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PRESENTS |
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| Christians, Jews, and Muslims believe that there is only one God. This is |
| called monotheism, from Greek words for ?one? and ?God.? Ancient |
| Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and other peoples have held that there are many |
| gods. This belief is called polytheism. Buddhism, as originally founded, |
| asserted there is no God at all. Denial of God or gods is called atheism. |
| A similar school called agnosticism?from the Greek for ?no |
| knowledge??holds that there may be a God, but if there is there can be no |
| knowledge of the fact either through reason or revelation. |
| Two other concepts about God are called pantheism and deism. Pantheism is |
| a view that says God is identical with the world. Deism by contrast says |
| that God is entirely apart from the world. He created it, established its |
| laws, and set it to operating without interfering in its operation. |
| Natural laws make the world self-sufficient in nature, and moral laws are |
| all that are needed for human life. These laws are discoverable and usable |
| by human reason. Knowledge of God
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| Philosophers, theologians, and religious leaders have for centuries |
| asserted that there can be a knowledge of God in spite of the fact that |
| God is not perceived by humans. Others have said that, while there may be |
| no direct knowledge, there can be a certainty about God?s existence based |
| on a variety of proofs. |
| Two of the best-known attempts to prove the existence of God were made |
| during the Middle Ages. In the 11th century Anselm of Canterbury used what |
| is called the ontological argument for the existence of God. (Ontology is |
| a difficult philosophical study of being.) Anselm defined God as the most |
| perfect being conceivable. That being, than which nothing greater can be |
| conceived, must necessarily exist. (See also Anselm of Canterbury.) |
| The argument of St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century is somewhat easier |
| to follow. It is called the cosmological argument?cosmos means ?world.? |
| Thomas said that the world is not self-explanatory. It requires a reason |
| or cause for its existence. Following the philosopher Aristotle, Thomas |
| noted that there are in the world change, causality, dependency, degrees |
| of excellence, and varieties of design. All of these together, and the |
| world itself, require a first cause. (See also Aquinas.) |
| Similar to the cosmological argument is the argument from design. Because |
| the world exhibits an obvious design and specific patterns of activity, it |
| must be the product of an intelligent designer.
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| Both the cosmological and design arguments have been criticized by |
| philosopher David Hume and many other thinkers. They have said that, if |
| there is a designer, he must take credit for the defects of his creation |
| as well as for the good. Hume wondered whether such defects as evil and |
| waste do not imply defects in the designer, or at least limits on his |
| power. If the power were limited, the designer could not be all-powerful. |
| In the 18th century the philosopher Immanuel Kant rejected previous proofs |
| about God. He stated instead that humanity?s moral nature requires a |
| higher moral power to exist, and that power must be God. (See also Kant.) |
| In India the school of Vedanta Hinduism turns the whole matter of proof |
| upside down. It insists that God is the only reality, and the world is |
| only an appearance. If anything demands proof, it is not God but the world |
| of perception. Similar ideas have been derived from the Greek philosopher |
| Plato.
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Revelation and Belief |
| All proofs of the existence of God are based on arguments from reason, |
| primarily deductive reason. Within the three religions of Judaism, |
| Christianity, and Islam, the primary reliance is not on avenues of |
| knowledge but on revelation. The Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old |
| Testament), the New Testament, and the Muslim Koran are all founded on the |
| belief that there is a God who has revealed himself in a variety of ways. |
| (See also Bible; Koran.)
