One God or many gods

[River Sea]

The Holy Spirit of the Father is a portal

Holy Spirit (Hebrew: רוח הקודש, ruach ha-kodesh)

The Holy Spirit feeds me fire; the Holy Spirit lives in me and is my friend; I have a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. I allow the Holy Spirit to teach me

YHWH, Allah, and Brahman are the same God; there is only one God.

 

[Quintessence]

To people on RF who believe in many gods, why do you believe that and not in only one god?

Gods are that which are deemed worthy of worship. Each individual human gets to decide what they deem worthy of worship. That which they find awe inspiring, that which they find great, that which they find wondrous, that which they want to celebrate, that which they respect, that which they value. Were I not good at paradigm shifting, I would find the notion of only declaring ONE thing worthy of worship utterly incomprehensible. It is like saying you will only eat one kind of food for your entire life. Or that you will only have contact with one other human for your entire life. Or that you will only watch one episode of one television show for our entire life. Just... just.... to even think of it makes me shudder and recoil in abject horror. My brain literally cannot do "just worship this one thing, forever, and never anything else."

 

[Rival]

The One and the Many.

I needn't choose.

 

[JustGeorge]

The One and the Many.

I needn't choose.

That's kinda how I feel about it, too.

Admittedly, my focus is more on the Many, but that is how I experience the Divine.

But, I think you're absolutely right. There is no need to choose.

 

[Fool]

To people on RF who believe in many gods, why do you believe that and not in only one god?

To people on RF who believe in one god, why do you believe that and not in many gods?

in my father's "house" there are many "mansions", if it were not so, i would have told you................................

 

[Truthseeker]

How do you expess humans as both lower gods and angels?

Humans are described as having all of the attributes of God in our Writings while all else in creation does not have all the attributes of God, so in a way humans could be lower gods, and likewise angels if we reach that potential. But maybe lower gods is not appropriate I was just thinking. God transcends any conception of ours while humans may defy an exact description but nonetheless have some aspects that can be delineated.

It's throughout literature as a premise of humankind. The most well-known modern version being Rosemary's Baby.
But there's also: 1 John 3:10

1 John 3:10

New King James Version

10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
​

New International Version

10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.​

​
This looks very binary and the import is that you are either one or the other, and nothing in-between. I don't like this passage. Do you have another take on this? This is fairly new to me, though I know the general thrust of this John letter. Maybe there's another perspective that can enlighten me?

My view holds the entirety of scripture as a "tale", mostly allegory, or sort of a parable. It's how the great thinkers of spirituality expressed their conclusions of contemplation.

For me, not entirely. There are allegories, but there are a few in my view who have revelations from God.

I see the temptation of Christ as one true indicator that he was a man, and that Satan's job is the temptation of mankind, to strengthen our resolve, to teach us what is truly important. If Jesus had accepted Satan's offers, both would have failed. Yes, a parable of sorts that all mankind is tempted by things of the world that we do not need, things unimportant to our true selves.

This doesn't logically show that he was "only" a man if that's what you are saying. As I said, it could be seen as a parable Jesus said to his disciples, to guard against the Satan that is within us all. It doesn't necessarily mean Jesus was tempted. But then, I can't comprehend the true nature of a Prophet as the lower part of creation can't comprehend a higher creation of God.

 

[Truthseeker]

That's kinda how I feel about it, too.

Admittedly, my focus is more on the Many, but that is how I experience the Divine.

But, I think you're absolutely right. There is no need to choose.

I kind of understand. For me there is one God, but many ways to experience Him.

 

[River Sea]

YHWH, Allah, and Brahman are the same God; there is only one God.

Update I learned it's Elohim, Allah and Brahman are the same God; only one God.

Because who's YHWH? Who is Brahma? Is YHWH Brahma?

Added information I just learned and @Bharat Jhunjhunwala what do you think?

The difference between Brahma and Brahman

0:00
Brahma is the one who was associated
0:03
with Creation The Creator but Brahman is
0:06
the substratum the underlying
0:08
Consciousness which pervades everything
0:10
two different things are there

 

[Bear Wild]

A God that has always existed would be the only one who exists before anything else exists. God has special qualities, such as He is everywhere, knows you inside and out, knows the past, present, and future, is beyond time, can create out of nothing, has intelligence and emotions, and can do anything. There is only one explanation for all this, and that is that our reality is in the mind of the One God who is the Father of all things that exists in our reality. I'm sure that there are many different realities in the mind of One who has always been, and He is the Father of all of them. The Father is able to interact with each reality that He creates in His mind, through His Holy Spirit (which in Isaiah 63: 9-10 is referred to as the angel of His presence). The Holy Spirit is referred to as an angel because it can be sent by the Messenger (the Father) to indwell living beings and where His Holy Spirit is, the Father is. The Holy Spirit of the Father is a portal through which the Father can communicate His will and empower to perform it.
In our reality, He first formed a living being in it with his own intellect, heart, will, and spiritual body. The Father calls this being His Son and fills him with His Holy Spirit to such a degree that the Son becomes the visible image (in our reality) of the invisible God (the Father). Together, they create our reality (the Father through His right hand, the Son). The Father puts all creation under the Son's feet which makes the Son, Lord, Father, and God of all creation, but the Father is the Lord, Father, and God of all (including His Son).
Isaiah 43: 10 ... before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
Since there is a "before me", that would mean that time existed before the speaker. The speaker cannot be the Father, because the Father has always existed. It is the Son speaking.
Col 1: 15-16 Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation; For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers - all things were created by him and for him; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Here is the order of authority and Power in our reality: The Father, The Son, all others.
1 Cor 8: 5-6 For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there are gods many, and lords many), But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

