Yeah, if you want to follow Christ, you have to choose. You can admire Christ and His teachings but that doesn't make you a Christian.@YmirGF, I suppose it is a rather wonky kind of question. Though, in any case, I guess the two can't be reconciled after all.It seems to be a matter of integrity. Such, I deem very honorable.
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“Why Don't You Look Into Jesus?”
- Thread starter Sundance
- Start date
Thanks for clearing all that up.
In Eastern Orthodoxy there's more room for many gods but I see it like adding ourselves to the trinity.
InChrist
Free4ever
Possibly polytheism and Christianity as simply as religious practice could be merged, but I don't see that one could reconcile polytheism with a living, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I think more important than trying to figure out or reconcile your past religious views and memories with the present ones would be to simply desire and seek to know what is true.I'm not gonna lie, it hasn't been easy for me as a spiritual seeker. My mind has flipped every which way, to the point where I've lost a sense of my own self.
Mind you, I hold no animosity whatsoever towards it, or towards Jesus Christ, or The Bible. It's undoubtedly an ever-lingering presence in my life (and a positive one, at that, conjuring more than pleasant memories and emotions). However, with my 21st birthday speedily approaching, I realize that I'm on the threshold of the future of manhood, and that I can't hold on to the past. At the same time, though, my past will always be a part of me. I can't deny it. Religiously, I see no reason to distance myself from Christianity (again, despite my polytheism).
My question is: Do you see any way for me to reconcile my past (Christianity) with my present (unlimited polytheism)? Is it even possible or should my past simply be left in the past?
Thanks, everyone. I very greatly appreciate the advice given.
Yes, we become "gods" by grace, but not by nature, in that we share in the communion found within the Holy Trinity. We are always the creature, and He is always the Creator, but yet we become ever more like Him as eternity progresses, becoming ever more perfect in virtue and holiness.
Case not closed!!!! I am NOT telling you what you chose to believe. If you do not believe you are a polytheist, that is your problem.
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
Mary is not the creator nor are the saints. That is why they are not gods because in christianity it is not divinity, all powerful, that makes you a god its whether you are a creator. All other gods spoken in the bible were idols not beings. People worshiped them as If they were god.
Catholics believe mary has no sin. Not sinning doesnt make a person god but being a creator does. Saints have sinned therefore, they are not gods.
Only the creator is god.
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I disagree, the status of being Mother of God, born without sin, and other claims such as being the Queen of Heaven puts Mary as a Goddess.
From: Paganism and Mary | Paganism and Catholicism
"Pope John Paul II believed that Mary intercedes for the faithful who honor her during mass:
As they listen to the word proclaimed in the Sunday assembly, the faithful look to the Virgin Mary...From Sunday to Sunday, the pilgrim people follow in the footsteps of Mary, and her maternal intercession gives special power and fervour to the prayer which rises from the Church to the Most Holy Trinity.ii"
The pictures and statues of Mary are very similar, and contain the same symbols as previous traditional Goddesses.
I have read the sources, no help. It does not represent strict Monotheism as in Judaism, Islam and the Baha'i Faith.
Traditional Christianity describes the Trinity as an assembly of three Gods no matter how you word it. What compounds the problem is believing Jesus Christ is God incarnate.
It is not the same. Pretty much most cultures evolve in their religious beliefs from animism, polytheism (possibly henotheism?). The history of Judaism is one of Revelation the progressive rejection of the ancient polytheism or henotheism. This is very clear if you follow the scripture of the OT through its early history. I believe the tri-theism and/or polytheism of Christianity is not the same history, does not follow the same logic, and evolved from the influence of Hellenist and Roman religious beliefs.
An important issue is that the concept of the Trinity is absent from the OT, and is only inferred by Christians by vague and incorrect translation and interpretation of selective words and phrases.
Jews rightfully also reject the Trinity and the belief in an incarnate God as do Muslims and Baha'is.
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I suppose I could do that, SF. Then, that's what I'll do! I'll just admire Jesus Christ and His Teachings. Thank you, brother.
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Lesser Gods are not Creators in the concept of polytheism like in Vedic Hindu beliefs where the pantheon of Vedic Gods are aspects of the the unknowable 'Source' the Brahman. Also in Eastern traditions the female Goddess comparable to Mary is not a Creator, nor is the female God of ancient Canaanite/Ugarite/Hebrew beliefs,
Being without sin is one aspect of the Divinity of Mary, but Mary being the Mother of God; the incarnate God Jesus Christ, and the Queen of Heaven, are attributes of Mary's Divinity.
