Just how many Monotheistic Gods are there anyway?

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   My Esotericposted 3 years ago

   I would argue there are as many as there are books written about them plus the sum of all monotheists living at any given time.

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      Disappearingheadposted 3 years ago in reply to this

      Arguably mono means there is only one and that each monotheistic religion simply interprets the nature of this mono-God differently.

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         My Esotericposted 3 years ago in reply to this

         To be God, however, means you must be infinite, and therefore unique.  I would think multiple interpretations of a unique God wouldn't work in monotheism.

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            wildernessposted 3 years ago in reply to this

            ?!  To be infinite means that every particle of everywhere is a part of the god.  You are god, I am God, Satan is God and hell is God.  Most people would have a problem with God trying to hard to control His individual parts as to crucify one of those parts on another one.

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               My Esotericposted 3 years ago in reply to this

               So, are you impliyin that God is not infinite?  That God has limitations? Or do have that wrong?

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                  wildernessposted 3 years ago in reply to this

                  I never thought of an infinite sized god but cannot see that it could be infinite in size.  That Christians believe their god is omnipotent and omniscient (has no limitations) is obviously false.

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                     My Esotericposted 3 years ago in reply to this

                     I see.

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   CMerrittposted 3 years ago

   This is not an area that I try to pretend I know a great deal about, but I think the very definiton of God has to be determined.  Therefore lies the problem.  My "opinion" is that there is a God and perhaps there or gods.  God being singular and supreme and gods as an inferior word to describe several possible iconic beings.
   
   I have already said something that made my brain hurt a tad....

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      My Esotericposted 3 years ago in reply to this

      Hehe, yes, I understand that pain.  But, you also hit upon the conundrum.

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   cmoneyspinner1tfposted 3 years ago

   Just one.

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      cmoneyspinner1tfposted 3 years ago in reply to this

      @My Esoteric - In case you didn't like the response.  Just one that you NEED TO KNOW.

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         My Esotericposted 3 years ago in reply to this

         :-)

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   MizBejabbersposted 3 years ago

   I didn't interpret your question to mean how many monotheistic religions are there.
   
   To imply that there is only one God can be interpreted several ways: 1. Everything is inferior to that god, and that it deserves to be worshipped,  2. Everything is made from its substance, or 3. The fundamentalist view that "we are made in god's image yet we are inferior to Him.
   
   I don't think even the gods know the answer to your question.

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      Kathryn L Hillposted 3 years ago in reply to this

      The answer is #2.

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      My Esotericposted 3 years ago in reply to this

      Your right, MizBejabbers, I am not asking a question about the religions per se but that there are many monotheistic religions who profess to believe in the same God, each with their own, conflicting version.

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   Emile Rposted 3 years ago

   There is infinite variation on every level of existence. I would think, if there were only one God, that one God would be perceived in an infinite variety of ways. I see nothing odd in the fact that each perception is different.

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      My Esotericposted 3 years ago in reply to this

      I tend to agree with that Emile.  What is behind my question, of course, is the "my way, or the highway" attitude of most monotheists, especially if they tend toward the fundamentalist/evangelical genre.
      
      But I doubt even the new Pope, as he makes a sea change in opening up the Catholic church heirarchy to unheard of ideas, wouldn't go so far as to accept the idea that God and the Universe are one in the same as being a legitimate variation.

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         MizBejabbersposted 3 years ago in reply to this

         Yes, my way or the highway. I have a fundamentalist friend who was going on at the office about how wrong the Muslim belief in Allah is. A Catholic friend told her that they think your beliefs are wrong. She kept saying over and over, "but theirs are wrong and mine are right!" He and I got a big secret laugh over her obstinance.
         Going back to my former Baptist church -- they taught in a round about way that God and the universe are one even while they were teaching the holy trinity. How can you be saying anything else when you teach that "God made everything from his own essence." When one would ask, "does that mean that he made sin?" The answer was no, sin occurred when God gave his creation freewill. (Then where did the essence for freewill come from if not God's essence.) They just couldn't grasp the meaning of their own tenets.

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            My Esotericposted 3 years ago in reply to this

            Circular reasoning certainly has its pitfalls, doesn't it.  I have found that once you accept the idea that the terms "good" and "bad" are relative and not anywhere close to being absolute, then you can come to understand that in relation to an infinite God, they have no meaning at all.
            
            Those terms have meaning and are useful only when dealing with our own lives is the way I see it.

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