Monotheism
There is only one God, the God of the Bible, the Creator of all that exists, that stands outside the universe and is not a part of it.
Only three modern religions share this viewpoint, and all of them are based on the revealed religion of ancient Israel.
- Judaism
- Christianity
- Islam
The book of Genesis begins by assuming that there is only one true
God, and that assumption is maintained throughout the OT. Both the OT and NT
begin with or assume the reality of God, not as some speculative premise, but
as universallly manifest in nature, man's reason and conscience, and divine
revelation. (see Deut. 4:35, 39; 5:7; 32:39; Exod. 20:3; Josh
24:15; 1 Kgs. 18:21; Hos. 4:12; Isa. 2:8, 20; 17:8; 31:7; 45:21; Jer. 10:5, 10;
Acts 17:22-31; 1 Cor. 8:4).
The central core of the Christian
faith is either absolute truth or it is nonsense. Being absolute, the truths
which it proclaims also claim to be eternal. If they were not absolute, if they
were not eternal, they would not be worth believing. Scientific knowledge, on
the other hand, is relative, relative to what at any given moment happens to
have been found out about the natural world. A religion which is in constant
process of revision to square with science's ever-changing picture of the world
might well be easier to believe, but it is hard to believe it would be worth
believing.Philosopher [C.E.M. Joad, The Recovery of Belief,
1955]
The Major World Views
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. - Acts 17:22-23
- Agnosticism
Holds that truth is "unknowable."
- Rationalism
Sees all of nature as rational and the making of proper deductions is essential to achieving knowledge.
- Pragmatism
Is more concerned with what 'works' than with what's true.
- Monism
Everything is an undifferentiated oneness or unity.
- Henotheism
One supreme god, not necessarily to the exclusion of other lesser gods.
- Liberalism/Modernism
We must rethink and adapt our concept of God and truth to fit with modern culture and modes of thinking.
- Pantheism/Naturalism
Everything is god.
- Polytheism
There are many gods.
- Atheism
There is no God.
- Monotheism
There is only one God.
