GETTING TO KNOW OUR LORD

When a person begins to think about God, there is first the strong perception that there is only ONE God. This idea makes sense! But when a person begins to read writings that talk about God, one will find many different names for God. In the Old Testament there are many names for God. In the New Testament we find the same thing. It is easy to see how people get the idea that there is more than one God.

In the history of religion we find two approaches to the many names of God. There are either three Gods(tritheism) or there are many Gods(polytheism).

The concept of three Gods is found in Christianity. The ideas of many Gods is found outside the Jewish, Muslim and Christian Church. The Jewish concept of one God was developed by Abraham when he came from the polytheistic area of the Euphrates. Mohammed proclaimed there was none besides Allah.

Polytheism occurred in ancient times but also occurs in contemporary non christian areas.

In the early Christian Church with the early Church fathers there is a strong perception that God is one. This can be seen in the Apostolic Creed. In that one God there is a trinity. Exactly how that worked was not clear then. Later on, the idea of a tripersonal God was developed, and expressed in the Athanasian Creed. The Nicene Creed is a development in between the Apostolic and Athanasian Creeds.

The Writings of the New Church teach a divine trinity but it is not a trinity of persons but of person, for there is only one God.

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