes when talking to different people, so we can all relate to each our word in our mind. The name we give the higher power, we believe in it because we relate to it, to what it represents. People shun other religions but in reality it's all belief systems. We need to follow what feels right for us, what helps us become greater versions of ourselves. It doesn't matter to me what the moon scientifically is, what it might be to a conspiracy theorist, or that it's just a moon. To me it's a goddess, a goddess which my name embodies, I am inspired at night, I feel good at night, my energy is vibrant at the full moon. To me this coincidence is significant. I have a direct connection to the moon, and I thank her for what she proves for me. I thank mother earth, nature, I thank the god and goddesses of the world, the elements. To me, all this helps me be a truer and happier me, a healthier and kinder me. My mother is a devout Christian, she believes in God, but we both know that he God and my Goddess could very be one and the same, could very well be neither, but that we related to certain words and certain beliefs or concepts. This is how we can both talk of either God or the Goddess and still understand each other, still be one the same page, or compare differences, and know that when one says the other, it means the other, God means Goddess, Goddess means God.
Ultimately, God, or Goddess, as a male or female entity, is a personification. To give a gender is to personify. We do this so that we can relate. The Universe, the Force, the energy around us, could be God/Goddess, could be something else. There is the tangible and the intangible, but there is always proof that creation exists, in many different forms, from many different sources. I relate to the forms that will help me in my life.
When people try to convert me to belief system, it can be frustrating because they want me to use specific terms, use certain concepts, want me to believe those things. They don't understand that I can have my own words, own concepts, and that each our own beliefs can be fluid and meet somewhere and yet be every changing and different, in a sort of harmony.
I agree with you, we all have different ways of understanding the same thing - there's a force/energy which nurtures the way life unfolds, and to every human being there's a different way of relating to it - even without thinking about it. Thanks for sharing your story with me!
It's my pleasure :)