#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

[tintafugaz]

He is the One Who has made the earth humble at your service. So move through its tracts and enjoy His provisions. Bear in mind that the revival to New Life will again be in His Dominion.

[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

#gnostics-heresies

#liberation-queer

#mysticism

#orthodoxy

#occult

etc...

Community Center (Category)

#general-chat

#arts-music-writing

#health-lifestyle

#animals-n-more

#lgbtqia2

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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? 🤔

[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.

[tintafugaz]

So, do not spread corruption on earth after it has been set in order. Call upon Him in fear and hope. God’s mercy is close to the benefactors of humanity.

[shit-its-a-shitpost]

Greek Mythology: incest is wincest! Egyptian Mythology: hell yeah! Norse Mythology: 10/10 mate! Monotheistic Religions: you guys have sex?

[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

[thegirlmirage]

I've been studying what I think is the historical origin for transphobia and I think the best answer I can give is it was an accident through monotheism post Egyptian rule. The ancient world had a niche in which temples formed and practiced a necessary action within society that you catch-all church won't do. Like transitions for example.

The ancient world was not a stranger to trans people, even if it didn't always know how to handle them. Trans women were generally regarded as strange men, and Trans Men were as mad women. But their temples existed and it was if not widely known, certainly widely practiced methods of estrogen and testosterone extraction, Bottom surgery, and top surgery. And they were exempt from laws forbidding those practices in a cis environment. There were pride parades, and even amazingly, drag bingo, club nights and crossdressing parties.

These didn't go away, we've always been practicing these even if we are missing the crucial education of that time. There's always been trannies making hospitals somewhere.

When you begin to unearth the historical data yourself it's actually staggering to see the enormity of what trans people have contributed frankly, to all expressions of art, creativity and communication. There's been times when that's been widely known and celebrated.

I can't argue that we always had a fair place in society, certainly the furthest back trans people I can guess at are likely doing highly dangerous work like charioteering, potentially for our tenuous place in that society, I cannot say without studying more.

This is the truth as I see it, as I can argue for. I pray to have the ability to educate this to the world, that there is no reason to hurt us and every reason to restore us to equal members of society. For society's chosen, pain is treated, injury is repaired, suffering is eased. If you understood the enormity of this injustice, it's my belief you would come to the same conclusions we have about our own safety, health and happiness.

Please always ask questions of your world