I am of the opinion, after some recent reading, that it may be useful to drop the term “God” all together and simply refer to “Gods” or “gods.” There is no more reason to capitalize the Christian form of the word than any other form of the word for starters. Next, while there are hundreds of thousands of gods that the theists as well as non-theists can all agree should not be taken seriously, there are still some 30,000 Christian sects all praying to a different version of Christian gods.
Even when we speak of “The Christian God” aren’t we actually referring to "gods; at least until the specific Christian / theist we are speaking with can narrow down his or her interpretation of the god thing he is referencing to a single idea.
So, IMO, it is no longer the Christian God or even the Islamic god (Islam has its sects as well) but rather. the Christian and Islamic Gods. Pretending to worship the same god while giving those gods different qualities is just self delusion. It seems to me that referencing Christian gods in my interactions would be much more accurate.
Just so. I do so when I remember. Easy forget to do. Possibly because so far I’ve never run across any believers here outside of the abrahamic religions.*** IE they all worship the same one god.
***Locally, there is a small community of Sikhs and my doctor is Hindu. I’ve also run across a few Bahia and of course Mormons, who I don’t consider Christian.
Sorry Boomer, you missed the point. Even the Christians do not worship the same god. They only say they worship the same god. It’s self delusion. Calling them Abrahamic religions does nothing to assist with the interpretation of the god they worship. They all pretend it is the same god but it is the Church up the street that is going to burn in hell for its false teachings. It is not a Christian God but Christian gods,
There are dozens if not hundreds of Christian and Islamic sects. Their differences are usually about a mixture of dogma and politics (power). EG Martin Luther argued with the catholic church about a bunch of things, ranging from the sale of indulgences to transubstantiation**. However, Luther and other sects accept the basic tenets of Christianity. IE that Jesus was the son of god ,that he died for our sins and rose from the dead. They also accept the trinity.
In Islam, there are two major sects. Shia and Sunni, and many minor sects. The division between Sunni and Shia is based on this absurd (to me) argument; Shia argue that religious leaders must come from the descendants of the Prophet’s family. Sunni argue such people must be decided by consensus. There is only ONE requirement for a person to be a Muslim.IE he/she must believe and assert before witnesses: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger”
Christians from diverse sects often claim that anyone not from THEIR sect is ‘not a true christian’.
Whether it’s Muslim or Christian (or Jew***) making the claim, each commits the same logical fallacy; no true Scotsman.
** Catholics have always held that during the mass, the bread and wine LITERALLY becomes the flesh and blood of Jesus, although its appearance does not change. Luther argued that the bread and wine become infused with the spirit of Jesus but that neither its appearance nor substance changes.
*** Traditionally and today, Jewry has claimed Samaritans are ‘not real Jews’ .That’s what makes the parable of the good Samaritan so powerful . Of course overlooking that Jesus tells his his disciples not to preach to the Samaritans. (Matt 10 :5-15)
Mormon: God lives on Golob with his sons, Satan and Jesus
Catholics: God reveals himself through his representative on earth.
Protestants: God reveals himself through scripture.
Unitarians: God is one, not a trinity. Mainstream Christianity is corrupted, Jesus is a man who was chosen by god or Jesus was divine and existed before God. *There are two groups.
While they all say “One God” the attributes of that God vary widely and I have not met a Christian yet that will actually defend the God mentioned in the bible. That mass murdering piece of shit that kills for the pleasure of killing, demands human sacrifice, and is anything but loving.
I agree, especially the Catholics. They flat out took pegan gods and made them saints like the Celtic goddess Brigid became St Brigid. With the old testament making numerous threats against polytheists (idolaters), I’m guessing they are pot committed at this point to the idea of one god.
There is some graphical representations of rise and fall of empires, kind of like this
I imagine if someone did the work for religions, it would look similar. Just a mess, a bunch of abandoned barely recorded in history gods, and a real representation that any particular well defined god idea that is popular now, will only inevitably fade into obscurity as time marches by.
A real bad indication of some sort of all knowing all powerful god, when the following and popularity of said god has always been eventually abandoned, even in the short time window of recorded history.
Another bad indication is that religion increasingly is strictly within the realms of the uneducated/poor. The highly educated societies are increasingly secular. If trends of decreasing poverty and increasing education continue, the popular religions of today are in deep shit long term. Especially looking at the younger demographics of these educated populations.
… so which of the Christian gods do you believe and/or worship???