If it is what Jesus and Paul said.
This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
John 17:3
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
1 Timothy 2:5
-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
Monotheism
- Thread starter Jake1001
- Start date
If it is what Jesus and Paul said.
This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
John 17:3
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
1 Timothy 2:5
Fear makes religion.
Fear keeps the religious religious.
Fear made monotheism (worshiping one God must offend the other Gods so we must adhere to only the most powerful God and ignore the rest).
Today, many Christians fear the alternative to heaven (burning in the fires of hell, which, according to their own bible, they will, because they supported the war in Iraq, which Revelation clearly says God commanded them not to do).
Originally, the Jewish religion was polytheistic, like the surrounding religions (and many of the Jewish beliefs seem to be derived from earlier religions).
The Christian and Muslim religions are spin-offs of the Jewish religion. That is, essentially the Christians and Muslims are some sort of Jews. This notion highly offends many of them. Many Christians, for example, insist that Christ, the founder of the Christian faith, was not Jewish. This is particularly popular in antisemitic Christian areas such as Germany.
Fear keeps the religious religious.
Fear made monotheism (worshiping one God must offend the other Gods so we must adhere to only the most powerful God and ignore the rest).
Today, many Christians fear the alternative to heaven (burning in the fires of hell, which, according to their own bible, they will, because they supported the war in Iraq, which Revelation clearly says God commanded them not to do).
Originally, the Jewish religion was polytheistic, like the surrounding religions (and many of the Jewish beliefs seem to be derived from earlier religions).
The Christian and Muslim religions are spin-offs of the Jewish religion. That is, essentially the Christians and Muslims are some sort of Jews. This notion highly offends many of them. Many Christians, for example, insist that Christ, the founder of the Christian faith, was not Jewish. This is particularly popular in antisemitic Christian areas such as Germany.
ajay0
Well-Known Member
I would like to state here that there are monotheistic sects in Hinduism as well , namely, the Kabir Panthis, Lingayats, Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj and Prajapita Brahmakumaris who all worship a monotheistic incorporeal God. They have all been associated with much needed social reforms in Hinduism.
The Prajapita Brahmakumaris worship God as an incorporeal point of light.
I have created a thread describing the correlation between God and light in various religions...
Interesting correlation between God and light in major world religions...
The Prajapita Brahmakumaris worship God as an incorporeal point of light.
I have created a thread describing the correlation between God and light in various religions...
Interesting correlation between God and light in major world religions...
Hi Pengie, agreed, you are clearly a deep thinker.
Hi Quint, so you think it was a bad outcome to become monotheistic?
Many religions changed to Monotheism over time. I think that the same forces push them toward Monotheism (fear of offending minor God's so everyone sticks with the strong scary one).
Actually I'm not a Christian. I define myself as an Abrahamic liberal because I believe in one God. I'm not afraid to swim with the sharks in the Abrahamic DIR
Samael_Khan
Goosebender
Apparently people are most likely to follow gods that they can relate to, hence why polytheism was so successful because each god had human traits. Monotheism had two failed attempts in Atenism and the original beliefs of Zarathustra Spitama because people couldn't relate to a non-anthropomorphic god. The first successful monotheistic religion was Judaism, which evidence shows started of as a Henotheistic religion. It became monotheistic after the Babylonian exile possibly because they had to deal with how their God was beaten by another, resulting in them saying that no other gods actually exist and that they were conquered because the only true god rejected them. Christianity has various god believes, ranging from Unitarianism to Gnosticism to Greek Orthodox Trinitarianism and Western Trinitarianism. The original Christianity hadn't dealt with the relationship between Jesus and God properly which lead to the councils dealing with the godhead, so it seems like Christianity started out as a religion in which they were trying to combine monotheism with another religious form that people could relate to, hence why the Jesus of Christianity is so attractive, because God loved each individual so much that he died for them, the ultimate act of love.
Why did we become monotheistic ?
Through conquest and the destruction of non-monotheistic religions in communities except for Judaism which largely keeps to itself.
Lack of imagination?
No. Monotheism appeared after polytheism. Monotheism was less relatable than other religions, so people actually didn't have the imagination to comprehend monotheism which is largely abstract until the philosophy of it evolved gradually.
How about non-anthropomorphic?
The anthropomorphic was easier to comprehend than the non-anthropomorphic and still is. That is why the Tanakh often uses human imagery to describe God and even the Quran does such a thing. They use anthropomorphism in the figurative sense.
Is Christianity monotheistic ?
Yes and no.
Samael_Khan
Goosebender
For what reason?
Not really - the unfortunate bit was exclusivist monotheism that engaged in systemic cultural (and at times actual) genocide of anyone who disagreed with that perspective. Monotheism need not be exclusivist, nor does it need be so aggressively intolerant of other theologies to the extent it tries to wipe them off the face of the earth. Most notably, Judaism didn't exactly take that approach. The Jews were pretty content to live and let live instead of being all up in everyone's faces with their god.
because 3 all powerful equals none are more powerful than the other therefore, there really is no god as all 3 are gods but whos the god among the gods? It makes no sense.
Remember, different theological perspectives have different assessments about the powers and capabilities of the gods. The notion of some "all powerful" singular deity is unique to monotheism and absent in nearly all other types of theism. As such, multiple gods with different powers and domains makes perfect sense outside of a monotheist context that presupposes god must be "all powerful."
How'd that work out for Zeus and his buddies? You can't have more than 1 "true God" otherwise there really is no "True God". It's like having 2 or more steering wheels in a car, who decided when its time to turn left or right? They both do? OK well you just run into a tree lol
Are you legitimately interested in understanding polytheist theologies or are you just interested in mocking it?
I am not mocking it, so summarize what i have said or at least trying to say is that, imo, polytheistic theology does not make sense to me based off everything i have read, heard, watched and talked about. I am definitely open to hearing what you have to say on the topic as i hope to learn something new.
Hi 1213, no prosthelitizing in the Debate forum !!
Hi Clara, I’m on-board. You are a brilliant Abrahamist!
Samael_Khan
Goosebender
Well yeah, then to us it would make the most sense, but what makes sense to us depends on our limited knowledge at any given time, therefore what makes sense isn't the best method in determining the nature of god/s or how many there are, if there are any at all.
Okay, thanks for clarifying! Your analogy was problematic and doesn't reflect polytheist thought.
The concept of a "true god" is a non-starter in polytheism, for one - all the gods are "true gods" as the concept of "false gods" was largely invented by exclusivist monotheists who were all "my way or the highway" instead of "we respect your culture and your gods."
As for your car analogy, to the polytheist, there's still just one steering wheel. But there's also the actual wheels. And an axle. And seats. And seatbelts. And glass. And so on. And there's also a road. And the ground. And the space around the car. And an entire landscape full of a bunch of other individual things all over the place. All of which play a role in determining that which is and all of which can be more or less deified depending on the culture. To put it simply, polytheism is a basic recognition that different aspects of our world are... well... different? That a bird is not a tree? That mom is not your dad? And so on...
Sorry, I don’t understand what you mean. Please explain?