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 Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:58 pm
So, I was in a friendly discussion the other day the topic of Monotheism vs Polytheism came up. Which led me to thinking:
Monotheism = There is one ultimate, supreme, almighty, head-hancho.
Polytheism = There are various Deities of Various aspects of the world. In some cases these are refered to as Pantheons. Pantheons being a house of one particular culture of gods. (Celtic, Hindu, Norse, Shinto, etc.)
So, some monotheistic religions, like Christianity. Claim that they are the one and only way. And that Christ as Savior is the one true god and the only way to salvation. Basicially "Our way or the high-way buddy." Claiming that non-believers and sinners will eventually end up in hell. Now, that is from their standpoint and their believes.
But, if you were Hindu or Buddhist or Druidic, your religious beliefs and rules are totally different. Some go through reincarnation, some rest in the Summerlands, some go to a place similar to limbo. With no mention of a 'hell' of any sort incorporated into their religion.
So my question is, who gives the has authority to state that one faith has presidence over another faith? (I won't even go into the whole Christian Vs. Jewish debate, that's for another day, lol.)
Could the possible theory be, If you are christian then you are subject to christian laws, if you are Hindu then you are subject to Hindu laws, if you are Buddhist, Druid, Taoist, etc.?
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Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 12:09 pm
Naomi Kuiveya So, I was in a friendly discussion the other day the topic of Monotheism vs Polytheism came up. Which led me to thinking:
Monotheism = There is one ultimate, supreme, almighty, head-hancho.
Polytheism = There are various Deities of Various aspects of the world. In some cases these are refered to as Pantheons. Pantheons being a house of one particular culture of gods. (Celtic, Hindu, Norse, Shinto, etc.)
So, some monotheistic religions, like Christianity. Claim that they are the one and only way. And that Christ as Savior is the one true god and the only way to salvation. Basicially "Our way or the high-way buddy." Claiming that non-believers and sinners will eventually end up in hell. Now, that is from their standpoint and their believes.
But, if you were Hindu or Buddhist or Druidic, your religious beliefs and rules are totally different. Some go through reincarnation, some rest in the Summerlands, some go to a place similar to limbo. With no mention of a 'hell' of any sort incorporated into their religion.
So my question is, who gives the has authority to state that one faith has presidence over another faith? (I won't even go into the whole Christian Vs. Jewish debate, that's for another day, lol.)
Could the possible theory be, If you are christian then you are subject to christian laws, if you are Hindu then you are subject to Hindu laws, if you are Buddhist, Druid, Taoist, etc.? Now this is an interesting topic for debate. I think if we as Christians believe in the Bible as God's word revealed to us, then we are going to find for this to be true other religion's can't be. Pluralist's will tell you otherwise, but from the little reading I have done about some of the other major world religion's ... they are quite different. One of the major form's of Buddhism, Thervadin Buddhism (And Buddhism is in some way's an offshoot of hinduism), is basically unconcerned with God. They don't believe in the concept of an enduring soul.. they don't even believe there is any 'self' to you. According to buddhism, all life leads to suffering, suffering comes from attachments to worldly pleasures, Suffering ends when your desire/craving ends and reaching this state is done by following the path of the buddha. They aren't concerned with God, or sin's... they are concerned with escaping an endless cycle and reaching a state of non-desire or possibly non-existance. Hinduism has some similar abstract idea's, (it's aim being for your soul to return to atman (which is like a great flame of existence or creation or something) and also has the belief in reincarnation. Just the fact that they have so many God's doesn't really sit well with 'Hear O Israel, the lord our God is one.' Islam has some similarities to Christianity and Judaism, but their view of God is very different to ours (sorta like all powerfull, and not so much loving or self sacrificing) and there are some distinct differences to our practices. I think to reconcile everything together till just having 'belief' is good can't work. You have to overlook a LOT of details, and you aren't doing any of the religions justice.
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Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 11:28 pm
BTW, sorry If I didn't address your issue... or even worse just gave you a bunch ill-thought out of drivel. It is a tough thing to talk about when you don't know where someone is at with their beliefs. The simplest question maybe in your post to answer is this one: Quote: So my question is, who gives the has authority to state that one faith has presidence over another faith? (I won't even go into the whole Christian Vs. Jewish debate, that's for another day, lol.) Many ways of looking at this question. One answer might be ... God? I think for the individual, it comes to knowing your scriptures ... then working out where you stand. You need to be willing to listen of course, and it's not going to help other people if you shut your ears when someone else tell's you something that doesn't fit with your beliefs. Also, what exactly are you saying when you say 'one faith has one precedence over another faith?' For the most part, in the secular world people are free to practice religion are they not? Some people may have prejudices and discriminate for their own personal reasons... but in general I thought most western countries make it their business to ensure that everyone has equal rights. Here's a bit more explanation about the importance of scripture, a verse in the bible that gets quoted a lot in my church" Quote: 2 Timothy 3:16 (New International Version) New International Version (NIV) All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, Looking at the historical context of that quote, its probably generally assumed that Timothy was talking about Jewish scripture. Of course these days we also apply that quote to the New Testament as well. This is why ... if your a Christian you should be a monotheist. Cause in the Old Testament of course we have: Quote: Deuteronomy 6:4 (New International Version) New International Version (NIV) 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. The belief in the trinity should not contradict this (and I think most trinitarian believers, myself included would agree.) So ... well if if you think another belief takes precedence over this... well then ... are you a Christian?
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