The God of Abraham (by -1363) is worshipped by half of mankind: he is the god of the Jews, Christians and Muslims; he is the god of the Bible and the Koran.
He first appears in Egyptian records by -1363 as YHW. He is also known as YHWH, Yahweh, Jehovah, Elah, Allah, the Lord, the Holy Trinity, God Almighty and the Demiurge. I will call him by his common English name, God.
Jews, Christians and Muslims say he is the only god, the one who created the world. Other gods are demons or made up.
God talks to us through prophets, angels, holy books and prayer. He tells us what is right and wrong. At the end of the world on Judgement Day he will judge us, rewarding the good and punishing the wicked. He is all-powerful and all-knowing. He is beyond human thought and word.
Do Jews, Christians and Muslims worship the same god? Historically, yes. Theologically, it depends who you ask.
Christians say that God has three Persons: he is one God yet somehow he is also God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit. This is called the Holy Trinity. They see Jesus Christ as God made flesh.
Gnostics call him the Demiurge, which means Creator. But they mean that in a bad way: they see this world as a prison of matter that our spirits have fallen into. He is hardly God Almighty.
Even though he was the god of a people with an unhappy history, he has conquered the gods of the Roman Empire, the gods of the Greek philosophers, the 360 gods of Mecca, the gods of the Aztecs and countless others.
Three things set him apart from other gods:
- Like a wife, he is jealous. He wants us to worship him alone. Even though he started out as a god of the Jews, a people who never built an empire, he says he is god of all men, of the whole universe! Other gods are happy being the god of rain or war or whatever and sharing men’s worship with other gods. Not this one.
- Like a hard father, he is severely moral. Unlike other gods he does not use his power to do whatever he wishes. He always acts justly and morally and demands the same of us. But with justice comes mercy:
- Like a friend, he listens to us and shows mercy. He is not some nameplate in the sky, he is the “living God”. He hears us and cares about us. But like a good father he will punish us out of love and yet pardon us when that is wisest.
Because he is so wise, he is often pictured as an old man with a long white beard, as Michelangelo did in the Sistine Chapel (pictured above). But of course he is beyond anything we can picture. Muslims and Jews and some Christians say it is wrong to even try to make a picture of him.
– Abagond, 2007, 2015.
See also:
- followers
- Gnostics
- Jesus Christ
- holy books
- non-believers
- Plotinus – Greek
- John Trudell – Santee Sioux
- Larycia Hawkins – fired by Wheaton College for saying that Muslims and Evangelical Christians worship the same god.
511
this is so amazing its remarkable and itr made me cry when i first looked at it because of it meaning and importance i hope one day i travell tot he gates of heaven and finally see him in real life coz he is my eveything.
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yes its very true
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i want to meet him and would give everyhting to jus say hello and goodbye he is my idol i love him with all my heart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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GOD is PERFECTION in every way and beyond our comprehension. A Super Being who loves us That He alone gave life to all that is being. Magnificent Beautiful Majestic Pure Almighty Allknowing Powerhouse of the endless Universe all rolled into one GOD absolute!
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And Jesus Christ is GOD’s Magnificent SON.
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I hope the comments here are trolling.
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why? no one said anything wrong or bad.
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“At the end of the world on Judgement Day he will judge us, rewarding the good and punishing the wicked.”
When people write generalizations like this it serves to impede the ideas of admittance of sin and redemption that follows. The final judgment is not based upon works. Hence the redemption through Jesus Christ. This conveys a message that I used to believe.
Well if you live a good life and don’t do much bad stuff you will go to Heaven right? Wrong. All have fallen by the wayside, all have fallen short of the glory of God. Christ is the ransoming of humanity, and only through him, not works, is there salvation.
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I LOVE GOD JEWS,I LOVE U
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@ Leon
I can’t believe how late I am, it’s 2011, anyway, I agree that “Christ is the ransoming of humanity, and only through him, not works, is there salvation.” However works is a requirement to remain saved. His redeeming blood will save us if we believe that he is the son of God sent to redeem us, but it does not end there, James 2:14,17; “What profit, my brethern, though a man say he has faith, and have not works, can faith save him?….so faith, if it have not works, is dead being alone”
It is quite interesting to read the entire cchapter of James 2.
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Abagond – “he is one God yet somehow he is also God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit. This is called the Holy Trinity.”
There are some who object to this, like me, I understand the Father and the son as seperate individuals not one entity but two. However they are one in purpose, Jesus is exacty what he said he was, the son of the father. At Jesus baptism according to the gospels a voice from heaven said “this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” therefore the father and the son cannot be one person or entity, but seperate, in other words a family.
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@ Green
The concept is complicated. As i understand it, three “personages” presented in one “being.”
But then, one would assume that a higher being may more complex than we could easily understand from our own perspective.
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@ Green:
What I know is the Catholic thinking on this, which says there are three persons in one God. Jesus is God yet he has a separate personhood from the Father and the Holy Spirit. That is why he talks about them as if they are separate persons and yet acts as if they are all the same God.
