#MONOTHEISM

[theanic-devotion]

Someone: what religion are you/what do you believe?

What I think: I’m somewhere between a soft polytheist and a pluriform monotheist. Maybe henotheistic. Sort of hellenic, but open to other pantheons. I like the idea of a Mother Nature type entity, but more in a panentheistic way. But also not mother as in female or woman, mother as in it’s the easiest way for my human mind to conceptualize a being that is everything and nothing.

What I say: I’m pagan

[headspace-hotel]

One of the most disturbing things I encountered in my journey of converting to Judaism was this podcast where Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks made the case that what originally set Judaism apart from “pagan” belief systems at the time of its development was that it “de-sacralized nature”. Monotheism killed animism, in his view, so rather than being something alive and divine, “nature” became an essentially lifeless thing that humans can use. We have a responsibility to care for nature, but only because G-d gave it to us, not because of any intrinsic value in it.

Sacks wasn’t the first person to argue this idea— it’s popular enough among a certain crowd of antisemites— but what was so disturbing for me was Sacks’ unalloyed enthusiasm about this. “De-sacralizing nature” was a good thing in his view, because it made the modern world possible and allowed humanity to “rise above mere animal existence” or some shit. It still bothers me that he drew such a radically different conclusion from our tradition. My experience with Judaism has made me infinitely more sensitive to the rhythms of the natural world and my place in it. The idea that all of nature is alive and joins us in praising G-d is everywhere in our liturgy. The sacredness of the world used to be an abstraction to me, and Judaism taught me to feel it like my own pulse.

as someone raised Christian i'm probably highly ignorant to the differences between Christianity and Judaism apart from, yknow, the Jesus thing, but "monotheism= nature is a created Thing" seems to lead people to a variety of wildly different takes.

like, American Evangelicals are mostly the far extreme of this where the earth is a temporary and ultimately disposable thing, and ultimately doesn't matter because it's Heaven that matters, and "environmentalism" is equivalent to denying the faith. It's Bad.

I just wonder, where does the difference come in? between "God created this creature and therefore we should treat it as sacred because it's his thoughtful handiwork" and "God created this creature so we can do what we want with it"? What other ideas make people go down one path or another?

[birdtheology]

If polyamory (the term, not the practice) came out of polytheistic Paganism and monogamy is promoted by the vast majority of monotheistic traditions, what kind of new relationship model do you think the agnostics should come up with?

[muhibuallah]

Salaam and Hello friends!

I co-run a discord server called For God's Sake (pun absolutely intended). In relation to it's name, this server is for all people and religions/spiritualities and welcomes both casual conversations and light debate.

We use a mixture of forums/threads, text chats, and voice chats as well as a multitude of roles to choose from (and custom roles if none of them fit you).

Most importantly, we are an LGBTQAI+, plural systems, and alterhuman friendly space, with plenty of room for everyone of all ages (within Discord Terms of Service).

We would love to welcome more people into our space so please join us! If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to message me directly or send in an ask!

(List of our channels under the cut)

Theology+ (Category)

#general-theology

#scripture-study

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etc...

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#general-chat

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[albertayebisackey]

[iammadeofratsratsratsrats]

Really interested in the concept of god as a parasite.

[namedafterflowerstournament]

Botanic Tournament : Honorary Mentions !

Explanations here

Round 1 Part 4 Poll 5

Explanations underneath

Sakura (Chiyo's surname) is written with kanji that don't mean cherry blossom

Original propaganda for Chiyo :

"I LOVE GSNK SO MUCH ITS MY VERY FAVORITE"

Lilith was submitted because of the similarity between her name and the noun lily but they're not related

[thequietabsolute]

Recover all your sigh-blown age On double-pleasures: leave thy cold dispute Of what is fit, and not. Forsake thy cage, Thy rope of sands.

-- George Herbert 1593 - 1633

[lucaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Watching fantasy high and i had a thought.

I noticed there was an idea about diety and religion kind of baked into the theology of Brendan's world building that made me wonder about religion in real life. And that is the idea that the goal of religious practice is to find The Religion and The Diety that you commit to forever and vice versa. It's baked into the mechanics of how the existence of dieties work. Gods need worshippers to exist, which would motivate them to be possessive and demand loyalty. The no-telling-about-dead-gods law is a good example of this. Gods don't share, and you can't change religions.

The idea kind of stands out because it feels familar. I realized it mirrors how we think of God in western culture. The idea of a jealous, possessive God is very prevalent in our culture maybe even fundamental. When I thought about ancient religions with big pantheons I kind of imagined people would pick one diety to be their diety and specifically only worship them forever even if they believed other gods existed, the way Christians treat the christian God. But I realized that was because my understanding of religious practice comes from a Christian background. God is a jealous God is a Christian/Jewish/Islamic idea.

Realizing that kind of brought it into question. I wondered what an alternative would be like. Maybe a better system for human beings would be to allowed more flexibility. It's natural to move through life and change and evolve. A lot of people might need different things and different times in their life. Maybe you need Jesus at one point but then later in life you need the Tao. Maybe you need the Moon Goddess at one point, but experience something you need permission to rage about.

Using the context of Fantasy High as an analogy, maybe it would make more sense if deities were allowed to actively share. Why couldn't they pass along worshippers who needed more doubt in their life to Cassandra? Why couldn't a God aks if their worshipper needed something different and try to help them find that? (Of course, mechanics come into question here but Im guessing those mechanics happened because of Sir Terry Pratchett. But that's another conversation.)

