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Debate Info

29
22
Yes No
Debate Score:51
Arguments:31
Total Votes:61
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Argument Ratio

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 Yes (13)
 
 No (18)

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Is Christianity really Polytheistic?

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost!

Yes

Side Score: 29
VS.

No

Side Score: 22
4 points

It depends what brand of Christianity you are in (yes, they are different still, though no one talks doctrine anymore).

Any sect abiding by the creed of Nicea says that God is three and one, not assuming that he is one and not assuming that he is three. ("neither dividing the substance nor confounding the persons"). also, the idea that he is god where ever he is, and he's called the Father while in Heaven, the Son while on earth, and now the Holy Ghost in our hearts is an ancient heresy called Modalism (one god in three modes).

The original Christian church MAY have believed in subordinationalism, which is a polytheistic belief if you want to be really technical (that God and Jesus are two individuals, and while they are both god or gods, God is the boss. This is supported by many writings before Origin in the 300s AD, but not conclusively so). This MAY also be supported by the bible.

I use may though because all of this depends a lot on how you read it.

And I know, all the Nicean sect people are down voting me :)

Side: yes
4 points

yes because it beliefs in trinity. Christians pray to 3 father,son and holy spirit not oneeeeee God even when its mentioned in the bible that the lord is one

Side: yes
flahsmemory(2) Disputed
1 point

Not all Christians except the term trinity as a classification of God. Actually that term is subject to most Orthodox Churches which have been heavily reformed. There is no mention of trinity in the bible. I attended Christian Church for some years and the best way I see to describe the persons of God is to look at them as characteristics of one God. For, instance, I can be a father and a son and my job can be carpentry. So I am a father, a son and a carpenter. Now the reason why Christians view Jesus and the Holy Spirit as persons is because without these persons God is not understandable and therefore you can never know God without knowing each person or characteristic of God. Each of these persons are actually characteristics of God made into life and spirit to fulfill His will. Jesus is the actual word of God made into flesh. The Holy Spirit was sent after Jesus to be the guide and helper for those who seek to know God and become witnesses to God and of God.

There can be many reasons why God has portrayed Himself this way. Most of them can be disputed and actually a ton of them are still being argued to this day. I will give a few examples that can be used to understand Jesus as being one with the father.

One reason is that Jesus is actually a redeemer of Adams disobedience to God. Through the sins of Adam sin and death entered the world. Through one person we all suffer. God sent Jesus to redeem Christians from this eternal suffering with a promise of eternal life if they accept Jesus as God. Also, through one person we can be redeemed. Here is another observation. Why did Adam disobey God? It is because of Satan manipulating Adam into believing He can be like God if he ate the forbidden fruit. Jesus, on the other hand being tempted be Satan, did not fall into this manipulation. Jesus live according to the will of God completely and guess what happened? He went with the Father to be one with Him. Kind of like God don't you think? It is a puzzle but actually Adam in the beginning was pure like God until he sinned. Greatest trick Satan plays on people is making them believe they are missing something they already have in their possession.

Now consider reading the bible. The greatest sin is idolatry or putting other worldly things before God. Actually, no one is without this sin. Everyone has a desire for worldly things. It is actually impossible to not want something. Even if it is death you still want it and end up putting it before God. Food is also an indisputable example. God gave Christians His very own person to want. It is His Son, Jesus Christ. It is like this. Jesus is a necessity for those who need something physical to acknowledge in order to know God. And everyone needs something. Everyone must need Jesus. Christians believe everyone must need Jesus and put Him first with God in order to receive eternal life and go to heaven. It is basically saying we are so flawed that we need something physical to understand God and His plan for us. God finally gave His people his word in flesh to worship. This is why it is important for Christians to acknowledge Jesus as God and the only way to salvation.

The Holy Spirit is a must for Christians also. I won't go into so much detail here. There is no proof without receiving the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the work of God but it is not being done through a prophet or angel. It is being done through the Christians who accept Jesus as God. Everyone is given the opportunity to experience miracles of God with the Holy Spirit. First, you have to accept Jesus. Then pray to receive the Holy Spirit. When you receive the Holy Spirit then there is a change on perspective of life and you live your life according to the will of God. You become the witness of proof to others of God.

In order for you to become a witness of God you have to have the Holy Spirit in your life. Only with the Holy Spirit you can go to heaven and be a witness of God.

Side: No
2 points

Christianity worships God and Jebus. Also are Satan and hundreds of angels and archangels that have the same properties as deities. Therefore, christianity is polytheistic.

Side: yes
2 points

Er....what else could they be...a Christian believes in three Gods, not one?

The Jews, including Jesus of Nazareth, believe in One God. They are true monotheists.

