Monotheistic religions worship only an all-powerful entity, but there are many ways to conceive of the supernatural. Discover with us the different types of Gods.
In countries like the United States, the religious foundation is a central part of the daily life of most citizens. For example, more than 50% of Americans believe that religion plays a very important role in their lives. The majority of the inhabitants of this country (63%) consider themselves religious Christians, while only 15% of them do not identify with any type of religion.
If we change countries, we will see that Thailand has the highest proportion of religious people in the world, since 94% of the population believes in some deity. The other side of the coin is in China, where only 7% of the inhabitants have religious beliefs.
Things get even more interesting when we know thatmore than 2.4 billion people are Christians, while 1.2 billion do not welcome any religious group. Based on these numbers, we can draw a shocking but irrefutable conclusion: today, there are more people who believe in a God (or are part of a religious group) than atheists in the world. According to this statement, the following question arises: What types of gods characterize each religious current? Here we bring you the answer.
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What are the types of gods according to religion?
Since time immemorial, the debate about what the figure of God is continues uninterrupted. At the terminological level, this figure could be defined as “the supreme being that in monotheistic religions is considered maker of the universe” (according to the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language). It is an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient and impersonal entity, conceived as the supernatural creator and overseer of the entire universe.
Some argue that this concept reflects an infinite, eternal, and inconceivable whole of the human mind, while others argue that, although it is an all-pervading figure, it has an abode and an aspect of its own. From the ethereal to the corporeal and material, God takes many forms based on the traditions and writings that encode the nature of each religion on a historical and cultural level.
Therefore, describing absolutely all types of gods is a practically impossible task. We can debate at length about whether this figure is a social construct or a reality, but, if we chose the first position, we could describe as many gods as people who believe in them. As we would be facing a practically infinite task, we limitourselves to presenting the 5 types of gods on which religions have been generated followed by a multitude of followers. Let’s get to it.
1. God in the Christian religion
Most Christians believe in the Holy Trinity, that is, that God as anentity has historically manifested Himself in three different figures: as Father, as Son, and as Holy Spirit (communion known as hypostasis). According to this dogma, the Holy Trinity has been represented in the Old and New Testaments, where God, sustainer and creator of all things, grants the salvation of mankind through his Son, Jesus Christ.
This figure exists eternally and simultaneously and its function is to protect and guide its children, who are the fervent believers of the religion on which it is based. It is natural that the following question arises among atheists: Why does God let bad things happen if His goodness is infinite and He wants to help His children? The Christian religion is based on these pillars to give us an answer:
- Bad things can happen to people in this world, but this plane is not the only one of existence. “The things you see are temporary, while the inconceivable ones are infinitely rewarded.”
- Bad things happen to good people, but they have an end-to-end, lasting purpose. After the believer’s tribulations, he will understand God’s real plan.
- Bad things equip believers for deeper ministry.
- Bad things happen to good people, because the worst things happened to the best person. We are talking about the pain and suffering of Jesus Christ.
2. God in the Islamic religion
In this case, the almighty God of Islamic doctrine is Allah. For various reasons, non-Islamic people believe that the God worshipped by those who profess this religion is different from that of Christians and Jews, but nothing is further from reality: according to sources created by Islamic adherents, “there is only one God. Let there be no doubt: Muslims worship the God of Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus – peace be upon them.”
As in the Christian concept, Allah is a supreme God, creator of the universe and the Earth, owner of everything that exists, unique divinity and far from all defects. Jews and Muslims have very similar perceptions as far as this entity is concerned, but, for example, they differ in Christians in the belief of the Holy Trinity and the Divine Incarnation. However, this does not disqualify the existence of Jesus: for Muslims, Jesus was (like Abraham, Moses and Muhammad) a very important messenger of God.
3. God in Hinduism
We move slightly away from the canonical concept of God, because, from now on, this entity can manifest itself in multiple figures or, failing that, harbor different meanings according to the aspect of the religion consulted. For example, in Hinduism there are monotheistic (a single god), polytheistic (more than one god), pantheistic (nature and God are the same) or henotheism (there are several gods but only one is worthy of worship).
However, the skeleton of Hinduism is based on three different deities: Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, all of them related to the creation, conservation and destruction of the world. These three forms give rise to the Hindu trinity or Trimurti.
4. God in Buddhism
Those of us who are not very involved in these religious beliefs can place Buddha, on a conceptual level, as the analogue of the Christian God: this is completely incorrect. A Buddha is not a god, but a person who has achieved a true awakening to the level of spiritual enlightenment. Gautama Buddha, a sage who imparted the teachings on which Buddhism is built, was nothing more than a human being, so his body and mind were impermanent and changing, just like that of other earthly human beings.
Furthermore, Gautama Buddha denied the belief that the world had been formed by the act of a creative deity, stating that the question of the origin of the Earth is of no value. For all these reasons, the concept of deity in Buddhism is completely different from those cited above.
5. God in Shinto
Shinto is a religion originating in Japan, the second most widespread in this country (second only to traditional Japanese Buddhism). Again, there is no all-powerful higher entity here. Japanese Shinto believe in a series of spirits or divinities (kami) that can be found in nature and other higher conceptual levels.
The term Kami refers to what is above the human condition, sometimes translated as “God,” but not correctly. This religion places nature itself as the central driving force of the world: the deities (Kamis), celestial and terrestrial, are everywhere and are the guardians of the places, protect the forests, inhabit the foot of the waterfalls, live under the rocks and outline the world around us.
Summary
As you can see, there are many gods in popular culture, but very few accept the typical meaning of the concept: in this list, only the Christian and Islamic gods exemplify a single all-powerful and benevolent entity, maker of society and the Earth. There are other monotheistic religions (such as Baha’ism and Zoroastrianism), but we have found it interesting to exemplify that, in other cultures, perfection and impersonality can be embodied in many other figures not centralized in a single concept.
Anyway, we can reach the following conclusion: a deity is that supernatural figure to whom important powers are attributed. It can be unique, divided into many parts, or just one sacred individual among many. However, the supposed existence of most deities tries to explain the natural phenomena that surround us. Where there are questions, gods arise, don’t you think?
To the classic question “what do you do?” I always answer “basically I am a psychologist”. In fact, my academic training has revolved around the psychology of development, education and community, a field of study influenced my volunteer activities, as well as my first work experiences in personal services.