How does the ROC feel about the theory that God is actually one for all religions? (see comment)? Is there only one God?

M.M. Bogoslovsky

“For all nations walk, each in the name of his god;
and we will walk in the name of the Lord God
ours forever and ever” (Micah 4:5)

One of the ideas popular today among believers in monotheistic religions is the assertion that God is one, but he only has different names. In confirmation of this, one can cite the words of the President of the Russian Jewish Congress Vladimir Slutsker, which he said not so long ago in an interview with the NG-Religions newspaper: ". Meanwhile, neither in religious literature, nor in scientific papers this idea is not discussed today. By default, it took the form of dogma. This gap is intended to be filled by the proposed article, which considers this problem from the perspective of religious studies.

The authors of the ecumenical idea that God is one essentially want to solve several problems: 1) if God is one, but he has different names, then you can count on the weakening of the criticism of unbelievers against him. Thus, the question of why other Gods exist and how they should be treated is removed; 2) show the imaginary unity of religions; 3) actually recognize the existence of other gods with equal rights, which, before the adoption of this idea, were vehemently denied; 4) to reconcile the contradictions between the gods and their teachings. Since there were many who wanted to become "one God", each of the contenders for this role claimed that only he alone had the right to this title. Thus, the Jewish god Yahweh, through the mouth of his prophet Isaiah, declared many times: “There is no other God besides Me, there is no righteous and saving God besides Me” (Exodus 45:21). Only he should be worshiped (Leviticus 26:1), but worshiping other gods is a crime that is punished “up to the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 20:3-5).

The idea that God is one for all peoples appeared quite a long time ago. Initially, the emergence of this idea was associated with the desire of individual peoples to exalt their god and give him universal significance. They began to call their god one (only). In principle, each nation can claim that its god is the only and true god, and therefore the only one, while implying that all other peoples should worship their “one” god. The ancient Egyptians were the first to declare this, in the “Book of the Dead”, which was found in the tombs of the pharaohs who lived 2,600 years BC, it says: “Thou art one, O Lord, from the beginning of time. Heir of immortality. Uncreated, Self-begotten; You created the earth and created people."

Interestingly, the idea of ​​a single god was proclaimed not only by large nations, but also by small ones. So, the Abkhazians have one God Antsea (Antsva). They call him God the Creator and creator of the whole world. In order to give their god a world significance, without a shadow of a doubt, they declare that their one (and at the same time the supreme God) is revered by the followers of all world religions, but only each in his own way.

Although the Bible suggests the identity of the Jewish Yahweh and the Christian God-father, Jews generally do not recognize this. But, when advantageous, the identity of these gods is recognized. So, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Jews of a Belarusian shtetl sent a telegram to Moscow to the merchant-charity M.F. Morozova: “Donate so much, the synagogue burned down, because we have one God.”

It is clear that if there is only one God, then the true religion must also be only one. Meanwhile, each of the religions of the "one God" - Judaism, Christianity and Islam has its own teaching, which is inconsistent with the teachings of other religions, and in the main - the teaching about God - even contradicting them. The prophets of the Jewish people - Nehemiah and Ezra, and then Jeremiah and Ezekiel, preached with inspiration and fury the idea that all religions except one (of course, Judaism) are false. In turn, representatives of these “false religions” consider their religions to be true, and declare those whose teachings they do not share to be false. At the same time, not only their doctrine, but also their clergy are subjected to severe criticism. For example, the Christian Church "Jehovah's Witnesses" declares: "Today's Jews are a host of Satanists that are all over the world ( except Jehovists - MB) worship Satan” (“Miracle book or wondrous prediction of God-Gods Yehovah”. St. Petersburg, 1998). The Christian Churches also get it: “Today, before the great day of Jehovah, representatives of the clergy of the Christian world, figuratively speaking, got so drunk on “grape juice” that they hardly realize that the Almighty is calling them to judgment” (“Watchtower”, May 1, 1998, p. . 9).

Christianity, which took over from Judaism, also preaches the idea of ​​the only God, but already its own - Christ. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, who is and was and is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8). The Epistle to the Corinthians states: “there is no other God but One” (1 Cor. 8:4), which means only one God - Jesus Christ. Moreover, those who refuse to consider him God, are criminals:“... the one who does not believe is already condemned, because he did not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). Yes, and the apostle Paul promised heavenly punishments to those who do not believe in Jesus Christ: “In the fiery fire of taking vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will be punished, eternal death, from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might ... "(2 Thess. 1:8-9). This threat also applies to Jews (Jews) who do not believe that Christ is the true God.

Christians speak of other gods contemptuously - "the so-called gods." This means that the great gods of antiquity Tiamat, Marduk, as well as the famous predecessors of Christ - the gods Osiris and Mithra - they are all so-called, that is, false gods in the understanding of Christians. Of course, these gods are offended that they are called false gods, but they cannot do anything - their time has passed ... Today, only historians of religion remember them.

But even with the Christian idea of ​​a single God, not everything is so simple, because. Although the God of most of them is one, but not quite one ... because it is represented by as many as three Gods. So, in the "Orthodox-Dogmatic Theology" it is said that "God is one in essence and trinity in persons." The author of this theology, Archbishop Macarius, wrote that by this teaching “we differ from pagans and from heretics who admit many or two gods, but also from Jews, and from Mohammedans, and from all heretics who recognized and recognize only one God.” The doctrine of the trinity of God, accepted by most Christian denominations, does not agree well with the idea of ​​​​a single God bearing the names of different Gods, which allows Christians when they need to consider them separately, and in other cases to represent them as one person - it is natural that this person is Christ . About any other names of the trinity of gods - for example, Yahweh, Allah or Krishna - this theology does not speak. Therefore, it is not popular with them, and, as a rule, is not voiced.

