{"id":906,"date":"2024-05-31T17:29:20","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T22:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/youmightberight\/?p=906"},"modified":"2024-06-04T23:32:05","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T04:32:05","slug":"do-we-honor-ultimate-reality-in-other-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/youmightberight\/2024\/05\/do-we-honor-ultimate-reality-in-other-traditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Do We Honor Ultimate Reality in Other Traditions?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Comedian Ricky Gervais once tweeted, \u201cThere have been nearly 3000 Gods so far, but only yours actually exists. The others are silly made-up nonsense. But not yours. Yours is real.\u201d For many of us who were taught to believe exactly that, his statement is unsettling.<\/p>\n
Merriam-Webster defines \u201cGod\u201d as \u201cthe supreme or Ultimate Reality.\u201d Recently, I wrote about Ultimate Reality here<\/a> and here<\/a> and here<\/a> and here<\/a>.\u00a0I do not assume that Ultimate Reality is personal or supernatural. Perhaps, it is. We can speculate, but nobody knows.<\/p>\n
In ancient times, when primitive belief systems were being developed, many people practiced henotheism<\/em>, the worship of one god among many, as described in the Bible.<\/p>\n
Later, monotheistic religions insisted that there was only one God. Here, Ricky Gervais might ask, \u201cYes, but which god is the one God, and how do we know that?\u201d<\/p>\n
If we answer, \u201cMy scripture or my tradition tells me so,\u201d then we only beg another question, \u201cWhich is the one Scripture or the one Tradition, and how do we know that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n