Let's talk about monotheism
Looking at the choices of monotheistic religious bouncing around the world, one has little choice but to accept Catholicism. Now, we can only talk about this if you accept a few premises:
1: There is only one God.
2: God is larger than the individual and not subject to opinion (AKA objective truth).
3: God is for all.
A: Any religion started by human beings holds no candle to Catholicism, the only religion on Earth that claims to have been started by God walking among us. This removes from consideration:
Aa: Protestantism. So Luther and his ignorant ilk knew better than 1500 of tradition of the religion start by God? Pfeh!
Ab: Islam. So, God, after sending Himself to Earth, changes his mind on deep issues of morality and cosmology, sends an angel to a human being to preach a gospel that contradicts what God himself said? This one is a non-starter.
Ac: Mormonism. Pretty much ditto the above, but they seem to kill a lot fewer people.
B: All of the pseudo-religions of the Enlightenment era are simply ridiculous. They attempt to pare down Christianity.
Ba: Deism. So, God exists and is objective. Where did you get that idea? Zoroastrianism? You got it from the Christian tradition and just got rid of what you didn't like.
Bb: Agnosticism. These goons agree with statements 1, 2,and 3, but can't put any details together. The common thread here is an arrogant expulsion of the brilliant minds of the past. Or maybe spiritual cowardice.
C: Zoroastrianism is its own special case. It's monotheistic the way dolphins are fish. There is a "good god" and an "evil god" struggling for dominance under a larger, impersonal god. Further, the system makes little claims to universality. It's a pre-Christian notion of divinity. It reeks of tribal religion, where "my god is better than yours," the way tribes used to worship the various Baals.
D: Judaism is another singular example. It is a legitimately divinely inspired religion, though it seems to fail on point 3. To the Orthodox (that is to say, good) Jews, God is for the "chosen people."
Thus to reject Rome is to obliterate the only source of monotheistic legitimacy.
Looking at the choices of monotheistic religious bouncing around the world, one has little choice but to accept Catholicism. Now, we can only talk about this if you accept a few premises:
1: There is only one God.
2: God is larger than the individual and not subject to opinion (AKA objective truth).
3: God is for all.
A: Any religion started by human beings holds no candle to Catholicism, the only religion on Earth that claims to have been started by God walking among us. This removes from consideration:
Aa: Protestantism. So Luther and his ignorant ilk knew better than 1500 of tradition of the religion start by God? Pfeh!
Ab: Islam. So, God, after sending Himself to Earth, changes his mind on deep issues of morality and cosmology, sends an angel to a human being to preach a gospel that contradicts what God himself said? This one is a non-starter.
Ac: Mormonism. Pretty much ditto the above, but they seem to kill a lot fewer people.
B: All of the pseudo-religions of the Enlightenment era are simply ridiculous. They attempt to pare down Christianity.
Ba: Deism. So, God exists and is objective. Where did you get that idea? Zoroastrianism? You got it from the Christian tradition and just got rid of what you didn't like.
Bb: Agnosticism. These goons agree with statements 1, 2,and 3, but can't put any details together. The common thread here is an arrogant expulsion of the brilliant minds of the past. Or maybe spiritual cowardice.
C: Zoroastrianism is its own special case. It's monotheistic the way dolphins are fish. There is a "good god" and an "evil god" struggling for dominance under a larger, impersonal god. Further, the system makes little claims to universality. It's a pre-Christian notion of divinity. It reeks of tribal religion, where "my god is better than yours," the way tribes used to worship the various Baals.
D: Judaism is another singular example. It is a legitimately divinely inspired religion, though it seems to fail on point 3. To the Orthodox (that is to say, good) Jews, God is for the "chosen people."
Thus to reject Rome is to obliterate the only source of monotheistic legitimacy.
posted by Guy Haraldsson | Thursday, August 28, 2003
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