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Similarities of monotheistic religions .....
- Thread starter Sputnik
- Start date
Grantywanty
Registered Senior Member
And yet the thread has had activity, and my response (at least for the person who started the thread) would seem to be on topic.Don't know. Lack of interest in the topic maybe.
But such is life on internet forums.
Gently Passing
Registered Senior Member
I would argue that monotheism itself is an academic descriptor used as a means of categorizing, and thus simplifying the study and comparison of religions, which is potentially problematic anyway...
Or to put it another way, the cultures from which the religious traditions we are talking about didn't sit down one day and decide "let's create a monotheistic religion!"
It's a model which any relatively intelligent person can use to describe a myriad of religions; Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and so on, yet each of these religions (except perhaps Islam) has little knobby bits that make placement into this compartment somewhat labor-intensive.
In other words it's a hole we have created arbitrarily which we are now attempting to fit different pegs. The discussion seems to revolve around which pegs fit and which pegs don't fit.
Depending on the degree of compliance with the limitations set by the definition of monotheism, different religions fit better than others. Thus we do not have a binary "yes it fits" vs "no, it doesn't fit." Instead we find Islam fits pretty well. Judaism fits, but not quite as well as Islam. Particular sects of Christianity fit fairly well, but others do not fit AT ALL (Roman Catholicism for instance is a pretty bad fit.)
And so on...
Perhaps we should be discussing the similarities between the pegs rather than their compliance to an arbitrary hole.
Just a thought. *shrug*
Or to put it another way, the cultures from which the religious traditions we are talking about didn't sit down one day and decide "let's create a monotheistic religion!"
It's a model which any relatively intelligent person can use to describe a myriad of religions; Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and so on, yet each of these religions (except perhaps Islam) has little knobby bits that make placement into this compartment somewhat labor-intensive.
In other words it's a hole we have created arbitrarily which we are now attempting to fit different pegs. The discussion seems to revolve around which pegs fit and which pegs don't fit.
Depending on the degree of compliance with the limitations set by the definition of monotheism, different religions fit better than others. Thus we do not have a binary "yes it fits" vs "no, it doesn't fit." Instead we find Islam fits pretty well. Judaism fits, but not quite as well as Islam. Particular sects of Christianity fit fairly well, but others do not fit AT ALL (Roman Catholicism for instance is a pretty bad fit.)
And so on...
Perhaps we should be discussing the similarities between the pegs rather than their compliance to an arbitrary hole.
Just a thought. *shrug*
I had different Hundus telling me different things, some said "different facets of one God, some said "different gods".A little off topic, but I've been told that Hinduism considers all the Hindu gods as facets of one God. . .
Grantywanty
Registered Senior Member
I had different Hundus telling me different things, some said "different facets of one God, some said "different gods".
You can get similar issues in many religions. Christianity's strange trinity, for example.
My sense is that most of the more mystical practitioners tend towards an all in one interpretation in Hinduism and the more everyday 'church' goer or practitioner sees them as separate gods and goddesses and tends to have their favorite.
This isn't really what Hindu scripture says, rather this is what the western authors who write about Hinduism say....A little off topic, but I've been told that Hinduism considers all the Hindu gods as facets of one God. How different is this from the monotheistic idea of a God served by other heavenly powers (e.g. angels)?
One thing seems to be that the angels aren't supposed to be worshipped, while the Hindu deities might be. However the idea of an Avatar as a representative of God on earth seems quite similar to the God-made-flesh idea of Jesus. The idea of the Trinity is a bit like (a limited version) of God's having multiple aspects . . .
Monotheistic Hinduism says there's one Supreme Lord of all that be, who is personal, independent from everything else, who is the origin of all, unknowable, beyond knowledge, smaller than an atom, causeless, beyond the senses, the witness of all, etc...
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Galactic_Command
Registered Member
A little off topic, but I've been told that Hinduism considers all the Hindu gods as facets of one God. How different is this from the monotheistic idea of a God served by other heavenly powers (e.g. angels)?
One thing seems to be that the angels aren't supposed to be worshipped, while the Hindu deities might be. However the idea of an Avatar as a representative of God on earth seems quite similar to the God-made-flesh idea of Jesus. The idea of the Trinity is a bit like (a limited version) of God's having multiple aspects . . .
It's called Henotheism. Each deity represents a relativistic aspect of Nature and also represents the Absolute.
True Polytheism existed only in old Europe, Old middle east, far pacific etc etc.
DiamondHearts
Registered Senior Member
indeed, some jews interpret this passage this way, including myself.
it is interpreted to mean that g-d cannot be fathomed, and any depiction (even mental) would be construed as idolatry.
this is one of the major reasons for the difference in dogma between judaism and modern christianity.
This is exactly the Islamic belief of God as well. Allah swt has a form which is beyond perfection and not related to His creation. Idols, and even depictions of saints, is frowned upon in Islam for it might in the future lead to person worship rather than God worship.