From: Queen of Heaven - Wikipedia
"Queen of Heaven is a title given to Mary, mother of Jesus, by Christians mainly of the Roman Catholic Church, and also, to some extent, in Eastern Orthodoxy and Anglicanism. The title is a consequence of the First Council of Ephesus in the fifth century, in which Mary was proclaimed "theotokos", a title rendered in Latin as Mater Dei, in English "Mother of God". "
Important point; I have not claimed the saints are gods in the Christian pantheon. This is a gray area common among many religious traditions including Eastern religions and not considered gods.
This is not the only criteria for a god, but it is the belief in some polytheistic and henotheistic belief systems for the supreme Creator God.
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RoaringSilence
Active Member
Argentinian 'unholy steak'
Drag the cow through the fire, and cut it up warm and bloody.
I'm surprised that I'm one of the few who voted yes, though perhaps I shouldn't be.
Some important features of Christianity that make it easier to do this: (1) of the Abrahamic religions, Christianity is easily the most polytheistic of the three major branches with its plethora of semi-divine figures in its mythos that you, as a polytheist, can simply call deities outright; (2) as Christianity spread worldwide, traditions incorporated aspects of indigenous polytheistic religions creating abundant forms of syncretism to draw inspiration from; (3), progressive or liberal Christianity is a thing, and allows for considerably more flexibility within Christianity than more dogmatic or orthodox traditions.
I wouldn't think reconciliation would be difficult at all, given all that. You'll have to ignore all the people screaming and whining that you're doing it wrong, but that's a thing on every path.
Some important features of Christianity that make it easier to do this: (1) of the Abrahamic religions, Christianity is easily the most polytheistic of the three major branches with its plethora of semi-divine figures in its mythos that you, as a polytheist, can simply call deities outright; (2) as Christianity spread worldwide, traditions incorporated aspects of indigenous polytheistic religions creating abundant forms of syncretism to draw inspiration from; (3), progressive or liberal Christianity is a thing, and allows for considerably more flexibility within Christianity than more dogmatic or orthodox traditions.
I wouldn't think reconciliation would be difficult at all, given all that. You'll have to ignore all the people screaming and whining that you're doing it wrong, but that's a thing on every path.
Ponder This
Well-Known Member
I'm not gonna lie, it hasn't been easy for me as a spiritual seeker. My mind has flipped every which way, to the point where I've lost a sense of my own self.
Mind you, I hold no animosity whatsoever towards it, or towards Jesus Christ, or The Bible. It's undoubtedly an ever-lingering presence in my life (and a positive one, at that, conjuring more than pleasant memories and emotions). However, with my 21st birthday speedily approaching, I realize that I'm on the threshold of the future of manhood, and that I can't hold on to the past. At the same time, though, my past will always be a part of me. I can't deny it. Religiously, I see no reason to distance myself from Christianity (again, despite my polytheism).
My question is: Do you see any way for me to reconcile my past (Christianity) with my present (unlimited polytheism)? Is it even possible or should my past simply be left in the past?
Thanks, everyone. I very greatly appreciate the advice given.
As I understand it, Christianity doesn't say that other gods don't exist. It says that you shouldn't worship other gods. In other words, you should devote yourself exclusively to a particular one. So the core question isn't whether or not you believe in the existence of the Christian God in addition to believing in all the other gods you believe in. The question is whether you are willing to devote your worship exclusively to the Christian God. If the answer is 'no', then you can't reconcile Christianity with your religious polytheism, IMO.
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
This is totally not christianity by any denomination.
1. There are no lesser gods in christianity.
2. Polythiesm is more than one god. Christianity is one god. @Vinayaka about eastern religions. As for buddhism in eastern view, going to the temple and being initiated is NOT AT ALL like christianity and we believe in spirits both ancestral, lineage, and those enlightened and not. Also, The Buddha talked about Brahma. From the other conversation, Brahma is what you want to refer to not Brahman. Both "gods" are beingz but again totally different definition from a buddhist view and Im quite 100 percent possible from a hindu view too.
3. Msry's divinity is associated with being "christ's mother" not god nor part of him. Thats totally weird. Nonone says that of Saint Agustine though. Something about Mary.
4. Mary is a Saint. So, yes, you are claiming them on the same level as god.
5. Creator means someone or thing that made the word or something into being. What created the origin of something. Mary and the Saints dont fit that role.
So Mary's divinity as the mother of christ is not at defined as the divinity "as the creator" with whom would have to be part of the trinity to make that claim.
