So who's god is "The" god?

[stephanie_craxford]

If you were to view the "List of Religions" found in the Wikipedia, you will see that there are quite a few to put it mildly.  There are several that have a deity/god who/that is worshipped or the religion is based of the teaching by same.

Which one is right, who is right.  For example, everyone not of the Islamic faith are considered as non-believers/infidels by the followers of Islam.  So what makes them right and others wrong.  The same goes for the other religions especially those mainstream ones.  Who's god do you believe?  Who's faith?  Millions have died defending their faith.

Steph

[Melissa]

Oh, getting straight to the heart of the matter, eh?  Well my belief is that they are all the same God.

Melissa

[Kate]

Who's god do you believe?  Who's faith?  Millions have died defending their faith.

Not everyone thinks of it in these terms. One of the cool things about modern paganism is that all gods and goddesses are acknowledged, yet we pick and choose whom to dedicate ourselves to - or sometimes they pick us, lol. But it's not a matter of who is "right," or which religion is "true." Different gods are seen to exist for different people, in different regions, in different times, to control or rule over different things.

I acknowledge the existence of Yaweh, for example... you could even say I "believe" in him. Yet I don't worship or follow him. This is often a confusing distinction for monotheists who generally equate "belief" with "follow." I've actually been labelled an "antheist" by a christian friend of mine, even with her knowing that I "believe" in many deities - but since I don't believe in the One And True God, I don't believe in anything in her eyes. I found that view incredibly arrogant, yet very enlightening.

I'm very pragmatic. I'll work with any deity whom I can learn things from. Notice I say "work with," as I don't believe these entities are superior or deserving "worship" per se. It's a symbiotic relationship, where we both gain from the partnership. Some of these relationships last a lifetime, others are temporary, changing as needed as we evolve and grow.

In the end, I don't know if these creatures are actually gods, personifications of forces, representations of psychological processes, abstractions of the human collective subconscious, etc. But... it works. For me.

And it's a helluva lotta fun


Posted at: July 22, 2006, 04:03:29 PM

Well my belief is that they are all the same God.

Even, say, Pele and Zeus? Apollo and Inanna?

Or do you mean you believe all the differing versions of a monotheistic, omnipotent god are one in the same?

[Melissa]

Even, say, Pele and Zeus? Apollo and Inanna?

Or do you mean you believe all the differing versions of a monotheistic, omnipotent god are one in the same?

In monotheistic religions, they are the same god.  In polytheistic religions or beilf systems, they are all components of the same force or being.

Melissa

[jan c]

In monotheistic religions, they are the same god. 

Melissa

and their word o' God, derives from the same book. Different prophets, you get some real problems.
Aside from lip service, Israel will never grant Palestine's right to exist, or vice versa.  Their Bible tells 'em so.

Even, say, Pele and Zeus?

How did a futbol player get to be a god? 


Posted at: July 22, 2006, 02:45:49 PMI *believe* in precisely one thing on this planet.
Music.
That god will not steer ya wrong. Sometimes I fail to listen.

[jan c]

...
Your Goddess,
Cindianna Jones

( that's right I am forgetting something really crucial aren't I? She's a forgiving sort of deity, I'm confident. Aren't you, my Goddess? )

[Chaunte]

There is only One.

Different faiths refer to that locality's interaction with the Almighty.  Unfortunatley, some authors desire to place their own spin on the word of the Almighty.

Many multitheistic faiths describe different attributes of the One, just as Melissa has said earlier.

SOme multitheistic faiths describe some pretty petty people and, I believe, are more story than diety.

Chaunte

[stephanie_craxford]

There is only One.

Different faiths refer to that locality's interaction with the Almighty.  Unfortunatley, some authors desire to place their own spin on the word of the Almighty.

Many multitheistic faiths describe different attributes of the One, just as Melissa has said earlier.

SOme multitheistic faiths describe some pretty petty people and, I believe, are more story than diety.

Chaunte

So how do you reconcile the Muslim with the Jew, and visa versa.

Steph

[jan c]

I agree, there is ONLY the One.

In Indian music it's known as som or sum.

Never lose sight of One.

It may require someone keeping tala for you, when your passion carries you away.

[Kate]

There is only One.

Opinion. A perfectly valid one of course, but not one everyone shares.

Different faiths refer to that locality's interaction with the Almighty.

No, the concept of an "almighty" ruler isn't a universal idea. Many faiths see deity as fallible as limited in scope and wisdom. In fact, I hesitate to use the term "faith" at all, as it mostly applies to monotheists. Pagans, for example, don't "believe" in deities. If a deity doesn't do his or her job, they can essentially be fired or ignored. We either work together or we don't work at all.

Many multitheistic faiths describe different attributes of the One, just as Melissa has said earlier.

Some faiths perhaps, but not all. The idea that all deities are different aspects of a single source is certainly appealing to monotheists, but can be insulting and dismissive for those who consider their deities to be as individual and unique as anyone else.

[jan c]

So how do you reconcile the Muslim with the Jew, and visa versa.

Different faiths refer to that locality's interaction with the Almighty. 

Exact same "God", exact same locality. No unity. [NO SOM. NO ONE. Where's the downbeat?]

That, I THINK, was kinda sorta the original topic?

[Chaunte]

So how do you reconcile the Muslim with the Jew, and visa versa.

