Are we worshiping the same God ?

[Vrindavan]

Are we worshiping the same God ?

Do you think Christianity is rooted from Judaism ?

How is Judaism came out ?

Do you believe the God of Christianity is the same as the God of Judaism or the God of Hinduism ?

What are the evidences ?

[Yajnavalkya dasa]

No, we are not worshipping the same God.

Although it is popular to say, "same God, different names", there are imposter Gods.

Yahweh, the god of the Christians and Jews, was just one of the many minor desert deities of the Semites. Others were Baal, Dagon, Moloch and so on.

The Bible itself does not deny the existence of other gods; the commandment "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" implies that there are other gods.

For some reason, the deity Yahweh was able to convince Moses that it was the only god worthy of worship.

This god is vengeful (Romans 12:19-21) and jealous (Deuteronomy 5:6). It savors violence and blood (too many references to mention; Google "dark bible").

Allah, the god of the Muslims, is well known as a lunar deity of southern Arabia. Hence the crescent in Islamic motifs.

No, we do not worship the same God.

As a mundane example, both George W. Bush and Al Gore both claimed to be the sole President of the United States in the election of 2000. To say that "George Bush and Al Gore are the same President, different names", is, of course, ridiculous.

There are many who claim to be the Supreme God.

[Eastern Mind]

I believe it is the same God we all worship. Here is my analogy. Fifty people are all reading the same book. Each is on a different page, in fact a different word. Each are at his/her own point in the book. Some are at the intro, some are in the middle, and others are nearly finished. All are reading the same book. Aum Namashivaya

[Yajnavalkya dasa]

"All are reading the same book".

That is pie-in-the-sky nonsense. The Aztecs used to perform human sacrifice. Does God demand human sacrifice? What page is that on? After all, all religions are the same, right?

David Koresh said that he was God made flesh. Do you acknowledge that David Koresh is God? If no, why not? God is God, right?

What about Zeus, and Jupiter? Odin and Woden? Or the Flying Spaghetti Monster? All religions worship the same God?

Maybe you just have a very liberal definition of "God". What do you think "God" means? If you think "God means whatever you think it means", that waters down any legitimate meaning.

[Eastern Mind]

Trust me, I do not have a liberal idea of God. God is all and in all. Do you recall sages (Ramakrishna for one) that have had stories written about how certain mundane seemingly low sights on the street put him into samadhi. Its ALL God, in my view.

[saidevo]

The mind makes different gods out of the same God immanent in everything, just like a potter makes different objects with the same clay or the readers of a novel have different ideas about the same situation.

The intellect arrives at the unity and the absoluteness of the one God in the plurality of the world.

The Self realizes this unity and finds it to be the only Truth.

[Eastern Mind]

Namaste Saidevo: Wonderfully put. A better analogy than mine, I guess. Aum Namashivaya

[Madhavan]

I would say that all common men worship the same God ~ the god they have 'created' in their minds based on sensory inputs. This is not the same case with yogis, because their worship is based on actual divination of God with the 'inner eye'.

What God you worship is based on adhikAri bedha, that is the qualification of the worshipper. Most of us worship only "gross forms" of god based on visual and auditory signals. Advanced Yogis are able to directly worship the dieties, and even greater yogis directly worship the fullest form of Saguna Brahman as vishvarUpa(paramAtma). Those who have realized their identity with paramAtma do not worship.

This is what Adi Shankara says in his BG comentary on 6.47:

6.47 Api, even; sarvesam yoginam, among all the yogis, among those who are immersed in meditation on Rudra, Aditya, and others; yah, he who; bhajate, adores; mam, Me; antaratmana,with his mind; madgatena, fixed on Me, concentrated on Me who am Vasudeva; and sraddhavan, with faith, becoming filled with faith; sah, he; is matah, considered; me, by Me; to be yukta-tamah, the best of the yogis, engaged in Yoga most intensely.

( you can find it here http://www.gitasupersite.iitk.ac.in/)

[Madhavan]

No, we are not worshipping the same God.

Although it is popular to say, "same God, different names", there are imposter Gods.

All worship of devatas is the same, from the POV of the common man. The worship of ghosts, ancestors and evil spirits are condemned practices. There is nothing such as an imposter god. Perhaps, the goal of worshipping god determines if the God worshipped is the same or not. Those who worship the paramAtma for getting moksha are all worshipping the same God regardless of the means of worship. Those who do it for wordly gains are worshipping an inferior God regardless of what name or form of the God is given to God. Those who are doing it for harming others are the worst of species even if he claims to be worshipping paramAtma.

Yahweh, the god of the Christians and Jews, was just one of the many minor desert deities of the Semites. Others were Baal, Dagon, Moloch and so on.

The Bible itself does not deny the existence of other gods; the commandment "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" implies that there are other gods.

Yahweh is God Yama of Hinduism. Note the judgement day of the bible and how it compares with Hinduism. Yama is an enlightened being(like a jIvanmukta), because he is the one who instructs Nachiketa.

This god is vengeful (Romans 12:19-21) and jealous (Deuteronomy 5:6). It savors violence and blood (too many references to mention; Google "dark bible").

The same is true of Hindu gods like kALi and bhairava. It only means god destroys the wicked.

Allah, the god of the Muslims, is well known as a lunar deity of southern Arabia. Hence the crescent in Islamic motifs.

Allah is Shiva, the almighty.

[Yajnavalkya dasa]

You say "There is nothing such as an imposter god". So do you worship David Koresh? Why not?