Why One God?

[Lyndiette]

Seriously, to some people the idea of more than one God is just ludicrous, and they have to...well, here's a conversation I had with my mother a year or so ago.
"No, I dont believe in the Christian God. I'm Pagan, therefore, I believe in multiple Gods"
(After all the 'No you dont, you're christian' stuff) "So...these other 'Gods', what do they do"
"Well, basicaly some of them work with different types of nature or even different actions. Like hunting, or i dont know, carpentry"
"So they're like...patron Saints?"
"No"

And a similar reference to saints and angels came up when i had this similar chat with the school/diasis (i know i've spelt that wrong) priest. He couldn't understand that beings of power could be anywhere near together without breaking into holy war every day. so he condensed it to the level of angels, and i didn't have time to argue, because i had Business studies to worry about.

So, a few questions.
1. Why do many chrisitans find the idea of multiple Gods so hard to comprehend?
2. Why do you only believe in one God?
and 3. Who is this (Christian) God person anyway?

It's not at all difficult to comprehend the idea of 'more than one god'. It's purposely rejected as truth. The very definition of 'god' demands that only one exists.

It would be like giving a 1st place trophy to all the contestants, when only one truly is the winner (that's not to say the one true God is competition with anything... He's not.)

 

[Epiphoskei]

Maybe not Jesus' taught morality, but the bible's got some pretty unmoral sounding stuff in it. And if you dont know what i'm talking about, you'll have to read it again.

I am aware of the common accusations of immorality in the Bible, however I will maintain the Christian God is Righteous. We ourselves as societies imprison and kill those who deserve it for their own wickedness. Why can God not judge the wickedness of the world likewise?

Actualy, I think the christian God is the first thing I'd come up with if i was making up religion. Something that does everything and is always good? it just sounds too simple, too easy, to unreal. How can it do everything? how can it always be good? - we see he isn't always good on several occasions.

Good, when applied to wicked humanity, does not always mean beneovlent.

 

[RedBalfour]

Lyndiette: vbmenu_register("postmenu_36674309", true);

1

capitalized : the supreme or ultimate reality: as a : the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped as creator and ruler of the universe b Christian Science : the incorporeal divine Principle ruling over all as eternal Spirit : infinite Mind
2 : a being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship; specifically : one controlling a particular aspect or part of reality
3 : a person or thing of supreme value
4 : a powerful ruler

Searched for an online defenition. There are several. you're just looking from it at a chrisitan angle. God or god or Gods or gods can mean anything realy. I take it to mean a mixture of 2 and 1.
And who's to say there's a first place? Who's to say there isn't? You can't tell me there's even a competition. And I never said they were equal, most mythologies have a King/Emperor/Cheif/Head-God that keeps an eye on the others.

I am aware of the common accusations of immorality in the Bible, however I will maintain the Christian God is Righteous. We ourselves as societies imprison and kill those who deserve it for their own wickedness. Why can God not judge the wickedness of the world likewise?

I didn't say he couldn't. I just hate it when people make him out to be some kind of saint, if you'll pardon the pun. But i'm sure they're not 100% clean too. My Gods are Righteous too by the way.

Wicked humanity? You only have to look at what we've achieved to see that we're far from wicked. In history, we've done more to help eachother than to hinder. We've got our fair share of evil deeds, but you're pretending like we've done nothing good.

It makes you sound like a puppet. I've heard a few other christians talk like that before, saying things about how humanity is wicked and God saves us from the false-Gods...your God is no less wicked than mine. The only reason he's got more support is because he had more swords in the Dark Ages ¬¬

 

[Epiphoskei]

I can't see any saving merit to the human race throughout all my studies of history. I have to say no, we have done little but opress each other for selfish gain since our inception.

You say your gods are righteous. I say mine is. These two (granted, only due to the statements of mine) are incompatable. Perhaps one day, one of ours will show its true colors... who knows?

 

[RedBalfour]

I can't see any saving merit to the human race throughout all my studies of history. I have to say no, we have done little but opress each other for selfish gain since our inception.

Even with war comes brave acts of heroism and the like. The famous 'Paddy' who I cant remember the name of, of the SAS in WWII saved his entire unit from heavy fire and single handedly killed the shooters without getting hit himself. thats some good heroism right there.
Rameses the 2nd signed the first ever peace treaty after seeing the cost at which Egypts borders were defended.
Thousands of people across a dozen generations helped to build Stonehenge and Woodhenge because of thier religious beliefs. they didn't even have a holy war to do it. thats shows what people can do if they put thier heads together.
They're just examples ive seen in documentaries in the last WEEK. I'm sure there's more, but you can only watch one channel at a time, even with sky + theres only so many hours in a day.

