Mormonismus und die Natur Gottes/Polytheismus: Unterschied zwischen den Versionen

Version vom 11. November 2007, 19:11 Uhr

englischer Artikel

 ^{[Bearbeitung nötig]}

Frage

Einige meiner Freunde haben mir erzählt, dass weil Mormonen nicht an das nicht an das Bekenntnis von Nicäa glauben, wir Polytheisten sind. Ist dies die korrekte Beschreibung des HLT-Glaubens?

Quelle der Kritik

Erwiderung

Fast ausnahmslos wenn jemand die Mormonen für Polytheisten erklärt, sucht er nicht wirklich eine deutliche Erklärung für mormonisches Denken über die Natur Gottes, sondern gebraucht einfach negative Assoziationen in unserer religiösen Kultur, um andere einzuschüchtern oder zu verwirren.

In Wirklichkeit gibt es nicht ein einziges Wort, das angemessen die Gedanken der HLT über die Natur Gottes erfasst. Doch gibt es die folgenden Fachausdrücke:

• Monotheismis (Der Glaube, dass es nur einen Gott gibt)
• Tritheismus(darunter ist zu verstehen, dass der Vater, Sohn und Heiliger Geist verschiedene Götter sind)
• Polytheismus (Die Anbetung oder der Glaube an mehr als einen Gott)
• Henotheismus (Die Anbetung eines einzelnen Gottes ohne die Existenz anderer Götter zu bezweifeln, auch Monolatry genannt)
• Trinitarianismus (Der Glaube, dass Gott aus drei Personen von einer einzigen Substanz besteht)
• Sozialer Trinitarianismus (Der Glaube an die Einigkeit der drei Personen nicht aus einer Substanz besteht, sondern sozialer Natur ist, ([Einigkeit in den Gedanken usw])
• Modalismus (Der Glaube, dass es nur einen Gott gibt, der nicht als drei verschiedene Personen existiert, sich aber in drei verschiedenen Arten manifestiert [als Vater, Sohn und Heiliger Geist])

Usually the very same people who are pressing the case that Mormons are polytheists are some stripe of Evangelical Christians who claim to be monotheists. But Trinitarians are not Monotheists by definition (just ask a Jew or Muslim).

The fact that the LDS do not believe that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are one in substance, and the fact that the Saints believe in deification/theosis (that humans may eventually become deified and become partakers in the divine nature), could be used to paint Mormons as in some sense polytheists.

But when we examine the technical terminology above, it becomes clear that a key point of demarcation is worship v. acknowledgement of existence. If members of the Church worshiped an extensive pantheon like the Greeks or Romans, then the label would be appropriate. But in the context of doctrinal differences over the relationship among the Father, Son and Holy Ghost or the doctrine of deification (which is a profoundly Christian doctrine and not just a Mormon one), use of the word "polytheistic" as a pejorative is both inaccurate and inappropriate.

The fact is that instead of using a single-word label, one must actually articulate the belief (using actual sentences or paragraphs), since the single-word label that will adequately describe the full breadth of LDS thought on the nature of God has yet to be coined.

Are Christians monotheists?

Any discussion with Jews or Muslims will quickly demonstrate that no Christian is, strictly speaking, a monotheist.

One of the chief objections by Jews and Muslims is that Christians are polytheists. Most brands of Christians insist on the divinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In addition, the very word that those who crafted the great ecumenical creeds used to describe the deity of Jesus and also his Father and the Holy Spirit is trinity, which means three. And they insisted that they should not be confounded. To do that is modalism, which was one of the primary heresies that led to the formation of the ecumenical creeds and various confessions. Modalism often insists that the one God merely appears to us in three different way—that is as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is exactly what the creeds deny.

Christians of almost all brands have tried to stress that the three persons are one. But how? In "essence," whatever that is? Or in a social group where they are united in purpose and so forth, even though they have independent centers of consciousness?

Human deification and monotheism

In addition, the New Testament has language indicating that human beings can and should eventually become one with Jesus just as he is one with his Father. Flowing from that idea one finds all over the place the idea of deification taught by various Christians. If belief in theosis makes one a polytheist, many Christians would have to be so labaled: including such figures as C. S. Lewis and John Calvin. Clearly, this is not the way in which the term "polytheist," is normally used, but critics of the Church are often willing to be inconsistent if the Church can be made to look alien or "unChristian."

Instead, the fact is that the label "monotheism" is sufficiently broad to include the kind of oneness enjoyed by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as well as that promised to those who become one with them when fully sanctified.-->

Schlussfolgerung