As regards the idea of ​​a single God, Christ, there is an additional great difficulty here. It consists in the fact that not all even Christian Churches recognize Christ as God. For example, the author of the Jehovah's Witnesses pamphlet What God Requires of Us writes that the Bible says that there is only one true God who must be worshiped (1 Corinth. 5:6; Rev. 4:11). According to them, Jesus Christ is not God, but just an angel, who has two names - the Word and Michael (it is curious that Christ himself was not indignant and is in no hurry to convince them that he is also God). Before he came to Earth, he lived in heaven and was a spiritual person. Christ is the first creation of God and, moreover, The only son which God himself created. According to the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses, before Jesus Christ became a man, Jehovah used him as a "skillful helper" in the creation of everything else in heaven and on earth. To confirm their words, they refer to the Bible (Proverbs 8:22-31; Colossians 1:16,17).

Christians have another "pitfall" that greatly hinders the promotion of the idea of ​​a single God. After all, one of the main provisions of Christian teaching proclaims that God is one, but he exists in three persons. It is clear that not everyone agrees to unite a single Yahweh, a single Allah, as well as a single Krishna with a “single” Trinity consisting of three parts.

Followers of another world religion - Islam, also argue that there is only one single God, but not Yahweh and not Christ, but Allah. The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan states: “…the power over the whole world belongs to Almighty Allah alone." Moreover, disbelief in Allah, as follows from the holy book of Muslims - the Koran, is a crime, the punishment for which is one - death! “Fight those who do not believe in Allah and on the last day do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, and do not obey religions of truth- of those to whom the scripture has been sent down, until they redeem themselves with their hand, being humiliated" (Sura 9:29).

At the same time themselves religious teachings contain provisions that contradict the idea of ​​a “single” god for all peoples. Representatives of the Church of Jehovah's Witnesses, in particular, speak about this. “The only true God,” these Christians write about the Jews, “they call Jehovah, but not Christ, much less Allah or other gods.” .5).

Contradicts the idea of ​​a single God and the teaching that one of the gods (it was the tribal god of the Jews) gave advantages to one people over all others. According to the teachings of Judaism, God singled out the Jews from all the peoples of the world, as a result of which they became God's chosen people with all the ensuing consequences: "I am the Lord your God, who separated you from all peoples" (Leviticus 20: 24). And “... you will be ... My inheritance from all peoples: for all the earth is Mine; But you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6). The meaning of this election and Yahweh’s special love for the Jews is that the “holy people” and their priests should rule, and people of other nationalities should work, earning daily bread for themselves, the holy people and their priests by the sweat of their brows. It is strange that other peoples are not enthusiastic about such inequality ...

It is not surprising that the idea of ​​the exclusivity of the Jewish people was supported by the son of a simple Jewish woman, Mary Yeshua (who soon after his death was changed from his Jewish name to the Greek - Jesus): "I came to save the sheep from the house of Israel." Those. he came to save only the Jews! True, later one of his apostles pretended to have forgotten about these words of his God, and contrary to his words (distorting their letter and spirit!) declared that all peoples are the same before Christ: “... there is no Greek, no Jew, no ... barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all” (Colossians 3:11). Do other glorious Gods - Osiris, Allah, Krishna, Odin, Rod, Veles agree that the Jews should have some special status? Of course not. Only Christians agree with this (who cannot cut off the umbilical cord from Judaism), and even then only in theory (according to dogma), but in practice they have always been against this, as evidenced by the persecution of Jews throughout the history of Christianity, the demand from them to recognize in the fallacy of their rejection of the one God Christ.

The struggle of different Churches with "false gods" also speaks of the fact that God is not one. So, for the faithful Jews, Christ is not a god at all, and not even the son of their beloved god Yahweh, but a real impostor. The Talmud says that Christ is a charlatan, a magician, a seducer and a deceiver. It also says that the description of the crucifixion of Christ is a lie, that he was executed in four different ways (Sanhedrin 105a-c). The teaching of Christians about Christ is so unacceptable that "Jews should destroy books (of Christians)" (Shabbat 116a).

As David Novak, a teacher of modern Judaism from the University of Virginia (USA), writes, Jews and Christians cannot and dare not jointly proclaim "Thus saith the Lord." The word of God for both Judaism and Christianity is inseparable from the respective intermediary community that proclaims this word.

In turn, Muslims do not want to recognize Christ as the only God. According to their doctrine, Christ is not a god at all, but only a prophet, and besides, not the main one. Calling your Allah by the names of other gods (for example, by the name of Yahweh, aka Jehovah) would never occur to any Muslim. So the faithful cannot act, because. that would be a direct insult to Allah! The punishment for which is death! The statement of the shahada that Allah is the only God should serve as a formidable warning to those who like to take the names of other Gods or give their God other people's names. The worship of other gods is out of the question, for this too - death: “Fight those who do not believe in Allah and on the last day do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger forbade, and do not obey the religion of truth - from those to whom the scripture has been sent down, until they redeem themselves with their hand, being humiliated” (Surah 9:29). At the same time, Allah can be called by other names - there are only 99 of them, but all of them are not the names of other gods, but beautiful epithets of his own name (for example: Eternal, Most High, Great, Glorious, Merciful, etc.).

From what has been said, it is clear that the adherents of each of the creator gods would never exchange their God for another single-ruling God. The fact that the preachers of the "single god" are cunning is evidenced by the fact that these "single gods" themselves, in fact, recognize the existence of other gods. So, in Judaism and Christianity it is said “Do not make an idol for yourself”, i.e. do not worship another god. Also in Islam, “There is no god but Allah!”. From these spells it follows that although the presence of other gods is recognized, but only one should be worshipped - Yahweh, Christ or Allah!

