Many paths...one God?

[Coyote]

That is absolutely not true. The Scriptures have been carefully preserved by people who accept it is the very Word of God

Pffft.

Turns Out The Original Bible Is Drastically Different From The Version You Grew Up With

There has never been a book more historically debated than the Bible, especially when it comes to conversations about how and if the Bible changes over time. It’s a tome that has started wars, divided nations, and probably ended more than a few friendships, all because of the myriad ways people...

www.ranker.com

 

[Anathema]

All multicellular living beings have emotions. We all reflect our Creator. God is not a Vulcan

I respectfully disagree. The Deity, as I see It, is little more than a sentient mathematical equation whose sole purpose to make our lives as difficult as possible.

 

[buttercup]

God doesn't have human emotions. Man has God's emotions. God is the origin, not man.

Exactly! It annoys me to no end when people think in an anthropocentric way, and believe that the idea of a personal God is “humanizing“ God, when it’s the other way around.

That is why even animals have emotions, because emotions are not a human thing, they come from God.

Truth is not relative. The notion that diametrically opposed or mutually exclusive ideas about God are all true at the same time is absurd.

Another excellent point. Anyone who thinks truth is relative does not grasp basic logic.

 

[Coyote]

Only one died and returned to prove it...

So they say…

 

[boedicca]

All religions do not lead to God. The distinction I would make is between the ones that teach people to love and respect each other as all being made in God's image or all as children of God, and the ones which teach hatred and violence. The Aztecs ripping the hearts out of children are not the equivalent of nuns teaching kids in Catholic school.

God = Love
Marxism/Totalitarianism/Tyranny = Hate

 

[Coyote]

All religions do not lead to God. The distinction I would make is between the ones that teach people to love and respect each other as all being made in God's image or all as children of God, and the ones which teach hatred and violence. The Aztecs ripping the hearts out of children are not the equivalent of nuns teaching kids in Catholic school.

God = Love
Marxism/Totalitarianism/Tyranny = Hate

Well…there is hatred and violence and genocide in the Bible…that is one aspect of God…but maybe Aztecs are the exception that proves the rule.

 

[Indeependent]

She was certainly given the worse punishment:

Genesis 3.16
To the woman he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”

I haven't looked at that verse in a while and it's a ***** to interpret.

 

[boedicca]

Well…there is hatred and violence and genocide in the Bible…that is one aspect of God…but maybe Aztecs are the exception that proves the rule.

Polytheistic religions that have gods of war and promote tribalism fall into that category as well.

 

[Ringtone]

Exactly! It annoys me to no end when people think in an anthropocentric way, and believe that the idea of a personal God is “humanizing“ God, when it’s the other way around.

That is why even animals have emotions, because emotions are not a human thing, they come from God.



Another excellent point. Anyone who thinks truth is relative does not grasp basic logic.

Precisely!

The same smugly go on about how Christianity, for example, supposedly anthropomorphizes God, as if God were not a person or as if emotion were beneath divinity. Nonsense. As you say, it's the other way around. We're created in God's image, after His likeness. We have emotions like God because He gave us His emotions.

 

[Coyote]

Polytheistic religions that have gods of war and promote tribalism fall into that category as well

How? Rather than one deity representing all the facets of God, they have multiple deities, each representing one aspect.

 

[boedicca]

How? Rather than one deity representing all the facets of God, they have multiple deities, each representing one aspect.

You can rationalize it that way, but there is not a concept of a single God in a panetheon. Worshipping War is the exact opposite of what a relationship with a God of love would be.

Imo, polytheism in general is a way of understanding the physical world; and the gods usually display human frailties and vanities. It is a system to explain things that the cultures that developed them did not understand or were important to their social structures.

 

[Wyatt earp]

Religion fascinates me, in part because there are so many common threads in all the faiths. Perhaps we are like the tale of the blind man and tbe elephant, each of us only able to discern a small portion of what is God. For some, we need an intermediary... like a prophet to show us a path. For others, it is a self-paced journey.

For commonalities...we all know the Golden Rule, and all religions seem to have some version of this. It makes sense, if we followed it, we would be a better society.

But another commonality exists that is interesting: the acquisition of forbidden knowledge.

In some, this is represented by the acquisition of fire (which in actuality was a major turning point in human development. The Greek Promethius defied Zeus and stole fire to give to man. Across the world, a continent away, Coyote, Rabbit and Crow stoke the fire.

For the Abrahamic faiths, it was Eve and the Apple...which you have to admit kind of sucks, forever blaming Woman for Man’s inability to control himself.

In all cases though...there is a punishment for loss of innocence and it usually involves a seperation from the divine even as it separates humanity from his fellow animals.

Food for thought.

Great post, I thought that way since I was little

 

[The_Lyrical_Miracle]

Religion fascinates me, in part because there are so many common threads in all the faiths. Perhaps we are like the tale of the blind man and tbe elephant, each of us only able to discern a small portion of what is God. For some, we need an intermediary... like a prophet to show us a path. For others, it is a self-paced journey.

For commonalities...we all know the Golden Rule, and all religions seem to have some version of this. It makes sense, if we followed it, we would be a better society.

But another commonality exists that is interesting: the acquisition of forbidden knowledge.

In some, this is represented by the acquisition of fire (which in actuality was a major turning point in human development. The Greek Promethius defied Zeus and stole fire to give to man. Across the world, a continent away, Coyote, Rabbit and Crow stoke the fire.

For the Abrahamic faiths, it was Eve and the Apple...which you have to admit kind of sucks, forever blaming Woman for Man’s inability to control himself.

