One God - why many Religions?
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 18 May 2010 07:12
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 3218
In ancient times, each tribe had their own god. And they also had a different god for each unexplained phenomenon around them. Muslims tell us they have one god (Allah) but they have multiple sects (e.g. Sunnis and Shiites) who have different descriptions of what Allah did or wants. And Christians are worse - some say god left a bible that is literally true; others that the bible is to be interpreted; then each religion interprets it differently and different pastors in each religion interpret it differently even though they are nominally in the same religion. It would make life simpler for the non-religious world if they said my god said this although your god might have said it differently. Then it would be clear that they are really talking about different gods. The only thing they agree on is that each religion only has one god - unless of course you are talking about the Trinity in the Christian faith which is three, or is it?
If god was so clear in his teaching - via the Bible or the Qur'an or whatever - then why do we have so many religions and sects? Doesn't this show, as a minimum, that the teaching is not clear? So why should I believe one particular version? Maybe I should make a custom religion! Pick out the things I agree with (or like) and reject the others! Sounds very "sensible" but it makes religion a farce. That aside, I could then go to the Church that had the most pleasant seats and ambience, or maybe the one with the pastor who gave the most stimulating sermons and had the most pleasant congregation. And when the preacher said something I did not agree with, I'd keep it to myself to avoid rocking this pleasant boat.
I wonder how many Christians, Muslims, Jews and others are like that. I wonder how many, deep down, have a custom religion.
But I digress. Of course each custom religion means yet another version of god has been invented - why not? Teachings have changed over the centuries and the description of god and his teachings changed - even in the same religion. Using this way of looking at it, there have been thousands of gods, maybe millions of gods over the millennia. And of course if god does exist, he can only be one of them - but which one? The latest one talked about by the Church down the road? Or the one in the next town?
- For more on the many religions in just today's world, go here.
- And another site has counted the number of gods documented - that means believed in by groups of people and written down somewhere. God Checker
Interesting blog. Well done!