What is Christianity monotheistic or polytheistic?

Answer 1

This is a contentious question and accordingly has numerous disparate answers. The answers will be organized by category:

• Answer A: Christianity is a monotheistic religion (asserted by most Christians and generally accepted)

• Answer B: Christianity is a polytheistic religion

• Answer C: Christianity is something between a monotheistic or polytheistic religion, such as bitheistic, monolatrous polytheism, henotheistic, etc.

Answer A: Christianity is MonotheisticAnswer A1

Christianity is monotheistic - The doctrine or belief that there is only one God.

Answer A2

It is monotheistic, that is it believes in one God who created the world(and universe). He then made man to live on the earth, to subdue it and prosper. Originally man was to be perfect, live in a perfect world, and have fellowship with God. But then he disobeyed God, called the fall of man, and sin entered the world. Thus bad things happen. But God is a God of love above all things. So because he wanted all people to join him in his home in heaven, he caused his only son to be born on earth as a perfect man. Eventually he was crucified, but the world did not know then that when he died, he, as a perfect man, made payment for the sins of all the people on the earth, this could only happen through a perfect sacrifice. After this, anyone who confesses their sins to God and asks him to take their sins, become their lord and master, and change their life, becomes a Christian and a child of God, destined to live in heaven with him forever. All God asks is that you accept him as lord and saviour and follow his commands for life, then you can live in heaven with him. The christian life is not easy to live, but then live never was easy any way. Christianity does answer many of life's questions however, such as the meaning of life, why and how we are hear, why people act the way the way they do, and others. It gives guidelines for life that are perfectly just and fair, and are created to benefit you, protect you, and make life simpler. True christian friends are caring and generous beyond words, and God is infinitely more so. His blessings are continually amazing and perfect. No other religion is based on a God who loves and cares for you, and does everything for your good.

Answer A3

Christians worship one God (references in Romans 3:30, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 4:6, 1 Timothy 2:5 and James 2:19, among others) in three persons; the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. More than 60 Bible passages mention the three together. One example:

Ephesians 2:18 - For through Him [Jesus] we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

This is a poor forum in which to address such a profound doctrine (and I am a poor mouthpiece), but rather than dismissing the Trinity as ridiculous or in conflict with the idea of one God, consider this: man is also triune in nature - physical, mental and spiritual - three aspects of one being. To take the analogy even further...within the mind alone there is the rational, the instinctual and the emotional. The fact that these can come into conflict with one another shows them to be separate (whose emotions haven't overruled their rational mind?), yet they are all aspects of ONE individual.

1 Corinthians 2:14 - But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

It's interesting that one would feel compelled to ridicule the founders of Christianity, and by extension all Christians, as "not the sharpest tools in the shed", such as in Answer B2, but by all means, feel free.

Luke 6:22, 23 - Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.

Answer A4

In response to Answer B2, Christians do notworship Satan. God and Jesus Christ are technically the same person. God made Jesus Christ, a man form of himself, and sent him to the earth in order to teach us the way. Christians have one God in three persons ; The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. They are monotheistic.

Answer A5

Yes of course Christianity, Catholicism is a monotheistic belief in one God religion.. Christians know this, I know this and always knew this even as a young takker, as the faith naturally enlightens one of this simple fact. One Father (Father meaning God) or one Allah (Allah meaning God) Allah is the old Islamic name which translates to God. Father and Allah are the same being, one in the same, lets get that straight. Same core beliefs and process for the same fundamental and eventual outcome, being united forever in God's kingdom, in love.

I prefer the name Father myself as Allah doesn't translate to the word Father, it only translates to the word God. Father, translates into God, which is naturally a more logical name when summing up God. God is the Father (giver of life) yet still just the same single diety, entity, creator, source, GOD, etc..

Being a Catholic, Christian, Muslim, Hindu in faith I believe in the kingdom of God, Islam, Hell. Satan is acknowledged but never was worshipped by a loving Catholic, Hindu or Muslim. It is known the satanic hate exists with the human alongside love, Just as with the Father (God) and the battle of love and hate is being forged within us all, in the mind the body and the soul. The Father is aware that non believers of Love may be forgiven, however the message is simple, if you are against love after you have been forgiven, then you don't live eternally in the fathers (God's) kingdom, and anything but that is hell. The Father knows what is in your heart, God knows your true intentions and what is true in your heart, and there is no hiding this from the father. So mind, body, soul is Father, Son, Holy Spirit, yet as God the Father told me, Father being (God) Son being (Jesus) Holy Spirit being (One) they are all one in the same, one God we follow and worship as true monotheistic believers in a true monotheistic Religion.