Believers do not have unity, not only in the question of the universal one God. Even in the Christian Church itself, each denomination has its own idea of ​​its God, i.e. about Christ. For example, the Orthodox have their own understanding of Christ and his teachings, which in a number of provisions is different from that of Catholics and Protestants. In fact, only the name of their God is common among Christians, and the teachings about him in each Christian denomination are different. Moreover, Christians behave in such a way that one gets the impression that each Christian denomination has not only its own understanding of Christ, but also its own Christ in general, which bears little resemblance to the Christ of other Christian Churches.

To what has been said, it should be added that the origin of all the so-called. "unified" gods are different. All creator gods appeared at a certain stage in the development of religion, which took place at different historical times. But here's what's interesting: the adherents of each of these gods do not want to share their God with representatives of other religions; they never call their God by any other name. However, they can be understood - after all, the religious teachings and scriptures of those who believe in these gods differ, and quite significantly. In addition, each of these gods has its own Church (which also does not want to identify itself with other Churches and even is at enmity with them) and its own staff of clergy and clergy (who do not want to have anything to do with those of other Churches). And it would never occur to those who believe in one God to pray to another God, even if he is the same god, but having a different name (for example, Yahweh = Allah = God the Father).

The non-recognition of the only other gods is not limited to verbal formulas, but often turns into civil strife - supporters of one god destroy supporters of another such "single" god. Thus, the supporters of Christ throughout their history fought with the supporters of the god Yahweh. Here is just one example. Martin Luther, one of the founders of Protestantism, said before his death: “... if they (Jews - MB) renounce their blasphemy, then we should gladly forgive them; if not, then we shouldn't let them live ". Hitler, referring to his words, justified the genocide of European Jewry.

And Christians oppose the strengthening of the position of the followers of another "single" God - Krishna. Thus, in Moscow, the leaders of the Orthodox Church are protesting against the construction in this city of the largest center in Europe for the Church of Krishna-Vaisnavas. In Afghanistan, the adherent of the one God of Allah - the Taliban seek to prevent the spread of faith in Christ. The punishment for the spread of Christianity is the public death penalty by hanging!

So far, we have been talking about a god who appears in different religions under different names. But if religions that essentially have one God do not want to recognize him as such, and each considers him only their own and tries to separate him from his other names, then what can we say about gods that have nothing to do with other autocratic gods, for example , the Indian Krishna or the ancient Egyptian Aton.

The idea of ​​"one God" has another " weak link”: it applies only to the religions of monotheism, “forgetting” that there are still folk religions, whose believers revere the gods of their people. These are the so-called pagans - representatives of folk religions. Paganism not only preceded the emergence of monotheism, but continues to exist today on all continents. Admirers of single-ruling gods prefer not to notice them or deny the right to their existence. For example, the mouthpiece of the Christian Church of Jehovah's Witnesses, the magazine Awake! writes about the religion of the Vikings: "The Vikings worshiped many fictional gods ..." (Dec. 8, 2000). It turns out that the God of the Jehovists is true, and the gods of the Vikings, and at the same time all the other gods of the peoples of the world, are fictitious, false.

But that's not all. There is also a complex of so-called. primitive beliefs, which includes animism, totemism, shamanism, magic, manticism, fetishism and an agricultural cult in which there is still no place for the gods. If the gods of the peoples of the world are offended by the supporters of the "one God", give them derogatory epithets - they call them false, false, then in relation to these primitive (original) beliefs they act easier - they pretend that they do not exist, they do not exist. And in vain, because they entered into all later religious beliefs and today are constituent parts advanced monotheistic religions.

And, of course, the representatives of pagan religions themselves, worshiping many gods - large and small, supreme and simple, do not share the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe existence of a single god for all peoples. Throughout the history of the peoples of the world, they, as a rule, tolerated the gods of other peoples, cities and countries, including them in their pantheon or giving foreign gods the names of their gods. For example, when Babylon became the main city of Mesopotamia, its god Marduk was identified with the ancient Sumerian supreme god Enlil. In this regard, he received the name Bel-Marduk ("Lord Marduk"). The ancient Romans had many ancient Greek gods: Jupiter was the counterpart of Zeus, Neptune - Poseidon, Juno - Hera, Venus - Aphrodite, etc. And the Romans placed Apollo and Dionysus in their pantheon with the same names and with the same functions that they had with the Greeks.

Thus, it is not necessary to say that God is one, that God is the same for all peoples, but only has different names. This is just a clumsy propaganda device that monotheistic believers are trying to use to rally their ranks, to protect them from heretics (i.e. dissidents), unbelievers and atheists.

If there really was one god, then representatives of different religions would not try to convert and force believers of other faiths to worship their “single” god. But they do it with relentless persistence. Even today, they are even ready to kill adherents of other religions who worship another "single" god. The whole history of monotheistic religions is a history of wars between themselves and between them and the polytheistic religions. The latest manifestation of non-recognition of other gods and religions on the part of Christians in our country is the protest of Orthodox supporters of Christ against the construction of a temple of the god Krishna in Moscow, whose adherents also often come forward with demands to recognize the status of one God for Krishna.

But even when the God of believers of different religions is really one, as, for example, in the three Semitic (Abrahamic) religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Yahweh, God the Father, Allah), adherents of these religions do not want to hear that they , such as Allah, was called Yahweh. And vice versa - the Jews, who essentially believe in the same God as Muslims, but call him by a different name - Yahweh or Sabaoth, will never call their God Allah. And Christians who, in addition to Christ, also worship God the Father, who is the same Yahweh-Sabaoth, not only do not want to hear about Allah, but also try to dissociate themselves from the Jewish Yahweh, stubbornly calling him the neutral name God the Father.

