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Hinduism and God

Amadeus

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View attachment 67167659

Hinduism is called a polytheistic religion. And it is. But only in the sense that Christianity is.

In Christianity, God is represented by a Holy Trinity: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is further represented by various angels and messengers, and even the Devil himself.

In Hinduism, God is similarly represented by three deities: Brahma (The Creator), Vishnu (The Preserver), and Shiva (The Destroyer/Transformer). God is furthered divided into male and female counterparts (e.g. Shiva and Kali; the Destroyer and the Redeemer). It gets quite confusing, as virtually every god and goddess in Hinduism is essentially the same god. This is in contrast with, say, the Olympian pantheon (where there is a king god, Zeus, but the other gods are independent).

Some sects of Hinduism worship Vishnu or Shiva, choosing to focus their worship on that aspect of God.
 
I don't think Christians consider the Devil to represent God.
 
I don't think Christians consider the Devil to represent God.

The Judaic interpretation of God is that he represents both extremes of light and darkness. Christians splintered the Devil from God because they felt uncomfortable with God being the source of evil. It doesn't really change the fact that the Devil must originate from God, especially since he once served him.
 
The Judaic interpretation of God is that he represents both extremes of light and darkness. Christians splintered the Devil from God because they felt uncomfortable with God being the source of evil. It doesn't really change the fact that the Devil must originate from God, especially since he once served him.

I don't think that's an accurate description of either the OT God or the Devil.
 
View attachment 67167659

Hinduism is called a polytheistic religion. And it is. But only in the sense that Christianity is.

In Christianity, God is represented by a Holy Trinity: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is further represented by various angels and messengers, and even the Devil himself.

In Hinduism, God is similarly represented by three deities: Brahma (The Creator), Vishnu (The Preserver), and Shiva (The Destroyer/Transformer). God is furthered divided into male and female counterparts (e.g. Shiva and Kali; the Destroyer and the Redeemer). It gets quite confusing, as virtually every god and goddess in Hinduism is essentially the same god. This is in contrast with, say, the Olympian pantheon (where there is a king god, Zeus, but the other gods are independent).

Some sects of Hinduism worship Vishnu or Shiva, choosing to focus their worship on that aspect of God.

I don't think Christians consider the Devil to represent God.

Nor angels, at least not as the OP seems to imply.

I do suspect that “Trinity” in which most Christianity believes is heavily-influenced by the Hindu concept, where one God is three Gods, is three hundred Gods, is three thousand Gods; many, many, many Gods who are all somehow all aspects of one God. I think that the revelation to early Christians that what they previously thought was one God consisted of three beings led them to seek among heathen faiths an explanation which they could use to reconcile the three members of the Godhead into one God.

If there is any Christian sect that holds the Devil, or angels, to be part of God, the way Hinduism holds all of its various Gods to be part of its one God, then I have not heard of it.
 
The Judaic interpretation of God is that he represents both extremes of light and darkness. Christians splintered the Devil from God because they felt uncomfortable with God being the source of evil. It doesn't really change the fact that the Devil must originate from God, especially since he once served him.

I expect that you will have a very difficult time finding any Christian who will agree with this.
 
I don't think that's an accurate description of either the OT God or the Devil.

Isaiah 45:7

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.

Isaiah 45 KJV - Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to - Bible Gateway

The Sumerians considered the God of Heaven and the God of earth as a dual entity, An and Enlil. In Heaven He was the Father of all other gods (angels), and on earth He was the prince of the power of air and the accuser and discipliner of mankind. He played many roles.
 
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Isaiah 45 KJV - Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to - Bible Gateway

The Sumerians considered the God of Heaven and the God of earth as a dual entity, An and Enlil. In Heaven He was the Father of all other gods (angels), and on earth He was the prince of the power of air and the accuser and discipliner of mankind. He played many roles.

I create light and darkness,
happiness and sorrow.
I, the Lord, do all of this.

Isaiah 45 CEV - Cyrus Obeys the LORD
 
From the Bible:

“See, I [God] have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.” (Deuteronomy 30:15)

“I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I the Lord do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7)
 
I expect that you will have a very difficult time finding any Christian who will agree with this.

I understand, but I don't see any way around it. If God is supreme, and encompasses all things, then he must naturally be connected to the Devil.
 
From the Bible:

“See, I [God] have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.” (Deuteronomy 30:15)

“I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I the Lord do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7)

Also from Job 1:21

“We bring nothing at birth; we take nothing with us at death.
The Lord alone gives and taketh away.
Praise the name of the Lord!”


I understand, but I don't see any way around it. If God is supreme, and encompasses all things, then he must naturally be connected to the Devil.

It's the other name they call Him, when He's correcting them. He's only the Heavenly Father when they want something.
 
I understand, but I don't see any way around it. If God is supreme, and encompasses all things, then he must naturally be connected to the Devil.

LDS scriptures solves the dilemma:

29 Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. (D&C 93)

Evil exists because 1/ there must be opposing forces in existence and so if light exists so does darkness, and 2/ the necessity of free agency.
 
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Sadness is not the same as evil.

Though they're all similar like death, deceive, lie, ignorance, wrong, hate, bad, darkness, greedy etc. They represent negativity, destruction and violence, whereas their opposites represent joy and peace. Ultimately, all these concept serve the supreme being, because they include free will, forgiveness, maturing, spiritual growth and salvation.
 