Answer B: Christianity is PolytheisticAnswer B1

Though Christians often refer to their religion as monotheistic, there are in fact several deities in the Christian religion. There is Yahweh ("God") and then there are several angels (including Satan)and also Demons. All of these being supernatural, spiritual entities, they could all be described as gods, and therefore Christianity is a polytheistic religion.

Answer B2

[Responses to this Answer in Answers A3 and A4]

They call themselves monotheistic but in fact they have God Satan and Jesus who is the son of god which by there own definition would make him a God as well. I guess the founders of Christianity were not the sharpest tools in the shed.

Deities don't necessarily need to be worshiped to be considered deities. The simple fact of the matter is that Christianity fits most every criterion for a polytheistic religion, except that Christians themselves don't call it such.

Not only Satan, but all of the angels (and the holy trinity) could be considered to be individual deities. When compared to other polytheistic religions, we see that angels are as any lower gods of a religion, just not viewed as such. They are spiritual entities which influence the physical world, and are therefore gods.

Most of those religions that we call monotheistic today seem to be less emphasized polytheistic religions.

Answer B3

Yes, Christianity is a polytheistic religion - a polytheistic religion very much in denial about its fundamental nature.

Christianity is what you get when you take a personality cult that sprung up around a very enlightened and charismatic Jewish teacher, and transplant his progressive version of monotheistic Judaism to the colder climes of Europe, where polytheism was the norm, and where the cycle of the seasons gave rise to a fearful need for propitiatory sacrificial festivals in the winter, along with fertility festivals in the spring.

The religion most modern Western Christians consider to be Christianity is a palimpsest of ideas, iconography and beliefs, and it is quite as polytheistic as Hinduism or the pantheons of Ancient Greece or Rome - BUT (and it's a big but) because Christ was himself a monotheist, preaching a monotheistic faith (and absolutely not, incidentally, making any claims to be a god himself), there is a fundamental contradiction between his teachings and the way that the church developed subsequent to his death. Modern Western Christians treat God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, Satan (who is, like it or lump it, part of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and not native to Europe or America [and also not a shiny fabric used for prom dresses]), Mary, and innumerable saints, like individual gods and demigods. (I know that you won't want to take on board the fact that Satanism is an offshoot of Christianity, but if you take a step back and realize that Christianity is only one of many religions, you're going to have to accept that Satanism isn't part of Hinduism or Buddhism or any other world faith - it's part of the Judeo-Christian tradition.)

Christians don't use "Polytheism" to describe their own faith, and are supremely uncomfortable with such vocabulary, because it conflicts with the core ideas that Christ was preaching about there being one God. And of course the majority of devout Christians are simply too close to the issue (and generally too ignorant about other world religions) to be able to recognise their own hypocrisy. But if it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck, flies like a duck and shags other ducks to make baby ducks - really, what's the point of insisting that it's actually an aardvark in a duck suit? It's perfectly clear to all the many many people in the world who are not drinking the kool-aid that Christianity isn't a monotheism. Judaism? There's a monotheism. Islam? Also a monotheism (although the degree of reverence accorded to its chief prophet is bordering on idolatry at times). Christianity? Nope - that ship sailed well over a thousand years ago. When Christ was alive, it was a monotheism - what it has become today is something he would certainly not recognise.

And as to the cult of Santa Claus - in any other faith, there would be no question about the fact that he is treated and worshipped as a demi-god; specifically as a facet of God The Father, rewarding and punishing humans. Even though adults know perfectly well he isn't a real flesh-and-blood figure (as they deceive their children into believing), he is, to all intents and purposes, venerated as a demigod, and as a symbol of God the Father and 'the spirit of Christmas'.