As for the Indian Krishna, whom some followers of this religion would like to see as their one God, then he does not have a chance to become some kind of one God, because. the desire of his followers does not coincide with the views of representatives of the Semitic religions mentioned above. None of this trinity wants not only to call their god Krishna, but even to equate him with their God!

The material presented clearly shows that there is no "single God" of all nations, which could be called the names of different Gods, does not exist. Sober-minded people understood this long ago and reflected the absurdity of this idea in a well-known joke: Buddha walks on Golgotha ​​and shouts “Allah Akbar!”. And persistent attempts to declare their God the only one under the brand of one can only lead to inciting inter-religious strife. But we do not need this at all ... Let everyone continue to believe in their God!

And sober-minded people can once again be convinced that all these gods exist only in the religious consciousness of believers.

Recent publications on related topics

Is there one God in all religions?

This is a very urgent issue, because now there is a very strong process of external unification of all religions. And in this regard, unfortunately, a very important role was played by the See of Rome. In Assisi, I don’t remember from what year, since 1986, in my opinion, they began to hold, let’s say, congresses of representatives of all religions. This town, by the way, is the birthplace of Francis of Assisi. Now in Portugal, in Fatima, a general religious center has been built, not a general Christian, but a general religious one. it huge center where each of the world's religions has its own compartment. The idea is that ultimately all religions worship the same God, and let everyone pray in their own way. What is the danger of this point of view? Next: Who is God? God is Spirit. How will you pray to God, the Spirit? We are necessarily looking for forms, that is, some image in which we represent this God. And the image of God is the ideal that we must follow. So, each religion has its own image of God, respectively, its own moral qualities and His properties, which a believer must imitate. In Christianity, even the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is called the image of the invisible God, the image of the Father. Look in paganism, what were these images? With what anger did Christianity denounce the religious beliefs of the pagans - why? It seems that if everyone prays to one God, why fight? But because these cults stimulated the most unbridled passions. It turns out that the images of God can be directly opposite, even the Apostle Paul wrote: “What kind of communion of light with darkness and Christ with Belial?” But the Antichrist will call himself Christ. This modern trend that all religions follow the same God will lead us to the fact that the Antichrist will be accepted as the only king and god. It is written directly in the Apostle Paul that he will sit in the temple of God and will pretend to be God. An enormous danger is moving on the consciousness of people, which can lead to a terrible spiritual catastrophe. We will accept a false Christ for Christ - imagine, humanity will accept a deceiver, a scoundrel, an evil one, a proud one, for Christ! Therefore, I repeat once again: no, not one God is worshiped in different religions, each has its own image of God.

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Questions and answers

What to do if you go to the temple through force and do not feel grace?

What causes loss of kinship?

Answer:

Some internal disaster. That is, a person loses contact with God through sin. What is sin? Sin is to cross the line, to miss the target with a bow, ...

Albina
Shukshina-Prosmitskaya.

GOD IS ONE.

No matter how much we praise God,
Heavenly Father will be forever.
No matter how people name the river,
It is called by the name - River.

Confessions peoples composed,
Defending every ritual.
It would be better to sincerely love God,
Turning your gaze to Truth.

Quarrels are not needed human.
God is one, and we are his children.
We are only temporarily earthly
And a particle of being everything.

No for God, races, no language.
And the difference in us is quite different.
Someone is sold under the hammer
And the other keeps the sacred in himself.

One Almighty is our Creator.
He distributes orders according to his merits:
For the worthy - glory and crown,
Sinners - diseases and leprosy.

The earthly world created by God -
We are its inhabitants of one Universe.
If you carry - love, peace -
You will be rewarded with Life you are not perishable.

Reviews

Hello Albina. Finally got to your creativity.

You touched on a difficult topic in this poem. It is beautiful in form. Oh, how I would like to say the same about the content. But.. Excuse me, it's not your fault... This is a very difficult Theological question. And thirty years ago and twenty years ago I would have accepted your point of view. But the fact is that God is really one, one in three persons. And only in Orthodoxy is the God of Love. In Islam, this is a harsh Allah - a fair judge.
In Judea - God, giving to everyone according to their merits, according to justice. And what justice can there be if a mother throws herself into the fire of a burning house and dies there along with her children. Did she think about justice, She was guided by the law of Love.
In general, it is better not to touch this topic. In any case, for now. You see, I went to recovery and do not have enough mental, much less spiritual strength to conduct a debate on this issue.
And this is where controversy is needed. It is here that the source of understanding of our saving faith lies, it is from here that the true path to salvation begins, or excuse me, the wrong one.

Spiritual life is not sweet drink or warm water. This is a cold shower. Otherwise, there was no reason for Christ to come into this world.

FORGIVE ME FOR GOD'S SAKE IF I DISAPPOINTED YOU. BUT YOU HAVE BEEN INTO ME SO MUCH, TAKEN A PRAYER PARTICIPATION IN MY RECOVERY. AND TO BRING THE SMALL HERD OF CHRIST TOGETHER ON THIS PORTAL. HERE AND SVETLANA PASSED IN THE YEAR OF CORRESPONDENCE COURSES OF THE SPIRITUAL SEMINARY. ALREADY PRACTICALLY READY FOR THE MONastic tonsure (NATURALLY IN HER KNOWLEDGE) HER PATH IS TO LIVE YOUR CENTURY IN THE WORLD.

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR A GREAT PRESENTATION. THANK YOU FOR THE PRAYER HELP FOR THE SICK,
ALWAYS HAPPY YOUR VISIT AND SOUL-SINCERE REVIEWS.
SORRY. IF THAT WRONG,
WITH GOD!

