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adamhovey1988
Guest
Also, being familiar with Middle Eastern Christianity, just the Arabic word for God.
Yep, I was at a Pow-wow with a friend of mine (girlfriend at the time), and she is mostly of Spanish and Portuguese descent (lapsed Catholic…), and being quite familiar with American Indian and Alaska Native traditions, I didn’t feel the need to ask this question, but she asked one of the Indian women there what they believe, and she goes “Jesus”. Turns out, most American Indians are some sort of Christian. Cherokees are largely Methodists and Baptists, Navajos are largely Catholic, Lakota are largely Lutheran and Catholic. To evangelise a culture, it’s always best to find common ground. I’d advise our friend here to look into the Chinese rites controversy.
Sorry if that was off topic, just an interesting experience.
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Gorgias
Guest
Yeah… maybe I missed it, but I didn’t hear any offensive language, either.FatherMerrin:
Why so offended? I was expecting a bunch of bad language or a disrespectful exchange. It was just two people debating their beliefs. That is a healthy thing
What I did hear, though, was a re-hash of a tired old atheist soundbite – “I don’t believe in all the gods you don’t believe in and just one more, besides” – and I saw polemics in play which give rise to weak writing. After all, the believer raised issues, but had no ability to counter. (Worse yet, she pooh-pooh’ed the Big Bang. Heck… that was a theory first developed by a Catholic priest!)
(And what was with that whole “Yahweh?” / “No, what about just ‘God’?” business? Was Gervais trying to depict that character as if she were a strict deist, and not a believer in the Jewish / Christian God?)
So, basically, that scene was an exercise in self-congratulation and stroking one’s ego: “look at me! I’m a ‘Bright’! Others are big dummies!”. * sigh *
I’m not quite convinced that you’re being as logical as you think you are.
If I asked you about the assertion “Hannibal crossed the Alps on elephants”, would that be a testable claim? And if so, what would you be able to use to test the claim?
I’d assert that the answers are “yes” and “reports from contemporary sources”. And, in fact, those are exactly what we have at our disposal to demonstrate that Jesus is who we say he is.
And, of course, if you say “no”, then you’ve just spiraled down into the illogic that denies most of history, simply because there wasn’t anyone taking selfies of those events.
Hang on a second, though: you’re not talking about a belief in God, as such, but about beliefs in actions. The two are not the same, right?
So, really, you’re conflating “belief in God” with “beliefs in certain doctrines”, no?
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BlueKumul
Active member
Nahuatl speakers used Teotl for various Aztec deities, and it’s also used for the One True God of Catholicism. Still, the concept of Teotl in Aztec paganism is not the same as in Catholicism. In a similar way, Arab Christians can use Allah for God Almighty without implying He is the same being as Muslim Allah.
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goout
Guest
God is unique compared to other putative gods.
God is non competitive: God is not in battle with anyone else or anything else for supremacy. God simply is. This is expressed beautifully in the burning bush; the presence of God manifested in the bush, which is ablaze with the presence of God, yet is not consumed. The powerful presence of God does not consume it’s creation.
Only God is true and complete love. God so completely identifies with his creation that God becomes one with the creature’s condition. In God’s love we see self sacrifice to the point of being gravely injured unto death. No other god accomplishes the well being of creatures with such an unselfish act. And all done through non-violence on God’s part.
God is non competitive: God is not in battle with anyone else or anything else for supremacy. God simply is. This is expressed beautifully in the burning bush; the presence of God manifested in the bush, which is ablaze with the presence of God, yet is not consumed. The powerful presence of God does not consume it’s creation.
Only God is true and complete love. God so completely identifies with his creation that God becomes one with the creature’s condition. In God’s love we see self sacrifice to the point of being gravely injured unto death. No other god accomplishes the well being of creatures with such an unselfish act. And all done through non-violence on God’s part.
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FatherMerrin
Guest
But that statement kind of contradicts the very first Commandment (i.e. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”), doesn’t it? If God was truly non-competitive, why would He go out of His way to expressly ban the worship of other gods?
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goout
Guest
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Gorgias
Guest
Because people were worshipping (fake) gods back then. This was God’s way of saying “hey – cut out that silliness, eh?”
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VanitasVanitatum
Guest
He didn’t.
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Julius_Caesar
Guest
Especially when you realize those gods are actually demons.
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Gorgias
Guest
Not necessarily. If I take a pine cone off the pine tree in my front yard, set it up on the mantle, and then offer sacrifice to it… it’s not a demon. It’s actually nothing. (Well… it’s a pine cone.)Gorgias:
Especially when you realize those gods are actually demons.
The vice here is treating the creature with the dignity due the creator. (We still do that in modern times; it’s just that the local football team has replaced the hallowed pine cone.)
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Julius_Caesar
Guest
But it’s a huge leap to say that such “gods” are non-existent. Remember that Pharaoh’s magicians were able to replicate Moses’s miracles.
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