One true God

killabanker

Hello,

I'm wondering what people on this forums take is on the broad spectrum of doctrine and deities across all of the worlds religions and spiritual traditions.

Is it acceptable to some that they are all of the same source, all as true as each other in a ways, the basic heart is the seems the same. Can it be God is God whatever you call it, however you react to the concept?

Could it be true that the Buddha, Allah, Krishna, the God of Christ ect are all facets of the one true God?

Maybe the only difference being the manner and levels of skill in which different people pursue God?

Thanks.

JimiTime

killabanker wrote: »

Hello,

I'm wondering what people on this forums take is on the broad spectrum of doctrine and deities across all of the worlds religions and spiritual traditions.

Is it acceptable to some that they are all of the same source, all as true as each other in a ways, the basic heart is the seems the same. Can it be God is God whatever you call it, however you react to the concept?

Could it be true that the Buddha, Allah, Krishna, the God of Christ ect are all facets of the one true God?

Maybe the only difference being the manner and levels of skill in which different people pursue God?

Thanks.

No. One true God. One mediator, the messiah, Yeshua (Jesus). This New age, all road leads to God thing may sound nice etc but has absolutely no foundation.

emo72

killabanker wrote: »

Hello,

I'm wondering what people on this forums take is on the broad spectrum of doctrine and deities across all of the worlds religions and spiritual traditions.

Is it acceptable to some that they are all of the same source, all as true as each other in a ways, the basic heart is the seems the same. Can it be God is God whatever you call it, however you react to the concept?

Could it be true that the Buddha, Allah, Krishna, the God of Christ ect are all facets of the one true God?

Maybe the only difference being the manner and levels of skill in which different people pursue God?

Thanks.

hey, nice first post:D Its hard one to answer all the same.

i admire people with strong faith, i dont have it. wish i did. but dont.

i have a few BAC friends and they are really devoted. they know they are saved. they want to save me, they say its easy if i just believe. i want to believe, but i always have a nagging doubt in the back of my mind.

so unless i can can believe 100% i cant commit.

one true god? how the hell would anyone know?

as george michael would say....ya gotta have faith.

killabanker

JimiTime wrote: »

This New age, all road leads to God thing may sound nice etc but has absolutely no foundation.

I dont think Buddhism, Shinto nor the heart of the Koran qualify as 'new age' ?

killabanker

emo72 wrote: »

as george michael would say....ya gotta have faith.

I suppose faith is a feeling to a degree of Gods presence that cant be contrived.

I have a great optimism from all Ive read and heard on developing that kind of awareness though not a disciplined soul just yet myself.

JimiTime

killabanker wrote: »

I dont think Buddhism, Shinto nor the heart of the Koran qualify as 'new age' ?

Didn't say they were. The idea that all roads lead to God is what is New Age.

Fanny Cradock

emo72 wrote: »

so unless i can can believe 100% i cant commit.

I'm quite sure - though this surety falls short of 100% certitude - that no one can believe something with absolute certainty. Perhaps you are not fully appreciating what belief is about.

As for the OP - No, I don't believe that other religions are relating unique facets of God. Humans might have a longing for the divine but the simple fact remains that the central tenets and truth claims of most of the worlds religions are mutually exclusive. In short, these religions are largely describing different things, including the nature of God and the purpose of existence. This, of course, isn't to say that all other religions are without truth or that God (Yahweh) can't be pleased with any one of us.

killabanker

JimiTime wrote: »

Didn't say they were. The idea that all roads lead to God is what is New Age.

I think new age is more like - we are God, and realizing it is the point of being human.

Every face is the face of God and such which personally I think is fabulous, making the divine something real and attainable, something to aim and work for, more than a concept or belief.

To actually experience the presence of God within ones self being the goal.

Fantastic.

And for this to be possible for any human be they of any faith as such or none? Is this just silly, ego mania or what could be the true meaning of religious freedom?

Onesimus

in Monotheistic religion we can all identify that we worship One God and have that in common. However we do not worship the same God or the correct One. Only Christians do

I agree with Fanny that it cant be said we worship the same God because each of our beliefs about his nature contradict one another.

