There are many different views about the nature of god and which lense one chooses to view religion or spirituality. The nine that will be discussed are animism, polytheism, henotheism, pantheism, religious dualism, deism, theism, atheism, and agnosticism. While some of these have overlapping principles, they are each unique viewpoints as of the nature of god and are held by different religions throughout the world today and in history. One of the first forms of religions was animism, or the view that there are spirits in natural objects that account for its characteristics and behavior. Since science did not exist the way it does now, people used animism as a way to explain what they were seeing around them not only from a religious …show more content…
This is similar to animism because they believed in the power of each natural occurrence, however, in animism the beliefs were independent of the idea of a god controlling the natural occurrence. Polytheism arose after animism and reduced the number of gods who controlled not only events in nature but also in government and politics. These gods were then politicized and helped to create complex societies and governments which allowed for differences in classes and rankings within society. Polytheism is most commonly known from Hinduism or greek mythology, which has many deities all in control of different aspects of life. Henotheism is a type of polytheism that affirms the existence of multiple gods but worships only one. This form of religion is seen in one path of Hinduism referred to as bhakti yoga. In this religion, for example, they don 't deny the existence of other gods, but believe that Krishna is the most important god that should be worshiped above all others. Greek religions which worshiped Zeus primarily as their god is another example of Henotheism. Taking an entirely different approach then Animism, polytheism, and henotheism is Pantheism. This is the belief that god and the cosmos are one, and God is impersonal (transpersonal). This belief states that every person, plant, animal, living and non-living thing, is part of the one god. The impersonal or transpersonal aspect of this is what
Monotheism is the agreement that there is “a single God” and that he is “the creator of all things” and one of the very first religions to adopt this theism are the Hebrews, which, in turn led the way for many other religions such as Christianity and Islam to believe in one single God. Early on in the development of Judaism, the Hebrews were not always a monotheistic religion, in fact, they went from being polytheistic to monolatry and then finally decided to become monotheistic. The earlier sets of Hebrews were mainly a polytheistic group, meaning that that honored more than one God, some of these Gods ranged from Azazel, a nature spirit to “Ba’al and his wife Asherah, a fertility goddess” . In fact, some Gods were so highly praised that
5. The earliest known religion is animism, which is the belief that everything has a
Many will argue that Hinduism is polytheistic because there are these gods, goddesses and avatars that are prayed to and worshiped. Hindus would normally have a shrine with a specific god or goddesses that they worship to daily or when they feel is needed to at their homes. Hindus will also go to a Hindu temple and pray to completely different gods and goddesses.
Hebrew monotheism is the belief in a single, all-powerful creator-god, and the renewal of the covenant binding them to their god in exchange for divine protection. The monotheism first appeared in ancient world around 1350 B.C.E in Egypt. The pharaoh named Amenhotep IV advanced the worship of the sun god, Aten, as the country’s sole deity, which was more powerful than all of the other Egyptian gods. Later the Hebrew monotheism went away from Athen and the Hebrews perceived Yahweh. Yahweh is the one and only god according to the Hebrews and Yahweh was transcend nature and all natural phenomena.
Judaism as well as its offshoot and formation into the Christian religion both place great emphasis on the notion of their monotheistic God as revealed in the early scriptures. To them God has revealed Himself as the one Lord of all. Evident in the first Commandment that was
The rise, development, and spread of monotheism (the belief in one God), is one of the most significant and fascinating dimensions of human civilization. The three major monotheistic faiths are Judaism, Christianity and Islam, these religions have spread to other kingdoms throughout the world by use of missionaries.
In the early medieval ages, many people were polytheists. A polytheist is someone who worships more than one God in a religion. There were many different beliefs, and all of these gods varied throughout different cultures, but they did share most of the same guidelines. Most of them had a supreme god, such as Odin, a god of war like Thor, a god of the underworld like Hel and many more things. Each god was made to explain the unexplainable, and to make the people feel better about their lives.
Up to this point in history, most civilizations had used religion to explain the unexplainable. The Greeks formed a unique view on religion and belief by looking for answers outside of the gods. Epicurus develops this thought further when he wrote, “principal disturbance in the minds of men arises because they think that these celestial bodies are blessed and immortal” (Epicurus, Self-sufficiency, in SWT, p. 98). Epicurus presents the argument that pleasing the gods is unnecessary and a waste of a person’s time and energy. This Greek thinking was received well in early Roman civilization. Lucretius, a Roman philosopher, agreed Epicurus and considers religion to be a burden to mankind (Lucretius, Denunciation of Religion, in SWT, p. 112). Greek and Roman civilization began to become more secular and religion was considered to be a custom or formality. This development was unique because early civilizations centered their entire beliefs and lives around religion and gods. The Greeks and Romans began to carve out a religious identity that was foreign to many
In Mesopotamia, the people believed in polytheism, or the worship of multiple gods. Many temples stood scattered around in every city, each dedicated to one or more primary gods and a couple of lesser gods. Many people worked at the temples, keeping them perfect for the gods, which they believed lived in the temple. This drove people’s thoughts, as the extreme obligation to please every god could, and probably did, become a huge responsibility, influencing their every move. Similarly, the Phoenicians also practiced polytheism, which they most likely picked up on from Mesopotamia.
• Personal – where God is represented as a human being. Christians believe this because it means they can directly relate to Him through one-to-one means. There are variations within this also: Some say that this Personal God is one human being that is always there for everyone, others believe that He is a different being for each person.
Polytheism is the ideology in worshipping more than one God. This idea usually states the many Deities are convened into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own beliefs and rituals. An example of polytheism would be the ancient Greeks. They had a number of assorted gods and goddesses. For example Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Apollo and Dionysus are the Greek Gods. Hestia, Hera, Demeter, Athena, Artemis, and Aphrodite are the Greek Goddesses. The ancient Greek believers made sacrifices and believed in these gods and goddesses. They believed in more than one god, thus making them a polytheistic religion. Polytheistic religions still exist today. Examples would be Hinduism and Buddhism.
God to the people of the big three monotheist religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) see god as an all-knowing, all-seeing, and all-powerful being.
In some cultures, they don’t believe in just one God but they believe in a lot of Gods. For example the Greeks, In their culture they believe that the universe started because of Chaos. Who created five beings namely Gaea, Tartarus, Erebus, Night, and Eros.
This essay will research the issue whether religion and spirituality can positively affect health. It will explain the differences between religion and spirituality and will research the religion importance in human life as religion or spirituality have a lifestyle for many individuals.
The Nature of God is a category that always comes into question in many conversations or debates I have seen, and listened to and participated in, this is why I have chosen this topic. Some religions focus on subjective experience of the religious individual while others consider activities of the religious community to be most important.by being willing to learn and engage into the very nature of God in different religions is an interesting topic on its own, and can be very educational as well as informational. I will be looking at this particular category from a Christian point of this goal is to investigate whether the view is sufficient evidence to prove that world religions are complementary and by analyzing what religion belief is about which is a perception of someone religion and how major some culture is are evolved.