One God...

When I was a kid growing up in church, I was taught that there is one God.  My pastors and teachers helped me learn this worthy lesson.  We called God “He” because of the convenience of language rather than its accuracy.  We all knew then as we know now that God made us in His image, male and female, He made us.  That’s what it says in the opening pages of the Bible.  So, even though we knew God is both male and female, we were okay with calling God “He.”

Later, as I went through school, I learned that my belief in the one God, whom I’m comfortable in calling the “Heavenly Father,” is called monotheism.  I learned that “mono” means one and that “theos” and its derivatives mean God.  I learned that since I believed in monotheism, I was a monotheist. 

Also, I learned that believing in more than one God is called polytheism and not believing in God at all is called atheism.  I knew back then what I know now.  I’m a monotheist.  I’m not an atheist, and I’m not a polytheist. 

Being such a believer in monotheism, I really don’t understand when I hear someone say, “Well, they (referring to another faith group) worship a different God than we do.”  I get a little confused when I hear another preacher say something like,  “Other faith groups don’t believe in the same God we do.”  If other faiths worship other Gods, then does that mean there is more than one God?  No one ever taught me that way.  I just can’t be a polytheist.  There is only one God.

So, if there is only one God, I suppose that means that all peoples of all faiths believe in and worship that one God.  Obviously, all the different people of faith understand God differently, create different systems of beliefs or theologies about God, have different sacred writings about God, worship God in different buildings, and experience God in various ways.

It really gets complicated and sometimes ugly or even deadly when people of different faiths start arguing about their version of the one God.  “My God is better than your God” kind of thing.  I’ve often wondered how God feels when he hears those He created arguing about Him—even killing each other over Him.  I think God must get really, really sad.

I’ll always be a monotheist. I think what that must mean, for me anyway, is that since there is only one God who created everyone on earth, then all these people, regardless of how they understand or experience the one God, are my kinfolk. And I was always taught that it’s better to love your kinfolk than to argue with them.