One God, different names?

Artfuldodger

Senior Member
When reading about the ancient gods & goddesses people worshiped, they had different names for the same god or goddesses. Here is an example;

We've been saying for years that it was just a matter of time before the Babylonian chief goddess Ishtar (a.k.a. Inanna in Babylon, Isis in Eygypt, Astarte or Aphrodite in Greece and Libertas/Venus in Rome to name just a few) would once again rise to prominence in world affairs not merely in a mystical manner but in a bold, in-your-face resurgence of Ishtar’s many "mystical" doctrines.

Another example is Mercury was the same god as Hermes.

Would it be safe to say that the Universal God of the Universe or the "Great Architect" or "Creator" is the same God? That we just know him by different names? That none of us are excused from this knowledge?

I'm basing this on Romans 1:19-20

19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
 

1gr8bldr

Senior Member
When reading about the ancient gods & goddesses people worshiped, they had different names for the same god or goddesses. Here is an example;

We've been saying for years that it was just a matter of time before the Babylonian chief goddess Ishtar (a.k.a. Inanna in Babylon, Isis in Eygypt, Astarte or Aphrodite in Greece and Libertas/Venus in Rome to name just a few) would once again rise to prominence in world affairs not merely in a mystical manner but in a bold, in-your-face resurgence of Ishtar’s many "mystical" doctrines.

Another example is Mercury was the same god as Hermes.

Would it be safe to say that the Universal God of the Universe or the "Great Architect" or "Creator" is the same God? That we just know him by different names? That none of us are excused from this knowledge?

I'm basing this on Romans 1:19-20

19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
I think we have to keep the time period in mind. At that time, they were asking to believe in "a one true God, creator of the universe". So this verse fits in that time period..... but not in ours. Because hundreds of beliefs have brached off this one tree
 

Lowjack

Senior Member
Obviously the bible is Talking about , YHVVH The God of Israel , Father of Yeshua , not the pagan gods of Greek or Egyptian mythology or those fallen Angels who came to earth and passed themselves as gods,
 

Artfuldodger

Senior Member
Obviously the bible is Talking about , YHVVH The God of Israel , Father of Yeshua , not the pagan gods of Greek or Egyptian mythology or those fallen Angels who came to earth and passed themselves as gods,

I would agree as Greek mythology came years later than Judaism. What is the history of how Judaism received the information from Creation to recorded Judaism history?
I'm trying to understand how the God of Israel was God before he was the God of Israel. I understand he has always been the God of Israel but there hasn't always been an Israel.

I'm not trying to be smart but I just don't understand how the God of one nation wasn't a universal one God. Before Moses, there was no distinction between Jew and Gentile.
We had people living all over the world. Who was their God before the "God of the Jews" became the "God of the Jews and Gentiles?"

I guess the main thing I don't understand is salvation for the world's Gentiles before he became the God of everyone.
 
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GunnSmokeer

Senior Member
If you can believe / understand the "trinity" of one God but existing in three different "persons" (The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) and still call yourself a monotheist, I don't know why you wouldn't accept that other religions pray to the same God, even if they don't correctly understand who God is. Even if they don't accept all the "persons" of the Godhead (and all the different facets of God's personality). Even if they reject God's prophets and teachings and have a different set of writings or oral traditions that they call "scripture."
 

gtparts

Senior Member
The distinction of any deity, real or imagined, depends on the characteristics of that particular entity. With Christianity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in total agreement. The unity is fully consistent, without exception. Therefore, "Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad"(Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One). Though some will refute this truth, that the GOD of Abraham is the same GOD of the Christian faith, the first century Jewish converts understood this based on the continuity, the consistency, and the prophesy of the Scripture.

Also take note of the detailed character of the Judeo-Christian GOD.

Holy, loving, just, the author of everything, the judge of all things, forgiving, eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient.

Now, examine the very nature of all other deities. The contrasts are unquestionably so divergent, so different from the Judeo-Christian GOD.

The very idea that there is only one deity with different names is beyond laughable.
 

