I hear a lot of people from all religions agree that there is only "one God."

What does that mean exactly?

How can people make that claim or have that belief when God has not really been clearly defined?

Who originally came up with the idea of only one God?

I found this:


King Akhenaten is called the father of monotheism.

Egypt During the New Kingdom, the cult of the sun god Ra became increasingly important until it evolved into the uncompromising monotheism of Pharaoh Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV, 1364-1347 B.C.). According to the cult, Ra created himself from a primeval mound in the shape of a pyramid and then created all other gods. Thus, Ra was not only the sun god, he was also the universe, having created himself from himself. Ra was invoked as Aten or the Great Disc that illuminated the world of the living and the dead.
The effect of these doctrines can be seen in the sun worship of Pharaoh Akhenaten, who became an uncompromising monotheist. Aldred has speculated that monotheism was Akhenaten's own idea....

ref: http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/egypt/a/locegyptmonothe.htm

Thier are many we are told. all are pretenders except the one no one can out rule.

so in anything the one only lets u or me or anything we may make out to be another Elohim a fantasy because they have no real power.. Blessings..Miles

wow decisions decisions
Vainamoinen
Zeus
Indra
Amaterasu Omikami
Odin
Enlil
Shang-Ti
Quetzalcoatl
Allah
I am
Anu
Dagda
Buddah

well none of them have done nothing for me,although i'd like to tap Ishtar she is one fine Goddess

Nobody wants to learn anything. They just want what they want.. so why should they understand anything.. Shalom..Miles

Two things here:

1. I would tend to think religion came up with the idea of one specific God so that through that they could control and divide the masses. That is to say, get them to believe, they have the true God and no one else does and what not. Quite genius really.

2. To me from what I have learned in the last 9 months or so since I really started coming out of religion and into a different view of God, there is indeed just the one creator of all the universe. However that's where the similarities between what I believe what and religion says ends.

I say this because, it's because there is just one God who created all that we see before us and more, that there cannot be any other God to worship. What that means is, whether you call God Buddha, Jesus, Allah or any other name you can think of, if you are truly seeking a connection with the divine, you will find that. There is no other place for that energy to go but to the one, and in that way no wrong way to worship it. There cannot be one God and yet multiple other Gods too. It defies logic and good sense. This among the many other things discussed here is how religion gets it wrong.

So yes there is one God, however it's not what a lot of people think it is.

I personally feel that there are two distinctly different reasons for this.

One reason being a pantheistic view of "god" as a mysterious cosmic consciousness that gives rise to all that exist. In this philosophical view of "god" there is no only ONE 'god', but there is nothing that is not 'god'.

So it's not a picture of a separate individual entity called "god", but rather it's a holistic notion that all that exists is indeed "god". And from that perspective there is simply nothing left over to be something 'other' than "god". So in this sense Pantheism is the Mother of monotheism.

The other reason for a single "God" concept is the idea that God is an egotistical personified individual entity who rules over all lesser beings and is the ultimate judge, jury, and executioner of all who refuse to obey his desires and support his supposed plans.

Although I suppose that could be done by an entire community of Gods. The book of Genesis actually refers to "God" in the plural.


Gen. 1:26] And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

So technically the bible does indeed refer to God in the plural.

Christians often argue that this is because God is a Trinity, "The Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit".

However, that makes no sense in this context, because it is saying that these Gods are going to make man after their own likeness.

So in order for this to be referring to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, then all mankind would need to be like the Father, Son, and Holy spirit, which this religion claims that men are not at all like.

So that can't work very well either.

In Gen it is plural.. but thiers more to consider. Yahweh says he is 1.. Yahshua said me and my father are 1. but the son is not the father he says in John he is the word. he said he can do nothing except it be the fathers will. so Yahweh is one but Yahshua was thier also he is the Ambassador of the OT speaking in the fathers name. He was Yahweh in the OT as his will be done.. Blessings..Miles

That reminds me of something I saw inscribed on the inside of a ring, once. Worded differently, had the same feel to it though.

"One ring to rule them all and in the darkness bind them"

Hmm ... here we have Exodus:



Does this mean he's JUST the God of those he brought out of Egypt?



