One God, Many Paths

Aupmanyav said:
Ah, I have done that many times in the forum.
Atheist because I believe in non-duality - Advaita (a-not, dvaita-duality, of any kind whatsoever).
There is this substrate of the universe (we term it as Brahman) and that constitutes all things in the universe, living or non-living.
Therefore, according to 'Advaita', I am Brahman and so are you or even a stone is.
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Atheism is the absence of belief in the existence of deities. Atheism and non-dualism can sometimes intersect in a person’s worldview, but they are not inherently connected. Brahman, as you define it and how I understand it from your explanation, is the Objective Universe, which is an external, impersonal reality that exists independently of individual perception or belief. It is governed by physical laws, causality, time, negentropy and entropy. This is the world of matter, energy, space, and deterministic systems. Therefore Brahman is a non-conscious, unaware, unintelligent, mechanism.

I am not a "non-conscious, unaware, unintelligent, mechanism" . . .
 
Ehen I
Alif Balaam Yashin said:
... the Objective Universe, which is an external, impersonal reality that exists independently of individual perception or belief. It is governed by physical laws, causality, time, negentropy and entropy. This is the world of matter, energy, space, and deterministic systems.
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A theist would point out that the Divine transcends the objective Universe as described here – the physical cosmos.

I would also add there's more to the objective universe than mere matter, as science is now beginning to look at the idea of 'consciousness' as something there from the get-go.

Alif Balaam Yashin said:
I am not a "non-conscious, unaware, unintelligent, mechanism" . . .
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Nor, am I ...

The Divine is essentially personal and relational, immanently present in and to the cosmos.
 
Alif Balaam Yashin said:
Brahman, as you define it and how I understand it from your explanation, is the Objective Universe, which is an external, impersonal reality that exists independently of individual perception or belief. It is governed by physical laws, causality, time, negentropy and entropy. This is the world of matter, energy, space, and deterministic systems. Therefore Brahman is a non-conscious, unaware, unintelligent, mechanism.

I am not a "non-conscious, unaware, unintelligent, mechanism" . .
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On the contrary, I am just a 'mirage' (Maya) according to Advaita. I am not what I am perceived as. Being Aupmanyav is a temporary phenomena. It will change soon, probably within the next five years (I am 82+ at the moment. I have already lived longer than my father or grandpa). Same with the universe. People will perceive it as I perceive it today, even after I am no more. But that will not change the fact that reality is not the perceived universe.

'What exists' (Brahman) is extremely conscious in its own way. Switch on a light-bulb and the news spreads throughout the universe. Wave your hand and the reverberations, however small, will go to the farthest part of the universe (if there is any). So, in that way Brahman is aware of all that happens anywhere in the universe (Spooky action at a distance, quantum entanglement). Brahman goes by its own rules all the time (mind you, change of form, relativity and uncertainty are effects of Brahman's rules). In that way, it is intelligent.

The last sentence is human ego. :D
 
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Yahweh kid said:
Different beliefs/faiths, different gods.
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No, I don't agree .. that is not logical.

A person who believes Jesus is G-d, for example, is not worshipping a "different god'.
They are ascribing partners to G-d .. by claiming that G-d is of more than One part.

A Jew does not believe in a 'different god' than you, a Christian.
 
muhammad_isa said:
There are no gods in Orthodox Abrahamic religion .. only the One G-d of Abraham.
They are monotheistic.

The explanations that Christians give for belief in the Trinity does not change that.
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We do believe in one God as you do, but we also believe He is three persons..... we believe that if we deny the Son(Yahshua), we don't have the Father(Yahweh).
1 John 2:23 states, "No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever confesses the Son has the Father also."
So the fact that the Christian God is three persons makes it a different God you believe in.
Jews and Muslims choose to deny Jesus as the only begotten Son of God and that He is part of the Godhead.

Be blessed.
 
Yahweh kid said:
..the fact that the Christian God is three persons makes it a different God you believe in.
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..so if one person claims that G-d is 10 pieces .. and another claims that G-d is 3 pieces ..
and another claims that G-d is 1000 pieces, and another claims that G-d has no pieces, then they all believe in 'different gods' ?

..even though they all claim to believe in the Bible, and the God of Abraham?
That makes no sense to me. It is not logical.
I would say that they all believe in the One God of Abraham .. but have different creeds.
 
muhammad_isa said:
There are no gods in Orthodox Abrahamic religion .. only the One G-d of Abraham. They are monotheistic.

The explanations that Christians give for belief in the Trinity does not change that.
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That depends on your interpretation.
"And God saith, `Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness .." Genesis 1.26 (Young's literal translation).
And Torah is your oldest book.
God would not have used plural, if he was one. Trinity does not separate the three, he is still one.
 
muhammad_isa said:
There are no gods in Orthodox Abrahamic religion .. only the One G-d of Abraham.
They are monotheistic.

The explanations that Christians give for belief in the Trinity does not change that.
Click to expand...

Aupmanyav said:
That depends on your interpretation.
"And God saith, `Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness .." Genesis 1.26 (Young's literal translation).
And Torah is your oldest book.
God would not have used plural, if he was one. Trinity does not separate the three, he is still one.
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In my understanding of the Bible, the God of Abraham has no number. He is not one, or three, or many or none. He has no number, not even zero. Monotheism might be popular in Abrahamic religions, but I don't see it in the Bible.
 
Longfellow said:
Monotheism might be popular in Abrahamic religions, but I don't see it in the Bible.
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In the OT..
Exodus 20:3: You shall have no other gods before Me.

In the NT..
Matthew 22:37: Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.
 
Longfellow said:
In my understanding of the Bible, the God of Abraham has no number. He is not one, or three, or many or none. He has no number, not even zero. Monotheism might be popular in Abrahamic religions, but I don't see it in the Bible.
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Interesting interpretation, though just like other theisms, it does not suit an atheist like me.
 
muhammad_isa said:
In the OT..
Exodus 20:3: You shall have no other gods before Me.

In the NT..
Matthew 22:37: Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.
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Thank you. None of that says anything about how many of Him there are. All of the O.T. passages that people think of as monotheistic are not saying how many of Him there are. They are saying that all other gods are not real, and not to worship them. In my understanding it's vanity to think that we can know anything at all about God, including how many of Him there are, or even whether or not He exists.
 
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