Christians, in response to the pagan culture of the roman empire where Christoianity arose, believe Jesus Christ, a man, is also a God. Son of the major God. An equal God to the Main God.

Oh, and incidentally, and they also believe that there is another God, called The Holy Spirit lurking in the background.

Jesus was a Jew. The religion that grew up about him is nothing like the teaching he espoused. Jesus was a Jewish monotheist. His followers believe in many Gods, at least three. They seem to have started this within 20 years or so of his death. Maybe immediately.

They decided Jesus was a God, not a man, much to the annoyance of the Jewish believers of the time and, as I read it, in violation of Jesus' own teaching.

Jesus believed that there is one God and that he was not it. He called it Our Father...not his exclusive father, our common father.

I think it is important to remember that in the early Christian era other men were considered Gods. The Roman Emporer. Other children of women impregnated by Gods. DemiGods as they were called.

Worshiping a man as a god was nothing new. Silly in my opinion. But nothing new.

People are so used to hearing Christians talk about being monotheists that they overlook the history of Christianity and what it actually preaches.

Three Gods. Not one.

Side: yes
2 points

In Christianity, the holy trinity is three deities in one. In Hinduism, Brahman is the main god, with the other gods being a different form of her. The Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit are all forms of God.

Back in Ancient Greece, their polytheism had many different levels of deities, some, like Heracles, Orion, Helen, and Achilles, were demigods. They were humans, but were given a special place in the belief system because of their accomplishments. This is similar to the Catholic Saints, people pray to them because they feel that the Saints are closer to the gods. In Ancient Greece, people would pray to Heracles and set up temples to him.

And last, Satan, he is essentially the god of Hell, even though he's not "all loving" like God, he still plays a significant role in the dynamics of the religion so he is a god. Again, in Ancient Greece, the gods weren't always forgiving, they would punish people for wrong-doing. Even though they weren't "nice" like a god is supposed to be, they're still gods.

Christianity is a polytheistic reason because of it's worship of many gods as explained above.

Side: yes
2 points

If you worship one God then worship Him alone, don't worship or pray to any other deities, saints, or holy entities (i.e. spirits, ghosts). An act of worshiping or praying to more then one God constitutes polytheism. It's not about who the established God is, but who do you pray to. If the answer is more than one then it's polytheism. And don't give the stale excuse of "we're only praying to them, but not worshiping them". To pray to someone or some divine being requires us to have spiritual faith in them, having spiritual faith in someone or some divined being and perform certain prayers to them is exactly what worshiping is all about.

Spit it out, be a man and admit that Christianity is a confessed monotheism but a practiced polytheism.

Side: yes
2 points

i am a Muslim that attends a HIGHLY religious Christian school (trinitarian) and in my belief YES it definitely seems to be polytheistic. Ok so i've been going to this school for 8 years and to my understanding, first there was God, and then the world started talking about a messiah so when this "messiah" came he turned out to be the son of God. When Jesus died, then entered the holy spirit in place of him on earth. So in the bible it CLEARLY says that when Jesus was dying on the cross he yelled "Father why have you forsaken me", hmmm seems like he was talking to God, but wait i thought Jesus was God, whats going on? Also the bible says that Jesus's purpose was to die for everyone's sins, but i've read some verses that state people will still be judged for their sins when they die, ok so does that mean that Jesus didn't exactly die for ALL of them? I don't have anything against Christanity, but it's pretty clear that its built on polytheistic beliefs.

Side: yes
1 point

Yes. Christians pray to 3 different divine beings, not ONE. 3 is a POLY number. POLY meaning MORE THAN ONE.

Side: yes
TERMINATOR(6780) Disputed
1 point

They pray to one divine being, not three.

Side: No
1 point

PRISTS TRY TO TRICK YOU by telling you 1+1+1=1 BUT EVEN A 2 YEAR OLD IT EQUALS 3

THIS FORMER CHRISTIAN YOUTH MINISTER EXPLAINS THE CONFUSION 4 U
Side: yes
flahsmemory(2) Disputed
1 point

1^3 =1 is a better explanation. Anyhow, I want to argue just for the sake of arguing. This person says he read the bible entirely. Then he criticized the prophets of being drunkards and adulterous. Basically sinners. Then he goes on to ridicule Gods decision of choosing them which in itself questions Gods authority and puts him at fault not with the scriptures but with God.

He goes on to compare today with a time period which our laws were being first born and therefore were in need of revision. This is the biggest flaw with that sort of outlook. At that time people took daughters for sex, slavery and murder were perfectly normal with no punishment in most cases.

