Posted by bass2496 at cx733610-a.ocnsd1.sdca.home.com on August 05, 2001 at 01:17:53:
In Reply to: Semantic quibbling... posted by Darth Dobbin on August 04, 2001 at 20:23:49:
: Bull-dooky. That definition of "god" failed to have the "Zeus, Hera, Ra, Tiamat,etc." kind of god.
The definition was for "God" with a capital "G". At Dictionary.com they have other definitions for "god" wherein the "g" is not capitalized. The definition for monotheism capitalizes the "G", so although it is nothing but semantics, by definition, Catholics are monotheists.
: If you believe that agels, saints, etc. EXIST, and that they are apart from human, and "spirit" or "magic" beings, then you believe in a system with MULTIPLE "gods." Sure, you've got one "KING" god, but a whole hierarchy of little ones.
I can kinda see where you get Angels from, but I don't get this thing about the saints. In the Church they are really just people in the afterlife. They have no special powers or anything. They are just like every other human that has died and went to heaven.
This is gonna sound like a lame example, because it is, but it is all my little brain can come up with. In this reality, we have basically two classifications: living and nonliving. I really can't think of anything else. Living things coexist with nonliving things and each have certain properties and effects on one another. To me, angels are just another classification. They aren't living, but they aren't nonliving either. I don't see how them being different from us makes them gods.
Let's say I believe aliens exist. They are from another planet and completely beyond anything we can understand. We cannot see them, but they still exist. They, being apart from human, and "magic" to us, must be gods, right?
(Going back over it, the preceding two paragraphs sound really stupid, but I will leave them in for posterity.)
There is an infinite amount of knowledge in this universe. It would be arrogant to say that we know all of it. One has to allow for things that are beyond understanding.
: You're wrong on your dogma, btw. You ARE required to believe in demons, devils, and angels. A "formal" renouncement is grounds for excommunication.
I don't believe I'm wrong, and I won't unless you give me some sort of cite (I doubt you really care that much about this little arguement to find one, though.)
: And I'm counting the saints, and angels, demons, etc. as "minor gods."
I'm not, because Catholically speaking, they are no better or worse than any humans.
I just looked at all the other definitions in the dictionary for "god" and angels, saints, and devils don't fit any of them. That's going back to semantics, but isn't this what the discussion is all about? We're arguing over the difference between monotheism and polytheism, two words that are supposed to describe belief systems.
-bass2496
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