All world monotheistic religions recognize that the world is ruled by one God. The origin of the word “monotheism” itself has Greek roots (“monos” - “one”, “theos” - “god”). It was first used by the English Neoplatonist G. More in 1660.
There is exclusive monotheism, which means belief in one God as a person, and inclusive monotheism - the assumption of the existence of one God in different forms. Characteristic features of monotheism can be found in the Abrahamic religions (Islam, Christianity, Judaism). Sikhism, Hinduism and many other religious movements also contain certain monotheistic features.
Did monotheism appear immediately or was it preceded by polytheism?
Some ancient Near Eastern religions were originally monotheistic. Some of them are characterized by monolatry (one god-leader and numerous deities around him). There are scientists who believe that polytheism is “degraded” monotheism.
Edward Tylor was a supporter of the version of the original existence of animism (belief in spirits), from which polytheism arose, and then monotheism as the highest form of religion. But these claims by Tylor were refuted in the late 19th century by Andrew Lang in his The Formation of Religion. After reading this book, the German Catholic priest W. Schmidt began creating his own monograph, “The Origins of Ideas about God,” which was published in 12 volumes. In it, the clergyman proved that humanity initially adhered to monotheism.
These three are one
Very clear Word. We know the testimony of the Father, described in the Old Testament, at the creation of the world. We know the testimony of the Word, which became flesh and showed us the Father. And we, as born again, hear the testimony of the Spirit sent by the Father to glorify the Word, Christ. And further we are told that their ESSENCE is unity.
That is, the Bible tells us that Their essence is ONE. Can I get the idea from this passage that each of them is a separate person??? No. BUT!!!! I may JUST have an idea about the “trinity” of God and I can take part of this verse - “... these three …” and say: “look - my theory is correct. The Word says there are three Gods. That the Father is a separate person, the Son is a person, and the Spirit is a separate person.” That is, I take the human definition of “person” and add it to God.
Atonism
In the 14th century BC, there lived Pharaoh Akhenaten, who carried out the world's first monotheistic religious reform, called "Atonism". According to Sigmund Freud, thanks to the cult of Aten, Jewish monotheism began to form and develop. It is worth noting that the place of residence of the Old Testament prophet Moses was Ancient Egypt. It is assumed that at that time Akhenaten ruled the country, and Adonai was considered the local religious cult, some of whose ideas were later used by Moses. Some scholars say that Akhenaten was a supporter of the single cult of Aten, since he did not recognize other gods.
The Importance of the Doctrine of the Oneness of God
Today, unfortunately, there are a huge number of false teachers with the idea that the Holy Spirit, or God, or Jesus Christ, or some “last prophet” told them something. You see, when I believe in the UNITY of God, I cannot allow the Spirit or the Father or the Son to speak SEPARATELY or something that contradicts what is written. Let's read the Word.
Do you see the connection? Reading this, you CANNOT think that there is any “new word” that was not there before, a revelation that will contradict the Word. The Father cannot say anything that is not according to the Word. The Holy Spirit cannot speak on His own. The Word, Jesus, came to demonstrate and fulfill the Word, the will of the Father.
Platonism
Ancient Greek monotheistic thinkers were Xenophanes, Hesiod and some others. Supporters of Platonism developed a concept in which God acted as the One Good. Plato's writings are based on polytheistic terminology, but many Jews and Hellenes at the same time, in fact, became monotheists. In the 1st century, Philo of Alexandria attempted to combine Platonism with the Jewish concept of God.
In philosophy, monotheism began to develop in late ancient times. In the 2nd century, the Chaldean Oracles were written, where a single deity from intermediate Platonism was combined with Gnosticism. When Christian monotheists polemicized with ancient philosophers, the latter at that time were already adherents of Neoplatonism.
Judaism
Modern Jews can confidently be called monotheists. For them, any other gods and forces that are not controlled by the Creator do not exist. But it is generally accepted that the original Judaism was monolatry, and its formation into a monotheistic religion occurred in the 6th century BC, when the Jews returned after the Babylonian captivity. Jewish monotheism later became the basis for the emergence of such religions as Islam and Christianity.
