Thread: For An Intelligent Conversation On Spirituality/Religion

Originally Posted by icedog

I never said nor implied that. Please don't put words in my mouth. If you can't answer or don't want to answer, fine. I was hoping to learn from you.

Sorry i took it wrong. With all my posts i assumed that, being a Christian, one would know I also believed in a heaven. Where that is pardon the pun , only God knows ,. I've heard of it as above the earth but exactly where don't know

Originally Posted by paco

wikipedia--Polytheism is the belief in or worship of multiple deities, such as gods and goddesses

guess it depends were you get the definition

eh, I've never trusted the wikis as primary sources, for what I think are obvious reasons.

from Merriam-Webster:
polytheist

One entry found.

Main Entry:

poly·the·ism

Pronunciation:

\ˈpä-lē-(ˌ)thē-ˌi-zəm\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

French polytheisme, from Late Greek polytheos polytheistic, from Greek, of many gods, from poly- + theos god

Date:

1613

: belief in or worship of more than one god

also from Merriam-Webster:
God
a being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship ; specifically : one controlling a particular aspect or part of reality





it's all semantics. but Christianity has a pantheon just as surely as the Greeks and the Norse

Originally Posted by jockeys

eh, I've never trusted the wikis as primary sources, for what I think are obvious reasons.

from Merriam-Webster:
polytheist

One entry found.

Main Entry:

poly·the·ism

Pronunciation:

\ˈpä-lē-(ˌ)thē-ˌi-zəm\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

French polytheisme, from Late Greek polytheos polytheistic, from Greek, of many gods, from poly- + theos god

Date:

1613

: belief in or worship of more than one god

also from Merriam-Webster:
God
a being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship ; specifically : one controlling a particular aspect or part of reality





it's all semantics. but Christianity has a pantheon just as surely as the Greeks and the Norse

Thanks we finally agree according tothe definition you posted

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

We call ours "beliefs" and we call theirs myths. I particularly liked the Norse myths because when the end of the world comes even the gods perish along with everyone else. Not hard to see why that belief system didn't catch on.

Ah, but in Christianity we do have the "dying God," though he rose from the dead. Check out C.S. Lewis' autobiography Surprised by Joy for a great read on this topic.

As far as angels and demons, I don't see them as essential to the doctrine of Christianity, and I don't know of any Christians who worship them. I've always thought of them as similar to men, but perhaps on a higher plane of existence. I believe Jesus said that in the resurrection we would be like the angels, so that is what I'm referring to. The old non-canonical Book of Enoch has some interesting conjectures about them.
As I said earlier, my faith is not in a book, or what someone said, or a doctrine or creed. It has indeed become quaint and old-fashioned to believe in a God who loves ALL of us like a Daddy, but that's my take on it in a nutshell. For those of you interested in such things, I highly recommend Unspoken Sermons by George MacDonald. In this great book he addresses many of the topics we've been discussing here.

PEACE!