What reasons do Christians have to believe there is one God?
Upvote:3
Amongst Jews, the most important verse of the Torah is the Shema - Deuteronomy 6:4:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
That is the distinctive call of the Hebrew religion, the first major monotheistic impulse. It is specific revelation, as opposed to general revelation, so one would not expect a non-biblical answer. One does not get specific revelation from observation or logic - it requires faith by definition.
It dates to the time of Moses, and is a radical departure from all that surrounded it.
Fast forward more than a milennium, and it is to these Jews that Jesus first came. Indeed, initially, Jews and Christians were hard to distinguish!. Thus, the same Jesus who said "I have not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it" would necessarily have been telling his followers to be monotheistic.
Muslims like to claim that Christians reject monotheism via the Trinity, but that is an incorrect understanding of Christainity. (As an aside, one my way to church on Sunday, I saw a license plate that said "1 not 3". I knew the driver had to be Muslim, and sure enough, as she passed me, she was wearing an hijab. Her understanding was simply wrong.)
Upvote:5
A common argument for theism is the Cosmological argument - that there must have been a first cause for the universe. Christians believe that everything that exists is the result of God, who is uncreated and self-existent.
If the universe has a single cause then it follows its existence is the result of a single self-existent being. Could there somehow be multiple self-existent beings? Well yes, but to be a single cause for the universe those beings must be in such a great unity. This could be argued to be the case for the Christian view of God, the Trinity, who is three persons in one being.
In many (perhaps most) polytheistic religions most of the gods were actually created from the original creator god. In my mind those gods don't deserve to be called gods - call them spirits instead.
More post
- π Besides Paul, have there been any other Christians who had both a scholarly background and overtly supernatural experiences?
- π Was Origen and/or certain teachings considered a heretic and/or heretical?
- π Is Jesus alive? Or did he die 2000 years ago?
- π How do trinitarians explain Luke 4:8, if he's a God himself?
- π Does the prophet Haggai imply that Zerubbabel could be the Messiah? (Haggai 2)
- π Jesus said no one had gone into heaven except the Son of Man, but what about Elijah?
- π What is the basis for the idea of 7,000 years of human history, expressed by Larkin and others?
- π Do Calvinists rejoice in the destruction of sinners?
- π Did St.Thomas really throw water in the air (in India) and it remained airborne?
- π How do proponents of the Fine Tuning argument for God, refute the puddle comparison?
- π Does John 6:64-65 prove total depravity?
- π How did James Orr's view of the inspiration of the Bible differ from B. B. Warfield's?
- π What is the simplest, clearest interpretation of the English text of the Authorized Version on Romans 9:5?
- π Do Protestants agree that every individual has 'two or three witnesses' to attest to truth?
- π Are there any compelling reasons to prevent a layperson from administering the bread and wine in accordance with 1 Corinthians 11:17-34?
- π In modern times, what would happen to a Roman Catholic monk if he were to violate his monastic vows?
- π Did Jesus say "worship me, I am God"
- π According to the Catholic Church, do guardian angels graduate?
- π The meaning of "The Other" in the writings by pope John Paul II
- π Is it possible to repent after death in Catholicism?
- π Why are people traditionally buried facing east?
- π Why were we created to serve if He is all-powerful?
- π Legal base for "any male baptized Catholic is eligible to be elected Pope"
- π Why is the Jewish Passover on 28 March 2021 but Good Friday is on 2 April 2021?
- π What is the meaning of this excerpt from Foundation of the Christian Faith, by Karl Rahner?
- π Why is the Catholic Church called "The Roman Catholic Church"?
- π Why did Jesuits and Franciscans disagree about indigenous labor in their missions?
- π How is Abraham able to speak to the rich man across the chasm of hell in Jesus' story in Luke 16?
- π According to Catholicism what is today's referent of "my house of prayer" in Isa 56:6-8?
- π What does Liberate 2014/Tullian mean by 'One Way Love'?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- π What reasons do Christians have to believe there is one God?
- π Other than non-Trinitarian, what terms are there for Christians who don't believe in the trinity?
- π Must one believe that there is only one True and Living God to be saved?
- π Jesus says, that God the Father is a Spirit AND Paul says there is one (1) Spirit. How do trinitarians understand who or what the Holy Spirit is?
- π What reason is there to believe that 1st C Jews thought that being the Son of God = God?
- π Are there Christians that believe that God is a substance?
- π If you believe that Messiah Jesus is a human being what logic you have to guess that he could be a God or son of God?
- π Are there Christians who believe that Jesus does not have a physical body right now?
- π A Christian that believe in one God and gives him no image. What kind of Christian is that?
- π Are there other Christian authors besides WLC who believe that all Christians have access to a direct, self-authenticating experience of God?
- π Are there any Christian groups that believe in only One God (The Father revealed by Christ) and only One Gospel rather than 4 Gospels?
- π What reasons does Christianity give for "Why There Must Be A God?"
- π What have Christians taught during past plagues and pandemics?
- π Are there any statistics that show how many scientists are Christians or otherwise believe in a personal God?
- π What evidence is there to support the position that the Bible is truly the Word of God to mankind?
- π Is there a biblical basis for God calling one to place one's career above their other duties?
- π What is the theory that there is more than one "Satan" called, and what is its basis?
- π What is stopping Christians from having just one doctrine/interpretation?
- π Is there only one God (or ΧΦ±ΧΦΉΧΦ΄ΧΧ, or ΞΈΞ΅ΟΟ) by nature?
- π What traditions believe that a woman's relationship with God must go through some man and how do they support it from the Bible?
- π What biblical reasons are there for using the Lord's Prayer as a pattern for prayer rather than a prayer to repeat verbatim?
- π What evidence is there to show that John Wesley and John Calvin did not believe that Jesus is Michael?
- π What is the Biblical basis for believing that God punishes Christians for disobedience?
- π In the parable of the sower, what exegetical reasons are there to interpret the third type of soil to be genuine Christians?
- π What percentage of self-identifying Christians believe Jesus was not God, and instead was a messenger of God?
- π What are Christians called who believe in a non-intervening God?
- π What does the Bible say about this question- Why do Jesus and God have two seats in heaven when they are the same God?
- π What evidence is there that God as father was a common concept for Jesus's first century Jewish audience?
- π What major views are there on the question of whether God shares moral responsibility for our deeds, good and bad?
- π Are there any groups of Christians who believe that all loans made with their money should be made without the expectation of repayment?
