There Are a Thousand Gods. Is It Impossible To Make Choices?

thomas_t

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According to Dr Michael Shermer, there are a thousand gods around*. And many more non-theistic religions.
Here is an overview of the important ones: BBC - Religion: Religions
Atheists commonly say that it makes no sense to believe that one religion has it right and all the others fail in some sort.
But why don't you take into account those deist religions
- that are still active as opposed to Germanic religions or the Nordic ones...
- that promise an afterlife.
... and make a choice according to what they say?


Thomas

*see minute 7:40 of the video posted here LINK.
 

Not David

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According to Dr Michael Shermer, there are a thousand gods around*. And many more non-theistic religions.
Here is an overview of the important ones: BBC - Religion: Religions
Atheists commonly say that it makes no sense to believe that one religion has it right and all the others fail in some sort.
But why don't you take into account those deist religions
- that are still active as opposed to Germanic religions or the Nordic ones...
- that promise an afterlife.
... and make a choice according to what they say?


Thomas

*see minute 7:40 of the video posted here LINK.
*Most of the religions are local
*If you want to look into an Universal religion then the Abrahamic ones are the right ones (in this case Christianity).
 
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Freodin

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According to Dr Michael Shermer, there are a thousand gods around*. And many more non-theistic religions.
Here is an overview of the important ones: BBC - Religion: Religions
Atheists commonly say that it makes no sense to believe that one religion has it right and all the others fail in some sort.
But why don't you take into account those deist religions
- that are still active as opposed to Germanic religions or the Nordic ones...
- that promise an afterlife.
... and make a choice according to what they say?


Thomas

*see minute 7:40 of the video posted here LINK.
What difference do you think this should make?
 
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klutedavid

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According to Dr Michael Shermer, there are a thousand gods around*. And many more non-theistic religions.
Here is an overview of the important ones: BBC - Religion: Religions
Atheists commonly say that it makes no sense to believe that one religion has it right and all the others fail in some sort.
But why don't you take into account those deist religions
- that are still active as opposed to Germanic religions or the Nordic ones...
- that promise an afterlife.
... and make a choice according to what they say?


Thomas

*see minute 7:40 of the video posted here LINK.
The God of Christianity has been seen, spoken to, and touched. How many other religions out there have God in human form?

How many other Gods in human form lived a life of love and caring. Then sacrificed themselves, in love, to save their subjects?

How many Gods in other religions, predicted that they would arrive and sacrifice them self, centuries before they did?

How many God's in other religions accurately described the nature of man?

How many God's in other religions look like this?

Ezekiel 1:26-28
...high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him. As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
 
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Freodin

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Is that some kind of "our stuff is special, so it must be true" argument?
The God of Christianity has been seen, spoken to, and touched. How many other religions out there have God in human form?
Well, a lot of religion have gods in human form, that have been seen, spoken to, touched... and in a lot of examples, have had much more intimate contact.

The idea of "God becoming human" is rarer, simply because it already depends on a certain idea of that God. But even these exist, for example in the hinduistic "avatars".

How many other Gods in human form lived a life of love and caring. Then sacrificed themselves, in love, to save their subjects?
Is that the standard to which gods need to be measured? Or are you just starting from the assuption that your theology is the correct one, and all others have to follow suit?

How many Gods in other religions, predicted that they would arrive and sacrifice them self, centuries before they did?
Same problem as above.
And, just as above... the problem is that of course your religion does assert that... but does have slight problems demonstrating it.

How many God's in other religions accurately described the nature of man?
Even without knowing every single religion, I am quite confident to say: all of them!
Because religions are made by man, specificall to explain "the nature of man" (and their relation to the rest of existence).

How many God's in other religions look like this?

Ezekiel 1:26-28
...high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him. As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
I can only repeat myself: is this the standard to be considered a god?
 
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thomas_t

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What difference do you think this should make?
it's a counter argument to the ones proposed by atheists. They say it doesn't make sense to assume that one religion got it right and all the other have it wrong.
But it is as fellow poster @Not David has wisely put it. If you narrow it down to worldwide religions... then you need to choose between 5 and not 10,000. Please correct me, if I'm wrong with the numbers.
5 is a small number so it's checkable. You can make informed choices.

Assuming that - in times of globalisation - a local religion should be given the same credence as a world religion to begin with doesn't make much sense, in my view.
A loving God would always try to spread his knowledge I think...
 
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Freodin

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it's a counter argument to the ones proposed by atheists. They say it doesn't make sense to assume that one religion got it right and all the other have it wrong.
But it is as fellow poster @Not David has wisely put it. If you narrow it down to worldwide religions... then you need to choose between 5 and not 10,000. Please correct me, if I'm wrong with the numbers.
5 is a small number so it's checkable. You can make informed choices.

Assuming that - in times of globalisation - a local religion should be given the same credence to begin with as a world religion doesn't make much sense, in my view.
No, sorry, cannot follow you here. For the correctness of a religion, the spread of it has not much relevance.
And that would be an important point for Christianity especially. Consider that the original form of Christianity - Judaism - was and still is very much a "local" religion. It's deity - which Christians claim "is the same now and then and who does never change" - was very much a tribal deity. The whole OT... and much of the NT as well... is about the special relationship between this god and his chosen people, the Jews.
What came later... is just a sign of how much the followers of this religion tried to spread it... not if it is correct. Truth is not a function of numbers.