Such a belief would lead to New ageism. I do believe that the Holy Spirit is active in us all and is constantly working with our free will and prompting our hearts to believe in the One True God which is Himself. ( The Holy Spirit )

This is why so many Believe in God no matter how Bizzare their beliefs are, its built in us from the moment we are concieved to believe that there is something beyond us who created us, but unfortunately for some who were born to theologise and use their reason, can abuse this reason which leads to denial that there is a God. ( ps 14:1 ) and thus we degrade our intellect by doing so. Have I said to much? or too little :eek::(

Fanny Cradock

killabanker wrote: »

I think new age is more like - we are God, and realizing it is the point of being human.

Every face is the face of God and such which personally I think is fabulous, making the divine something real and attainable, something to aim and work for, more than a concept or belief.

To actually experience the presence of God within ones self being the goal.

Fantastic.

And for this to be possible for any human be they of any faith as such or none? Is this just silly, ego mania or what could be the true meaning of religious freedom?

What you are describing is pantheism, which isn't compatible with Christianity.

You might find the spirtuality forum of interest.

Onesimus

Every face is the face of God and such which personally I think is fabulous, making the divine something real and attainable, something to aim and work for, more than a concept or belief.

But whats the point in working for something you already have? we dont have to DO anything to get Jesus, we just have to drop something.

The Kingdom of God is within us, and in order to discover that we need to drop all in our lives to attain this.

It reminds me of that story I heard once about a disciple who goes to his Zen master and asks for freedom. So the Zen Master says '' go and find out who has bound you''. so the disciple heads off and meditates for a week, comes back and says ''Nobody has bound me'' ....''then what do you want freedom for?'' says the Zen master. the first step the disciple had to make was to drop his false belief that he was in prison and didnt have freedom. He didnt have to do anything to get freedom, just drop something, his false belief.

killabanker

Onesimus wrote: »

But whats the point in working for something you already have? we dont have to DO anything to get Jesus, we just have to drop something.

The Kingdom of God is within us, and in order to discover that we need to drop all in our lives to attain this.

NOT having to DO any thing, sure. Jesus is already there all we need to do is realize it. It could be quite a process before one is able to do that which is what I mean by working towards experiencing the divine.

That is identical to the Buddhist teachings except drop Jesus for mind.

What the Buddhists call mind, what the Christians call Christ

same thing

That's what I'm saying

How can one deny the spiritual experience of another?

PDN

Different religions make fundamentally contradictory claims as to whether there is a god, how many of them there are, and what he is like.

If you subscribe to a post-modern relativistic philosophy where our brains turn to mush then it might be possible to think that they could all be the same. But, for those of us who believe in absolute truth, no way.

killabanker

PDN wrote: »

Different religions make fundamentally contradictory claims as to whether there is a god, how many of them there are, and what he is like.

If you subscribe to a post-modern relativistic philosophy where our brains turn to mush then it might be possible to think that they could all be the same. But, for those of us who believe in absolute truth, no way.

I'm not saying Allah is Christ is Krishna is Padmasambava, I'm saying isn't it more realistic that it is all human interpretation of something just beyond the grasp of most peoples full understanding anyway?

Fanny Cradock

killabanker wrote: »

NOT having to DO any thing, sure. Jesus is already there all we need to do is realize it. It could be quite a process before one is able to do that which is what I mean by working towards experiencing the divine.

That is identical to the Buddhist teachings except drop Jesus for mind.

What the Buddhists call mind, what the Christians call Christ

same thing

That's what I'm saying

How can one deny the spiritual experience of another?

We aren't denying the spiritual experience. We are, however, attempting to remain consistent with the message of Christianity or any other religion that is making exclusive truth claims. If you want to believe that all religions point to God that is just fine. But in doing so it seems to me that you devalue the claims of each religion. You wont find many orthodox (small "o") Christians agreeing with your perspective.

killabanker

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

What you are describing is pantheism, which isn't compatible with Christianity.

I don't quite think I am describing pantheism which is what
- the cosmos is a self contained being, it is sacred ect I'm talking about God which to me and I think this is something like Jesus's God is a divine consciousness which was never born never created just always is, being boundless in the way of concepts of space and time and everything that is, is by virtue of it as it pervades every part of itself. Something like that.