At that time people were evil in the sense they had no real law or morals to guide them. People were labeled good or bad based on their very own arbitrary beliefs alone. Trying to compare today with a time period of barbarism and what we classify as repulsive acts on humanity based on our upbringing is not a righteous testimony against Christianity and the bible.

Sure the Koran is beautifully written book that mostly focuses on the good but life is not about good only. Being islamic does not make you a good person. Following islam does not make you righteous. Everyone is a sinner and thats what Jesus was trying to say all along. Repentance is important in every prayer.

The prophets before Jesus were all sinners. They were not Jesus. They did the will of the Lord as best as they could but they were not the will of the Lord, the Word, Jesus. That is why Jesus in the bible was without sin. He followed the will of the Lord entirely.

Even Jesus showed forgiveness for prostitutes and sinners that would otherwise been condemned to death to prove that even the most sinful can be saved.

He goes on to say that the jews hung Jesus on a tree because He would be cursed and if God let it happened then he would not be the son of God. So the Koran says Jesus was saved of this harsh punishment as it went clearly against the will of God. But was it really against His will? Jesus died the way he did for many purposes other than to become a curse for all our sins. He died because in the OT punishment of sin is death. He took on our death to give us eternal life. Later on God says you must sacrifice. Now there was no death for sin but one must sacrifice. God sacrificing His only son was to show how much He loved us just the same as Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac. Although he spared Isaac God let Jesus die for a reason. To be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.

Another reason is to be brought back to life as proof that only through Jesus you can receive eternal life. There are many reasons why God chose Jesus to die. The act of dieing for His faith again shows how important God is. That He is before all and after none.

I have a mind of my own. I can tell you stuff that no church would say. I will tell you what I think. Christianity has tons of branches. There is no one totally right or wrong church. There is no perfect book or teaching. Every church has its flaws and enlightenments. The reason why they say Christianity is based on faith is because of this.

You know why I think this is so. The churches all represent the body of Christ. It is written in the bible. Do you know why there is no perfect church? Because Jesus body was ripped and whipped and stabbed. As a result we..us people are the church. The body and blood of the church is its people trying to heal the body of Christ on earth. The people who have holy spirit are the ones who will see God in heaven. Because they witness the truth through faith alone not reason.

I also believe that Jesus will make it known that He is the son God to this person one day. That he will realize that He was misguided by His family and his church and school. He should read the bible and think for himself but he didn't. The reason why he fell away from faith was because he looked for answers from people not God.

Side: No
1 point

Christianity I believe was once a true monotheistic religion, referable to the Romans it has become corrupted through time, because of the transition of Romans Gods(polytheism) to Jesus and God(Monotheism).Due to newly acquired territories, civil unrest was common, so to decelerate civil unrest, Roman leaders thought of ways to unify, they used religion. So the leaders adopted the fast growing religion of Christianity, and falsified and distorted the belief to their benefit, such as Indulgences, the Crusades(Cultural Conquests/Expansionism), etc. Some Roman citizens could not relate to the newly adopted religion, so they began having pagan beliefs to best suit them, they still believed in other Gods. The leaders changed so much of the religion, to benefit themselves, that it seemed that people more glorified the death of Christ than the life of Christ. Such as the Cross, the symbol that thousands probably millions have died on, and they pray through the relation of Jesus's death, instead of the life of Jesus, being somewhat sacrilegious . Examples: Catholic churches use wine in the re-enactment of The Last Supper, that also could have been corrupted by the Romans since Wine was valuable, that could have funded armies for Rome. I think it was water Jesus used, because water runs through every living thing on this Earth. I think also people mis-interpreted Jesus as being God's son, because technically according to the Bible, we're all God's children, I think that was an alias people gave him during the time because he performed miracles, by the consent/authorization of God. Jesus was more of a messenger and a soothsayer in my opinion, Joseph and Mary are Jesus's parents, but God gave him the powers to fulfill God's requirements/necessitate for the social order of humans, I truly don't understand the Holy Trinity, if Christians are expected to worship one God and one God only, yet some do not worship the "creator of all", they worship the (previously discussed) alias: son of God, which is a very confusing concept for your mind to grasp, some people worship Jesus as he were the creator, but he was the (previously discussed) messenger and proof that God was real because of the miracles he performed, that information to me is somewhat contradictory. So if Christianity is truly monotheistic religion, the real question is who do you worship?: A. God(Creator of Everything) or B. Jesus(Messenger). Let me help you, you should thank Jesus for what he did, because according to the book he carried out the message of God, but should you pray to him? To carry out worship, you must pray. Right?