According to Moses Maimonides, who lived in the 12th century, and other Jewish thinkers, the primacy of monotheism is undeniable, it prevailed from the very beginning as a form of worship of God, and the later formation of other cults occurred after the idea of monotheism degenerated.
The works of Professor Lawrence Schiffman say that the Bible speaks of the patriarchs as true monotheists. But judging by the sacrifices of the early Israelites, they believed in the existence of demonic forces. Some psalms describe angels similar to Ugaritic and Mesopotamian gods.
Like scientific discoveries
It's like scientific discoveries. Any scientific discovery is based on a hypothesis, which is then confirmed experimentally. For example, the hypothesis that all living things came from stone. There are no direct indications, no evidence. There is a hypothesis. Along with the fact that life came to us from aliens. And now evidence is being sought for these ideas.
Let's read the Scriptures carefully and BELIEVE what is written there. Let's believe exactly what it says. You see, if in the 16th century people believed that the causative agent of infections were microbes (let’s say someone told them about this), then medicine would have gone in the direction of fighting them, and not coming up with stupid treatment methods, such as breathing carbon monoxide.
We accept many events and laws in the world as they are. Every morning we see the sun, winter gives way to spring, people are born, people die. We cannot explain or understand how a person appears, how to explain life. We simply accept it by faith, we agree that our parents or children will die someday. But for some reason we don't want to accept God and His rules and laws THE WAY He created them.
Islam
Islamists believe only in one God. At the time of the emergence of this religion, Christianity and Judaism already existed. According to the Koran, all prophets can be called Islamists. The final formation of the Muslim religion was completed in the 7th century after the Prophet Muhammad dictated the Koran.
Islam is based on 5 truths, the key of which is the Shahad: “There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, and Muhammad is His prophet.” The fundamental Islamic idea is tawhid. During prayers, holidays and rituals, Muslims show that Allah is the one God who created everything that exists in the universe. All processes in the world are subordinate to him. The Christian Trinity is rejected by tawhid. Allah has no children, unlike the biblical God, and a chosen people, as stated in the Torah. By shirk, Islamists mean the greatest sin - belief in several gods. Muslims believe that all prophets adhered to pure tawhid (monotheism).
Conclusion
As we said, error or unbelief arises from the distortion of the Word. The distortion of the doctrine of the Unity of God led to the emergence of the “trinity”, “trinity”, and the divinity of Mary. Today there are a lot of false teachings based on the “appearance of Jesus or an angel” with new revelation and direction. New prophets to whom God gives the “last and most correct prophecy” because the times have changed…. The list goes on.
But it is important for us to study not misconceptions. They all have one source. You need to drink from the right source. In order to strive for excellence, you must stand firmly on the FOUNDATION. This foundation is the beginnings of the teachings of Christ. And one of them is faith in One God. Faith in the Son of God. Standing on this foundation, all the “waters of other teachings” will fly by, and we will strive to fulfill the will of God, without being distracted, without delving into the depths of Satan.
Chinese religious tradition
The Shang Dynasty, which lived in the second half of the 18th century BC, and its followers officially venerated Shang Di ("God", "supreme ancestor"), as did other Chinese. He was also called Tian (“sky”, “almighty power”). Confucianism and Taoism developed from Shang Di. But this religion cannot be completely classified as monotheism due to the existence in it of other lesser spirits and gods, whom the Chinese revered, like Tian. Adherents of Mohism and a number of other movements were more similar to monotheists, since among them Shan Di ruled over spirits and younger gods.
Is there one God believed in in all religions? (+VIDEO)
This topic is now becoming more and more pressing due to a number of phenomena occurring in the modern world. Particularly noteworthy is how the lines between cultures, national characteristics, worldviews, religions are being blurred, and what seems absolutely incredible is the smoothing out of differences between the sexes. (By floors I mean not those on which we walk, but male and female. Like Gogol in “Dead Souls,” Chichikov, approaching Plyushkin’s figure, could not make out: “Oh man, oh woman.”)
Some terrible virus has burst into the global environment and is crippling everything. I am reminded of the biblical tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the fruits of which God forbade the first people to eat so that they would not die. Many interpreters believe that this tree means nothing more than the loss in human consciousness of the distinction between good and evil, beauty and ugliness, truth and falsehood - such a confusion in which these very concepts are erased and become indistinguishable for a person, so that, It seems that there is no longer good or evil. What remains? Where there is no good, there is evil!
