Is Christianity Polytheistic?

When I asked Dr Sing (a Christian) if Hindus believed in gods (s) said yes.So if Dr Sing thinks Hindu gods qualify as gods in what sense does Satan not also qualify?

I would say that the answer depends on what qualities you ascribe to pencils. If you simply refer to a garden variety pencil with no qualities beyond that associated with the typical writing utensil, I would say no, you are not a theist, you are a nut. A tricky question. I think there is some set of minimum criteria that a being needs to meet to be considered a god. I'm far from a comparative religion expert, so I'm hardly the person to put forth a comprehensive definition, but on first glance, it at least needs to be some kind of self-aware entity with supernatural powers. This rules out a normal pencil.But obviously beyond any minimum set of criteria, different religions have different, more detailed definitions, and the definition of god in Christianity does not include Satan. Thus, Satan cannot be an example of a god showing that Christianity is polytheistic, unless you wish to quarrel with my proposition that the question must be answered by looking at the definition that the given religion uses.

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Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus. -- Thomas JeffersonFor we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. -- Barack ObamaWe see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- PhatIt has always struck me as odd that fundies devote so much time and effort into trying to find a naturalistic explanation for their mythical flood, while looking for magical explanations for things that actually happened. -- Dr. Adequate

What is the definition of god in Christianity?Does Satan fit that definition? If not, he's not a Christian god.

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Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus. -- Thomas JeffersonFor we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. -- Barack ObamaWe see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- PhatIt has always struck me as odd that fundies devote so much time and effort into trying to find a naturalistic explanation for their mythical flood, while looking for magical explanations for things that actually happened. -- Dr. Adequate

I'm all for them qualifying as "god concepts" within the boundaries of Hinduism. What I'm not for is applying Hinduism's or Greek mythology's logic to Christianity and pronouncing angels and other superhuman beings as lesser gods or smaller gods than YHWH. Like you imagine, it is most probable that a Hindu would be prone to label satan an evil god, a god nonetheless. However, this does not fit within Christianity because it teaches that God is one. I think we have to go back to where different religions get their conceptions of God from. Just take Hinduism for example, a few gods in it are mere personifications of nature. Ganga, for example is a river in India and yet it is personified as a goddess. The gods Agni, Vayu and Surya are personifications of fire, air and sun respectively. Hanuman the monkey god, is a devotee of Rama (a bigger god) but a god nonetheless. It even elevates certain animals to divine status i.e animals that provide transportation for the gods. All this to say that Hinduism appears to derive its its deities from nature for the most part. However, Christianity's approach to defining god is different (from Hinduism at least). We take the Bible and believe the person who claims to be God in it is the definition of God. IOW, we have no pre-conceived prescriptive idea for God and YHWH fits it; all we know about God is what has been revealed to us in the Bible. We say, the YHWH of the Bible is "God" as we understand. So here you have these two polar opposite conceptions of God that you're trying to mix and match. Doesn't work. First of all, I have no personal requirements of God. Like I said, I have no self-made mould that YHWH perfectly fits into and voila!, becomes my God, no.Second, I never said Lakshmi qualifies for "God" as I, a Christian, would accept. Within the realm of Hindusim, Lakshmi is surely a goddess (as hindusim defines her)...a very prominent one that too. But not within Christianity's worldview. She is not God. God is only one, the most holy YHWH. The "problem" with religion is this, different definitions and ideas...which when people try to mix and match, they complicate lives even more than they already are. I think that any such being to whom we can attribute these pre-conceived ideas is most probably not God. Edited by Dr. Sing, : No reason given.

5er Subbie, exactly what I was trying to convey.I think Straggler is failing to realize that different religions have different definitions of god and applying Hinduism's logic in an attempt to provide satan with deity status while also maintaining fundamental Biblical principles is impossible.

No.Its kind of sad that I have to remind you (assuming you're one, Straggler) of the definition of your own status. Atheists are people who choose not to believe in the concept of God most often for lack of empirical evidence (not ruling out other reasons though), yes? This is different from choosing to believe a god concept. Which Hindus do. Now to answer your question pretty bluntly, I would say that a Christian would view people of other religions as worshiping false gods i.e imposters that they themselves have created i.e what they think is god. Vice versa with what a hindu or muslim might think of a Christian.

Gahh, I feel so bad for posting post after another. I'll stop with this one for now.Quotes by Straggler. Yes. To whom? is the question. To Muslims? No. To Christians? No. To certain other religions? Maybe. Again, to whom? To a hindu? or To a Christian? Or to everybody?

But slevesque isn't saying that the attitude he describes is his attitude, just that it makes as much sense as the attitude in the OP. There isn't one unequivocal definition.It's rather like the word "dragon". We translate various Chinese and Persian words by the English word "dragon", but all they really have in common is being mythical and scaly.Now, when we translate a Greek pagan using the word "θεός" as saying "god", it's not really clear what he does mean. An entity counted as a θεός if it was recognized as a θεός. It wasn't necessarily genetic --- for example, Arion was the child of two θεός-es, but wasn't a θεός himself. Nor does being a powerful mythical entity necessarily qualify one as a θεός --- Prometheus would been a θεός by that criterion, and is also one of the most sympathetic characters in Greek myth. But he's not a θεός, he's a Titan.Really, the concept doesn't translate very well. I suppose we use the word "god" for θεός because it comes closer to it than anything else does.

See Dr.A response. For the christian definition of God, refer to theology books I guess.But this doesn't render the word theism useless, theism is a descriptive term for a worldview where the term 'god' is applied to something.Think about it, suppose I created a religion in which cats would be considered divine. Does that make you, who believes cat exists, to suddenly become a theist ? Obviously not, your worldview remains atheistic because you continue tu not view cats as gods. (I presuppose you are atheist, telle me if I'm mistaken)In the same way, the christian worldview does not consider satan to be a god, and therefore remains monotheistic (the trinity is another issue to discuss) even though satan would qualify as a god in another wordlview.

Well then, let's discuss it. Father, son and holy ghost equals three. No amount of mental gymnastics or apologetics can change that simple fact. You are a polytheist, Sir!

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Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus. -- Thomas JeffersonFor we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. -- Barack ObamaWe see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- PhatIt has always struck me as odd that fundies devote so much time and effort into trying to find a naturalistic explanation for their mythical flood, while looking for magical explanations for things that actually happened. -- Dr. Adequate

Wishing you all the best Slevesque. What theologians have failed to comprehend throughout ages despite hours of pouring over it, is now up to you to clarify to our atheist friends here. .....uhh, on a internet forum.

But I'm not interested in discussing for a simple reason: it won't amount to anything.Because whenever the concept of trinity is explained with more complexity beyond the basic 1+1+1=3, atheist will discard it as being ''mental gymnastics''. But of course, this simplistic view is a strawman of the actual thing, because the trinity concept isn't simple, it's complex. But it's understandable when you put the time and good will to understand it.Edited by slevesque, : No reason given.

You're not kidding.

The last refuge of those who don't understand it themselves.I'd venture to guess that Thomas Jefferson, a reasonably intelligent person, spent a great deal of time and good will studying it before he concluded...

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Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus. -- Thomas JeffersonFor we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. -- Barack ObamaWe see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- PhatIt has always struck me as odd that fundies devote so much time and effort into trying to find a naturalistic explanation for their mythical flood, while looking for magical explanations for things that actually happened. -- Dr. Adequate

Sure, why not. I could make up any kind of new religion or deity today if I wanted to, and as long as it involves worshiping some concept of "god", it is theistic. What is "god"? It could be anything that I'd decide to worship in my new religion, including a pencil.Respectfully,-Meldinoor