Could this be interpreted as there are, indeed, other Gods, but He demands that just these people should only worship the one who saved them?

That there is only one unique God.



As you know I believe in a pantheistic view of God. This is
monotheistic, well defined and completely consistent across
all monotheistic religions. And since there is only one God
then it is the same for everybody.



Well in the West it's usually attributed to the Jews. But
the same ideas also arose at the same time in the East so
I guess nobody really knows for sure.


As for why everyone assumes the one God model - it is very appealing
what else are we going to think? That there is no God on the one hand is rather nihilistic and fails to address the question of
the origin of the Universe so that is unsatisfying on the other
hand the idea of multiple Gods seems kind of pointless and
unnecessary. So one is perfect!

I haven't read all the posts, but here is my take on it:

Everything must have a source. In many ancient religions, sexual intercourse was not necessary for creation. In one religion, a goddess sprang from a god's head. In another, life was created by a god masturbating and spraying his seed across the world. Even in Christianity, Jesus was born of immaculate conception, carrying the ancient theme over into monotheism. Therefore, if god and goddess are not required to copulate in order to create, then it became plausible that all things could be traced back to a single entity.

However, once creation began, there was so much to watch over, guide, craft, and shape. It was a daunting task, even for a god. Therefore, even a god needs help sometimes. Hence, he would create servants and assign them tasks. This idea fits well with many pagan mythos as well as monotheism. Hence, angels and demons, kami and oni, Father Sky and Mother Earth and the great animal spirits, etc.

Because each of these sprung forth from once common source, they each represented a different facet of their creator. The creator, the one God, was all of these things, just as man himself has many knowledges, skills, passions, and fears. Hence, as in judeo-christian belief, all things are created in God's image. This allowed each person to gain a better understanding of God, themselves, and others, unlike the old polytheisms where many gods were one-dimensional. The old religions were so simplistic, that they actually became too complex because a new deity or spirit would be needed to represent each new thing. Or existing deities might take on additional roles, thus creating confusion among the masses.

Monotheism was, and is, a simplification of the old religions, giving the common person a better way to grasp the divine. It also made the commoner less dependent upon priests, shamans, and oracles, making spirituality a more personal relationship by reducing the focus on an intermediary.

Even Amerindian religions recognized a single god before Christianity was introduced. The Sioux call him Wakan Tanka, The Great Mystery. A great warrior or hero might be called Wicasa Wakan, for much of his power, his skills, his wisdom and prowess were granted him by Wakan Tanka, making Wicasa Wakan a form of holy warrior.

In Wicca, it is The Goddess, or Gaia, instead. True Wicca is a very ancient religion which can even trace its influence back to Gnosticism within the Catholic Church.

In polytheism, most every religion had an "All-God"....a ruler over all other gods. How is this much different from monotheism? It is really just a breath away from becoming monotheist thought.

So, giving this rationale, is it difficult to believe that so many today believe in one God, rather than many gods?

slow,

Stating that there is only one unique God is not the same as stating that there is only one God.

Your statement leaves room for many gods, all exact copies of each other. (Hence not unique.)

But every single human being is unique. Every snowflake is unique.

Why could 1 = many?

Because of the qualifier of the term "unique."

Example:

Statement 1:
There is only one unique God.

Statement 2:
There are also thousands of other Gods but they are not unique, they are identical to each other in every way.

Both statements 'could' be true.

"As the sun has rays of light which emanate from the same source, the same holds true for the multifaceted aspects of God emanating from Brahman, like many colors of the same prism."

that's a logical fact:
1.Its impossible more than 1 thing to create all aka beginning of all beginnings . If there is more that 1 then other one will be next one or they have to be equal to each other hence the same
or in math is famous like :

if a = b then b = a

2 . If a=b=c then b=a=c and c=a=b

3. Human's logic and experience :
if there is more than 1 great creator/god / then bounds to happen god's war in the heavens / ermmm... check Olympic gods and the bible story god-Satan/ ..lol

I would have to agree with there being more than one God otherwise it makes the first commandment meaningless. I look at it as whatever is the most important to you is your God.

I think this is a cool topic. God admits that there is more than one God. Of course, for those who don't believe God said that. Hey, this could really take you in circles. Cool.