Define 'true colours'. as far as i believe, boht our Gods are real. Yours just doesnt want to hang around with all the others.

 

[Epiphoskei]

I have no reason to suspect that both of us are not in contact with supernatural beings. I also fully admit that it is my God who is not willing to coexist. However, assuming my God is telling the truth, and assuming you are in contact with what He calls demons, he's rather justified in being irked since after he created them they ganged up on him and tried to usurp heaven.

So you see, if your gods are morally good, my God is a liar, and if my God tells the truth, your gods are decieving you. If both are showing themselves to their respective worshippers as good, then one side is hiding His/their true colors. The truth, whatever it may be, must come out in the end, don't you think?

 

[RedBalfour]

It will do, I think. And if I am on the side of the demons, I think I'll embrace it rather than just burn.

But hey, if i'm right, then you get your little slice of heaven, so dont worry.

 

[Epiphoskei]

I'm sorry if you've never experienced this before frome one of us, but part of Christianity is supposed to be genuine concern for the well being of others, both right now and eternally, so it's not quite that easy...

 

[mpok1519]

no, God never said there werent other gods. He said we shouldn't worship other gods.

He never said they don't exist.

 

[RedBalfour]

That's what I've been saying for years.
'No other God before me' accepts the worship of other Gods, as long as he's first.

 

[Lyndiette]

You can't tell me there's even a competition.

To clarify... I was trying to say there is only one God. Human nature, being as it is, chooses to make gods of many other things... but only one omnipotent God exists. His power is not rivaled.

 

[RedBalfour]

I'm more literal, so I thought you were being too

 

[MessianicJewishGuy]

Seriously, to some people the idea of more than one God is just ludicrous, and they have to...well, here's a conversation I had with my mother a year or so ago.
"No, I dont believe in the Christian God. I'm Pagan, therefore, I believe in multiple Gods"
(After all the 'No you dont, you're christian' stuff) "So...these other 'Gods', what do they do"
"Well, basicaly some of them work with different types of nature or even different actions. Like hunting, or i dont know, carpentry"
"So they're like...patron Saints?"
"No"

And a similar reference to saints and angels came up when i had this similar chat with the school/diasis (i know i've spelt that wrong) priest. He couldn't understand that beings of power could be anywhere near together without breaking into holy war every day. so he condensed it to the level of angels, and i didn't have time to argue, because i had Business studies to worry about.

So, a few questions.
1. Why do many chrisitans find the idea of multiple Gods so hard to comprehend?
2. Why do you only believe in one God?
and 3. Who is this (Christian) God person anyway?

Why not?

 

[RedBalfour]

Why not what? You've quoted an entire post...

Sorry I didn't reply earlier, I've been on 2 week's holiday.

 

[mpok1519]

God didn't say there werent other gods. He just said we shouldn't worship them because they weren't supreme gods.

Angels are kind of like god sin their own right; they help God, they're ambassadors from one etherial plane to the next, they helped God construct the universe, they are messengers, and even soldiers for Him. I kind of think of them as gods, but not as God.

Who is God? Well, some would say He is a person, and some might say She is a person. I think of God as being rather more complete than a he or a she, ie, I think God is more androgenyous than a man or a woman.

 

[Sojourner<><]

Seriously, to some people the idea of more than one God is just ludicrous, and they have to...well, here's a conversation I had with my mother a year or so ago.
"No, I dont believe in the Christian God. I'm Pagan, therefore, I believe in multiple Gods"
(After all the 'No you dont, you're christian' stuff) "So...these other 'Gods', what do they do"
"Well, basicaly some of them work with different types of nature or even different actions. Like hunting, or i dont know, carpentry"
"So they're like...patron Saints?"
"No"

And a similar reference to saints and angels came up when i had this similar chat with the school/diasis (i know i've spelt that wrong) priest. He couldn't understand that beings of power could be anywhere near together without breaking into holy war every day. so he condensed it to the level of angels, and i didn't have time to argue, because i had Business studies to worry about.