This is the trend today that is increasingly taking hold of human consciousness, as it is being propagated with great force. A number of facts now speak to this and are warning signs of what we are facing.
Thus, in 1986, Pope John Paul II organized a World Interreligious Conference in Assisi (Italy) under the slogan “Prayers for Peace.” Representatives of dozens of religions gather: the Pope himself, and the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the Russian Metropolitan, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Dalai Lama, and shamans... - a real Noah’s Ark. They say prayers for peace (but it’s not very hard to believe what they are praying for). True, for now they do this separately, each in their own way. Once abroad, I was shown a throne in a Catholic church, which the Buddhists asked to cover with something so that it would not interfere with their ritual, and they placed a statue of Buddha on it.
Pan-Religious Conference, Assisi, 1986
Atheists are also invited to the “Prayer for Peace”. I wonder what god they pray to for peace?
Since 1986, these interreligious meetings convened to
“Prayers for Peace” are held annually. And they don’t just pass, but there is a gradual process of becoming more and more accustomed to the ritual combination of cults of different religions and more and more indifference to the doctrinal differences in them. In 2011 to this conference “Praying for Peace” - a religious conference! – Atheists are already invited. I wonder what god they prayed to for peace? Then joint prayers of representatives of all religions begin - and not as it began, when everyone prayed separately.
Another interesting fact. In 2014, in Brazil, in Sao Paulo, a
opening - inauguration - of the “Temple of Solomon”. This is a gigantic temple, one of the largest in the world, and it was built so that representatives of all religions could perform their prayers here. True, the opening was very interesting: on a special stretcher, six people in white robes solemnly carried - guess what? You won't guess. In the “temple of all religions” they carried the “ark of the covenant” - a sign of the Jewish religion. How is it possible to combine the first commandment of the Law of Moses: “The Lord your God is one Lord,” and the ability to pray in this temple to other gods, against whom Judaism has always fought so zealously, remains a mystery to the unenlightened person. But the fact is obvious - all religions can merge here without any renunciation of their dogmas.
The temple was full, at the “inauguration” there were representatives of I don’t know how many religions, all the major figures of Brazil were present, and not only of this country, but even of other countries, there were major businessmen, the cultural elite. By the way, the President of Brazil herself was also present at the opening of this temple. It's 2014.
It turns out that representatives of all religions profess the same thing: Love. What else do you need?!
The year is 2015. Pope Francis is publishing a book containing about 300 questions. At the presentation of this book or in connection with it, a very interesting video was shown. Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Jew - four people, and each of them is asked the same question: “Who do you believe in?” The Christian answers: “in Christ”; Jew: “in Yahweh”; Buddhist: "to Buddha"; Muslim: "in Allah." Everything is clear. The next question for everyone is: “Is the god you worship love?” Everyone answers: “Yes, of course.” And - the final picture: all four join their hands - complete unity. Wonderful, isn't it? This seems to be the beginning of the finale: it turns out that representatives of all religions profess the same thing: love. But is there anything higher, and, therefore, can any dogmas be an obstacle to the recognition that all religions are one in essence, worship one God, even if they believe Him differently?!
This video is very symptomatic and says a lot: the process of creating what the remarkable modern Christian ascetic of America, Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) wrote about in his book “Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future” is underway. It was about the merging of religions into one doctrinally formless phenomenon.
What will such a merger bring to Christianity? After all, it professes truths that are completely incompatible with other religions. Where is the teaching about the consubstantial and indivisible Trinity of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; about the Incarnation of the second Hypostasis - Logos; about the Savior, who voluntarily accepted death on the cross for the salvation of humanity; about salvation as holiness, and not as deliverance from all earthly troubles, etc.? There is no place in this artificial single religion for anything that constitutes the very essence of Christianity! The Apostle Paul said this wonderfully: “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Greeks” (1 Cor. 1:23). Christianity is completely excluded from this single religion, towards the creation of which powerful forces are now directed, one of which turns out to be the Vatican.