Artfuldodger

Senior Member
The distinction of any deity, real or imagined, depends on the characteristics of that particular entity. With Christianity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in total agreement. The unity is fully consistent, without exception. Therefore, "Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad"(Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One). Though some will refute this truth, that the GOD of Abraham is the same GOD of the Christian faith, the first century Jewish converts understood this based on the continuity, the consistency, and the prophesy of the Scripture.

Also take note of the detailed character of the Judeo-Christian GOD.

Holy, loving, just, the author of everything, the judge of all things, forgiving, eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient.

Now, examine the very nature of all other deities. The contrasts are unquestionably so divergent, so different from the Judeo-Christian GOD.

The very idea that there is only one deity with different names is beyond laughable.

Romans 1:19-20
19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

How does the God of Abraham make himself known to people in foreign jungle villages and islands by the correct name? They are without excuse to not no him. They only know him by his eternal power and divine nature. Will God hold it against them that they didn't know he was the God of Abraham?
 

JJhunts

Senior Member
Great thread, clearly everyone's comments are well thought out and all reflect genuine points of view. The tendency to frame religions in terms of the differences will always result in the same outcome. Division and strife. An honest conversation about the SIMILARITIES would better enable us to a greater understanding of each others faith(and our own in the process). There is a growing secular movement that threatens all faiths yet we are sadly divided.

Coincidentally I just spent the weekend fishing with the Author of the Celistine Prophesy and the 12th Insight, two novels about spiritual journeys where these topics are central.

Caught 56 bass in 3 days, Eluded by the big one though
 

Artfuldodger

Senior Member
Great thread, clearly everyone's comments are well thought out and all reflect genuine points of view. The tendency to frame religions in terms of the differences will always result in the same outcome. Division and strife. An honest conversation about the SIMILARITIES would better enable us to a greater understanding of each others faith(and our own in the process). There is a growing secular movement that threatens all faiths yet we are sadly divided.

Coincidentally I just spent the weekend fishing with the Author of the Celistine Prophesy and the 12th Insight, two novels about spiritual journeys where these topics are central.

Caught 56 bass in 3 days, Eluded by the big one though

If I caught 56 bass in 3 days, I'd be happy the big one got away.
 

Madman

Senior Member
I'm not trying to be smart but I just don't understand how the God of one nation wasn't a universal one God. Before Moses, there was no distinction between Jew and Gentile.
We had people living all over the world. Who was their God before the "God of the Jews" became the "God of the Jews and Gentiles?"

He was God, the universal God. Go back and re-read Genesis. He didn't choose Israel to be their God and no one else's God, He chose Israel for a purpose.
 

Artfuldodger

Senior Member
He was God, the universal God. Go back and re-read Genesis. He didn't choose Israel to be their God and no one else's God, He chose Israel for a purpose.

I guess people around the world knew the one universal God by different names. I've read Yahweh and El-Shaddai as God's name but those sound Jewish.
How or by what name did God reveal himself to the non-Jewish world?
I'm not doubting the one Universal God. I'm just trying to see how he revealed himself or made himself known to the rest of the world.
 

Madman

Senior Member
I'm just trying to see how he revealed himself or made himself known to the rest of the world.

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Romans 1:20
 

Artfuldodger

Senior Member
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Romans 1:20

I quoted this verse earlier and is the reason for my question;
By what name has God used to define himself to these worldly Gentiles living in far away lands?
Why did the middle east leading up through Noah, Shem, and Abraham get the story but not other parts of the world?
It's like the Jews and people in that area received the divine Word but the rest of the world only received the Word by God's creation.
Unless they received it and lost it along the way somehow.
It's hard to deny the Jewish connection of the God of Abraham related to the Word, the Great mystery, the Gentiles, and "after the Cross."

