Is christians calling themselves monothesistic when they are really polytheistic an important issue?

Question

I mean, there's so much more that's wrong with their beliefs than to call them on this technicality.

By wrong, I mean abhorrent to me, which I realize is subjective, but so is most everything else on here.

Hehe, I call people on their spelling, and I misspell something myself.

Monotheistic, sorry folks.

primoa: Jesus himself said he was a seperate entity from god the father, they do not share the same knowledge, as your bible says god the father is the only one that knows when he will return again to wipe us out by fire.

Answer 1

I was actually trying to determine whether it was a cause of their tendency to rationalize, or a result of it.

Answer 2

Defining monotheism is like defining holiness, people will differ according to their theology and faith.

Calling on monotheism MIGHT turn people towards Islam, a self proclaiming monotheistic faith, if we're unlucky. For in many ways, particularly in the present climate of self righteous Wahhabist kjihad against not only the West, but also Muslim liberals and progressives, in many ways Islam is the worse of two evils.

Judaism, from which Christianity sprang, was not self proclaimingly monotheist until around the 5th century bc. when some of the prophets revealed "I am the only God". Until then, other divine entities had their existence acknowledged in the cannon of the holy biblical texts. Until then, it was pius for Israel to worship only Yahweh, but other Gods (such as Baal and Set I believe) were there to compete for attention.

Earlier in Biblical history it can be argued that the names of Yahweh, like Elohim etc were in fact different tribal Gods amongst the Jewish and prejewish peoples. I think it was Yahweh who (through a prophet) proclaimed his superiority and dominance, and after that the different tribal Gods were integrated into the concept of one God with many names, as we see today. So even the Jews began, way back when in the mists of time, as active polytheists.

I imagine that the Islamic spin on this would be that the older biblical texts have been degraded more, and the newer ones are closer to the oft repeated message of "la illaha illa allah" / there is no god but (the) God. Howerer this is a religious and faith based interpretation rather than an anthropological and scholary one.

Also note that "Allah" (which many muslims claims means "the one true god/ the God) might actually mean, or be derived from, al (the) illah (male God) as opposed to al (the) illat (female God). So there are at least conceptions of other deities in the heart of the Muslim shahada (la illaha illa allah) - to wit, female Gods, to deconstruct the bearded one's most cherished illusions of pure monotheistic belief and history.

So if we look at all of the abrahamic faiths, there is polytheism in there somewhere.

So what though, as you rightly say. However, if we give them some form of education they might be less fervent, and less dangerous, in their beliefs.

Answer 3

Jesus clearly said that he and the father were one. He also clearly sanctioned the trinity in Matthew 28:19

The only reason you find this "abhorrent" is because you have been programmed from birth to misunderstand it. Assuming you are Muslim byt hte sound of it, You are following the misunderstanding of an illiterate who never received any instruction in Christianity, and never tried to understand it, and preferred to make things up about Christianity instead.

I am a father, I am a son, I am a husband. How can I be these three people? I must not exist.

Answer 4

Well...i will say this..call it a cop-out if you want.... TRINITY....

I can no more explain this than I can explain height as a dimension to a creature that is 2-dimensional (width and length only). but if I was able to have the 2-D creature visit my 3-D world, perhaps it would understand.

I can't fully describe angels, or what they are capable of since no autopsy has been performed on one, and can't observe one in the zoo...but I still believe there are spiritual creatures...

what I'm trying to say...is Heaven, and heavenly beings, are of another dimension, and perhaps there are limitations on my understanding due to the dimension I occupy and my lack of being able to visualize or understand this next dimension.

if everything's existance depended on my understanding, or having witnessed, then how can war exist since my little boy doesn't understand it, nor witnessed it? After all, he's only 2.

bottom line... existance is not defined by my limited understanding.

Answer 5

I agree, and I've said this about several things. The best example I can think of is when people say the Bible mentions unicorns, pointing to an old KJV translation. Honestly, there are so many better arguments you could use to dismantle Christianity. I don't know why people waste time on petty things like that. And yes, I'm even saying that as a Christian myself.

Answer 6

I don't think they're polytheists. They just say that God represents Himself in 3 forms, even though it's the same God. (You might call this some sort of Divine schitzophrenia, but not Polytheism)
And no, I do not believe that it's an important issue. There is a lot more to Christianity than meets the eye, and there's more to it than most Christians will ever know, (unfortunately).

Answer 7

It doesn't matter to me if people can't understand the Biblical teaching about the Godhead. I worship Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer, and the Holy Ghost testifies of the truth.

Answer 8

We are not polytheistic. We believe in God who has three equal parts. It's like if you have a pie and cut that pie in 3 equal parts. Each slice is equal with the the other slices. None of the three slices is better or more important the the others and all are still a part of the whole pie.

Answer 9

There is only ONE God, who exists in 3 parts of the trinity.
I and my Father are one -John 10:30.

Answer 10

We are NOT polytheistic

We worship one God....who eternally exists in 3 distinct Personalities:

Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

No one can rationally explain the trinity....but it remains the truth of the Scriptures. We're not asked to understand it....we're asked to believe it. The truth is still the truth regardless of what you think or feel.

And the Scriptures do NOT lie.

Answer 11

The pragmatic answer?

Only if the person bringing it up and the respondent feels its an issue.