So, what is God anyway?

A friend of mine once said that as a child, God was an old man in long white robes with an equally long beard,  gazing down sternly, wagging an accusing finger, and cautioning her to be good while threatening her with burning eternally in unquenchable in hell fire should she dare to transgress even slightly. She attended a Catholic school run by stern sisters. I am convinced the church used this image bolstered by the concept of original sin to keep active little children in line. As she grew older, she rejected these teachings and left her beliefs.   I am convinced many a faith was extinguished this way.. For her God was guilt and fear. So much for the idea of a loving God.  But more this an example of putting God in a box for a group"s own purposes- an abuse that recurs alarmingly but in slightly different variations.

Fortunately I escaped that fate.

For me God is best described by the name used by many First Nations: The Creator.
For me God is literally the source of everything.   Everything that is created by God, you, me, every animal,  every tree, every plant, every molecule, every atom, every particle, every wave is created by God and is part of God.. Everything in creation is part of God and has a role in fulfilling that creation. Any action that assists the fulfillment of God's creation is holy.  Anything that diminishes creation or destroys part of it, is a sin. Since we are part of God, a sin against God  is also a sin against ourselves.

People love labels. So what label would best describe my viewpoint.  I guess it would be a panentheist: we and everything in the universe are a part of God, but God has a meta presence that extended beyond the universe.