Wednesday, September 5, 2018

In God We Trust ? (我们唯主不信?)

To many, the God has only one and the only one. He is the one who cannot be challenged and cannot be compromised.

To some, the word 'god' is a polysemy. This is especially true among majority Chinese. It is still a practice in Dejiaohui (德教会) to lump all 5 major religions together: Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Confucianism. To Dejiaohui, 'god' can refer to:

  • Jade Emperor (玉皇大帝)
  • The Almighty God (as in Islam and Christianity) 
  • Jesus (耶稣)
  • 3 Puristies (三清)
  • Guangong (关公)
  • god (上帝)
I am not the expert but let us go through one by one:

In Christianity:

The God in Old Testament and New Testament is quite different. In Old Testament, the God is very strict and He punishes if his will is compromised.

However, in New Testament the role of God was Jesus (Colossians 2:9) and etc.The God in New Testament is more compromising.

The differences between Old and New Testament is the main reason I failed to embrace Christianity.

In Islam:

The God in Holy Quran and Old Testament is the same. However, Muslim cannot accept that Jesus same level as God. To Muslim, Jesus is one of the prophets but he can never be the God. So, the New Testament is rejected by Islam. This is the major dispute between Christianity and Islam.

In Buddhism:

There is no God.

In Taoism:

The Jade Emperor, the Guangong, god and 3 Purities are just gods in Taoism.

In conjurations especially in Middle Eastern conjurations, the God refers to the God in Old Testament and in Holy Quran. So 'in the name of God' refers to the one and only Almighty God.

If the conjuror equates the Almighty God with the god in Taoism, then he can find himself attacked or possessed by the entities he is summoning. So, be careful when making references.


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