Advantages of Monotheism Amongst Religions

[vandervalley]

from evolution's point of view; religions with one god requires less offerings and temples than say the Roman religion whereby each god gets a temple of his/her own. So a "one-god" religion sort of saves scarce resources for other purposes.

 

[lilithu]

Same God?; yet Koran, Bible and Jewish scriptures teach completely different stuffs?

No, they do not. They all teach that there is one God. They all teach of Adam and Eve etc and that God's will is revealed through the prophets. Relative to other religions, such as yours, they teach highly related stuffs. It's just that many of their adherents focus on the stuff that is different rather than the stuff that is the same.

 

[lilithu]

Many people say that there Monotheistic Religion is the true religion, when it can actually be said that they are all just naming god in different ways. Allah, Yahweh, God, Lord, all are just different varients of the ways that we name the Divine Creator.

Yes, Allah, Yahweh, God all refer to the same monotheistic deity. But Zeus, Isis, and Agni do not refer to the same deity.

 

[vandervalley]

No, they do not. They all teach that there is one God. They all teach of Adam and Eve etc and that God's will is revealed through the prophets. Relative to other religions, such as yours, they teach highly related stuffs. It's just that many of their adherents focus on the stuff that is different rather than the stuff that is the same.

However Jesus said to love your enemies whereas the Muslims require infidels to pay money to stay in their own faith.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

from evolution's point of view; religions with one god requires less offerings and temples than say the Roman religion whereby each god gets a temple of his/her own. So a "one-god" religion sort of saves scarce resources for other purposes.

Not sure of that. You can busy yourself and use up quite a bit of effort and resources in plenty of monotheistic religions.

In fact, look at Christianity: the Bible describes believers as "bond-servants of Christ"; I don't think that dedicating everything you are, have and do to Christ "saves scarce resources for other purposes" at all.

 

[lilithu]

However Jesus said to love your enemies whereas the Muslims require infidels to pay money to stay in their own faith.

Oy, it saddens me that even Buddhists will exhibit this anti-Muslim bias.

You cannot compare the ideals taught by one religion with the actions carried out by followers of another religion. It's not a fair comparison. Either you compare ideals to ideals, or you compare actions to actions. This simple bit of logic should be evident to everyone.

 

[Booko]

from evolution's point of view; religions with one god requires less offerings and temples than say the Roman religion whereby each god gets a temple of his/her own. So a "one-god" religion sort of saves scarce resources for other purposes.

Which seems to have little application in much of the world today, even if it were true.

 

[Booko]

However Jesus said to love your enemies whereas the Muslims require infidels to pay money to stay in their own faith.

Rubbish.

Go over to the Islam area and tell the Muslims this, so you can get some accurate information about jizyah.

 

[lilithu]

Go over to the Islam area and tell the Muslims this, so you can get some accurate information about jizyah.

Is jizyah the tax that was imposed on Jews and Christians? I assumed that's what vandervalley was referring to.

 

[vandervalley]

Oy, it saddens me that even Buddhists will exhibit this anti-Muslim bias.

You cannot compare the ideals taught by one religion with the actions carried out by followers of another religion. It's not a fair comparison. Either you compare ideals to ideals, or you compare actions to actions. This simple bit of logic should be evident to everyone.

Firstly; stating the facts DO NOT represent bias towards a certain group. Secondly is it against Buddhist teaching to state the facts?

If i am living in a Muslim caliphate in the 10th centuary I'd be expected to pay a special tax to stay in my own faith right?

 

[lilithu]

Firstly; stating the facts DO NOT represent bias towards a certain group. Secondly is it against Buddhist teaching to state the facts?

If i am living in a Muslim caliphate in the 10th centuary I'd be expected to pay a special tax to stay in my own faith right?

So??! If you were living in most the North American colonies in the 18th century you would have felt lucky to be able to pay a tax instead of being jailed or worse.

 

[vandervalley]

You cannot compare the ideals taught by one religion with the actions carried out by followers of another religion. It's not a fair comparison. Either you compare ideals to ideals, or you compare actions to actions. This simple bit of logic should be evident to everyone.

However the religious tax IS part of the Islamic Sharia Law thus part of the Islamic teaching

 

[lilithu]

However the religious tax IS part of the Islamic Sharia Law thus part of the Islamic teaching

Again, I say So??! You pick one part of Islamic teaching that you deem to be negative and you compare it to one part of Christian teaching that you deem to be positive, and you think that's not biased?

I didn't say that it wasn't part of Islamic teaching; I said it wasn't an ideal, such as "love thy neighbor" is. Ideals are those high-minded things, like "all men are created equal." Actions (and laws are how we regulate actions) are the nitty-gritty details of how we live those ideals. The fledgling U.S. govt claimed that all men are equal, and yet it allowed legal slavery. Do you judge it by its ideals or do you judge it by its actions? Either way is valid. But if you then want to compare it to another country, you cannot compare them by picking the ideals of the former and the actions of the latter. They must be equivalent.

 

[vandervalley]

You pick one part of Islamic teaching that you deem to be negative

I deemed it to be part of the Islamic culture.

Actually u are the one who deemed it negative.

you cannot compare them by picking the ideals of the former and the actions of the latter. They must be equivalent.