Side: yes
3 points

The Trinity is pretty nuts, to be honest. As far as I am aware, current Christian understanding of The Trinity is that whilst there may exist three persons (The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost), these are infact one single substance (God). However the single parts of the trinity on their own are not God and do not make up God, but are the very essence of God. The three persons exist in God as one unity; The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit are not three different names for different parts of God but one name for God, because The Father can not be divided from The Son or The Holy Spirit from the Son. There is however only one God (as he keeps reminding us over and over and over again).

This is of course completely inconsistent throughout The Bible, and asking a Christian to clearly and concisely explain The Trinity is a lesson in futility. No one can accurately explain and defend it because it doesn't make any sense. It's coco-loco.

Side: No
kwak124(1) Disputed
2 points

When trying to put the Trinity into the context of separate people, of course it is impossible. One person is a person, and three people cannot be one person, as they are three people. Rather, consider it more as water. The chemical formula for water is H2O, as commonly known. Though this may be two, it can be related to the God issue. Water in and of itself is not one substance but two, as hydrogen and oxygen combine. However, water ceases to be water when hydrogen or oxygen is extracted from the whole, just as God ceases to be when the Father or the Son is not a part of the Trinity. However, when combined, though two separate entities, hydrogen and oxygen make water, as when the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit make God by combining.

Side: yes
1 point

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Side: No
0 points

You seem to provide a pretty decent explanation of the Trinity here, xaeon.

I heard the Trinity described as being similar to Fluffy, the three-headed dog in Harry Potter. One being, or substance, with three loci of consciousness.

Your statement that the doctrine of the Trinity is inconsistent throughout the Bible doesn't hold water though. The idea is communicated quite consistently throughout the Bible.

Side: No
2 points

"Your statement that the doctrine of the Trinity is inconsistent throughout the Bible doesn't hold water though. The idea is communicated quite consistently throughout the Bible."

You and I both know what will happen if I challange that point. We'll both bring out our evidence; certain quotes that are open to intepretation either way, etc, etc, and we'll probably end up arguing about semantics and what is meant by each quote. I think it better we just leave it as a disagreement between us that doesn't require exploring. :-)

Side: No
1 point

Oh, the irony: Muslims call Christianity polytheistic because of the Trinity. Yet, Jews call Islam polytheistic because it has not just God, but the Devil as well. In the same respect, Christians call Hinduism polytheistic, even though Hindus maintain that their position is not dissimilar from Christianity, with Shiva being the Supreme God.

According to the strictest terms, perhaps only Judaism can be considered Monotheistic, but by all practical means, Christianity is indeed monotheistic. Prayer in any of the three Abrahamic faiths is virtually always directed to God (the Father).

Side: No

The Christian belief is that there are three beings - The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost - all incorporated into one 'entity'.

Catholics, on the other hand, pray to their saints.

Side: No
1 point

No, Christianity is not "really" polytheistic. Christians believe that the Trinity is made up of three persons, if you will, all united into one divine being. The Father is he who resides in heaven. The Son was he who appeared in human form (but was still God). The Holy Spirit is, well, a spirit. The Holy Spirit, according to the Christian faith, resides on Earth and is within all Christians, and unknowingly works on other people's beliefs/heart.

Side: No
1 point

How can you say that Christianity is polytheistic? Why did Jesus die on the cruse? Because he wanted to clear us from our sins, one of them being the worship of false gods. What happened when Moise got the 2 tablets from God on the Sinai Mountain, with the ten commandments written on them? When he got to the bottom of the mountain, he found his people worshiping a golden bull as a god. What did he do then? He destroyed it. What more proof do you want? And about saints and angels. They are up there, like God's helpers. We ask them to help us, but we don't worship them! And the Trinity.... There is ONE GOD, but which manifests itself in 3 forms, the Father, Jesus and the Holy Ghost! If you're interested in these kind of things, read the Bible or ask a priest. If you don't understand the Bible.

Side: No
0 points

The father is God, the son is the messiah (with divine and Godly powers, but not technically God), and the holy ghost... the conception. All put together is the one supreme being. it isn't three Gods, but one God made from three.... like in "Cell".

Side: No
1 point

So why divide God up? Why not keep him intact? What purpose is served by having the three? Why not have the one and be done with it?

Side: yes
ThePyg(6738) Disputed
0 points

Do i look like God to you?

Side: No
0 points

No, one God, three persons.

Side: No
0 points

Not at all. Although beginning in 325 AD, we accepted the teaching that Jesus was God. The way our group sees it in scripture, there is one true God (the Father), His incarnate Word (the son), and His spirit (the Holy Spirit). Three distinct people that come from one source - the Father. But, all three are OF Him. That's a little different than pure Trinitarian doctrine. But, it makes more sense Biblically.

Side: No