Seriously - growing up with the whole Santa schtick one takes it for granted, and doesn't register the pure WEIRDNESS of this cult festival being the central festival in the Christian calendar, with it's grab-bag of Northern European and middle eastern iconography: elves and flying reindeer and decorated fir trees and all that jazz being considered appropriate ways of celebrating the birth of a Jewish teacher in the Middle East. (And of course that's leaving aside the fact that Christ was NOT born in December, and that the whole Nativity Story, with its humble shepherds and travelling kings was invented wholesale long after Christ's death, in order to link him with ancient Jewish prophesies.)

In Hinduism (a polytheistic faith WITHOUT an identity crisis) all the countless minor gods are simply facets of the One God (referred to as Brahman). Brahman is the name given to "the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality that is the Divine Ground of all Being. This Supreme Cosmic Spirit is regarded to be eternal, genderless, omnipotent, and omniscient. It can be described as infinite Truth, infinite Consciousness and infinite Bliss."

Sound familiar? That would be the same One God that Christians refer to, when they start talking about shamrocks and eggs and water in various states. In India this is called Brahman. Same thing - and just as Christians divide this One God into facets in order to grapple with the concept of the infinite, so in Hinduism they do the same thing - there are just a heck of a lot more facets. But just like in other polytheistic faiths, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ and Mother Mary and the angels (and, for many Christians, hundreds and hundreds of saints) are simply stand-ins for the supreme Cosmic Spirit, the ultimate Being, whose face cannot be seen. They're figures that humans can conceptualise. A Holy Family who interact with one another as separate personalities, despite being facets of the One God.

Christianity: a chaotic mishmash of European paganism and middle eastern monotheism which takes on additional layers of ritual and worship in every new country it reaches. Polytheism with an identity crisis.

Answer C: Christianity is Between Monotheistic and PolytheisticAnswer C1

Christianity is bitheistic--it has two gods.

The first is the god of all that is good. He's called God. God in human form is Jesus.

The other is the god of all that is evil. He's called by many names--Satan, Lucifer, the Devil...

Some monotheistic religions only have the god of good--Buddhism comes to mind. Christianity shares with some of your better polytheistic religions the belief in a designated evil spirit. But unlike a polytheistic religion, Christianity doesn't have a god for every facet of life. It has one god for all the good things and another for all the bad.

Answer C2

Christianity is monolatrous henotheism, which is to say that Christianity recognizes several deities but only believes that one is worthy of worship (monolatry) and that the one being worshiped is more powerful than the non-worshiped deities (henotheism). The amount of power given to the angels, especially Lucifer, is far greater than what demi-gods had in Greek polytheism. Lucifer has the ability to alter a person's life circumstances, to be able to thwart an omniscient and omnipotent God (which shows that one of those qualities is lacking unless God approved of his being thwarted), and to keep souls away from God even though he lovingly came to save all of them. This would make Lucifer a god of equal power to God. However, Lucifer is not granted a number of powers that God has, most importantly the Power of Creation. God can make new things while Lucifer can only corrupt what already exists. This makes him weaker than God.

These are the same reasons that Zoroastrianism is not a proper monotheism, but monolatrous henotheism. Ahura Mazda, the central god of Zoroastrianism, is a good god who is locked in an eternal struggle against Angra Mainyu, a demonic spirit where both are fighting over the fate of the world and its souls.

Of course, this answer does not even begin to touch the question about whether a triune godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all being God) is a violation of the principle of monotheism, but Answers A3 and B3 discuss this issue in depth and need no repeating.

Answer 2

Christianity is regarded as monotheistic. More specifically, it is termed "weakly monotheistic," because of the belief in the Holy Trinity. This compares to strongly monotheistic religions such as Judaism and Islam.

Answer 3

Polytheistic means worshipping several gods, such as the Hindu religion.

Monotheistic means worshipping only one god, like the Christians and Islam.

Answer 4

Monotheistic means a belief in one god

Polytheistic means a belief in many gods

Answer 5

it is the amount of gods someone worships mono is one god and poly is multiple gods

like indians used to be polythiest

Answer 6

Monotheism is the belief of one god.

Polytheism is the belief of one or more gods.

Answer 7

Shinto = Polytheistic.

Islam = Monotheistic.

Answer 8

monotheistic

Answer 9

you mum