Steph

Step - I see a lot of the Muslim/Jewish conflict as an inheritance dispute with both sides claiming to be right.

Cindi - I had heard a few ideas about Aton, but nothing so well put together.  So, did Moses led a slave revolt based on religion?

Kate - Just because a faith system does not believe that there is an Almighty does not mean that the Almighty isn't there.

I have often wondered what the basis was for the Greek gods.  If you read the stories, it sounds like a difference in technology made one group appear to be like gods.  No, I am NOT invoking an extraterrestrial encounter!  Let me continue in a side post...

[Chaunte]

For what it is worth, the first recorded example of genocide was the inhabitants of Jerico being wiped out by Joshua and the Israelites in the Old Testament.

Cindi

I forget if it was the the Science or Natinal Geo channel, but it was speculated that Joshua simply was in the right place at the right time.  Jerico is built on top of an active fault.  As Joshua was arching around blowing their horns, a major eqrthquake might have occurred and caused the walls to collapse.

Chaunte

For what its worth, this discussion is fun.

[Kate]

Kate - Just because a faith system does not believe that there is an Almighty does not mean that the Almighty isn't there.

Perhaps.

I'm just pointing out that other religions aren't merely variations of the judeo-christian-muslim theme using either different names for the one god, or "aspects" of the same. I understand that monotheists may choose to interpret other religions through their own biases, but it's not how members of other systems see things from inside their own religions. The entire mindset is different - it's not just a reshuffling of the same ideas.

And I think the willingness to understand that - to try and truly see through someone else's eyes, rather than interpret them through our own beliefs and prejudices - is the only way for humans to stop slaughtering one another.

[Chaunte]

Perhaps.

I'm just pointing out that other religions aren't merely variations of the judeo-christian-muslim theme using either different names for the one god, or "aspects" of the same. I understand that monotheists may choose to interpret other religions through their own biases, but it's not how members of other systems see things from inside their own religions. The entire mindset is different - it's not just a reshuffling of the same ideas.

And I think the willingness to understand that - to try and truly see through someone else's eyes, rather than interpret them through our own beliefs and prejudices - is the only way for humans to stop slaughtering one another.

Good point.

Chaunte

[Kate]

I am an optimist.  I really do believe that the world is filled with honest and decent people.

I believe that we each embody the entire range of the human condition, from saint to serial killer. It's ALL in there, all the love and compassion... and all the hatred and contempt. The differences lie in what we choose to express, the crayons we pick to paint our selves and our lives with. So many of us struggle to paint meaning into our lives, to figure out "who we are."

And in our haste and insecurity, we allow others to do that for us. We're americans. We're christians. We're muslims. Jews. Canadians. Democrats. Republicans. In our desperation to be somebody, someTHING, we plaster ourselves with labels, becoming paper-mache people, hollow and empty inside... enslaved soldiers dying in idealogical wars for mass thoughtforms that see us as cannon fodder and nothing more.

In the end, individuals are humanities only hope. But individuals are so few and far between, such anomolies in this world, that I just don't know if we'll ever have true peace. Find some miraculous way to wake up the sleepers en masse, to unplug them from their drunken addictions, and... perhaps. Heck, maybe that's what Jesus himself tried to do - and look at how far he got with it.

But Steph asked how to know which religion is right.

I say... DIG. Never, ever stop digging. Find the bottom of that damn rabbit hole. And when you do, start digging again. Screw the answers you find - they were just placed there to tempt you to stop digging. "REST," they say, "at last you've figured it out. You're so brilliant!"

Don't listen to them. Instead, keep asking bigger and better QUESTIONS.

Questions open doors. Answers lock them.

[Kate]

"Father, the sleeper has awakened."

- Frank Herbert

LOL... I loved that scene in the movie version. I'd stand up and shout it along with him (for all the good it's done me), lol...

But... look what even his "followers" did afterwards. Shudder.

I suspect that the terror of facing that "place that no woman can look" holds true for all mankind, and it's that fear which prevents people from digging, creating the entire range of human drama which IS this world as a distraction.

But that's just me

[Kendall]

I dont have a religion. If I did, it would make sense to believe in the oldest known proven religion which appears to be either Hinduism or Zoroastrianism http://ask.yahoo.com/20011106.html. Not sure what they believe in, but they are very old religions. Probably kinda silly really.

[Celia]

No one's god is "The" god.  And I do not deny God by pointing this out.

-Celia

[Julie Marie]

Steph, I believe in the religion that says be kind to others. We are all here struggling to get through our everyday lives and trying to find happiness. We should be helping others rather than trying to kill them because they don't think the way we do or prescribe to the same religion we do.

I grew up in a very critical environment. My dad, my friends, almost everyone who had an influence on me, looked for faults in others and made a point to let you know that was wrong. Unfortunately that stuck, for a while. The first time I walked into a gay bar I was dressed and scared. That was in June 2004. I wondered what would happen. I was a homophobe. But as soon as I walked up to the bar the bartender welcomed me with open arms. We soon became good friends. Through education I became accepting.

I've thought many times how being TS has helped me become a better person. I accept people for who they are. I help rather than destroy. I don't judge people by their appearance, religion, sexual orientation, race or political beliefs. I judge them by the type of human being they are.

Come to think about it I guess I am a follower of the TS religion. No religious faith has taught me more.