Atheism, Pantheism, Polytheism or Monotheism!?

[Red Sky at Morning]

I was once surprised by the reaction of a parent about an incident reported about her child. When the accusation was presented to her, she folded her arms and flatly said 'My Simon would never have done that'... Unfortunately for the mother, her Simon definitely had 'done that', but the gap between her hopes for him and the reality of his nature were thrown into sharp relief!

In the same way, our understanding of God, if he exists, may be coloured by our desires. It may be axiomatic to say, but if he (or she or It) is simply 'everything' then those who want to believe he has a particular character are no wiser than Simon's mother. If he doesn't exist at all, then all flavours of theism are simply wishful thinking. If, on the other hand, he really does exist, he would have particular characteristics, and it would be possible to know him well or get the wrong end of the stick about him...

The three concepts cannot all be true, and each has a unique set of implications.

So over to the forum... What do you believe and why do you believe it? The most important question most people never face head on.

 

[Loki]

My beliefs and feelings on "God," for lack of a better term, is most closely aligned with Pantheism I've come to find. However, I'm open to all options, I just find the Abrahamic version of God to be, as you said in your OP, colored by our human thoughts and desires, which is why "he" is so anthropomorphized in their beliefs. It seems more likely to me that humans created God in their image rather than the other way around. This also applies to most ancient religions like Greek mythology and Norse mythology (my personal favorite if you couldn't tell). I see absolutely no difference between those mythologies and the mythologies of Abrahamic followers, except that Abraham, and those who came after him, began a trend of monotheism by cramming all the qualities of the old gods into one big Sky Daddy God.

My idea of god can't really be described. It is all of creation. And I personally believe that everyone who seeks a higher power is seeking/speaking to the same source whether they want to admit it or not. All the different flavors of religion just get in the way of humanity coming together, though I also think that there are valuable lessons and ideas to take away from most of them.

However, if it turned out that I'm wrong and the entirety of existence was random chance and spirituality is just our brains helping to deal with stress and other external and internal factors, then I'm fine with that as well. I don't particularly need for there to be a Creation Force, so to speak, or entity of any sort, but for now it's what I believe based on my life experiences.

And if at any point the Sky Daddy human version of God somehow makes sense to me, then I'll embrace that, but I simply don't see that happening honestly.

 

[JoChris]

Your question suggests that a person who is brought up in a religious household remains religious or at sympathetic to its general world-view. People are way more complicated than computers. We can delete or alter our world-view when we wish to. Polytheism- a religion's belief in many gods should be included too.

 

[AspiringSoul]

Monothiesm is misunderstood....God is both the Transcendent and the Immanent and so the 'truth' of monotheism has to be balanced between the 2. It's wrong to only interpret monothiesm as pretty much the belief in a 'sky daddy' but it can seem that way when reading parts of the bible or islamic sources. The one thing that's also completely overlooked by people is the 'collective God thoughtform' which is basically the anthromorphic Yahweh who appeared on Earth and demanded sacrifices and what not so yeh that is God in OUR image but then we're made in God's image (btw the image=the logos/universal consciousness so let's not misunderstand what this really means).
Panthiesm is the belief that all things are God ie it rejects the Transcendent aspect of God. Basically panthiesm means the dog excrement on someones pavement is also God.
The monothiestic view of the immanence of God is different to panthiesm in the way the light and the prism are not the same thing.

As for athiesm. I'm not expert in quantum physics but essentialy whatever we 'think' is just as real as anything in the world of sense objects (meaning a flying spaghetti monster is real).
The mere idea of God implies He exists.
what athiests really want is proof of God in the world of sense objects ie..but the closest they might get to seeing that is if the collective thoughtform of God was manifested into the physical ie like Yahweh, so basically magic.
Still...the way the world has been shaped in the last few decades ie the globalised world, means it isn't long before we see the Image of the Beast (ie the collective thoughtform of the entire planet) in physical form (whatever that's going to mean) but that's the closest we'll get to see something mental manifested in such a powerful way that could potentially resemble Yahweh albeit, a shadow version of Yahweh.

 

[TaraGaia]

My idea of god can't really be described. It is all of creation. And I personally believe that everyone who seeks a higher power is seeking/speaking to the same source whether they want to admit it or not. All the different flavors of religion just get in the way of humanity coming together, though I also think that there are valuable lessons and ideas to take away from most of them.

Well Loki I am a Buddhist but our idea of God is exactly the same. I have voted ''pantheism'' because I believe God to be everything and in everything. The Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. Something far beyond our comprehension as mortals yet we are all part of IT. Like an ocean we ebb and flow from.

Religions and ideas that promote hatred and seperation are in my eyes the antithesis of God, God is love, unity and understanding. While lots of religions promote division, hatred and repression. Like Jesus said, look at the fruit before you judge the tree. Lots of religion has become a bad fruit in my eyes.

And if at any point the Sky Daddy human version of God somehow makes sense to me, then I'll embrace that, but I simply don't see that happening honestly.

Me neither. Funny, I also always call that version of God the ''angry sky grandpa''. I don't believe in that.

 

[Haich]

Monotheism it is for me, I'm a Muslim but I don't think Islam gets a good rep especially in today's world.

From my understanding of Islam, we're taught to worship a sole God and try to do good on earth. Some may say oh but we sin, why is there pain and suffering and death etc. Well we believe it's all a test and it's up to us to make the earth that idyllic utopia we want.

I also think ultimately we don't know where we'll go when we die, do we just rot or do our souls pass on to another life? I definitely don't think earth is the end and the Koran tells me it's just the beginning...but God is real. If we played out our lives backwards and saw the consequences and impacts all our life decisions had, I think we'd be surprised to see how coherent and concise our lives were. Almost as if everything we experience is perfectly planned. I believe in destiny and we're all destined for something, we all have talents and capabilities others may not possess. Is this really all down to chance? Name one thing on earth which doesn't have a creator? God is just and I think we underestimate his mercy and focus too much on his wrath...he decides what happens to people in the afterlife and we're responsible for each other on earth.

 

[TMT]

Philosophical polytheist but the spark of the divine is inside each and every man and woman.

 

[Corvus Corax]

I'm open minded about it all.

 

[manama]

I'm a firm believer of monotheism
for reasons as stated by heich and also that its the only belief that also satisfies my love for science and its the only belief that makes absolute sense

 

[DisenfranchisedDespot]

Monotheism for I.

 

[grateful servant]

Islamic Monotheism.