Good Friday. Death of Christ. Fresco from the Vysoki Decani Monastery, Serbia. XIV century
There is one God, of course; but ideas about God are different, and these ideas can be distorted so that one no longer worships God, but demons
The idea of creating one universal religion based on faith in one God destroys Christianity, which is impossible without the confession of Christ as the true God and the only Savior. For this single religion of the future, in principle, rejects the significance for it of the unconditional truths of faith and life, except for the most general ones, behind which any beliefs, including mutually exclusive ones, can stand. In the biblical book of Deuteronomy, the prophet denounces the Jews: “You worshiped demons and not God.” The Apostle Paul says: “I do not want you to worship demons.” It turns out that the concept of God can be brought, or rather, reduced to such a level where instead of God there will be worship of the devil. Compare with Christ some multi-armed goddess Kali, the goddess of the destruction of the world, hung with human skulls...
The idea of one God in all religions is an empty abstraction. Because for every religion, God is not God Himself, Who is the inexpressible Spirit, but His image that exists in it. Thus, even Christianity calls Jesus Christ the Son of God the image of the invisible God (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15), the image of God (Phil. 2:6), the radiance of glory and the image of the hypostasis of the Father (Heb. 1:3) .
The believer is also oriented towards the image of his God. As are the attributes of his God, so must man be. And each religion develops its own mentality, a special spiritual system and the nature of the spiritual and moral life of the believer. Therefore, the Apostle Paul exclaimed, what has light and darkness in common? What agreement is there between Christ and Belial[1]? (2 Cor. 6:14,15).
Hinduism
Hinduism is a polytheistic religion that has incorporated different religious traditions and philosophical systems, which are based on:
- monotheism;
- polytheism;
- pantheism;
- monism;
- atheism.
Hinduism is characterized by complex monotheistic beliefs. Shaktism, Shaivism and Vaishnavism speak of the submission of the world to the One Supreme Being, who can create and destroy the material universe and save believers.
Vaishnavism is an important branch of Hinduism with monotheistic branches. In this religion, Krishna is the Supreme Hypostasis of God. He is called svayam-bhagavan. The Indian philosophical theistic school Nyaya substantiates the existence of God in the key of monotheism. Its adherents believe that rishis (sages) and devas (demigods) do not exist and never had anything to do with the creation of the world.
It’s easy and simple to get acquainted with this trend
...you can by watching the Indian film PK (2014). This is not that Indian film about dancing, love, feigned naivety. But PK's film is significantly different from everything we are used to seeing in Indian cinema. The film is probably the best in its genre and the best on the topic of religion; it in no way offends the feelings of believers; on the contrary, it helps to look at the problem of religion with a fresh, childish, naive look.
In general, the topic of religion is quite sensitive, it captures a large number of people and the interests of these people. And, perhaps, it is this film that answers most of the questions that arise on the topic of religion and God. In order to answer most questions about religion, a clear mind is required.
Who has the purest mind? Children! Or those who visit our Earth for the first time. Aliens. We smoothly moved on to the plot of the film itself. An alien arrives on Planet Earth. The first thing that happens to him on Earth is that his transmitter is stolen, which helps him move between planets. And now he can't go back.
Sikhism
Sikhism is considered a monotheistic religion that originated in the 15th century in Punjab. It is based on the teachings developed by Guru Nanak Dev and ten Sikh teachers. Some classify this religion as one of its branches of Hinduism.
The sacred text of the Sikhs, the Adi Granth, contains the fundamental proposition “One God for all.” The highest power in it is considered in the form of Nirgun (Absolute) or Sargun (personal God in every person). For all Sikhs, God is one. In this religion, monism is presented in an idealistic form, where the external world is spoken of as an illusion (maya), and God here is an extended reality.
Zoroastrianism
In the 10th century BC, in northeastern Iran and a number of nearby regions, the formation of Zoroastrian teachings, characterized by dualistic and monotheistic ideas, began. This religion cannot be considered a typical monotheism. It is closer to unified polytheism with one supreme God - Ahura Mazda (Ohrmazda, “Lord the Wise”), as Zarathustra called him. He wages an eternal struggle with God Angra Mainyu - the lord of darkness and death. Modern Zoroastrianism is based on the principles codified in the Avesta.
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