And that is is our nature to know this consciousness be it by faith in Christ or practice Amatsu Tatara maybe.

My first post is to see whether people here do actually think there God is the right God, the only true God.

I think its madness, when those on the other side of the table are affirming the same thing themselves.

Who's right? I guess they'll all find out in the end.

killabanker

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

We aren't denying the spiritual experience. We are, however, attempting to remain consistent with the message of Christianity or any other religion that is making exclusive truth claims. If you want to believe that all religions point to God that is just fine. But in doing so it seems to me that you devalue the claims of each religion. You wont find many orthodox (small "o") Christians agreeing with your perspective.

I do devalue the values of each religion to a degree in that so much of the gaps are filled in by men, in positions of power which translates to me as positions of luxury. I dont trust the dogma of men who reign from golden palaces.

Real truth is known, not believed in and I think that is the hope of our race, to live the truth.

Fanny Cradock

killabanker wrote: »

I'm not saying Allah is Christ is Krishna is Padmasambava, I'm saying isn't it more realistic that it is all human interpretation of something just beyond the grasp of most peoples full understanding anyway?

Quite aside from the fact that they are all saying different things, the whole point of the Judeo-Christian story is that God makes himself known to us and we can understand something of him. (Christians take it that bit further when we say that the awaited Messiah turned out to be God himself - much to the surprise of everyone.) I'm not sure how it would be possible for temporal, finite and limited beings to gain a full understanding of a Creator that is atemporal, eternal and omnipotent. Indeed, it is logical to assume that any knowledge of this Creator is only a consequence of his will to allow it.

killabanker

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

Quite aside from the fact that they are all saying different things, the whole point of the Judeo-Christian story is that God makes himself known to us and we can understand something of him. (Christians take it that bit further when we say that the awaited Messiah turned out to be God himself - much to the surprise of everyone.) I'm not sure how it would be possible for temporal, finite and limited beings to gain a full understanding of a Creator that is atemporal, eternal and omnipotent. Indeed, it is logical to assume that any knowledge of this Creator is only a consequence of his will to allow it.

Are not we ourselves eternal souls in a temporal form ? An advantage in understanding the divine?

Fanny Cradock

I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but the earliest Christians believed in physical resurrection and a physical existence in new creation, not an eternity of floating on clouds in heaven.

killabanker

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but the earliest Christians believed in physical resurrection and a physical existence in new creation, not an eternity of floating on clouds in heaven.

Don't you believe in heaven ? What is the belief here on life after death ?

Naturally I don't mean the sky now when I say heaven I'd imagine heaven's got no (physical) mass in it, more like pure energy maybe.

PDN

killabanker wrote: »

Don't you believe in heaven ? What is the belief here on life after death ?

The historical Christian position is that there will be a final resurrection when the dead are raised and live for ever with God on a new earth.

Fanny Cradock

killabanker wrote: »

Don't you believe in heaven ? What is the belief here on life after death ?

Naturally I don't mean the sky now when I say heaven I'd imagine heaven's got no (physical) mass in it, more like pure energy maybe.

Yes, I do believe in heaven. It's just that I don't believe that it is the end of the Story - rather, it is a chapter in a much richer Story. The early Christians believed in heaven but they also believed in bodily resurrection and that creation - all of physical reality - was going to be restored and joined with heaven. Anything country to this is likely some sort of Platonic or Gnostic infused form of Christianity.

See here if you want to know more.

Onesimus

The buddists claim to be on a spiritual path, but to whom? what the buddists call mind is not what Christians call Christ because Christ surpasses the human mind and is beyond all knowledge, whilsts here on earth we can only have a limited knowledge of him, but we will never be one essence with him because to do so would be to have become God and part of the trinity which is impossible. Even when we are in heaven God still surpasses us and will always be a God of Suprises. We will never therefore become to know God fully But become partakers of him by are participation.

The buddist to the Christian is a perfect example of what original sin is, and the sickness of original sin is that we choose ourselves over and above God and claim to be him.