This is a question that’s great at getting theological arguments going. So to start with, we’re going to be ignoring religions and cultures not dominated by abrahamic religions because Hinduism split from mesopotamian religions in a very different way than Judaism and religions not associated with or influenced by the the mesopotamian civilization start are wildly different and I don’t know shit about them.
So, archeologically, evidence points to the Abrahamic God forming out of two or so male gods from mesopotamia and what began as a group devoting to that god eventually developed into a monotheistic religion. It looks like this may have been a storm god in competition with Baal, but as his religion developed he became androgynous but maintained he/him pronouns.
Theologically: hoo fucking boy that’s a fight right there. Neopagans and Mormons are in agreement that it’s because he’s a manifestation of the divine masculine and that there exists a divine feminine counterpart. Catholics (and to my knowledge jews though I’ve met some who agree with the neopagans and mormons) say that it’s tradition to address him in the masculine but he’s genderless. Some protestants will argue that he’s male and that men were created in his image and women less so. Other protestants agree with the Catholics. Others will say that the holy spirit is the divine feminine. And I’m sure many other interpretations exist.
Because He presents Himself that way. That’s the way He wants to be seen.
I had a dream one time, where I was watching myself through God’s eyes. I was surprised that He cared about me, and thought He must be millions of years old. And the thought came to me, I wonder what He looks like? And in the same way I can imagine what I look like even without a mirror, He allowed me to ‘see / imagine’ what he looks like. He was fit, Maybe the tiniest bit bulky, but not so lean that His muscles would be popping out. Dark hair, full beard, trimmed neatly. And if I had to guess an age I’d say in his mid 40s or 50s. Basically in His prime. Forever.
The other interesting thing that came to me, that made sense in the dream. Is that He wasn’t old. He would never age. Because aging came from negative emotions like anger, bitterness, and so on. And He had none of that in Him. He had a zest for life, and He enjoyed existing.
I’ve had other dreams/ experiences as well.
The major Abrahamic religions have the same root and have had a heavy influence on most of the world. This is largely due to the Roman empire and it’s successors adopting and spreading Christianity in Europe and the Muslim caliphates spreading Islam through the Middle East and Africa.
Further east, Hinduism is the largest polytheistic religion and features a number of prominent goddesses. Though Hinduism has a lot of variety and the exact deities and their genders change depending on the adherents.
Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism don’t really focus on any deities.
Those are the most widespread religions, many others were eradicated or sidelined by European imperialism. Out of those left, many are animist religions, believing in spirits that can be a variety of genders.
Some classical polytheistic religions are still practiced today. They usually have some major goddesses in the mix.
If you go back to ancient Mesopotamia, Inanna/Ishtar is the head of her pantheon.
And Jainism has infinitely many gods, they just aren’t that important, from what I gather.
He - and if there is a God, I am convinced he is a he, because no woman could or would ever fuck things up this badly.
-George Carlin
Btw, Christians, Muslims and Jews worship the exact same God.
According to muslims. christians reject the muslims: not related except taking a few names. jews reject both as only taking the name of their god.
What do you mean with the word “reject” in this context? I mean they’re all Abrahamic religions and share that foundation. But they all disagree on who is the last prophet. Islam would even acknowledge Jesus. He’s just not the most important prophet. And we christians have all the old Jewish stories in the Old Testament and we study them and deem everything to be true. What the Israelites and all the other tribes did in the Iron Age and how it all came to be. And our messiah was a Jew. So there is a strong bond between those religions. But I’m not very well educated on the Jewish perspective on this renewal and spin-off of their religion.
Jews believe the truth of their faith ends with them. Christians believe the truth of their faith ends with them. Islam believes they have the final truth.
But is that rejection, or what are the consequences? I mean even every denomination of christianity thinks all the other ones are wrong. All the holy books are in itself full of contradictions, so people interpret them and deem every scholar of their own faith wrong, once it opposes their own take on it… So I’m not sure if they even think like that. I mean in practice it turns out that way. Everyone forms tribes and they’re the only ones blessed with the truth. But I think that’s way smaller groups, and kind of the other way round. Because religion is to a large degree about tribalism and not intellectual arguments. Though they have that, too. But it’s slapped on top. Maybe I’ve answered my question with that… 😆
The other denominations think the other ones are mistaken in most cases. Some like LDS are seen as “wrong” though I would argue they should be seen as a new Abrahamic branch.
Judaism sees no truth in Christianity or Islam. Christianity sees the Jewish faith as outdated in the light if the teachings of Jesus. Islam thinks both Jews and Christians have a misunderstanding of the truth God gave them.
This really isn’t about tribalism. It’s about what you must accept to justify your belief. If a Christian believes any of the core principles of Islam they kind of can’t be Christian because the truth was supposed to be that Christ was the final messenger. If there is another prophet that undoes Jesus’ supremacy.
