Is there only one true God ?

[mee]

Originally Posted by Francis king

yes, for a devotee, there is only one God... "his" or "her" God, a personal, individualistic God, but, beyond this, many other ppl speak of God too, and their God is different to mine, but not necessarily seperate... as there is the "personal" GOD, some ppl speculate that there may well be another kind of God, a bigger, all encompassing God, a God with a million trillion arms and hands and faces and colours and manifestations...

Or as the bible tells us ,

That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah,
You alone are the Most High over all the earth. psalm 83;18


(Isaiah 42:8) “I am Jehovah. That is my name; and to no one else shall I give my own glory, neither my praise to graven images.

(Exodus 32:8) They have turned aside in a hurry from the way I have commanded them to go. They have made a molten statue of a calf for themselves and keep bowing down to it and sacrificing to it and saying, ‘This is your God, O Israel, who led you up out of the land of Egypt.’”


people do allsorts of things dont they but the bible tells us just who the true God is .

He is wise in heart and strong in power.
Who can show stubbornness to him and come off uninjured?JOB 9;4

[greymare]

but every other religion or faith says that they know the gods true name. they are different and yet they are the same. but then, if they were the same would not that make all the differnet religions null and void.???

[mee]

Originally Posted by greymare

but every other religion or faith says that they know the gods true name. they are different and yet they are the same. but then, if they were the same would not that make all the differnet religions null and void.???

many religions have removed the true Gods name from the bible and that is not good especially when the true God Jehovah wants men to know his name . that is rebellion indeed . i wonder who those so called religions are really working for . God ,or the one in opposition to God . food for thought i would say . the kingJames bible used Jehovahs name in psalm 83;18 but the newer translation has removed the last trace of his name . in fact it has been removed many many times over ,it should be in there throughout the bible but it has been removed . i am glad to know that i am using a translation that has put the most holy name back where it rightly belongs in the first place . at least some translaters are interested in the truth of the bible .
Read the Bible Online

[Virtual_Cliff]

What makes it hard for us is that there can be no "definition" of God. To define is to draw a boundary, to limit. We need to define in order to have a concept, but God "by definition" has no limits or boundaries, therefore we cannot conceive of him.

This is why we can have no "graven images" since they seek to put him in a box of our own making. For the same reason we should not name him. Neither Jews nor Muslims name God. When we do so (and I include myself in this) we diminish him.

For Christians, the approach to God is mediated through Jesus. He was a historical person and we can get our heads round that. Other faiths have been mediated in other ways.

[mee]

Originally Posted by Virtual_Cliff

we should not name him. Neither Jews nor Muslims name God. .

but the bible tells us just the opposite to that , so it seems that the Jews were wrong to stop using his name , sticking to the holy scriptures means that we are not led along with all kinds of things that are in opposition to God.
It was not merely by chance that Jesus taught his followers to put God’s name first in their prayers. That name was clearly of crucial importance to him, since he mentioned it repeatedly in his own prayers. On one occasion when he was praying publicly to God, he was heard to say: “Father, glorify your name!” And God himself answered: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”—John 12:28, The Jerusalem Bible.

(Ezekiel 36:23) ‘And I shall certainly sanctify my great name, which was being profaned among the nations, which you profaned in the midst of them; and the nations will have to know that I am Jehovah,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, ‘when I am sanctified among you before their eyes.



(Ezekiel 38:23) And I shall certainly magnify myself and sanctify myself and make myself known before the eyes of many nations; and they will have to know that I am Jehovah.’

“‘Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth. matthew 6;9-10

The Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Volume 1, page 572) states the following: “A study of the word ‘name’ in the O[ld] T[estament] reveals how much it means in Hebrew. The name is no mere label, but is significant of the real personality of him to whom it belongs.”

The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (Volume 2, page 649) says: “One of the most fundamental and essential features of the biblical revelation is the fact that God is not without a name: he has a personal name, by which he can, and is to be, invoked.” Jesus certainly had that name in mind when he taught his followers to pray: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified.”—Matthew 6:9.

In view of all of this, it is evidently important for us to know what God’s name is. Do you know God’s personal name?

[Neemai]

Originally Posted by mee

In view of all of this, it is evidently important for us to know what God’s name is. Do you know God’s personal name?

this is the bit where I jump in wearing robes and playing cymbals and start singing ...

"Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare... "


... Neemai

[wil]

Originally Posted by Neemai

this is the bit where I jump in wearing robes and playing cymbals and start singing ...


"Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare... "


... Neemai

Namaste Neemai and mee,

Tis time to transcend language Jah? And dance around the burning bush.

I am ... aum

Sounding like a broken record, tis the reason I so enjoy Sufi Dances of Universal Peace, celebrating, honoring, revering all the names of G!d in various traditions and languages.

[Virtual_Cliff]

Originally Posted by wil

Sounding like a broken record, tis the reason I so enjoy Sufi Dances of Universal Peace, celebrating, honoring, revering all the names of G!d in various traditions and languages.

Yeah OK. I seem to remember passing this way before.

The point I was trying to make was that God is paradoxically unknowable, although all of us may know him in our own way. But I'd have to add that if the God we know is one of war and victory, or blood and money, then that would have to be our own worst nature we were worshipping, not God.

Now let's dance.