Though they're all similar like death, deceive, lie, ignorance, wrong, hate, bad, darkness, greedy etc. They represent negativity, destruction and violence, whereas their opposites represent joy and peace. Ultimately, all these concept serve the supreme being, because they include free will, forgiveness, maturing, spiritual growth and salvation.

God doesn't create evil acts, free will does. God only creates evil in allowing free will, and thus evil, to exist. God could obliterate the Devil, and He will; however, first, there is this issue of His sovereignty to be decided, by man, before Lucifer is cast away.
 
God doesn't create evil acts, free will does. God only creates evil in allowing free will, and thus evil, to exist. God could obliterate the Devil, and He will; however, first, there is this issue of His sovereignty to be decided, by man, before Lucifer is cast away.

I agree evil is an extension of free will, but it's also because humans aren't born with complete information. How could we become unique if we were born with mature brains and complete knowledge? The process of learning from our negative or positive choices is what makes us individual souls. I believe the Devil is not real and that angels are what we become, not some preexisting heavenly race with the choice to rebel.
 
I agree evil is an extension of free will, but it's also because humans aren't born with complete information. How could we become unique if we were born with mature brains and complete knowledge? The process of learning from our negative or positive choices is what makes us individual souls.

That's the point of God creating people. Lucifer, in heaven, questioned God's sovereignty. He is allowed to attempt to rule the ignorant, those who do not exist directly in God's presence, and his failure will prove that God is sovereign, as judged by those who are tormented by His accuser and largely ignorant of Him.

After the second coming, we are to witness Lucifer (and the angels that stood with him) judged against. We're then to take our place, even above the angels, as those whose faith testifies to His sovereignty.

I believe the Devil is not real and that angels are what we become, not some preexisting heavenly race with the choice to rebel.

I believe the Devil represents evil and we will all go to heaven as Jesus promised. I believe heaven is the future in which children do not cry in vain.
 
That's the point of God creating people. Lucifer, in heaven, questioned God's sovereignty. He is allowed to attempt to rule the ignorant, those who do not exist directly in God's presence, and his failure will prove that God is sovereign, as judged by those who are tormented by His accuser and largely ignorant of Him.

After the second coming, we are to witness Lucifer (and the angels that stood with him) judged against. We're then to take our place, even above the angels, as those whose faith testifies to His sovereignty.



I believe the Devil represents evil and we will all go to heaven as Jesus promised. I believe heaven is the future in which children do not cry in vain.

Hey, I ain't going to step on your beliefs. Whatever helps you sleep at night. ;)
 
Hey, I ain't going to step on your beliefs. Whatever helps you sleep at night. ;)

That's my outsider's perspective on the Bible, from studying it. I'm atheist.
 
The Judaic interpretation of God is that he represents both extremes of light and darkness. Christians splintered the Devil from God because they felt uncomfortable with God being the source of evil. It doesn't really change the fact that the Devil must originate from God, especially since he once served him.

Not really. Things created (Lucifer) are of God, but not necessarily a literal part of God. Lucifer was God's right hand man, and a separate creation. There is no mention of God being the personification of evil anyplace in the Torah, Old Testament or New. So again originating from and being part of are not the same thing.
 
I understand, but I don't see any way around it. If God is supreme, and encompasses all things, then he must naturally be connected to the Devil.

He is as he did create him... He is not however part of him. He rebelled against God.
 
View attachment 67167659

Hinduism is called a polytheistic religion. And it is. But only in the sense that Christianity is.

In Christianity, God is represented by a Holy Trinity: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is further represented by various angels and messengers, and even the Devil himself.

In Hinduism, God is similarly represented by three deities: Brahma (The Creator), Vishnu (The Preserver), and Shiva (The Destroyer/Transformer). God is furthered divided into male and female counterparts (e.g. Shiva and Kali; the Destroyer and the Redeemer). It gets quite confusing, as virtually every god and goddess in Hinduism is essentially the same god. This is in contrast with, say, the Olympian pantheon (where there is a king god, Zeus, but the other gods are independent).

Some sects of Hinduism worship Vishnu or Shiva, choosing to focus their worship on that aspect of God.

Hindus understand essence in so radically different a way from Christians that the comparison does not hold.
 
Hindus understand essence in so radically different a way from Christians that the comparison does not hold.

I don't quite understand this, but the Hindu concept of God is not far removed from Christians':

Para Brahman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ParaBrahman (Sanskrit) [from para beyond + Brahman (neuter) universal self or spirit] - That which is beyond Brahman. The self-enduring, eternal, self-sufficient cause of all causes, the essence of everything in the cosmos. In the Vedic style of writing, ParaBrahman is referred to as tat (that) as opposed to the manifest universe called idam (this). ParaBrahman means Supreme Brahman, or Supreme Cosmic Spirit, or Godhead. Although an ineffable entity, it could be said to be that which contains and pervades the universe. ParaBrahman, from beyond, encompasses the transcendent and immanent ultimate reality, Brahman. The Absolute Truth is both subject and object, so there is no qualitative difference. Terms like Parameshvara, Ishvara, Bhagavan, Brahman, Paramatma are held to be synonymous with ParaBrahman.
 
That's my outsider's perspective on the Bible, from studying it. I'm atheist.

I'm not atheist but I don't believe in every word of the bible either. Too me it's unrealistic that humans got history, stories or translations 100% correct.

Even the bible indicates in many places that all things have to ultimately serve God, even errors, mistakes and ignorance. Which is all that I believe 'evil' is.
 
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