So is this the one god with many names and sometimes different genders like all-father odin, Dadga, Unkulunkulu, Olorun and Baiame just to give some examples from different cultures?

 

[CorrectiveLens]

So is this the one god with many names and sometimes different genders like all-father odin, Dadga, Unkulunkulu, Olorun and Baiame just to give some examples from different cultures?

No. This is the one God of the Hebrews of which the Christian Bible speaks about.
Acts 4: 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

 

[☆Dreamwind☆]

It's really quite simple, you can believe in both at the same time. You simply don't hafta follow one or the other if you don't wish to. It's like seeing that there's more then one valid solution and going with the one that suits best.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

I believe we are the lower gods.
Human's can be angels, too. Where did you find that indication of Satan having children? I'm curious. Never heard of that before.
The story in Job is a morality tale. How could any writer be privy to a conversation between Satan and God? For me probably the story of Satan tempting Jesus was something Jesus told his disciples to guard themselves against temptation. In a way it was a parable.

Gods and gods, but only one ' Almighty God '.
The fallen angels of Genesis put on materialized bodies in order to have children with earth's women.
Since Almighty God IS the Bible's Author (2nd Timothy 3:16-17) that is how Moses got to know about Job, etc.
Bible writers acted as God's secretaries writing down God's thoughts.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

No. This is the one God of the Hebrews of which the Christian Bible speaks about.
Acts 4: 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Acts 4:12 is in connection to Acts 10:43 about God's Son Jesus - Matthew 1:21
God is the One who gives Son Jesus a superior position - Philippians 2:9
But Not superior to God's position. Even the resurrected ascended-to-heaven Jesus still thinks he has a God over him.
- Revelation 3:12
Jesus as mediator (1st Timothy 2:5) then through the name of Jesus we can come to the Father - John 14:6

 

[Bear Wild]

No. This is the one God of the Hebrews of which the Christian Bible speaks about.
Acts 4: 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

I remember this one. Its the jealous god that is intolerant. The other gods and goddess could get along just fine so why is this god who is no greater than any other god become so jealous and intolerant. This i am better than you attitude caused so much suffering in this world. Its time to be open to all of the gods and goddess in a peaceful way.

 

[Vinidra]

For me, it's a little of both.

There are many gods and goddesses, but they're ultimately manifestations of the one Shakti or Brahman. They can act independently, as we can, but in the end, all of us, the gods, humans, and everything else, return to Shakti.

 

[Bharat Jhunjhunwala]

So is this the one god with many names

Brahman, Allah and Elohim are different names for same Entity. Brahma, Malaikum and Yahweh-Angels are similar but here there are multiple differences.

 

[Bear Wild]

Brahman, Allah and Elohim are different names for same Entity. Brahma, Malaikum and Yahweh-Angels are similar but here there are multiple differences.

So how would you fit Odin and the Dagda in this context.

 

[River Sea]

So how would you fit Odin and the Dagda in this context.

@Bear Wild

I googled Odin, and I learned he lost an eye. Well, guess who else lost an eye? Ra-Horus lost his left eye in a struggle with Seth, so are there any similarities between Odin and Ra-Horus?

Why did Odin lose his eye? Similar or different reasons?

Oh how would this fit in with @Bharat Jhunjhunwala learning? I'll ask too, did Brahman, Allah, Elohim, or the lesser gods, YHWH, Brahma, Malaikum, ever lose an eye, and if so how come?

What does that mean in many religions: one eye, two eyes?

 

[Rival]

The other gods and goddess could get along just fine

Lol.

This not really true at all.

Many Gods and Goddesses could be added to pantheons, true, but to suggest the Gods get along is nonsensical when you look at the various bipartisan pantheons such as the AEsir vs Vanir, the Titans vs Olympians and the Ahuras vs the Daevas etc.

 

[rocala]

This not really true at all.

Many Gods and Goddesses could be added to pantheons, true, but to suggest the Gods get along is nonsensical when you look at the various bipartisan pantheons such as the AEsir vs Vanir, the Titans vs Olympians and the Ahuras vs the Daevas etc.

Very true. The biblical god certainly seems to be somewhat anti-social.