I know it does not quite make sense, but when plenty of other things do not quite make sense, like women, it is hardly surprising that the nature of God is one of those. In fact a God that is completely understandable would not be God but something else.
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Abagond,
May I just say that you have a bit sexist view on some things? I mean, I can tolerate it in the “sexual” posts (about women, attraction, etc.) But please, not here.
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@ King
three “personages” presented in one “being.”???
We call that “multiple personality disorder” and “crazy” 🙂
you think it adds up?
Jesus wanted us to plainly understand who he was, not complicate it and he said it plainly, he used terms we would understand as he always did with his diciples, like when he said “help them (his diciples) to be one even as we (Jesus and his father) are one.” I think ‘we’ too often complicate God, make him un-understandable, when he wants it the other way around.
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@ Mira
I think he meant that women don’t make sense (to men) in the same way that men don’t make sense (to women).
In America it’s a common understanding that both sexes see the world (and one other) quite differently. The result is mutual attribution of crazy.
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@ Abagond
“In fact a God that is completely understandable would not be God but something else.”
You mean Just like the idea, that white America does not want people to understand black people?
I think God is better than that, he wants us to understand who he is. I agree there are things we won’t understand, like why he allows certain things to happen, but the basic things we need for communication and a good relationship with him, he will want us to understand, otherwise what kind of father would he be?
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@ Green
Well try to think about it a little differently… like a science fiction writer. Could you not imagine writing an alien that was somehow so connected with his 2 fellow space travelers that they arrived on earth and presented themselves as a single being, but then explained that they were 3 different expressions of that single being.
I’m not saying that you could easily sit down and make immediate sense of it, but that would be the point, no? If you are writing a being that is from a totally different non-terrestrial reality, and who shares none of our points of reference—right down to the ontological suppositions that we make about “self’ and “otherness,” wouldn’t this be the way to go? To present something new, and different from our own frame of reference—something that would challenge our very definitions?
I think that this makes sense in that particular way. A non-terrestrial being should not make absolute sense to us. It’s not just a case of him/her breathing a different gas, or having 3 eyes instead of 2. Their entire understanding of the fundamentals of existence might be quite different.
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@ King
“women don’t make sense (to men) in the same way that men don’t make sense (to women).”
May be true, but they know each other well enough to understand what each sex wants, even though it may not make sense to them.
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King,
That’s not what he said. He othered women in his comment, as well as in the post (“Like a wife, he is jealous”). As if males are the norm and females are the “others”. Maybe it’s just me, but there’s no room for that kind of speech when we’re discussing God. (Ok, there’s no room for that kind of speech anywhere, but for some reason it hurts me more to see it here).
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@ King
The difference with God and us and the Aliens and us, is that the Aliens did not create us.
You said “Their entire understanding of the fundamentals of existence might be quite different.”
We are talking about the same topic right, ‘God’? God wants us to understand (I keep saying the word Understand) his life and his son’s life, he said he has no begining of days, no mother, no father. But Jesus has a father first of all, then he was born of a woman ‘Mary’ according to popular belief, and I can go on and on.
My point was proven, you brought aliens into the picture and complicated God beyond recognition 🙂
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@ Mira
Oh, I see. Sorry, I thought you were only talking about this line
@ Green
true
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@ Abagond:
“What I know is the Catholic thinking on this, which says there are three persons in one God. Jesus is God yet he has a separate personhood from the Father and the Holy Spirit. That is why he talks about them as if they are separate persons and yet acts as if they are all the same God.
I know it does not quite make sense, but when plenty of other things do not quite make sense, like women, it is hardly surprising that the nature of God is one of those. In fact a God that is completely understandable would not be God but something else.”
You are right it is Catholic thinking/views, of which I disagree
🙂
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Sorry Green, i was just, more or less, making the point that a 3 in 1 being could exist, without trying make any theological assertion.
I’m just saying that it’s possible if you think outside the box.
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People..
Ever read or heard of a book called, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus? I don’t believe Abagond is intentionally disrespecting women or being sexist. He’s simply stating, in my opinion, that men and women are inherently different, and from a man’s way of THINKING, the behaviors and emotions of women are often befuddling – to men.
In other words, generally speaking, men understand men much, much more than men understand women. Simple fact.
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That John Grey is a modern day snake oil salesman. Anywho, I am starting my own advice column on the gender differences. All advice will be terse and to the point. As an adherent to the supreme being, you can trust my advice! Not for me the long drawn out explanation. Here’s a sampling from my subscribers!:
Subscriber 1; Hernie, I just found out my husband has been cheating on me and has done so for the last 20 years of our 21 year marriage! What should I do, go for counselling?
First of all, you are one dumb heifer! It took you 20 years to figure out that your husband is a snake? Here’s my advice; Find out how much money this snake has. Ten to one, he has squirreled away a small fortune in offshore accounts in anticipation of an eventual divorce. Hire a good divorce lawyer. Revenge yourself on him by hooking up with a hunk! If all else fails, dump the sucker! It would be nice though if you took him to the cleaners whilst doing so! However, you may be too dumb to do any of this! Good luck, you’ll need it!
