What are the advantages of monotheism? What are the advantages of polytheism? Are the aspects of the polytheistic gods any different from the aspects of the monotheistic God? Where do these gods dwell?

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Monism.
None.

ALL the aspects of the polthiests are contained within monotheism!
God is ALL.
Where is God located? God Is ALL!

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Only Love Prevails,
Don

That's one big issue I have with Christianity (and all of the Abrahamic faiths) is the monotheism. To me one God that does everything just no longer makes any sense to me.

My polytheism that I now practice makes more sense to me that monotheism ever did. I recognize 14 Gods and Goddesses, each have different jobs. There is one that oversees all the other Gods. It makes sense to me.

I'm of course referring to the Greek pantheon. I recognize the twelve Olympians, Pan, and the Christian God Yahweh.

I became a Hellenic Wiccan and it's great.

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"If you take the Christian bible and put it out in the wind and the rain, soon the paper on which the words are printed will disintegrate and the words will be gone. Our bible IS the wind and the rain."

I think that polytheism affords more opportunities for freedom and variety of religious expression, as one can focus on deities pertinent to one's interests... A smith-god, a farmer-god, a poetry goddess.

Monotheism troubles me because of the way it tends to concentrate power in relatively few hands. Although it can bring a community together more effectively than polytheism, it's often used to stamp out dissenting voices and produce a homogeneous population answering to a central hierarchy.

I think polytheism offers the best advantage because if you really get ticked off with one god you can always switch to another.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

Polytheism reflects a more primitive/naive anthropomorphic projection and association. It allows somewhat more freedom for creative allegory, but so do cartoons.

Why, then, do we need two words -- "God" and "All" -- if they are the same thing?

What are the further implications of that equality? Is All conscious, or is God non-conscious? When I hate, is that God (of which I understand I am but a part) hating? As a matter of fact, if God is All, and All includes crime, then why should there be punishment?

If God is All, and you and I are therefore part of that equality, why do we communicate? Why is there a separation, even if only perceived, between us? Why do we not simultaneously perceive and understand everything the other perceives and understands?


A lot of religious people make a lot of statements -- without the tiniest benefit of anything other than a kind of wish that they'd like it to be so -- but never follow through on what their statements mean. Deism or theism would have implications that should be at least in part describable. Those would, one must think, be quite different from the implications of pandeism, panendeism, pantheism or panentheism.

But when I make the effort to examine, to ask the question, to try and understand where those implications might lead, every time, every single time, those with who I am engaged drop the subject. Or simply make statements like "god is all and you don't understand."

Yes, I know I don't understand. That's why I ask.

You've heard the old examples: those who do not believe in the traditional Abrahamic God -- personal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent -- can show that those things necessarily lead to contradiction. We can examine what it might mean to suggest that prayers are answered (both teams pray for a win, for example, either at sport or at war).

I want to understand the implications of the equality of God with All.

I want somebody -- anybody -- to discuss, rather than pronounce and move on.

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evangelicalhumanist: Greek "eu"=good and "angelos"=messenger. Spreading the good news of Humanism.

I'm not too certain I agree with you here. First of all, "primitive" and "naive" are really quite subjective terms. Secondly, the god that's depicted in the Abrahamic religions is certainly anthropomorphic to a large extent. However, it may be that you may be referring to the fact that most polytheistic approaches are also typically animistic, which indeed reflects more of the physical nature of the environment.

Part of my problem with the above may well be a bit of a hangup in that, as anthropologists, we tend to avoid use of the terms "primitive" and "naive" when referring to someone else's religious beliefs.





Here I agree with you. With more deities, more imagination can be used. However, I tend to be more non-theistic than atheistic and, therefore, I'm not really willing to regard polytheism as just being imaginary. How would I know?



Shalom,
Vern

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

EH

I hear your frustration.....you say anybody...i am not sure if you mean that....often we put idea's of peoples personality of there in the on line world of how they type...we make choices of if we think there able to be smart enough rational enough ...we have much going on in our head i think when we post of who all we read....based of course on our life path of understanding with the tools we have been taught to use to make such choices.....but for the understanding of God...it is not so much of trying to always make sense or understand...sometimes we need only be quiet...look at each detail of were we have traveled...think of our thoughts...of each place on are path in life...from the time we can remember....think as hard as you can of details...your feelings...your thoughts...what you ask for...if you were angry...sad...happy...when did things change...how did you travel from one mood to the next...from one path of work to another..from family and friends...each step...just be quiet...think on this ..let go...dont try to solve problems...nor have answers to why, nor if you had done different..let it all go...just see it...feel it..not so much feel hurt and pain and rehash as such..just feel your life..and i know that holds pain for all...but your just feeling your life..then breath....let it go...can you see in your life where you fought thoughts and disagreed..and then from one form or another...ahhaa moment..or science showing you...or just life experience now seeing things you would never have dreamed you could or would understand..how things that seemed impossible are now very possible and just are..how much of what you know..you could not always share because it must be expereinced...LIFE....well that i think might be why you are asking so hard ....I think it is a good thing...I have and do that myself..as i think probably most do...but maybe not...my point on this last measure is...after all that...you can do what we just dont understand we could do to start with...ask...let it go....the answer shows...and it shows as you are able and ready to understand...and i do believe the smarter one is...the harder this is made...and it is all good...

for myself...the ugly that we see the atrocity's that take place...are for understanding ...we are perfect from where we came i think...and this is a place of lessons...there is no death...only the appearance of it....just as when you watch a movie...there are those for our entertainment put there self in horrendous rolls...well for our life lessons..that is but parts we maybe have taken on.....or this whole scenario my be nutso...and our bad things are just from our free will and making crappy choices...but when you understand that you then still can find peace in knowing though we are just in growing progress as humans....there is not real death....only the shell we came to be known as on earth.......as you can see it is not cut and dry....yet it is...but for us on our earth journey...we continue to share thoughts and life experience to better understand from our life as human....and grow and be better......i refer to earth a few times here i see....well i dont think we are martians or anything of that sort...we are love, peace, joy...yes in are language it sounds like a lot of fluff......i can give you another example of what sounds life fluff...kids talk..how they wish to teach you to be politically correct..when talking to a child....stateing to a child....so and so....it is time to get washed up for dinner...it will be ready in about five min.....versus...busy life old school...no thought...so and so...get your hands washed...dinner is on the table....old school folks are often not willing to use some of the simple communication changes ...and the thing is there is no harm in them..they dont hurt..and when done...wow what a difference...so i think...some of what you read...you fit it to your inability to prove to someone of something you know...we dont like that....but there are some things..that can be tried for good measure...truley what harm can come..if it shows a new world out your window...wa la...if not..what is lost..............now i have no way to know your personal thoughts...so any and all that i type is but my thinking of having read these forums almost daily.....i dont pretend to know what you may have tried already or not...or how you will read another and have your thoughts...what has been said is from my own experience..and having said that...i am asking that you get passed what i know......the difference in education levels...the ability to write formally....and the appearance of what people think of what ever...and i say this but if you already do that...thanks...if you dont...then i would hope you could this round...