I picked the two different teachings out to show that the Christian God and the Muslim God are two different gods. NOT because I wanted to compare the two religions

 

[lilithu]

I deemed it to be part of the Islamic culture.

Actually u are the one who deemed it negative.

"However Jesus said to love your enemies whereas the Muslims require infidels to pay money to stay in their own faith."

Right, you were just comparing "love thy neighbor" to requiring "infidels" to pay as a matter of academic interest. :sarcastic

I picked the two different teachings out to show that the Christian God and the Muslim God are two different gods. NOT because I wanted to compare the two religions

So I guess in your opinion the Jewish God and the Christian God are not the same God either?

Heck, if we're just going to go by picking bits of one text and comparing them to bits of another, I can easily show that the God of the gospel of John is not the same as the God of the gospel of Matthew.

 

[vandervalley]

Heck, if we're just going to go by picking bits of one text and comparing them to bits of another, I can easily show that the God of the gospel of John is not the same as the God of the gospel of Matthew.

there are many examples which show that Christian God is different from the Muslim God.

The dress code for example. And the time of praying as well as the dietary requirements (Halal etc)

 

[lilithu]

there are many examples which show that Christian God is different from the Muslim God.

The dress code for example. And the time of praying as well as the dietary requirements (Halal etc)

Again, the same thing can be said for the Jewish God. Do you think that the Jewish God is different from the Christian God? Because most Christians do not think so.

The God of Abraham is the God of the Jews is the God of the Christians is the God of the Muslims. Their understandings of their God may vary but the God is the same. Heck, these are all monotheistic religions - if they're all worshiping God and there is only one God then they are all worshiping the same God. This isn't rocket science.

 

[Mike182]

perhaps someone should start a new thread for debating if Muslims, Christians and Jews worship the same God?

with regards to the OP and the thread topic, i don't understand how having the same, single God as others is advantageous over other forms of theism. all forms of theism have their own merits.

 

[mcteethinator]

However Jesus said to love your enemies whereas the Muslims require infidels to pay money to stay in their own faith.

That is true. However, this is what we call a half-truth to make Islam sound bad. While yes, Dhimmis had to pay a special tax, Muslims payed a different tax. Basically, it's like this

Muslims pay tax that are redistributed toward the poor.
Religious minorities pay tax that goes to fund the state.

So basically, Muhammad made that rule so that rulers would be required not to wipe out the religious minorities (As zealotry has often done) since otherwise they'd have noone to pay for their empire.

I think you were trying to imply that Muslims are somehow free of paying any money.

The dress code for example. And the time of praying as well as the dietary requirements (Halal etc)

The Bible tells women to be modest also. Have you looked at any Virgin Mary paintings recently?

And with the times of praying, there are several Old Testament verses where it says like "<insert prophet here> is washing himself for the afternoon prayer". I remember reading it in a book in my Mosque once. I should try finding it. A lot of Orthodox Jews pray three times a day at fixed times.

And even if that wasn't the case, how does God giving down new commandments make him a different one? Did all the prophets teach the exact same thing with no new bits added? Isn't that the entire point of a new prophet?

Halal is nearly identical to Kosher.

From an Islamic perspective, the entire reason Allah/Yahweh/God spoke to Muhammad was because the Christians were deviating too far from Old Testament teachings, so he was basically "reaffirming" what was already taught.

Here's some "love thy neighbour" type quotes too.

'You will not enter Paradise until you believe. And you will not believe until you love one another. And you will not love one another until you spread peace among you.' -- Muhammad

If anyone slays a person
- unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land -
it would be as if he slew all people.
And if anyone saves a life,
it would be as if he saved the life of all people.
Qur'an 5:32

Oh you who believe!
Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to God,
even against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin,
and whether it be against rich or poor,
for God can best protect both.
Follow not the cravings of your hearts, lest you swerve,
and if you distort justice or decline to do justice,
verily God is well acquainted with all that you do.
Qur'an 4:135

The recompense for an injury
is an injury equal thereto (in degree),
but if a person forgives and makes reconciliation,
his reward is due from God,
for God loves not those who do wrong.
But indeed, if any do help and defend themselves
after a wrong done to them,
against such there is no cause of blame.
The blame is only against those who oppress men
with wrongdoing and insolently transgress
beyond bounds through the land,
defying right and justice.
For such there will be a penalty grievous (in the Hereafter).
But indeed, if any show patience and forgive,
that would truly be an affair of great resolution.
Qur'an 42:40-43

Goodness and evil are not equal.
Repel evil with what is better.
Then that person with whom there was hatred,
may become your intimate friend!
And no one will be granted such goodness
except those who exercise patience and self-restraint,
none but people of the greatest good fortune.
Qur'an 41:34-35

There are as many violent quotes in the Qur'an as there is in the Bible. These need to be taken into historical context before people make crass judgements about the religion in question. It is simply propaganda to focus on the bad parts and deny the good parts and vice versa. For example, I could mention with your religion, Buddhism, how people have invoked it to cause a lot of suffering and oppression in the Himalayan country of Bhutan but that doesn't make your religion wrong or bad in general.

 

[LoveNeverFails]

IMO there is truth to be found in all religions, although that is not to say that all religions have the Ultimate Truth...but all religions can be perverted by those blinded by their own agendas.