And I understand and accept your message!
There is no doubt about this.
The main thing is that we are baptized in the bosom of the Orthodox Church, we know and honor the Creed, we resort to the sacraments of the Church and try, as far as possible, to keep the commandments of Christ. And He said, "The one who keeps my commandments loves me"... And in no other way, does not believe, does not allow that someone is there, - AND OBSERVES MY COMMANDMENTS!!!
On this I consider a small theological controversy settled.

Thank God for everything!

Believers in monotheistic religions defend the gods by declaring them "one"

"For all nations walk, each in the name of his god;
but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever."
(Micah 4:5)

1) if God is one, but he has different names, then you can count on the weakening of the criticism of unbelievers against him. This removes the question of why other gods exist and how they should be treated;

2) prove the unity of religions;

3) actually recognize the existence of other gods with equal rights, which, before the adoption of this idea, were vehemently denied;

4) to reconcile the contradictions between the gods and the teachings about them.

Due to the presence of a number of sacred scriptures, there were many who wanted to become "one God". Each of the applicants claimed that he alone was entitled to this title. Thus, the tribal god of the Jews Yahweh, through the mouth of his prophet Isaiah, many times declared: “There is no other God but Me, there is no righteous and saving God besides Me” (Ex. 45:21). Naturally, only he should be worshiped (Lev. 26:1), and worshiping other gods is a crime, for which the punishment “up to the third and fourth generation” follows (Ex. 20:3-5).

The idea that God is one for all peoples appeared quite a long time ago. Initially, the emergence of this idea was associated with the desire of individual peoples to exalt their god and give him universal significance. They began to call their God one (one). In principle, each nation can claim that its God is the only and true, and therefore one, implying that all other nations should worship their “one” God. The ancient Egyptians were the first to claim this. In the "Book of the Dead", found in the tombs of the pharaohs who lived 2600 years BC, it is said: "Thou alone, O Lord, from the beginning of time. Heir of immortality. Uncreated, Self-begotten; You created the earth and created people."

Interestingly, the idea of ​​a single God was proclaimed not only by large nations, but also by small ones. So, the Abkhazians have a single God Antsea (Antsva). They call him God the Creator and creator of the whole world. In order to give their God a world significance, without a shadow of a doubt, they declare that their one (and at the same time the supreme God) is revered by the followers of all world religions, but only each in his own way.

Although the Bible implies the identity of the Jewish Yahweh and the Christian God-father, orthodox Jews do not recognize this. However, when it is advantageous, the identity of these gods is recognized. So, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Jews of the Belarusian shtetl sent a telegram to Moscow to the merchant-philanthropist M.F. Morozova: "Donate so much, the synagogue burned down, because we have one God."

Christianity, which took over from Judaism, also preaches the idea of ​​the only God, of course, its own - Christ. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, who is and was and is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8). The Epistle to the Corinthians states: “there is no other God but One” (1 Cor. 8:4), which refers to Jesus Christ. Moreover, those who do not agree with this are declared criminals: "... he who does not believe is already condemned, because he did not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18). Yes, and the apostle Paul promised heavenly punishments to those who do not believe in Jesus Christ: “In the fiery fire of taking vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will be punished, eternal death, from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might ... » (2 Thess. 1:8-9). This threat also applies to Jews (Jews) who do not believe that Christ is the true God.

Christians speak of other gods contemptuously - "the so-called gods." This means that the great gods of antiquity Tiamat, Marduk, as well as the famous predecessors of Christ - the gods Osiris and Mithra - they are all only "so-called", that is, false gods in the understanding of Christians. Of course, these gods are offended that they are called false gods, but they cannot do anything - their time has passed ... Today, only historians of religion remember them.

But even with the Christian idea of ​​a single God, everything is not so simple, since the God of most of them, although one, is at the same time not completely alone, because it is represented by as many as ... three Gods. So, in the "Orthodox-Dogmatic Theology" it is said that "God is one in essence and trinity in persons." The author of this theology, Archbishop Macarius, wrote that by this teaching “we differ from pagans and from heretics who admit many or two gods, but also from Jews, and from Mohammedans, and from all heretics who recognized and recognize only one God.” The doctrine of the trinity of God accepted by most Christian denominations does not agree well with the idea of ​​​​a single God bearing the names of different Gods, which allows Christians, when they need it, to consider them separately, and in other cases to represent them as one person - it is natural that this person is Christ.

As for the doctrine of the one God Christ, there is another difficulty here. It consists in the fact that not all even Christian churches recognize Christ as God. For example, the author of the Jehovah's Witnesses brochure What God Requires of Us writes that the Bible says that there is only one true God who must be worshipped (1 Cor. 5:6; Rev. 4:11). According to them, Jesus Christ is not God, but just an angel, who has two names - the Word and Michael. Before he came to Earth, he lived in heaven and was a spiritual person. Christ is the first creation of God and, moreover, the only son whom God himself created. According to the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses, before Jesus Christ became a man, Jehovah used him as a "skillful helper" in the creation of everything else in heaven and on earth. To confirm their words, they refer to the Bible (Prov. 8:22-31; Col. 1:16,17).

Followers of another world religion - Islam, also claim that there is only one single God, but not Yahweh, not Krishna, and, moreover, not Christ, who for them is not a god, but only a prophet. That only God is Allah. In the Constitution Islamic Republic Pakistan says: "...the power over the whole world belongs to one almighty Allah." Moreover, disbelief in Allah, as follows from the holy book of Muslims, the Koran, is a crime, the punishment for which is one - death. “Fight those who do not believe in Allah and on the last day do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger forbade, and do not obey the religion of truth - from those to whom the scripture was sent down, until they redeem with their hand, being humiliated” ( sura 9:29).