So, a few questions.
1. Why do many chrisitans find the idea of multiple Gods so hard to comprehend?
2. Why do you only believe in one God?
and 3. Who is this (Christian) God person anyway?

For me personally, the concept of 'god' in polytheism is much smaller than the concept of 'God' in monotheism. If there are many gods, then every god exists independantly of each other. And if they exist independantly of one another, then they must all exist within some reality that contains them all. That means that there must be something greater than those gods, and there might even be something greater than that, and so on.

Monotheism explains that our reality comes from God the Creator and that lesser beings that might be mistaken for gods are really angels that exist within that reality. So I guess you could say that monotheism seeks to explain the infinite beyond finite polytheism.

 

[enigma2007]

Weirdly, everyones talking about mithra on this forum today (mithra is the name of the one who supposedly died for our sins, his followers broke bread and ate wine, supposedly born of a virgin etc) um, just to put the story straight (cos it was kinda left hanging earlier) no evidence of any of these things really exists. In some places mithra is depicted as being born out of a rock, of having two mini copies of himself who follow him around bearing torches, of fighting and killing a bull, of having wings. Not particularly Jesus like. One of the problems of getting all your information from Wikipedia (cos your "modren") is that people can just post what they like on it. So it often has complete nonsense about religion. Anyway just thought I'd clear that one up.

The problem I often find with having belief in multiple gods is how well everything works together. If there were gods controlling everything,one for plants, one for trees, one for sheep, one for multi storey car parks. Whos to say they'd all just get along and makes things work as wonderfully as they do? whos to say the god of trees wouldnt get upset at the god of owls one day and team up with the god of bows and arrows to sort them out?

 

[RedBalfour]

God didn't say there werent other gods. He just said we shouldn't worship them because they weren't supreme gods.

Angels are kind of like god sin their own right; they help God, they're ambassadors from one etherial plane to the next, they helped God construct the universe, they are messengers, and even soldiers for Him. I kind of think of them as gods, but not as God.

Thats the way of seeing it that keeps a roof over my head. My mother'd kick me out if she thought any different.

For me personally, the concept of 'god' in polytheism is much smaller than the concept of 'God' in monotheism. If there are many gods, then every god exists independantly of each other. And if they exist independantly of one another, then they must all exist within some reality that contains them all. That means that there must be something greater than those gods, and there might even be something greater than that, and so on.

I like the idea that there may be something bigger than the Gods, but i also like the idea that Gods are made by believing in them, and the idea that they moved in from somewhere after humanity was born. But to be honest, i dont think that's realy by business to think about - it doesnt matter much. And its not often i throw in the towel on philosophy like that.

Wiki's moderated just like the Bible is, so I dont see why I cant put biblical faith into it like christians do with thier book. But i dont take the comment personaly. I actualy got that bit of info from QI, this show presented by Stephen Fry - who I'd put more educational faith in than all my teachers combined.

Well maybe they did sort them out? I dont think they did personaly, but perhaps thats why some creatures become extinct? Bird Gods got annoyed that the Dodo wasnt using its wings, so they asked the Hunt Gods to get humans to hunt them all.
I dont think that ever singular thing has a God for it. Some things like multi-storey parking may have no God, or maybe an Earth God because of teh stone element, but if man's maintaining it, he can sit on his backside and smoke a pipe ro soemthing.
Tree Gods and Owl Gods may also be the same God/s. Many Norse Gods Goded over several things, often with two or three other Gods doing the same job. maybe they did it in shifts? hehe

 

[InnocentOdion]

Why does there need to be more than one God? I'm agnostic to if there are other gods or not, but I don't really care. I have a relationship with the true God.

Well maybe they did sort them out? I dont think they did personaly, but perhaps thats why some creatures become extinct? Bird Gods got annoyed that the Dodo wasnt using its wings, so they asked the Hunt Gods to get humans to hunt them all.

Um.

I dont think that ever singular thing has a God for it. Some things like multi-storey parking may have no God, or maybe an Earth God because of teh stone element, but if man's maintaining it, he can sit on his backside and smoke a pipe ro soemthing.
Tree Gods and Owl Gods may also be the same God/s. Many Norse Gods Goded over several things, often with two or three other Gods doing the same job. maybe they did it in shifts? hehe

um...so... you're not sure who you believe in?

 

[RedBalfour]

What? no. Of course I know who I believe in.

How, specificaly, did you get that idea? And If you're agnostic, why do you have St Marys as your religion icon?