[mee]

Originally Posted by wil

Namaste Neemai and mee,

Tis time to transcend language Jah? And dance around the burning bush.

I am ... aum

Sounding like a broken record, tis the reason I so enjoy Sufi Dances of Universal Peace, celebrating, honoring, revering all the names of G!d in various traditions and languages.

The name is a form of a Hebrew verb ha·wah′ (הוה), meaning “to become,” and actually signifies “He Causes to Become.” so, God’s name identifies him as the One who progressively fulfills his promises and unfailingly realizes his purposes. Only the true God could bear such a meaningful name.

[mee]

or even make melody with our lips


I shall laud Jehovah according to his righteousness,
And I will make melody to the name of Jehovah the Most High.PSALM 7;17

(Psalm 9:2) I will rejoice and exult in you, I will make melody to your name, O Most High.



(Isaiah 25:1) O Jehovah, you are my God. I exalt you, I laud your name, for you have done wonderful things, counsels from early times, in faithfulness, in trustworthiness.


l

[mee]

“EVERYONE who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.” (Romans 10:13) With these words the apostle Paul stressed how vital it is for us to know God’s name.

[DrFree]

How do you count things like gods and spirits that you cannot see or touch or otherwise sense?

Not everything is countable. If I understand quantum theory correctly, it is not possible to count the number of electrons in a particular atom at a particular time; you can only measure the average ratio of electrons to protons and neutrons for a collection of atoms of a given kind. The ability to count things depends on strong criteria for deciding when "a thing" is really "two things" or "just one thing". I don't thing our culture as such criteria for spirits or gods.

Yes I know, as a scion of the People of the Book, I'm supposed to believe in monotheism. If I choose atheism (no god) I am damned, but remain (perhaps) a man of reason. Yet if I believe in more than one god, I am not only damned, I'm ignorant and superstitious, since I violate both church and science.

Since the time I realized I no longer believed in the literal truth of the Bible, I've been unable to understand what criteria are to be used to determine whether phenomena of divine origin are the work of a single deity, the product of divine collaboration among many gods, or the vector sum of mutually antagonistic gods. And yet the answer seems to have been such a major point of contention. Try to make a Muslim understand how the Christian Trinity is still monotheism.

How do we count spirits?

For example, take my mind. (Please!) Although like most of you I have a strong sense of having a single consciousness (and there are good evolutionary arguments why this should be the norm among complex animals). But there are numerous reports of people with multiple personalities. If a divinity had multiple personalities, would it be one god or many? Freud and others have postulated multiple components (id, ego, superego, subconscious, etc.) Is the mind one or many? Back when I frequently had to solve technical design problems, it often happened that my "subconscious" worked on the problem while I consciously attended to other things, and later delivered a solution in the form of an eureka experience, as though it happened all at once. Is the subconscious the same spirit as my mind or my conscious mind?

But since I am unpersuaded both by the conclusive arguments for the existence of a god, and by the conclusive arguments against god, if I ask an honest question whether there are aspects of this world that make it reasonable to hypothesize a divine (or spiritual) origin, what criteria would I use to decide whether a positive answer implies that there is one deity (as monotheistic religions proclaim), two deities (as dualistic religions, such as Manichaeism, proclaim), or more (as pantheisms proclaim)?

I ask again: how do you count gods? Maybe if I can figure out how to count, I can answer the question of how many gods there are.

Namiste.

[bob x]

If I understand quantum theory correctly, it is not possible to count the number of electrons in a particular atom at a particular time

That is not correct.

[mee]

Jehovah himself said that he would ‘have his name declared in all the earth’ (Ex 9:16;
But, in fact, for this cause I have kept you in existence, for the sake of showing you my power and in order to have my name declared in all the earth.


From the rising of the sun until its setting
Jehovah’s name is to be praised. psalm 113;3

For from the sun’s rising even to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place sacrificial smoke will be made, a presentation will be made to my name, even a clean gift; because my name will be great among the nations,” Jehovah of armies has said. MALACHI 1;11
have you ever heard anyone sing or shout out the long word “Hal·le·lu′·jah”? That is a Hebrew word and it means “Praise Jah!”

[OneForTruth]

Originally Posted by mee

MOLECH, Ashtoreth, Baal, Dagon, Merodach, Zeus, Hermes, and Artemis are some of the gods and goddesses mentioned by name in the Bible. (Leviticus 18:21; Judges 2:13; 16:23; Jeremiah 50:2; Acts 14:12; 19:24) Yet, only Jehovah is identified in the Scriptures as the Almighty God. In a victory song, Moses led his people in singing: “Who among the gods is like you, O Jehovah?”—Exodus 15:11.

The Bible identifies Jehovah as the only true God. (Psalm 83:18; John 17:3) The prophet Isaiah recorded God’s own words when he said: “Before me there was no God formed, and after me there continued to be none. I—I am Jehovah, and besides me there is no savior.”—Isaiah 43:10, 11.
All the other gods are not merely inferior to Jehovah. In most cases they are nonexistent—strictly figments of human imagination. The Bible refers to these gods as “the product of the hands of man . . . , which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.” (Deuteronomy 4:28) The Bible plainly teaches that Jehovah is the only true God.

There is only one true God and that is the tiune God of the Bible...Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...and those that repent of sin and turn from all other gods to Christ as Lord and Savior will be saved...

(Acts 4:12) "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."

In Love