It is clear that if there is only one God, then the true religion must also be only one. Meanwhile, each of the religions of the "one God" - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - has its own doctrine, which is inconsistent with the teachings of other religions, and in the main - the doctrine of God - even contradicting them. The prophets of the Jewish people - Nehemiah and Ezra, and then Jeremiah and Ezekiel, enthusiastically and furiously preached the idea that all religions, except for one (of course, Judaism) - are false. In turn, representatives of these “false religions” consider their religions to be true, and declare those whose teachings they do not share to be false. At the same time, not only their creed, but also their clergy are subjected to severe criticism. For example, the Christian church "Jehovah's Witnesses" declares: "The current Jews are a host of Satanists, that all over the world (except Jehovah's Witnesses - M. B.) worship Satan" ("A miracle book or a wondrous prediction of God-gods Yehovah." S.- Petersburg, 1998). Other Christian churches also get it: “Today, before the great day of Jehovah, the representatives of the clergy of Christendom, figuratively speaking, are so drunk on “grape juice” that they hardly realize that the Most High is calling them to judgment” (“Watchtower”, May 1, 1998, p. 9).

At the same time, the religious teachings themselves contain provisions that contradict the idea of ​​a “single” God for all peoples. Representatives of the church Jehovah's Witnesses speak about this, in particular. “The only true God,” these Christians write of the Jews, “they call Jehovah, but not Christ, and certainly not Allah or other gods” (“God’s Guidance Points the Way to Paradise.” Watch Tower Bible, 2001, – c.5).

Christians have another "pitfall" that greatly hinders the promotion of the idea of ​​a single God for all religions. After all, one of the main provisions of Christian teaching proclaims that God is one, but he exists in three persons. It is clear that not everyone agrees to unite a single Yahweh, a single Allah, as well as a single Krishna with a “single” Trinity consisting of three parts.

Contradicts the idea of ​​a single God and the teaching that one of the gods (namely, the tribal God of the Jews) gave advantages to one people over all others. According to the teachings of Judaism, God singled out the Jews from all the peoples of the world, as a result of which they became "God's chosen people" with all the ensuing consequences: "I am the Lord your God, who separated you from all peoples" (Lev. 20:24). And “... you will be ... My inheritance from all peoples: for all the earth is Mine; But you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:5-6). The meaning of this election and Yahweh’s special love for the Jews is that the “holy people” and their priests should rule, and people of other nationalities should work, earning daily bread for themselves, the holy people and their priests by the sweat of their brows.

It is not surprising that the idea of ​​the exclusivity of the Jewish people was supported by Yeshua, the son of a simple Jewess Mary (shortly after his death, his Jewish name was changed to the Greek - Jesus): "I came to save the sheep from the house of Israel." Those. he came to save only the Jews! True, later one of his apostles pretended to have forgotten about these words of his God, and contrary to them (distorting their letter and spirit!) declared that all peoples are the same before Christ: “... there is neither a Greek, nor a Jew, nor ... a barbarian , Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3:11). Do other glorious Gods - Osiris, Allah, Krishna, Odin, Rod, Veles agree that the Jews should have some special status? Of course not. Only Christians agree with this (who cannot cut off the “umbilical cord” from Judaism), and even then only in theory (according to dogma), but in practice they have always been against this, as evidenced by the persecution of Jews throughout the history of Christianity, the requirement to recognize the fallacy of their rejection of the one God-Christ.

The struggle of different churches with "false gods" also speaks of the fact that God is not one. So, for the faithful Jews, Christ is not a god at all, and not even the son of their beloved god Yahweh, but a real impostor. The Talmud says that Christ is a charlatan, a magician, a seducer and a deceiver. It also says that the description of the crucifixion of Christ is a lie, that he was executed in four different ways (Sanhedrin 105a-c). The teaching of Christians about Christ is so unacceptable that "Jews should destroy books (of Christians)" (Shabbat 116a).

As David Novak, a teacher of modern Judaism from the University of Virginia (USA), writes, Jews and Christians cannot and dare not jointly proclaim "Thus saith the Lord." The word of God for both Judaism and Christianity is inseparable from the respective intermediary community that proclaims this word.

In turn, Muslims do not want to recognize Christ as the only God. According to their doctrine, Christ is not a god at all, but only a prophet, and besides, not the main one. Calling your Allah by the names of other gods (for example, by the name of Yahweh, aka Jehovah) would never occur to any Muslim. A true believer cannot act like this, for it will be a direct insult to Allah. His punishment is death. The statement of the shahada that Allah is the only God should serve as a formidable warning to those who like to take the names of foreign Gods or give their God strange names.

Believers do not have unity, not only in the question of the universal one God. Even in the Christian church itself, each denomination has its own idea of ​​its God, i.e. about Christ. For example, the Orthodox have their own understanding of Christ and his teachings, which in a number of provisions is different from that of Catholics and Protestants. It is enough to remember the doctrine catholic church about the filioque (the procession of the holy spirit not only from God the Father, but also from God the Son), with which the Orthodox Church categorically disagrees. And members of the Protestant church "Jehovah's Witnesses" declare that Jehovah is not a Trinity, and the Holy Spirit is not a person at all, but an active force of God. And they sternly add: “God does not approve of those beliefs that have come from false religion (“What does God require of us?” New York, 2005).

In fact, only the name of their God is common among Christians, and the teachings about him in each Christian denomination are different. Moreover, Christians behave in such a way that one gets the impression that each Christian denomination has not only its own understanding of Christ, but also its own Christ in general, which bears little resemblance to the Christ of other Christian churches.

To what has been said, it should be added that the origin of all the so-called "single" gods is different. All gods-creators appeared at different historical times at certain stages of the development of religion. But here's what's interesting: the adherents of each of these gods do not want to share their God with representatives of other religions; they never call their God by any other name. However, they can be understood - after all, the religious teachings and scriptures of those who believe in these gods differ, and quite significantly. In addition, each of these Gods has its own church, which also does not want to identify itself with other churches, is hostile and even at war with them. She also has her own staff of clergy and clergy who do not want to have anything to do with the clergy of other churches. And it would never occur to those who believe in one God to pray to another God, even if he is the same god, but having a different name (for example, Yahweh = Allah = God the Father).

