Sounds like you're confusing henotheism (belief in many gods but worship of only one) with monotheism (belief in many gods).
So you agree that the Bible is not monotheistic as we understand the term?
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Is Christianity polytheistic?
- Thread starter Remté
- Start date
Desert Snake
Veteran Member
Yea, of course not. Even High Angels are called 'gods of the nations', a 'false god', might exist, so forth.
"False god" implies that the thing described is not actually a god.
...but the term you used was "God of gods," not "God of false gods."
Desert Snake
Veteran Member
No , other gods and false gods can be gods. They just aren't the Biblical god.
god is descriptive, it is describing a being that may or may not exist, some false gods don't exist, some 'other gods', we would infer, [from the Bible, do exist. They are called gods.
If your term "the Biblical god" doesn't include how the Bible itself uses the term "god," then I have no idea what you're trying to say.
Desert Snake
Veteran Member
'gods' is used as a word. You know the difference because they are either 'other gods', whether named, or not, or, if the Biblical god is included, uncommon in scripture, however if that does occur, you already know who the Biblical god is, so you're not "guessing".
This is why, the name God, and the word, god, or gods, is clear, in the Bible.
Desert Snake
Veteran Member
Yes it correlates to belief.
However there is also a lot of 'context', in other words, verse cross referencing.
Still not helpful. I still don't know what you're trying to say.
The diagram is wrong. Its internal logic contradicts itself, so it must be wrong.Then they are misunderstandings the Trinity.
God (pictured center), is a single God. These other things are distinct facets.
If the Father is God and God is the Son, then by the transitive property, the Father is the Son (and is also the Holy Spirit, and they're all each other).
rrobs
Well-Known Member
I don't think it's culture or a lack of understanding that makes Muslim's see Christianity as polytheistic. It's what the Christians say that gives them that idea. What would "God the Father," "God the Son," and "God the Holy Spirit" be, if not polytheistic?
The Athanasian Creed states,
"So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God;
And yet there are not three Gods, but one God."
It's as though they think they can wave some kind of magical wand and it will legitimize an otherwise nonsensical statement.
To be sure, there is a "God the Father" mentioned in the scriptures.
1 Cor 8:6,
But to us [there is but] one God, the Father, of whom [are] all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom [are] all things, and we by him.
There is but one God, and that would be the Father of Jesus.
Whereas there is mention of "God the Father," there is nowhere in the scriptures that we find "God the Son" or "God the Holy Spirit" ever mentioned. But even if there were, Corinthians clearly states that God the Father is the only true God. To be more precise, I should say that Yahweh is the only true, almighty, creator of heaven and earth, God. The scriptures do mention other gods, including Jesus Christ, but it was completely understood by the ancient Near Easterners that the word "god" simply meant someone with power and authority. Jesus would certainly qualify in that regard since God granted him those things. That alone should end the debate; why would God have to grant Himself anything at all?
wellwisher
Well-Known Member
There is a difference between the trinity and polytheism. This can be explained with an analogy.
Picture a man called Joe. Joe is a husband to his wife, a father to his children and a son to his parents. Joe is one person, with one drivers license, and one social security card, but he wears many different hats.
He behaves differently, depending on which people in his family he is relating. He does not have a multiple personality disorder. Rather he is consciously optimizing himself to three different sets of needs.
He is firm but fair with his children. This may not work as well with his wife and parents. He is romantic with his wife, but this is not something he should do with his parents or children. He is submission and respectful to the wishes of his parents, but this may not always be useful with his wife and children.
In terms of worshiping God, some do this via stressing the Old Testament; God the Father. Others stress the new Testament; God the son. While others are more free dealing, and work with the spirit; Holy Spirit. God, adapts himself to each situation. There is more than one way to worship God.
Polytheism is like Joe who has no wife or parents but only children. There is also John who has parents, but no wife and children. It is also like Carl who has a wife but no parents and no children. In each case, each man is very specialized to one situation, with little in common with the others.
And yet Joe did not "birth" himself, as Christians say about god and Jesus. I'm just saying that it doesn't seem like a perfect analogy.
exchemist
Veteran Member
No.
As to how I feel about it being "called out" as such, I'd say much as I feel about Obama having been "called out" as muslim.
Whether Christianity is polytheistic or not can only be meaningfully answered at the individual level, because it will be the individuals to perceive and practice with however many (if any) deity-forms might apply.
Whether the doctrine affirms the existence of any specific number and with whichever degree of coherence is entirely secondary, almost fully irrelevant.
That said, there is still a typical situation. Most Christians seem to have a form of soft monotheistic view. One that is indeed monotheistic, but at very specific times seems to present itself as almost tri-theistic.
I see that as a good thing. Not nearly as good as if it were not monotheistic at all, but it still softens the edge of the downsides of monotheism somewhat, and encourages the most perceptive and daring among those raised as Christians to perceive the proper role and nature of god-beliefs, which is very much accessorial, peripherical.
That may well go a long way towards explaining how Christianity avoided so many of the worst excesses of Islaam.
TreeOfLife
Member
Yes I do believe it is polytheism..
Even as we try to force God into one I say why cant God have a son. And that son become his heir.
Joshua Pryce
Member
The understanding of a triune God is hard for a natural mind to conceive. This is why the real God the christian and hebrew God is made the same and similar in likeness to all sorts of other Gods. This shows that the hebrew and christian God is the true God because He is the hardest to understand. He also shows the most love for His creation in the form of the Son Jesus Christ and giving His Holy Spirit, His divine nature to the common man.