Understanding Henotheism and the Nature of God in Hinduism
Henotheism in Hinduism
Hinduism refers to a large number of beliefs and practices, sometimes very different from each other. There are thousands of deities, which we often categorize as an example of polytheism. However, it would be more accurately described as an example of henotheism because although Hindus worship many gods individually, each is considered a window to the One or the Whole. The ultimate reality for Hindus is Brahman, the vital principle of the cosmos whose attributes are the infinity of being, consciousness, and happiness.
Eternal God
God must have existed before Creation. There must be a creator before there can be a creation. Even if we were successful in destroying ourselves or our planet, God would presumably continue to exist. Nietzsche meant the idea of God or concept was no longer useful or had no explanatory power, unlike the way most people lived their lives. According to Nietzsche, not only is God dead, but we killed him with our science and our supposed progress.
God Almighty and Omniscient
Omnipotent means “all-powerful,” and omniscient means “who knows everything.” If we consider God as being necessary, that will always be defined, then God must exist; otherwise, this would be contradictory. Regarding the all-powerful, Thomas Aquinas’s response to the riddle of omnipotence was that if things that lead to a contradiction cannot be done, that is a limitation of logic and not a limitation of the power of God. In other words, God is capable of all reasonably possible actions. Things that are essentially contradictory are not real; therefore, they cannot exist. Then, God can do all that is possible, all that assumes no contradiction. Regarding omniscience, theology says that God gives people freedom to choose between good and evil. For our love to be given freely to God, we have the option of not loving. If one is obliged to love, it is not love, only when one has freely chosen to love. Even so, God knows what our decision will be because he knows everything.
Loving God
If God is good, why is the world full of evil and suffering? There are two explanations: God is responsible for evil and suffering (and therefore God is not good), or evil and suffering exist in spite of God, who cannot (and therefore is not omnipotent) or will not remove it (then he is not good). If God is God, God is good. If God is good, God is not God.
God as the Source of Truth and Moral Law
We see God as a referee who makes the decisions in all matters of the world, including the way we behave. For those who accept the Bible as the Word of God, there is only one small step to believe that this divine law should govern society. When a civil society is ruled based on divine law, it is called a theocracy. Anthropomorphism is thinking of God as the ruler of a state.
The god that exists in our minds is a white male, old and bearded, as depicted by William Blake. God cannot be compared to a human person, as God is infinite.
Theism is the belief that God exists. Atheism is the belief that there is no God. Agnosticism holds the position that we do not know, nor can we know, the answer to the question of God’s existence. The decision to believe is alive because there are real options, is bound by affecting the way we live, and is transcendental because the risks are high. Pascal’s Wager recommends risking living life as if God existed. If God exists and you believe, the rewards can be eternal life. If you do not believe, you risk consequences. If you think God exists, you miss out on pleasures. If you do not think God exists, you will have the satisfaction of having done the right thing. Deism is the belief in an impersonal and mechanical genius who created the world and then abandoned it. Pantheism is the belief that God is expressed by nature or the natural world. Transcendence is that which exists above the spatiotemporal world. Immanence is the inherent process in a god. Panentheism is the belief that God is expressed in the world, and everything is God. Theology is the rational organization of religious beliefs into a logical system. The Trinity is the doctrine that God is three persons in one nature. Natural Theology is the search for knowledge of God through natural intelligence. The Ontological Argument is a logical argument for the existence of God based on the nature of thought. The Cosmological Argument is an argument for the existence of God based on the contingent nature of the physical world. The Teleological Argument is an argument for the existence of God based on the design, order, and apparent purpose of the universe. A Mystical Experience is intuitive knowledge of a greater reality, based on personal experience. Numinous experiences have these features: 1) The feeling of dependence, recognition of the insignificance of all the ordinary. 2) The mystery and terror in the whole world has gone, and what had previously helped to explain reality, then comes the awe. 3) Rapture: a kind of ecstasy that we see when romance is perfect. A Protean being is one that is always changing, a chameleon that adapts to different environments, someone living in a fast, spontaneous way. Everything that surrounds it happens in seconds. The speed, the different environments, and constantly volatile situations identify them. Currency is the quest for certainty and truth, the only unifying explanation. Existentialism is a current movement or series of philosophical doctrines and cultural aims and discipline, the analysis and description of the individual sense of human life as “being there.” It argues that the existing human thinks, acts, concerns, and relates to himself, with his own importance, with his contradictions and anxieties. For existentialist thought, the individual is not a mechanical portion or “part” of a whole, but man is in himself an “integrity,” free in itself. Monasteries and Safeguards: The monks had lost contact with Egypt so that they could not achieve the production of papyrus, and parchment was very expensive. Thus, they rescued late Greek culture books and kept them. They took the books, scraped the ink, and wrote prayers and lives of the saints. As the account collected overran them, and when a love of knowledge awakened, these books were there.