Supporters of different "single Gods" not only do not recognize each other as equals, but often insult, persecute and kill. Thus, the orthodox followers of Yahweh, expressing their extremely negative attitude to the Christian God, declare that Christ is an impostor, a charlatan, a magician, a seducer and a deceiver. The Talmud says that the description of the crucifixion of Christ is a lie, that the Jews hated him so much that they executed him in four different ways. “Jews must destroy books (Christians),” says one of the sacred books of Judaism (Shabbat 116a). Following this call, on March 23, 1980, Jews in Jerusalem publicly burned hundreds of volumes of the New Testament. The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia says that it has become customary to spit (usually three times) at the sight of a church or a crucifix.

In turn, the worshipers of Christ throughout their history fought with the supporters of the one God Yahweh. The following words of the Apostle Paul speak of the attitude of Christians towards those who do not recognize their God as the only (one) one: “He who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ is anathema; maranatha” (1 Cor. 16:22). And in another place of the New Testament, it is directly said that he who does not consider Christ to be a god is a criminal: “... he who does not believe is already condemned, because he did not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). One of the founders of Protestantism, Martin Luther, expressed a very harsh attitude of Christians towards the Jews, saying before his death: “... if they (the Jews - M.B.) renounce their blasphemy, then we should gladly forgive them; if not, then we must not let them live.” Hitler, referring to his words, justified the genocide of European Jewry.

Christians oppose the strengthening of the position of the followers of another "single" God - Krishna. So, in Moscow, the leaders Orthodox Church are protesting against the construction in this city of the largest center of the Hare Krishna Vaishnavism church in Europe.

Defending the notion of Allah as the only true God, his followers throughout their history persecuted worshipers of other "true" and unified gods - Yahweh and Christ. The Quran says: “Fight those who do not believe in Allah and on the last day do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger forbade, and do not obey the religion of truth - from those to whom the scripture was sent down, until they ransom with their own hand, being humiliated” (Sura 9:29).

The latest Islamic biography of Muhammad shows the intolerance and readiness for violence of early Islam. As soon as Islam came to power, it ceased to have polite discussions with non-Christians. The language of negotiations became the language of the sword. In 625, the Jewish tribe of Kainoka was expelled. In 625, the An-Nadir clan was expelled. In 627, Muhammad ordered the killing of all the men of the Jewish tribe Koraitsa, and their women and children were sold into slavery. As soon as Muhammad consolidated his position in Medina, he began to fight with the Jews who lived in neighboring territories.

The intolerant attitude towards the followers of other "unified Gods" continued throughout the history of Islam. For example, throughout the 20th century, Christians were severely persecuted in Turkey. If in 1900 20% of the country's population were Christians, today this number is only 0.3% and continues to decrease. Before today an official taboo was imposed on the mention of the extermination of 1.5 million Armenian Christians (1915-1916). Massacres also took place in 1926 and 1928. in the Tur Abdin region. Since 1945, numerous pogroms of Christians have been carried out in Turkey. The graves of the patriarchs were dug up, and the dug out bodies were thrown out of them. In the 1960s, tens of thousands of Assyrian Christians were expelled and exterminated by the Islamists. Turkish Hezbollah has been fighting for many years by violent means for the "liberation of Turkey from Christians." AT Saudi Arabia Christian leaders of so-called home groups are being persecuted. They are imprisoned and tortured. And in Afghanistan, the adherents of the one God of Allah, the Taliban, are striving to prevent the spread of faith in Christ. The propaganda of Christianity is followed by a cruel punishment - the public death penalty by hanging.

The idea of ​​“one God” has another “weak link”: it applies only to monotheistic religions, “forgetting” that there are still folk religions, whose believers - the so-called pagans - revere the gods of their people. Paganism not only preceded the emergence of monotheism, but continues to exist on all continents today. Fans of single-ruling gods prefer to simply ignore them. For example, the mouthpiece of the Christian church of Jehovah's Witnesses, the magazine Awake! writes about the religion of the Vikings: "The Vikings worshiped many fictional gods ..." (Dec. 8, 2000). It turns out that the God of the Jehovists is true, while the gods of the Vikings, and at the same time all the other gods of the peoples of the world, are fictitious, false.

But that's not all. There is also a complex of primitive beliefs, which includes animism, totemism, shamanism, magic, mantika, fetishism and an agricultural cult, in which there is still no place for the gods. If the supporters of the "one God" insult the gods of the peoples of the world, give them derogatory epithets - they call them false, false, then in relation to these primitive (original) beliefs they act easier - they pretend that they do not exist, they do not exist. And in vain, because there are their living carriers, and these religious ideas were included in their time in all later religious beliefs, being today the components of developed monotheistic religions.

And, of course, the representatives of pagan religions themselves do not share the idea of ​​​​the existence of a single god for all peoples, worshiping many gods - large and small, simple and supreme. Throughout the history of the peoples of the world, they, as a rule, tolerated the gods of other peoples, cities and countries, including them in their pantheon or giving foreign gods the names of their gods. For example, when Babylon became the main city of Mesopotamia, its god Marduk was identified with the ancient Sumerian supreme god Enlil. In this regard, he received the name Bel-Marduk ("Lord Marduk"). The ancient Romans had many ancient Greek gods: Jupiter was the counterpart of Zeus, Neptune - Poseidon, Juno - Hera, Venus - Aphrodite, etc. And the Romans placed Apollo and Dionysus in their pantheon with the same names and with the same functions that they had with the Greeks.