A loving God would always try to spread his knowledge I think...
Yes, so you think.
And, strange coincidence... so do I. Another reason why I do not believe in the Christian God... or any other deity.
 
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Norbert L

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But why don't you take into account those deist religions
As a Christian I do take into account those deist religions because dispersed within the pages of the Bible with the aid of the DDS and ancient near east writings, you can produce a coherent report and witness about what has gone on in the spirit world.

The issue the average person like myself has, it's no easy matter to connect the dots and put this understanding together in a rational and coherent form. Thankfully we do have much larger brained Christian scholars that put the pieces back together again for the average person.
 
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A_Thinker

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According to Dr Michael Shermer, there are a thousand gods around*. And many more non-theistic religions.
Here is an overview of the important ones: BBC - Religion: Religions
Atheists commonly say that it makes no sense to believe that one religion has it right and all the others fail in some sort.
But why don't you take into account those deist religions
- that are still active as opposed to Germanic religions or the Nordic ones...
- that promise an afterlife.
... and make a choice according to what they say?


Thomas

*see minute 7:40 of the video posted here LINK.
Choose the One which addresses you ...
 
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thomas_t

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No, sorry, cannot follow you here. For the correctness of a religion, the spread of it has not much relevance.
And that would be an important point for Christianity especially. Consider that the original form of Christianity - Judaism - was and still is very much a "local" religion. It's deity - which Christians claim "is the same now and then and who does never change" - was very much a tribal deity. The whole OT... and much of the NT as well... is about the special relationship between this god and his chosen people, the Jews.
What came later... is just a sign of how much the followers of this religion tried to spread it... not if it is correct. Truth is not a function of numbers.
if you want a religion of love and not only a "correct" religion, then God's attempt to reach nation comes with the territory.
Bible says that God supported spreading the formerly local religion into the world.
 
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Freodin

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if you want a religion of love and not only a "correct" religion, then God's attempt to reach nation comes with the territory.
Bible says that God supported spreading the formerly local religion into the world.
If the "religion of love" is false... wouldn't a system that combined both be better?

And I know I was a little cryptic in my response... I understand why you didn't get it.
I do not believe in a "God" who "attempts" to reach out and spread his local religion into the world... because "God" seems to be extremely bad at it.

Humans on the other hand... well, they have a certain human expertise with spreading their ideas.
 
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cloudyday2

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And I know I was a little cryptic in my response... I understand why you didn't get it.
I do not believe in a "God" who "attempts" to reach out and spread his local religion into the world... because "God" seems to be extremely bad at it.
Why should we assume that a God wants to tell us the sorts of things that religions put in their holy books? Maybe a God only becomes involved as needed. For example, if it is important for some person to adopt a cat then God might inspire that person with a dream about adopting a cat. But otherwise God might prefer to be a passive observer.

I agree that the disorder and disagreements within Christian theology are good arguments against any Christian claims that knowing a particular theology is crucial to God's plan. On the other hand, there are other ways of looking at Christianity. Maybe Christianity is about knowing a person such as God or Jesus rather than knowing rules and truths.
 
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Freodin

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Why should we assume that a God wants to tell us the sorts of things that religions put in their holy books? Maybe a God only becomes involved as needed. For example, if it is important for some person to adopt a cat then God might inspire that person with a dream about adopting a cat. But otherwise God might prefer to be a passive observer.

I agree that the disorder and disagreements within Christian theology are good arguments against any Christian claims that knowing a particular theology is crucial to God's plan. On the other hand, there are other ways of looking at Christianity. Maybe Christianity is about knowing a person such as God or Jesus rather than knowing rules and truths.
I have no idea. I may have my own ideas of what or how a "god" should be - in the context of several other philosophical ideas. But mostly I am reacting to the images of "God" that are presented to me.

And as yet, I haven't seen any such image that I do - or even could - believe in.

What you said basically comes down to a non-religion-focused variant of the problem the OP is based on. "God" could be the one of this or that religion - or, as in your case, he could be of this or that nature.
The problem stays the same: they cannot all be right... but they could all be wrong.
 
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ananda

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why don't you take into account those deist religions - that are still active as opposed to Germanic religions or the Nordic ones... - that promise an afterlife.... and make a choice according to what they say?
If you narrow it down to worldwide religions... then you need to choose between 5 and not 10,000. Please correct me, if I'm wrong with the numbers ... 5 is a small number so it's checkable. You can make informed choices....Assuming that - in times of globalisation - a local religion should be given the same credence as a world religion to begin with doesn't make much sense, in my view.
Bible says that God supported spreading the formerly local religion into the world.

Argumentum ad populum. Even your chosen scriptures preach against this view: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few." Mt 7:13,14 (RSV)

- that promise an afterlife.
A loving God would always try to spread his knowledge I think...
if you want a religion of love...
Why should these things be the criteria for choosing a religion? Why not ones that promise nibbana instead? After all - imo - it's not god nor an afterlife that one truly seeks, but the unending peace, bliss, and happiness (aka nibbana) that such concepts promise. One would not pursue those things (god or an afterlife) if those things promised unending pain and suffering.
 
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thomas_t

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Of course the answer is obvious, it is all cultural. Do you know of any kid in a Christian home becoming a hindu without exterior influence..?
in my opinion all religions are cultural but this doesn't prevent a real religion from spreading inside this culture - and beyond.
I know of a friend who grew up in an entirely Muslim background and she claims to have had a dream from Jesus - now she is a Christian in Germany.
 
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