In the real world I think this is just as relevant. What if expecting one religion to work for a person forever is not a healthy expectation? Maybe there are people who would fit in as Christians forever. But maybe there are a lot of people who don't. What could be possible if we had a concept of flexibility in religious practice and belief? Why do we expect gods to be possessive?

Also makes me wonder. Whose idea was it to create that law in Fantasy High that forces the Gods to compete all the more fiercely? 🤔

[plaudiusplants]

I promised my mom I wouldn't say this to any religious Catholic people but I feel like there's a certain number of saints that turns it into polytheism. Idk how many, maybe 1, maybe 200, but at a certain point when all the saints have specific jobs and you pray to them instead of the head honcho, that's not monotheism anymore bud

[theanic-devotion]

So I’m in a predicament, I definitely believe in a high power but not like,,, one that exists already? I feel like there is an energy and I want to venerate it/build a relationship with it but it’s not like a named deity.

With a deity from a culture I can go off of myths to see what they might like. I kind of see it as different named deities being facets of this higher power.

So like, this energy is nature or the natural cycle of things. The Universe, sort of. I see Aphrodite as representative of love and beauty in that nature, Apollo as representative of the health and diseases. Etc.

I could just continue to worship them as separate entities, but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas of how to venerate all aspects?

Or something like that. Really I just want to know if others feel something similarly.

[creature-wizard]

Christians who point out various "advanced" societies developing monotheistic belief systems as a way to bolster Christianity's supposed superiority are engaging in cultural erasure. Just because another culture has a monotheistic belief system, doesn't mean it's anything like Christianity - much less that its existence suggests that Christianity is more valid than other forms of religion.

[birdtheology]

God wants me carnally, and brother I am asexual

[orchidwoes]

Located near the city of Ardakan in Iran, a village named Chakchak serves as a pilgrimage point for Zoroastrians every year. In Zoroastrian belief, Chakchak is where Persian princess Nikbanou, second daughter of Yazdegerd III of the Persian Sassanid Empire, was cornered by the invading Muslim-Arab army in 640 CE. Fearing capture Princess Nikbanou prayed to God to protect her from the enemies. In response to Nikbanou's pleadings, the mountain miraculously opened up and sheltered her from the invaders.

This cave gets its name from an ever-dripping spring located at the mountain as chakchak in Persian means drop by drop. And legend has it that these drops are tears of grief that the mountain sheds in remembrance of Nikbanou. Growing beside the holy spring there is also an ancient tree said to be Nikbanou's cane.

[apenitentialprayer]

is judaism more similar to christianity or to islam

Well, this is one of those questions that won't have a clear, indisputable answer.

For example, Judaism and Islam are both alike in that they are anti-Incarnational, anti-Trinitarian faiths. They are both more similar to each other than Christianity in that they affirm the absolute Oneness of the transcendental God. (As a historical footnote, this may be why when faced with forced conversion, there are more high-profile cases of Jewish people picking martyrdom over conversion in Christian lands than in Islamic ones).

If we look at Scripture, on the other hand, Christians and Jews are much more similar. While they disagree on the interpretation of their shared texts, up to 77.4% of Christian Scripture (depending on your flavor of Christian) is also Jewish. This is strikingly different from Islam, which has its own canonical Scripture and a very ambivalent relationship with Judeo-Christian texts. Historically speaking, some Islamic scholars have been amenable to using Jewish and Christian material to better understand their own Scripture. Others have been very cautious about the so-called Isra'iliyyat, narratives from other Abrahamic traditions, seeing them as corrupt.

Judaism and Islam are also more similar in that they both focus on orthopraxy more than orthodoxy. Gershom Scholem, a leading scholar in the academic study of Kabbalah, once said that Kabbalah is the closest thing to a theology that Judaism has. At the end of the day, though, Jewish individuals have a lot of freedom in terms of what can be believed. Islam likewise has a few articles of faith, but that's also less importance. What separates different Jewish groups is more religious practice, and what separates Muslim schools of religiosity is more jurisprudence, than what separates Christians.

Or consider the doctrine of the imago Dei, which is very important to Christianity and Judaism, but is either non-existent or only occasionally acknowledged in Islam, depending on your flavor of Islam. Whereas Judaism and Christianity both affirm a likeness to God in human beings, which explains their unique status in His creation, Muslims are much more likely to emphasize God's inability to be compared to anything.

This question also ignores how Islam and Christianity are more similar to each other than they are to Judaism. Along some similarities, both are evangelical religions, seeking converts and at least in theory aiming for a world where everyone belongs to their respective religions. Both emphasize the afterlife much more than Judaism does. And while both Islam and Christianity get inculturated into specific ethnic groups, neither are ethno-religions to the extent that Judaism is (One definition of Judaism? "The -ism of the Jewish people").

One concept that really emphasizes how complex the answer to this question is? Take a look at how all three tackle this question of the Messiah. Christians and Muslims both affirm Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, while Jews do not. Jews and Muslims both view the Messiah as an establisher of an eschatological kingdom, albeit of a worldly kind; Christians focus on the eschatological aspect, and affirm that in some sense the Kingdom of Heaven is already at hand. Both Christians and Jews heavily associate the Messiah with Israel and the House of David, whereas Muslims do not. And in Islam, the Messiah isn't the sole or even most prominent champion of the cause for God — that would be the Mahdi.

Keep in mind that even with these cautious generalities, you will find contradictions to what I am saying. Each of these religious systems are incredibly diverse, and you may find other resonances and dissonances depending on which particular groups you are comparing.