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| The notion of revelation excludes all possibility of direct knowledge. It |
| calls instead for a response called belief or faith because God, these |
| religions hold, is never revealed directly to the senses but through |
| actions and persons. Jews believe that God was revealed in the freeing of |
| Israel from Egyptian captivity and in the giving of the law (see Judaism). |
| Christians assert that God was revealed in the life of Jesus (see |
| Christianity; Jesus Christ). Muslims hold that God spoke directly to the |
| prophet Muhammad (see Islam). |
| The coming of God?s kingdom. The promises made by God within the terms of |
| the covenant were specific. They promised to make Israel a great nation |
| with a land of its own. They also pointed to a time when Israel, under an |
| ideal king, would draw all other nations together in a worldwide community |
| of justice and peace under the guidance of God?s law. After the exile in |
| Babylon and the evident failure of Israel to become a holy people and |
| witness to all nations, speculation arose about how God would in fact |
| fulfill His promises. The variety of speculation led to the emergence of a |
| number of schools of thought.
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| One opinion held that there would be a gradual restoration of Israel to |
| its promised land in Palestine. There, a divinely chosen ruler would |
| exhibit his obedience to God and stimulate the obedience of the people. |
| This holy community, in which economic, social, and political justice |
| reigned, would be the inspiration to lure all nations to an imitation of |
| Israel.
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| Another view put little faith in the gradual processes of history. It |
| looked, rather, for a decisive act on the part of God whereby He would |
| reassert His divine sovereignty over the whole creation. This expectation |
| often looked for the appearance of a messiah figure, an individual chosen |
| by God to inaugurate His reign on Earth. The messiah (meaning, ?the |
| anointed one,? from the ritual of applying oil in the consecration of a |
| king), would be a monarch after the style of David, Israel?s greatest king |
| (see David). |
| Other motifs were also woven into the hope for God?s kingdom. It was |
| expected by some that all the dead of Israel would be raised to enjoy life |
| in the new community. But even the restored kingdom was not viewed as |
| permanent. At some future date God would intervene to judge the wicked and |
| transport the righteous to a new world?a transformed creation?where the |
| rule of God would be direct and endure forever. Some believers held that |
| the end of the present world would be preceded by a titanic struggle |
| between the forces of good and evil. After the victory of the righteous |
| the end would come.
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| Still other Jews abandoned hope of a redemption within the historical |
| process. They emphasized instead a personal salvation through individual |
| piety and scrupulous adherence to all tenets of the law. |
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Institutions and Practices |
| As had been true in ancient Israel, so too in rabbinic Judaism it was |
| understood the life of the individual and the life of the community were |
| bound up together. The institutions and practices of Judaism reflect this |
| conviction. There are observations and rituals that take place within the |
| family, ceremonies that pertain to the individual, and the pattern of |
| practices within the synagogue?the community of the faithful. Many of the |
| observances are bound up with the cycle of the religious year, with its |
| feasts and its commemorations.
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Revelation |
| The Book of Revelation, also called the Apocalypse of St. John the Divine, |
| is the most colorful and imaginative work in the New Testament, as well as |
| the most difficult to interpret. An apocalypse is a type of religious |
| literature that has to do with the end of the world and the events that |
| will take place before the end comes. The author of the book was probably |
| a man named John, leader at the church of Ephesus in Asia Minor, who was |
| banished to the island of Patmos, just off the coast. While on Patmos, |
| John wrote Revelation for circulation among the churches in Asia Minor. |
| Revelation got its name from the first verse in the book.
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| The book is in two main sections: chapters 1?3 contain an introduction and |
| letters to seven churches; chapters 4?22 contain the visions of the writer |
| concerning the end of history and the triumph of the Kingdom of God. The |
| book may have been written during the time of the Emperor Domitian (ruled |
| AD 81?96), who inaugurated the first systematic persecution of the |
| churches by the Roman Empire. The theme of the book is the lordship of God |
| over history, a message intended to encourage Christians to endure even |
| the most savage persecutions, because the Kingdom of God is near. |
| The web masters view on god
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| Well in the the bible it does say that we were made in gods image. So that |
| makes us GODS. C.Stokes. look what I have done. |
| Well it's the year 2000 now. And on New years eve. I looked to the sky. |
| Waiting for jesus to come. Down form heaven. And he didn't come. Jesus |
| where are you. |
| Are you there. Don't you care…
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Nature
of God
