That is completely wrong. As I have taken four theology courses at Marquette University Jesuit sector of Catholicism. I am CM&A by the way. Buddhist do believe in spirit and do worship spirit you do know that right. I see plenty of it in Thai and Lao. The King of Thailand has a spirit shrines and there are spirit houses at every corners too. To be mono, you have to serve one GOD. Not the same higher power because you are not teaching the same thing. If there are fundamentally different than it cannot come from the same thing. If one teacher teaches you something is blue and one teaches you something is red then we cannot say they are from the same power. Christianity started after the dead of Christ true because he stated he is the only way to his
believers How can you be from the same GOD if one of your followers teaches about killing and while the other one teaches about love? Taking someone's life and forgiving someone is totally different. If you read the Koran, they have passages that say to despise and kill Christian and Jews? Look at the Surah too if yo have a chance. How can they be from the same GOD if they want to kill Christian and Jews? Obiviously, when yo u have a Muslim country like Iran trying to alienate Israel then there is no brotherly love there. What you are trying to do is lump everything into one.
Judiasm ---- Christ is not messiah --- Still waiting for messiah, one GOD, You have to be a Jew -- Jewish Bible.
Christianity --- Christ is messiah--- Son of GOD ---- Christ will return one day, Everyone is welcome to join, his message was more toward gentile, love and peace --- Bible.
Islam --- Muhammad is prophet --- Christ is a prophet not son of GOD --- Prophet took lives instead of giving life --- Koran and Surah as main books.
I'm glad you are gnostic and respect that. I don't think you can force your will upon people. There has to be a reason why someone would convert. You just can't force someone to convert, they have to accept it on t
heir own terms. People convert because they have their encounter something special or unique in their lives. That was the reason why I converted and probably your grandpa. I don't think out of the blues you just convert. God cannot force people to accept him only by their won choice.
Actually, you are wrong. My style is a mixture of Catholic tradition and protestant. Interpreting the Bible is not the problem here. Protestant is scripture only while Catholic (which means universal) is based on tradition and Bible. They place more emphasis on tradition more. For a sect to be consider Chrisitianity it must follow a certain guidelines established in 381 A.D, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. If this creed is not followed then that sect is not considered Christian. I.E -- Mormon,etc... The Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox schism was in 1054 AD. All of the Christian sects made have different ways of worshipping but they all hold true to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed that is the foundation for our beliefs. Oh by the way, wikipedia is not the best place to get info because anyone can edit it. To get real info, you have to read books like these: Introduction to Theology, a history of the christian tradition, why the church?, at the origin of the Christian claim, GOD and the ways of knowing, the spiritual exercise of St. Ignatius, the Relgious Sense, a history of Christian tradition, etc. These are just a small sample of my entire collection.
Monotheistic religions aren't any different than Polytheistic religions; it's just a different way of believing things and worshipping. God didn't write the Bible or the Quran, man did, religious leaders and these men used religion to manipulate people to do what they want, to believe what they want. That's how it's been for centuries, even in Pagan times (way before Christianity even came into existence). To really understand it you have to go far back and understand the root of religion and the political aspect of it. Religion wasn't just a way for people to worship, to give people something to believe in, it was a way for rulers and religious leaders to control people.
Mono is different from Poly because mono is one while Polytheistic is many. It is like saying apples and oranges are the same thing. In Monotheistic, you worship ONE GOD and in Polytheistic you worship MANY GODS. One GOD and many GODS is not the same thing. So if I bow down to one GOD and someone next to me bow down to many Gods, is that considered the same thing? It is like saying 1+1 =2 and then saying 1+2=2. No way, they are not the same thing. You are trying to sandwich everything in together. There are plethoras of differences between the two. The important word here is “belief.� One or many. Unlike Christian, Jewish and Islamic doctrine, there is rarely an absolute truth associated with polytheistic thinking. God spokes to these prophets and apostles. These teachings have truth in them. If you are looking at it that way yes but you have to look at the deeper meaning. The real followers of Christ will know his teaching and that he has given authorities to his apostles to continue his teaching. Christ gave authority to his 12 apostles (Judas was replaced) to spread his message and teach people the right ways. Have the Catholic Church abused that power? Yes, they have in a big way. That was one of the reasons why Luther broke off. Is the teaching of Christ false because of that? No. Christ teaching is universal and can be apply to everyone.
A small sample of my book collection:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TXAR1SVT
Differences in Christianity and Islam:
http://faithfacts.gospelcom.net/islam.html#tone
Monotheism at Stanford University:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/monotheism/
Polytheism:
http://www.polytheism.net/
Yes, all Christian sects worship differently but they all hold the Nicene Creed. This truth is the foundation that binds all Christians together. God the father, God the son, the Holy Spirit― that they are one.
So how can this be the same as the other religion? For Christianity to be like other religion, we would have to denounce that foundation of a Christian’s faith. Same thing apply with Islam. They will never denounce Mohammed as their prophet as well.
Mono ― One GOD ― Christianity, Judaism, Islam
Poly ― Many Gods
Teacher ― Buddhism, Taoism, Confucius, etc.
Gnosticism/Mysticism ― based on Gnosis, the knowledge of transcendence arrived at by way of interior, intuitive means. The Gnostic God concept is more subtle than that of most religions. In its way, it unites and reconciles the recognitions of Monotheism and Polytheism, as well as of Theism, Deism and Pantheism.
This is strongly rejected by monotheism. They cannot come from the same foundation because of their beliefs not style of worship. Different style of worship in Christianity can co-exist due to same founding principles thus forming the one body of Christ― the Christian church. You can ask any Christian, Jew, Muslim and they will say the same thing. Thus, poly, mono, and gnostic cannot be lump into one.
Monotheism:
Christianity: 3 in 1, messiah is Christ, Bible consists of Old and New Testament
Judaism: Waiting for messiah, Christ is not messiah; book is the Jewish Bible which consists of the Torah.
Islam: Main prophet is Mohammad, Christ is a prophet, Main book consist of Koran and Surah. Two main sects are Shiite and Sunni.
Oh, one more thing, Baptist, Luthern, Catholic, Protestant are all Christian.