Subscriber 2; Dear Hernie, my wife is a harridan, I can do nothing right. I am tired of her constant harpings about my ‘shortcomings’ in and out of the bedroom. Also, she is a shopholic who spends my money to point where I am in debt to the tune of 50,000 bucks. She is a hoarder! I don’t remember how many times I’ve almost killed or crippled myself wading through all the junk she buys. Plus, I think she is a closet alcoholic! We’ve been married for 30+ years and despite all this I still love her dearly!
Hernie’s advice; Another dunce. first off, get a life and dump the broad. Oh, and get some life insurance, she will need it should you break your neck wading through piles of junk.
Here is two examples of two sides of the same coin, they are not that different from one another despite their genders, they run the gamut of stupidity! They are both dumb! They already know the answer to their questions! There should be a law against wilful stupidity. God gave us free will, not this clown John Gray! Seriously, talking and listening goes a long way in dispelling many of these stereotypes. I find that that is the problem, simple lack of empathy and communication. I guess for many, it is easier to stererotype instead of looking to one’s own shortcomings. This John Gray is like going to MacDonalds for advice. People aren’t that introspective, that is their problem. They constantly look for outside sources for their ills. John Grey preys upon this but so do many other so-called pundits. Stop invoking God or whatevever supreme being you believe in, they had nothing to do with it.
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Matari,
Ever read or heard of a book called, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus? I don’t believe Abagond is intentionally disrespecting women or being sexist.
Oh, I don’t think he’s intentionally sexist. But he is sexist, and while I can respect that side of him when he’s stating his personal opinion on who’s hot and who’s not, I just think it’s not appropriate to use that language in this sort of posts. Sure, it might be just me.
He’s simply stating, in my opinion, that men and women are inherently different, and from a man’s way of THINKING, the behaviors and emotions of women are often befuddling – to men.
Good. Why didn’t he write “Like a husband, he is jealous”?
Plus, treating God as an ordinary, human male is questionable in its own right. (And so is assuming that men and women are that much different).
Now, sorry for quoting you… These questions are directed to Abagond, of course, and not you.
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I used the wrong word… Instead “while I can respect that side of him”, I wanted to say “while I can tolerate that side of him”.
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Good. Why didn’t he write “Like a husband, he is jealous?
That could also be construed as sexist.
The only safe path would have been to use a gender neutral word such as “spouse.” But again, it all goes to intent. If he was just randomly choosing one of the two genders, without regard to assigning any negative characteristics to the entire gender, in either case, then it would not be sexism.
If you feel that his male privilege causes him to choose females to illustrate negative attributes more often, or ti choose males to illustrate more positive attributes, then it could be unconscious discrimination. Do you see a pattern of either of these two cases in Abagond’s writing?
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^ oops! Sorry, the fist sentence should be in quotes.
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King,
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I know it would be sexist. And it would be a bad thing and I’m in no way, shape or form encourage sexism against males. Nor do I think changing that line to “husband” would make it ok. I was just asking, if it’s about the differences between men and women, why didn’t he use a male example?
Do you see a pattern of either of these two cases in Abagond’s writing?
I’ve seen him othering women way too often. He’s not doing that because he’s mean (I hope), he’s doing it because… he can. And for a man who is dedicated to fighting racism this is so strange and unfair, because fighting against one for of injustice but frequently displaying another one is not the best way to go, or to be taken seriously.
Now, I wouldn’t say I’m personally offended by his sexism. I find it funny in a way. But for some reason it hurt to see it displayed in this thread.
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Bulanik, Hernie, Mira – your individual and collective intellect usually dazzles me, but not here.
Ladies – I’m strictly speaking for me now, and for no one else, I’ve always found women to be more befuddling than men. I don’t see any offense in that, but please forgive me if you are offended.
I’m going back to my usual “lurking” mode. My apologies for derailing this thread. May I suggest that further comments be posted on the OPEN thread? And please excuse my silence as I have no desire to discuss/debate this matter further.
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Matari,
Fair enough. But I can’t access the Open Thread. It’s way too long and it blocks my computer. Speaking of which, I wanted to leave a message there saying I hope everybody on the American East coast are fine. Hope the hurricane won’t hurt anyone.
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Jesus was made into “son of God” or “God in the flesh” by white people to justify slavery and other injustices. To keep blacks (sub-saharan Africans and other dark peoples of the world) from rebelling against them. Subconsciously blacks believe God is a white man and he will send his only son Jesus (who is hereditary white or Caucasian if you may) to pull them out of this shit they’re in. The evidence is black racism turned in on blacks themselves (self hate). This has caused distortions in the perceptions of beauty, intelligence and abilities amongst dark peoples of the world. Black believe but won’t admit that God hates them, They are his mistake. They should honor respect his beloved white people who he chose to bore his son Jesus.
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