In all cases though...there is a punishment for loss of innocence and it usually involves a seperation from the divine even as it separates humanity from his fellow animals.

Food for thought.

In regards to the major religions, there are monumental impasses in that none can exist at the same time.

I know it's so utopian to think we all can just let down parts of our faiths just to get along, but it's not possible.. because if you change your faith to the extent so that a Muslim becomes compatible with a Catholic.. both the Muslim and the Catholic are neither Muslim or Catholic.

Like.. there are specific clear reasons for the difference. Have you ever looked them up?

 

[Coyote]

In regards to the major religions, there are monumental impasses in that none can exist at the same time.

I know it's so utopian to think we all can just let down parts of our faiths just to get along, but it's not possible.. because if you change your faith to the extent so that a Muslim becomes compatible with a Catholic.. both the Muslim and the Catholic are neither Muslim or Catholic.

Like.. there are specific clear reasons for the difference. Have you ever looked them up?

They all can exist at the same time if you believe each is merely one part of a whole we are incapable of perceiving much less understanding. What we call religion is our attempt to understand it and put it into human terms. I don’t think contradictions are an issue, after all, how do you deal with the contradictions within a faith?

 

[Coyote]

You can rationalize it that way, but there is not a concept of a single God in a panetheon. Worshipping War is the exact opposite of what a relationship with a God of love would be.

I think religions evolve from multiple deities to one containing all those aspects, but even with one you still have multiple divine beings: Satan, angels, demons, saints and the trinity (and it is noteworthy that many of those entities were members of former pantheons).

Even though we call God a god of love, he has an aspect that is a god of war and his origins were as a War god. There is no shortage of divinely inspired bloodshed in the Bible and in history.

Imo, polytheism in general is a way of understanding the physical world; and the gods usually display human frailties and vanities. It is a system to explain things that the cultures that developed them did not understand or were important to their social structures.

That is a great explanation, and I agree to some extent, but they also represented our higher functions, inspiration, reason, etc.

 

[ding]

Well…there is hatred and violence and genocide in the Bible…that is one aspect of God…but maybe Aztecs are the exception that proves the rule.

Then you have ipso facto misread the Bible according to Bishop Barron.

 

[ding]

In a world where man was predestined to have knowledge of good and evil, everything of worth is arrived at through a conflict and confusion process. Evil is the absence of good. The only value of evil is for good to come from it. Logically evil serves as the impetus for man to determine what is true. But we get to discover these truths on our own time rather than being forced to be virtuous. This is what it means to have knowledge of good and evil and this is the value of having knowledge of good and evil.

 

[Ringtone]

In a world where man was predestined to have knowledge of good and evil, everything of worth is arrived at through a conflict and confusion process. Evil is the absence of good. The only value of evil is for good to come from it. Logically evil serves as the impetus for man to determine what is true. But we get to discover these truths on our own time rather than being forced to be virtuous. This is what it means to have knowledge of good and evil and this is the value of having knowledge of good and evil.

 

[buttercup]

They all can exist at the same time if you believe each is merely one part of a whole we are incapable of perceiving much less understanding. What we call religion is our attempt to understand it and put it into human terms. I don’t think contradictions are an issue, after all, how do you deal with the contradictions within a faith?

While it's true that different religions may contain some truth... if they are teaching something false about what is most important (i.e God), then it's a false religion.

Most of the world religions contradict each other when it comes to what is most important. Therefore, logically they cannot all be true... or even "one part of a whole," as you put it, if they are teaching contradictory things.

Jesus made it perfectly clear when He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." He didn't say anything about blind people touching parts of an elephant, or different religions being "one part of a whole." He didn't say there were many "paths" or many "doors." In fact, He said the opposite (John 10)

The nature of truth is narrow, exclusive. 2+2=4, not 5 or 6 or 7. So what Jesus said in John 14:6 goes along with the nature of truth itself.

It seems that some people come up with a god in their mind in the way THEY want God to be. I think that's where the "all paths lead to God" mindset comes from. But that's going about it the completely wrong way. It should go without saying that truth isn't dependent on us, on what we want or what we believe. It just is what it is. That's why it's so important to seek and find it.

The bible says Jesus is the Word of God, and the Word became flesh (John 1:14). If you want to know God, look to Jesus.

 

[BreezeWood]

While it's true that different religions may contain some truth... if they are teaching something false about what is most important (i.e God), then it's a false religion.

Most of the world religions contradict each other when it comes to what is most important. Therefore, logically they cannot all be true... or even "one part of a whole," as you put it, if they are teaching contradictory things.

Jesus made it perfectly clear when He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." He didn't say anything about blind people touching parts of an elephant, or different religions being "one part of a whole." He didn't say there were many "paths" or many "doors." In fact, He said the opposite (John 10)

The nature of truth is narrow, exclusive. 2+2=4, not 5 or 6 or 7. So what Jesus said in John 14:6 goes along with the nature of truth itself.

It seems that some people come up with a god in their mind in the way THEY want God to be. I think that's where the "all paths lead to God" mindset comes from. But that's going about it the completely wrong way. It should go without saying that truth isn't dependent on us, on what we want or what we believe. It just is what it is. That's why it's so important to seek and find it.

The bible says Jesus is the Word of God, and the Word became flesh (John 1:14). If you want to know God, look to Jesus.

Jesus made it perfectly clear when He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

the above is a 4th century forgery ...

not one word is included in the c bible, state religion of the roman empire, written in the hand of the 1st century itinerant they have used to circumvent the true events of the 1st century liberation theology, self determination he and many others died for.