Michael Rea - Do Major Religions Worship the Same God?

The many different religions of the world proclaim radically different, often opposing and contradictory doctrines about God. How then can their believers be worshiping the same God? Can the very general, soft areas of agreement compensate for the very specific, hard tenets of disagreement?

[brentonbrenton]

I think you need to separate the mystical roots of all the major religions from their orthodox fronts. Mystics from all faiths will generally agree that we are all worshiping the same God. The orthodox teachings for the masses takes the mystical teachings and codify them into a list of propositions to be believed... which is not the mystical way. The mystics are generally concerned with experiential knowledge gained through direct contact with the divine. Usually this is done through meditation, prayer / fasting, or even something like psychedelic use. The connection is via our consciousness as that is how we get to the ground of being or 'consciousness without content'.

[johnsmith]

Each religion believes the others to be false, and all are correct. - Nicolas Chamfort 1770

[irfanmehmud]

Just for info... 99 names of God in Islam mean 99 attributes of one and same divine personality.

[RedMexGolfer]

How could anyone accurately describe what a 'god' is like?

[xxxs]

Early Christians were all Jews so it is the same God for those two religions

[terryallen]

Come on, not even the person sitting next to me and both of us members of the same denomination WORSHIPS the "same god". We all have out own ideas and mental images. Not one of us worships the "same" god.

[xspotbox]

I would definitely follow God who forgive most sins and offer best afterlife arrangement.

[johnsmith]

From "The Future of an Illusion, by Sigmund Freud: "Freud defines religion as an illusion, consisting of "certain dogmas, assertions about facts and conditions of external and internal reality which tells one something that one has not oneself discovered, and which claim that one should give them credence." Religious concepts are transmitted in three ways and thereby claim our belief. "Firstly because our primal ancestors already believed them; secondly, because we possess "proofs" which have been handed down to us from antiquity, and thirdly because it is forbidden to raise the question of their authenticity at all." Psychologically speaking, these beliefs present the phenomena of wish fulfillment, "fulfillments of the oldest, strongest, and most urgent wishes of mankind." (Ch. 6 pg.38).
Among these are the necessity to cling to the existence of the father, the prolongation of earthly existence by a future life, and the immortality of the human soul. To differentiate between an illusion and an error, Freud lists scientific beliefs such as "Aristotle's belief that vermin are developed out of dung" (pg.39) as errors, but "the assertion made by certain nationalists that the Indo-Germanic race is the only one capable of civilization" is an illusion, simply because of the wishing involved. Put forth more explicitly, "what is characteristic of illusions is that they are derived from human wishes." (pg. 39)
Freud adds, however, that, "Illusions need not necessarily be false." (pg.39) He gives the example of a middle-class girl having the illusion that a prince will marry her. While this is unlikely, it is not impossible. The fact that it is grounded in her wishes is what makes it an illusion.

[livswells]

I would like to hear more religions debate each other.

[nevnad]

during the middle ages they thought they were worshiping the same god? During the crusades?

[uremove]

I think there’s a difference between ‘God’ and ‘beliefs about God’. When people pray, or meditate, or listen to the ‘still voice within’, they are directing their attention into the unknown and ultimately unknowable depths within themselves. Whatever doctrines they believe about God are relatively superficial and more likely to come from their religious tradition, or from holy texts, or from a parent of teacher. Its no coincidence that apophatic mystics such as the anonymous author of “The Cloud of Unknowing” urged the reader to put all such conceptual thoughts behind them. In the apophatic tradition, knowing God is through ‘unknowing’ ie. letting go to venture beyond the conceptual epistemic cage we all construct and inhabit. That’s strangely convergent with the concept of non-attachment to Maya (illusion) to achieve enlightenment in Buddhism too. Does that make them “in the same neighbourhood”? 🤔

[johnsmith]

At what point outside your belief neighborhood are you allowed to kill that believer?

[annapaulal.h.]

The FATHER 🙏💜💜🙏 יהוה 🙏💜💜🙏 and only !!!

(Genesis 17:1)
Isaiah 40 : 26
John 4 : 23 ❣️
John 18 : 26
Isaiah 45:5-7
Revelation 4 : 11
Isaiah 42 : 8
Jeremiah 23:27
Ezekiel 39:7
PSALMS 83 : 18
1 John 4 : 8 💜🙏(Romans 11:33) (Deuteronomy 10:17 ... ...

[jonmeador]

It really is a great question. How can we have 3 monotheistic religions? You can’t - but we do. Plus there are others. All of them claim to be true to the same degree of certainty. Impossible again. You’re guess is as good as any other.

[internetpeople]

All religion believes in their own God. Spiritualists believe in all God.

[billnorris]

Excellent questions that seemed to initiate confusion and uncertainty from the guest.. it's hard to see how the Muslim description of Allah, STILL qualifies them to be worshipping the god of Christians and Jews..

[schuey]

The host is a total fool. He bates the Hebrew God, which is a really really really bad idea. He should wise up.

[fiberbuild]

Interviewee wants to make this about adherents interpretation while neatly sidestepping the fact that all of hese religious texts claim to be dictated by the word of "god" and are completely incompatible with each other.

[AhlusSunnahwalJamah]

I would say the creed of Nicene Trinitarianism is inherently  
a mathematical contradiction. The idea of God being one in three or three on one cannot be substantiated logically.
If an all-powerful creative force does exist, it cannot logically be more than one. 

How trinitarianism got attributed to the pure teachings of Jesus (peace be upon him) is a whole another issue.  

For me, when I am looking to arrive at truth, I would look at who actually makes an absolutist claim about reality. So, using the Bayesian probability, I would reduce the 3000 or alleged claims of god(s) or God down to two world views - Christianity and Islam. But when I inquire further, my understanding of God that I arrived at using logic and mathematics, even before considering scriptural evidence is that God HAS to be one in an absolutist sense. Here’s how God is defined in Islam:

The One and Only
The Eternally Existing  
Independent
All-Powerful
Conscious 
Other than whatever is in creation including time and space

The 112th chapter of Quran, which we accept as the last revelation to mankind, has the same attributes for God:
God is one and only, the eternal refuge, he does not beget nor is he begotten, there is nothing in creation like Him.
So, right off the bat, I can tell this is more logically appealing. Also, many Bible verse speak of God being one, which adds to the problem of consistency in the Bible about the claim of who God really is.

[Mastermindyoung]

They worship the same imaginary friend. In all honesty, there's definitely something interesting to that, regardless.