You have a JW perspective. It had its place when it doesnt insult other religions.
"Mother of God" is a statement about Jesus, not about Mary. As per the Council of Ephesus, Mary being called "Mother of God" or "God-bearer" (the latter of which being a slightly more literal meaning of the Greek word Theotokos) is a defense of Jesus' Divinity. As Jesus is both true God and true man, it is therefore proper to call Mary the Birthgiver of God. Not that God the Son did not exist prior to the Incarnation, but that He continued to be God even while becoming incarnate.
Yeah, you can blame that one on Scholastic theology. The Orthodox don't have a unified opinion. We hold that Mary is immaculate and sinless, but exactly when she became such is another matter. Some say it was at the Annunciation, some say it was from her birth onward.
We only call Mary "Queen of Heaven" because she is a co-heir with Christ, Who sits on the throne of the New Jerusalem. All of us will be "kings [or queens] and priests" (Revelation 5:10), and co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16-17)
"The prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16).
It's not that Mary's a sort of goddess or has some "stuff" that the rest of us don't have, it's just that she is a righteous and holy person, sanctified by God, as we all will one day be.
It may not be monotheism as you believe it, you may not like the rationale and the explanation given, but the Trinity is a monotheistic belief. Trinitarians are monotheists, and all our Fathers have stated as much.
Even if you personally think the Trinity equates to "three separate gods", this is a misrepresentation of what we believe and teach. I say this not to convince you of anything, but to set the record straight for those who may be reading and don't know what the Trinity is.
St. Gregory of Nyssa said in his On the Holy Trinity, and on the Godhead of the Holy Spirit:
"They charge us with preaching three Gods, and din into the ears of the multitude this slander, which they never rest from maintaining persuasively. Then truth fights on our side, for we show both publicly to all men, and privately to those who converse with us, that we anathematize any man who says that there are three Gods, and hold him to be not even a Christian."
Outside the fact that tritheism is roundly denounced by all the Fathers. St. Gregory of Nyssa even has an entire treatise dedicated to this called On "Not Three Gods". Christians are not and have never been polytheists. I have made you aware, so please stop misrepresenting what we believe, willfully or otherwise.
This is not a debate forum, so I won't press the issue further, only to state that we wrote our New Testament and know what we meant by it. The people who defended the dogma of the Trinity at Nicaea, and the divinity of both the Son and the Holy Spirit throughout the centuries leading up to it, were reading the New Testament in the language in which it was written, and were aware of all its nuances. They were brought up in the teachings of the Apostles, guided by teachers who were appointed by these same Apostles. If the Trinity is a lie, then so is the New Testament.
PureX
Veteran Member
Absolutely.I'm not gonna lie, it hasn't been easy for me as a spiritual seeker. My mind has flipped every which way, to the point where I've lost a sense of my own self.
Mind you, I hold no animosity whatsoever towards it, or towards Jesus Christ, or The Bible. It's undoubtedly an ever-lingering presence in my life (and a positive one, at that, conjuring more than pleasant memories and emotions). However, with my 21st birthday speedily approaching, I realize that I'm on the threshold of the future of manhood, and that I can't hold on to the past. At the same time, though, my past will always be a part of me. I can't deny it. Religiously, I see no reason to distance myself from Christianity (again, despite my polytheism).
My question is: Do you see any way for me to reconcile my past (Christianity) with my present (unlimited polytheism)? Is it even possible or should my past simply be left in the past?
But give yourself plenty of time. There is no need or expectation that you must develop such an inclusive theological paradigm, immediately. And in fact, I would say there is no need to do so at all, unless you feel specifically driven to do it.
Religions are just ways in which we humans conceptualize and employ the idea of "God" in our cultures and our individual lives. They are a pluralistic phenomenon by the relative nature of the human condition. And understanding this, it becomes easy to accept them as such. Imagine four mountain climbers standing at the base of a huge mountain; one to the north, one to the south, one to the east, and one to the west. Each climber will see a "different" mountain standing before them. And as they begin to climb, each will experience a very different set of challenges and difficulties. But once they reach the top, they will be sharing the same vista, and they will be experiencing the same sense of elation and accomplishment. Yet even then, not exactly the same.
"God" is a mystery far greater in scope than any one human or group of humans can conceptually comprehend. So no one religion 'has it right'. Each provides a conceptual experience of "God" from it's own cultural, geographical, and historical perspective. Yet there remains much that they (we) don't know.