Thus, it is not necessary to say that God is one, that among all peoples he is the same, but has only different names. This is just a clumsy preaching, propaganda technique that monotheistic believers are trying to use to rally their ranks, to protect them from heretics (i.e. dissidents), unbelievers and atheists.

If there really was only one God, then representatives of different religions would not try to convert believers of other faiths and force them to worship their “single” god. But they do it with relentless persistence. Even today, they are sometimes even ready to kill adherents of other religions who worship another "single" God. The whole history of the monotheistic religions is full of wars between them, as well as between them and the polytheistic religions. One of the latest manifestations of non-recognition of other gods and religions on the part of Christians in our country is the protest of Orthodox believers in Christ against the construction of a temple of the god Krishna in Moscow, whose adherents are demanding to recognize him as the one God.

But even when the God of believers of different religions is really one, as, for example, in the three Semitic (Abrahamic) religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Yahweh, God the Father, Allah), adherents of these religions do not want to hear that they God, for example, Allah was called Yahweh. And vice versa - the Jews, who essentially believe in the same God as Muslims, but call him by a different name - Yahweh or Sabaoth, will never call their God Allah. And Christians who, in addition to Christ, also worship God the Father, who is the same Yahweh-Sabaoth, not only do not want to hear about Allah, but try to dissociate themselves from the Jewish Yahweh, stubbornly calling him the neutral name God the Father.

As for the Indian Krishna, whom his followers would like to see as their one God, then he has no chance of becoming some kind of one God, because. the desire of his followers does not coincide with the views of representatives of the Semitic religions mentioned above. None of this trinity will want to not only call their god Krishna, but even equate him with their God.

The analysis carried out quite clearly shows that there is no “single God” of all peoples, which could be called the names of different Gods. Sober-minded people understood this long ago and reflected the absurdity of this idea in a well-known joke: Buddha walks on Golgotha ​​and shouts “Allah Akbar!”. And persistent attempts to declare their God the only one in the status of one for all believers can only lead to inciting inter-religious strife. But we do not need this at all ... Let everyone believe in their own God, without looking back at others. So there are more chances to save both civil and international world and cooperation between people.

And sober-minded people can once again be convinced that all these gods exist only in the religious consciousness of believers, who are so talented at inventing and protecting their gods.

Bogoslovsky Mikhail Mikhailovich.
Professor of the Department of Philosophy and Sociology of the University. P.F. Lesgaft.

Inhabitants different countries and continents are different from each other. Although they are all united by the main feature, namely belonging to human race, there are many minor differences between them. It is impossible to find two absolutely identical people. Even twins differ from each other in appearance and character, so it is not surprising that natives of different countries cannot be similar in everything. Because each country has unique climatic conditions and landscape, vegetation and food, the natives of these countries have different body types, different skin colors and different customs, wear different clothes and eat different foods. The same applies to their way of thinking, and therefore to their ideas about God, which, although similar in essence, differ in details. Bypassing the primitive level and becoming familiar with civilization, scientific knowledge, moral principles and, finally, devotional service, different nations naturally acquire differences in language, dress, food and mentality. And they, in turn, give rise to different forms worship of God. From an objective point of view, there is nothing reprehensible in such insignificant differences. If these peoples hold to the right understanding of God and worship Him, then they will all achieve the same goal without a doubt. Therefore, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu encouraged preaching the service of the Lord in His supreme form, but at the same time he said that one should avoid criticizing those who worship God in a different way.

For these reasons, the religions of the world have five major differences. The first concerns teachers or prophets. The second - the way of thinking of believers, and therefore, the mood in which they honor God. Third - religious rituals. The fourth - ideas about God, and the fifth - names and titles, depending on the characteristics of a particular language.

Rishis are considered spiritual mentors in India, and Mohammed and other prophets, Jesus Christ and various saints are considered in other countries. Honoring the saints of your people is the duty of every person. But no one should go to foreign countries and preach there the superiority of his teaching over all the others (although the believer can and should think that his teaching is the best, for this strengthens his faith). Ultimately, proselytism does no good to anyone.

As for the mood of the believers and the ways of showing respect, in India, God is worshiped while sitting on asana and performing nyasa and pranayama before worship. Muslims bow to the Lord five times a day, turning their faces towards Mecca. Christians humbly give praise to God, kneeling with folded hands. At the same time, each country has its own ritual clothing and food, as well as its own concepts of cleanliness and uncleanliness.

Similarly, there are differences in the beliefs of believers about the object of worship and the rituals associated with it. Some, filled with devotion to God, create His image first in their hearts, then in their minds, and finally in the world around them, and then worship this image, realizing with an inner feeling its identity with the Lord Himself. Followers of other religions, emphasizing the need for a philosophical search for truth, consider God to be formless and worship Him mentally. But, in fact, all these are just different hypostases of the Lord.

Depending on the language, people call God and their religion differently and read different prayers. Because of the differences mentioned, the religions of the world naturally differ from one another, but these differences should by no means become a subject of dispute. If we happen to observe how God is worshiped by adherents of another religion, we should think like this: “Here they are worshiping my Lord, but not the way I do it, but differently. Since I was brought up in a different environment, this method of worship is not entirely clear to me. However, with its help, I can better understand and appreciate my religious tradition. God is one for all. I bow reverently to the symbolic image of the Lord presented here. May He strengthen my love for that image of His that is closer and more familiar to me. worthy people. To what extent they kindle senseless enmity, sow discord, to what extent they lose interest in God.

Let me stipulate that while one should not blindly condemn other methods of worship, at the same time one should not turn a blind eye to obvious errors. For the greater good, they need to be corrected...

From the book "Sri Chaitanya Shikshamrita".