Will the Real God Please Stand Up? Part I

Have you noticed how loosely the word “god” is used lately? While it may not be a new thing, it certainly is more prevalent now. I decided to embark on a journey through different religions to find out just who God is to other people. I know who God is to me, He’s my living Lord and King, my Savior, Husband and Friend, He is God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. He is the only true God who created the heavens, earth, and man. He is the only path for salvation.

As I did my research a pattern began to appear. I was able to loosely categorize each belief into groups with Arianism, Pantheism, a mixture of both or the occult. For my purposes, the occult is a blatant worship of Satan.

This study is comprised of direct quotes from many sources, therefore be aware that “God” is capitalized due to the quoted text.

This first group I’m lumping in with Arianism. Religions in this group either don’t believe Jesus is God or believe in Jesus but not God. Included here are Islam, Hare Krishna, Judaism, Jehovah Witness, and the Unification Church.

Arianism

A Christian heresy first proposed early in the 4th century by the Alexandrian presbyter Arius. It affirmed that Christ is not truly divine but a created being. Arius’ basic premise was the uniqueness of God, who is alone self-existent and immutable; the Son, who is not self-existent, cannot be God. Because the Godhead is unique, it cannot be shared or communicated, so the Son cannot be God. Because the Godhead is immutable, the Son, who is mutable, being represented in the Gospels as subject to growth and change, cannot be God. The Son must, therefore, be deemed a creature. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/34124/Arianism

The denial of Jesus Christ is nothing new in the history of the Church. It is a revival of the ancient heresy known as Arianism. (pg46 Handbook of Today’s Religions)

The Arian concept of Christ is that the Son of God did not always exist, but was created by—and is therefore distinct from and inferior to—God the Father. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism)

Islam

Jesus is one of the major prophets. To associate Jesus with God (for instance, to call Him the Son of God) is blasphemy. (pg108 World Religions)

The God of the Qur’ran is a singular unity, he is not a father and has begotten no sons (pg 110 World Religions)

The Quran denies that Jesus is the son of God (Surah 3:45-47) (pg 82 So What’s the Difference?)
Allah requires total obedience to Islam and weighs the works of people. Allah and the Koran relegate Jesus to just the last prophet before Muhammad, below his authority. Jesus was not the Way, and could only point the way to Muhammad. (pg 114 Fast Facts on False Teachings)

Hare Krishna

Claim to revere Jesus Christ, but Jesus is considered to be the son of Krishna and inferior to Krishna. (pg 182 So What’s the Difference?)

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu developed The Doctrines of Krishnaism from the Hindu sect of Vishnuism. Vishnuism believed Vishnu, the Supreme God, manifested himself at one time as Krishna. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught the reverse: Krishna was the chief God who had revealed himself at one time as Vishnu. “In the beginning of the creation, there was only the Supreme Personality Narayana. Lord Sri Krishna is the original personality of Godhead Himself” (pg41-42 Handbook of Today’s Religions)

Judaism

Reform Judaism allows a varied interpretation of the “God concept” with wide latitude for naturalists, mystics, supernaturalists or religious humanists. (pg125 World Religions)

In Conservative Judaism, the concept of God is nondogmatic and flexible. God is considered impersonal and ineffable. (pg 125 World Religions)

Instead of belief in Messiah as a person or divine being, Reform Jews favor the concept of a Utopian age toward which humankind is progressing, sometimes called the “Messianic age”. (pg 126 World Religions)
The belief that Jesus (or any other human) is God, any deity, the son of God, or a person of the Trinity, is completely incompatible with traditional Jewish philosophical tenets. The same applies to belief in Jesus as the Messiah or a prophet of God. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism%27s_view_of_Jesus

Jehovah Witness

Jesus Christ – He is the Savior, “the Son of God,” and “the firstborn of all creation.” As a created being, he is not part of a Trinity.“ (http://www.watchtower.org/e/201008/article_04.htm)

They call Jesus a “mighty god” but not the Almighty God – Jehovah; they say Jesus was raised from the grave, “not a human creature but a spirit”. (pg128 So What’s the Difference?)

It was under Rutherford’s leadership (2nd leader of JW), that the name “Jehovah’s Witnesses” began to be used. He said they would do this to vindicate the true name of Jehovah, since he claimed that Jesus Christ is not God and the Holy Spirit is not God, but Jehovah alone is God. (pg 119 Fast Facts on False Teachings)
In Watchtower theology neither Jesus Christ nor the Holy Spirit is God. Jesus, the Christ, a created individual, is the second greatest personage of the Universe. Jesus was Michael the Archangel in his preexistent state, having a brother name Lucifer who rebelled against God. (pg46 Handbook of Today’s Religions)

Unification Church (Moonies)

They believe that Jesus’ real purpose was to save humanity by getting married and having sinless children; that the crucifixion was an unplanned mistake; that salvation through the blood of Christ is ridiculous. (pg 263 So What’s the Difference?)

Sun Myung Moon said, “I am the incarnation of God, the whole world is in my hands, and I will conquer and subjugate the world. God is now throwing Christianity away and is now establishing a new religion, and this new religion is the Unification Church. (pg 149 Fast Facts on False Teachings)

Basic to Moon’s world view is the concept of dualism. All of existence is dual: Father God and Mother God; Male and Female; Light and Dark; Yin and Yang; Sprit and Flesh. When Jesus Christ came to earth … He failed his mission… it was not a total failure for He did accomplish a “spiritual salvation at the cross of Calvary, but He failed in achieving a “physical salvation” for mankind … Moon is supposedly the “third Adam”, the one who is called to redeem mankind physically.(pg101 Handbook of Today’s Religions)