Colossians 1:26-27
26that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, 27to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
 

Day trip

Senior Member
The difficulty that many have is that they separate religion and God from daily life. If we recognize God in nature then we can learn to recognize God in a more mystical/spiritual manner. If you drop an apple, it falls to the ground. If you drop an apple a thousand times, it falls to the ground a thousand times. We have just personally discovered something about nature that is also a part of God. If we drop an apple and it remains suspended, we do not throw away our theory of gravity but we consider that we don't know as much about Gravity as we thought. We assume some outside source has acted upon the apple to create the variation. Then over time with thought and experience, we discover why, in that one situation the apple remained suspended and we grow in knowledge. Knowledge of our universe, knowledge of God. We learn to trust and rely on these observations. They can be counted on. The same thing happens with our personal relationships, how we love. When we act justly, we are at peace, regardless of the outcome because we are acting according to the laws of God. The laws of the soul. As we continue to live and experience life, we do things right and we do things wrong. If we are foolish, proud, we fail to learn from our mistakes. We fail to recognize The Godlessness of our actions. If we are humble and act through love we discover that we are acting through God.

There is one God. There are many false gods and many views of the one true God from different points of view and many personal experiences. Very often these views seem foolish because you have a different perspective. Very often these views are immature and pretty weak but that doesn't mean their is no value to them.

Even With no knowledge of "the God of Isreal" we cannot deny that apples dropped will almost always fall and we cannot deny that if we act justly, we are untouchable. Maybe not our bodies but our souls. God is love. Love not given away dies. Our very existence is an expression of Gods love. We are to recieve his love but not to store up or keep. We are to be conduits of Gods love, to recieve it and pass it on and by doing so, that love grows exponentially. No man can deny Gods truth. Only a fool would say the apple on the ground didn't fall after watching it do so. Only a fool would deny any truths of the soul that they have discovered. To do so would be a sin against the Holy Spirit, the unforgivable sin. Mankind can deny Jesus because if one does not understand his teachings, he is not meant to understand it. To deny Jesus (his teachings, his very life) is forgivable because some people just don't get it or have never been exposed to it. Jesus was given to us as a guide to make our understandings of life, of God MUCH easier. When one reads a teaching of Jesus and it reaches his soul, it becomes truth, a gift of the Holy Spirit and then that truth is undeniable. It would be an unforgivable sin to say otherwise. Just like the man who now understands why the apple didn't fall that one time, even though it is a rare and subtle variation, he cannot deny the principles existence or he denies truth.
 

Day trip

Senior Member
To say "my God" or "your God" is only an attempt by the ego to satisfy itself. "You believe different things than me, therefore I am right and you are wrong." From your point of view, if you are being honest, your point of view is right albeit limited. And from his point of view, if he is being honest, his point of view is right albeit limited. Now of course this takes into play all of those who are not being honest but you will know them by their deeds and actions.
All of these names for gods throughout history are (or should be if we are to consider them) microcosmic views of God from different cultural, environmental and knowledge based points of view. Instead of discrediting other names for God because we use different titles, determine if you can understand the goodness and love that is in it. If not, leave it alone, you are not ready but if you can gain even an ounce of wisdom from these other points of view, doesn't it expand your knowledge and wisdom? Why would we deny that. So many claim the "one true religion" because their egos are burning and cannot bear the fact that someone may know something that we don't. Apparently God chose Abraham because he saw that Abraham was ready. So he gave him the laws. Mankind followed these laws as a guide toward God but it was known from the beginning that laws cannot lead one to God. It requires a repentance. A changing of ones mind. And again when God saw that mankind was ready, he gave us the Christ in his human form of Jesus to further our education. Now we again try to rebuild laws and rules and sacraments and rites to honor God. Many not realizing the the purpose of all these "regulations" are to lead to repentance. These procedures, in themselves are of no value. As if we could do enough or be good enough to please God. That is a pagan notion. Part of our animalistic nature to worship something. It is baby food for the immature. We must mature beyond that stage to realize that we honor God every time we act in accordance with nature. His love flows through us and we, along with the entire universe grows. When we fail to see and abide by truth, we disrupt that flow of love, injuring ourselves and all of creation at the same time.
God is real. Just because you don't care to recognize someone else's point of view or give credit for the truth that you see in your lives every day does not discredit that.
 

