Theology and the Many Worlds theory...

[whteley]

I'm a Buddhist. Depending on who you ask among us there is a multitude of different Buddha's who watch over their own universe (Buddha-fields) and a singular Cosmic Buddha (Mahavairocana or Dainichi Nyorai) that encompasses them all as the fabric of the cosmos. The sect of Buddhism I belong to believes that Amida Buddha vowed to establish a universe for those seeking enlightenment after death and we can enter it so long as we take refuge in him. This doesn't negate the existence of the other Buddhas and their universes, though. They coexist. The historical Buddha - Siddhartha Gautama - is said to dwell in the Buddha-field called The Court of Tushita where he is teaching the final Buddha of this kalpa, Maitreya.

[concibar]

Maybe this comes from the "but there can be only MY true belief and all else just be false"?

[nicklasdantes]

Personally, I am an atheist (I say that I'm not a believer, it's just an fact that I do not believe in any divine beings), but gods have always been fascinating for me and if I'd believe in something divine I would prefer Something like sinto, with many gods for almost everything, that would be cool

[jumbledump]

This is an exercise in the theory, not an attack on beliefs. Imagine if the theory & the bible are true, then what are the implications? It's just a fun thing to think about.

[AmaranthOriginal]

The God of the Old Testament was a God of a specific tribe and had a specific covenant with them personally. In fact, it's possible to interpret the New Testament God as establishing a new covenant with different people (or a subset of the same people, as Jesus was a Jew who preached specifically to Jews). However, the modern version of the Christian God is that there is only one God, and that all other gods are false. God Almighty created man his His own image, and that view does meet with some issues if the many worlds hypothesis is correct and what we see in other universes is something different.

However, if we were to go all _Sliders_ and actually travel to another world where the Bible didn't exist or humans were blobs who preached the slimey word of the Lord, I'm going to bet that Christianity would adapt to that. Or, most of Christianity. Just as Christianity has adapted to other heretical ideas. I think they'd use this as proof that our universe was special, that God so loved us He came to reveal his truth to only us. Hell, there are already people who have argued aliens cannot be saved (if they exist).

I think there are some interesting ideas here, though. In an infinite number of realities, surely there must be some non-zero number of them where Adam and Eve do not fall, right? Is Jesus necessary, then? Some people say his death only washed away the sacrificial laws, but if we're going back to a world where Adam and Eve live in paradise, do they need those laws?

Is there a universe where God doesn't curse people for eternity and then change his mind, mandating a new covenant and a loophole?

Is Jesus always Jesus? The Old Testament says the Messiah will be Emanuel. Suppose there are any realities with Emanuel Christ? Does it matter if it's the same person if he's part of the divine anyway? Can the messiah be a woman? If Jesus was killed by being flung from a catapult, would Christians be called Catians? Would they wear little catpults around their necks and develop spontaneous skull fractures?