How exactly is Christianty a Monotheistic Religion?
- Thread starter krazedkat
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WillNever
Valued Senior Member
I was thinking the same thing. Their assessment of Christianity as polytheism is extra-universal to the christian belief that one God has three states. They disagree with Christianity being monotheism simply because they don't believe in the same ideas as Christians.
Basically, they are using the logic that radical muslims embrace: they attack all religions that do not follow the same rules and logic that their religion follows. It's too bad that many of them still do not realize that there is only illogic to be found in their own religion as well.
WillNever
Valued Senior Member
That is because you are jewish. You were raised to be so. You are a jewish product of your environment. 'Tis only natural that you believe what you believe while shutting your eyes to the bigger picture.
They are also assuming that christianity is one thing - which is odd, given that they are logically deciding God must be three things. It should be clear that here on earth, Christians have a vast array of different churches with different interpretations....let alone individual Christians. Some probably think there are two or three. Others think they are 'really' one. Or really one.I was thinking the same thing. Their assessment of Christianity as polytheism is extra-universal to the christian belief that one God has three states. They disagree with Christianity being monotheism simply because they don't believe in the same ideas as Christians.
Basically, they are using the logic that radical muslims embrace: "your religion is evil because it does not follow the same rules and logic that our religion follows."
In Hinduism many worshippers - on the street - think of their own religion as having many gods and godesses. But many of those living in ashrams or more deeply into the various religions under the heading Hinduism think of these other gods as facets of one God - though which one is the core God varies.
Right or wrong this kind of mental approach to religion is just silly. And the truth is there are examples in the secular world where it gets very hard to determine if there is one 'thing' or many 'things'.
Take interlocking corporations with parent companies and affiliates and subsidiaries.
Or even water molecules. Sure H20 covers the main bonds, the strong ones. So we can think of each one of these as a 'thing', but there are many other bonds that change the qualities of water. How many 'things' are we actually dealing with.
But here we are Newtonians discussing gods as if they were marbles and as if this logic worked everywhere cut and dried even in the mundane world.
If you mean me, no.
willnever,
So if Jesus isn't a god then he was simply a man then? And he should never be referred to as God the son.
I can understand how a God might perform different roles as a single entity - i.e. simple monotheism, but to give separate identities to the roles, is again simple nonsense.
The trinity is a pure fudge in an attempt to explain how the original idea of a king-like messiah (never intended to be a god) was morphed into a religion and hence had to be a god - but oops too late aren't we meant to already have a god? Hmm, good point, I know let's just call them the same thing - no one will notice. Similarly with the miracle stories that were all generated around the same time to add weight to the notion that the Jesus character had godlike powers. Makes more people listen to the stories if the hero can do miracles.
Really? So when Christians throughout the world end their prayers and sermons with the phrase, God the father, God the son, and God the holy ghost, then they are what - simply confused? Kinda really looks like they are calling out 3 separate gods there.
So if Jesus isn't a god then he was simply a man then? And he should never be referred to as God the son.
I can understand how a God might perform different roles as a single entity - i.e. simple monotheism, but to give separate identities to the roles, is again simple nonsense.
The trinity is a pure fudge in an attempt to explain how the original idea of a king-like messiah (never intended to be a god) was morphed into a religion and hence had to be a god - but oops too late aren't we meant to already have a god? Hmm, good point, I know let's just call them the same thing - no one will notice. Similarly with the miracle stories that were all generated around the same time to add weight to the notion that the Jesus character had godlike powers. Makes more people listen to the stories if the hero can do miracles.
Like it's a original story ??
I think I just sounded like someone with opinions on the subject.
Or three facets of one God, each of which they are reminding themselves of. I am sure some Christians think of it as one God. Some think, without really thinking about it, that there are 2 of three. But just because they say three names does not mean they must be referring to three 'things'.
He can be seen as a son-like aspect of God who came to earth in this form. Like God assumed a role, an avatar.
I can't see anyway this could be considered simple.
I don't know how you know the intentions of this guy.
The idea of having avatars on earth goes back before Christianity.
It would be hard not to notice. And the religion was not backed into some corner. It could have done what they did in Islam where Muhammed is not God, but a revered prophet - they consider Jesus and Moses this in their religion.
Which also goes back to other religions - including Judaism - and need not have entailed Jesus being a form of God.
WillNever
Valued Senior Member
Cris, the more confused one might be you instead of them. They are calling out the same god in three names, three times. This isn't a hard concept.
"Well, WillNever, you're wrong. I was raised a Christian and converted to my grandmother's religion (Judaism) at the age of 11." - I'd like a response, don't dance around it, I've read the bible, the Torah and the Qu'ran, I know my shit.
WillNever
Valued Senior Member
krazedkat, that changes nothing. You converted to judaism because you identify with jewishness. Your jewishness has seeped into your identity. That is how I knew you were jewish before you even admitted to being so in this thread.
As well, you seem to know very little about outside religions. For example, you believe that in Christian doctrine, the trinity is composed of three different gods.
WillNever
Valued Senior Member
krazed, I knew it without looking at any other threads. As well, why would you continually make your jewishness known, in multiple threads, if it weren't the preeminent part of your identity? I do not see many others running around sciforums asserting their christianity (or buddhism, or hinduism, or..) so why are you, with such a low post count, doing it multiple times already? The answer: because you are highly self-conscious of your state of being a jew.
As well, please state which exact quotation from the bible states "Christianity worships three separate gods." Go ahead. Show us. Do it.
WillNever
Valued Senior Member
Also, I knew it because you were and are expressing a very typical and inherently jewish argument that christianity is not monotheistic, despite christians believing in a commandment that states "ye shall not worship any god but me" which is incontrovertible evidence that christians believe in worshipping only one god. You are trying to invalidate the new while unequivocally accepting the old -- simply because if you invalidated the old as well, then you would be invalidating your own religion.
It is a conflicted argument based on the tender, jewish sensitivities toward the religion that Christians advanced and developed beyond that of judaism. Judaism is Christianity's primordial, lesser version.
It is a conflicted argument based on the tender, jewish sensitivities toward the religion that Christians advanced and developed beyond that of judaism. Judaism is Christianity's primordial, lesser version.
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I have indeed been the recipient of anti-semitism many times.
christianity is a name for a large group of churches and practitioners with different rituals and interpretations. Even Judaism, a much smaller religion, has radically different groups under its umbrulla, groups that do not all interpret the Torah in the same ways. Some have already had messiahs. Most not. Some have very different rules for women and men. Some not. The differences between reformed and orthodox temples and practitioners can be quite extreme. The Torah is not a document that can be analyzed logically in total. All religions have contradictory or mysterious portions. It comes with the territory.