Artfuldodger

Senior Member
To say "my God" or "your God" is only an attempt by the ego to satisfy itself. "You believe different things than me, therefore I am right and you are wrong." From your point of view, if you are being honest, your point of view is right albeit limited. And from his point of view, if he is being honest, his point of view is right albeit limited. Now of course this takes into play all of those who are not being honest but you will know them by their deeds and actions.
All of these names for gods throughout history are (or should be if we are to consider them) microcosmic views of God from different cultural, environmental and knowledge based points of view. Instead of discrediting other names for God because we use different titles, determine if you can understand the goodness and love that is in it. If not, leave it alone, you are not ready but if you can gain even an ounce of wisdom from these other points of view, doesn't it expand your knowledge and wisdom? Why would we deny that. So many claim the "one true religion" because their egos are burning and cannot bear the fact that someone may know something that we don't. Apparently God chose Abraham because he saw that Abraham was ready. So he gave him the laws. Mankind followed these laws as a guide toward God but it was known from the beginning that laws cannot lead one to God. It requires a repentance. A changing of ones mind. And again when God saw that mankind was ready, he gave us the Christ in his human form of Jesus to further our education. Now we again try to rebuild laws and rules and sacraments and rites to honor God. Many not realizing the the purpose of all these "regulations" are to lead to repentance. These procedures, in themselves are of no value. As if we could do enough or be good enough to please God. That is a pagan notion. Part of our animalistic nature to worship something. It is baby food for the immature. We must mature beyond that stage to realize that we honor God every time we act in accordance with nature. His love flows through us and we, along with the entire universe grows. When we fail to see and abide by truth, we disrupt that flow of love, injuring ourselves and all of creation at the same time.
God is real. Just because you don't care to recognize someone else's point of view or give credit for the truth that you see in your lives every day does not discredit that.

Is God's plan of salvation for Abraham and his lineage the same plan for the whole world? Can God elect the Hindu? How does the far away isolated Gentile hear of Christ if he must follow God's plan for Abraham?
The mystery of Christ revealed to the Gentile?
 

Artfuldodger

Senior Member
Ephesians 3:5-7
5which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, 7of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.

This mystery that Gentiles were fellow heirs wasn't revealed until the apostles and prophets revealed it. Were the Gentiles heirs before the mystery was revealed? In other words they were heirs all along, they just didn't know it.
 

Day trip

Senior Member
The elect. How careful we must be with that notion. It does not mean that I'm in and you are out. The elect have a much larger responsibility to mankind. The knowing must clear the air so that the others may see more clearly. God is present to all men at all times, we just fail to recognize the common, the regular actions of each day as the fantastic feats that they are. We want miracles that astound, that are impossible to mankind so we can then idolize. That is mans nature, the flesh. The spirit recognizes the routine and regular as great acts of God. They follow his way, the way of Christ and see true miracles- perfection of our oneness with God, even if just for a brief moment. So yes, even the Hindus cannot deny truth. Their perspective is different from ours and they do not have the blueprint which is the Christ, but if you study their seemingly far out notions carefully, you can recognize small parts of the gospel in their teachings. Can you imagine how hard it would be to build a temple without the blueprint? It can be done but with many more mistakes and lots of effort. Heck, even with the blueprint, we Christians foul it up!
 

gtparts

Senior Member
Romans 1:19-20
19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

1. How does the God of Abraham make himself known to people in foreign jungle villages and islands by the correct name?

They are without excuse to not know him. They only know him by his eternal power and divine nature.

2. Will God hold it against them that they didn't know he was the God of Abraham?

(Took the liberty of numbering your questions.)

1. Initially, (given the limitations set forth in your question) God is not overly concerned about being addressed by a particular name. He wants people in that position to recognize that He is and that they are not God, nor having any significant power of their own. Whether God extends His revelation further depends on Him and those who worship Him in truth.

2. The only thing that condemns a person in that position is their rejection of the God revealed in His creation. God holds all responsible for what they been graced to receive. Faith in God was the means of salvation before the Messianic coming of Jesus. It is still the way in which anyone receives salvation. Jesus' coming was the Kingdom of God brought to Earth, the ultimate revelation and expression God to mankind.

Some see this reality as two different dispensations, but faith in God is the key element that bridges time from beginning to eternity.

Blessings to all,

gtparts
 
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