Is God really . . .

 Okay, if there is only one god (or pantheon), then why is the message so different between the religions?

I'm glad you asked.  Is the message really that different? Sure, the modern versions of each religion seem to be drastically different from one another. But let's look back at the messages of the founders of each religion; before the dogma and before later people expounded on the original message. Let's look at the truly illuminated soul and what they had to say.

Without exception, they all say that what is important is loving one another. What matters is the awareness of the universality of everything. Their messages are to bring people together. They all chastise ego-centric behavior and encourage compassion. What every great religious founder asks of their followers is to love compassionately and to act on that behavior.

So why is the theology so different? Have you ever tried to explain sex to someone? Would you describe it the same way to a five year old as you would to a 15 year old or a 35 year old? Would the analogies be the same? First off, we cater the description to the audience; not just their age, but their understanding. Examples would be based off of common cultural knowledge. If you are describing god to a child versus an adult, you would use different examples. The same goes for different cultures.

Since the goal of the teacher is to get the point across to the learner, the examples that best convey a meaning is one that the learner understands. So it goes with describing god. Different cultures use different examples. When foreign cultures hear the example, they apply their own cultural understanding of the example, which may contradict the original culture's understanding, and interpret based on what they know of the example used.

Even the examples used by someone two thousand years ago may no longer be good examples for today. If we want to know the true meaning of what was taught two thousand years ago, we need to understand the culture of that area at that time. Only then, can we glean the original speaker's intent and meaning.

God of who?

 Let's start with eliminating everything we "know" and rebuild our understanding. Let's start with a few assumptions:

• There is a god.
• God created the universe we know.

Okay, with that little bit, what do we know? Who are "God's People"? If god created Adam and Eve, then god created the first people (who would, over time, be the ancestors of the Jewish people.) Did other gods create the other people, or are Adam and Eve the first humans anywhere on the planet? If they are the first humans anywhere, then god is the god of all people, not just one group of people. Other people believe their god created all people. In order for that to be true, the one god showed up in different areas describing the creation differently. Can that be possible?

Perhaps. If we talk to a group of scientists, we would use stories and analogies that are scientific in nature. If we were to talk to a bunch of pre-schoolers, we would use different stories. Same is true if we were to talk to artists or truck drivers. The examples we would use when we talk to a group of people is going to be different. The message might be the same, but the examples and terminology would be something that would suit the audience.

It would stand to reason that a god would use different examples and phrases for different groups of people. It would stand to reason, then, that there might just be one god who created the universe and all of the people in it. We have different images of who god is because the way god talked to us is based on the language and examples we understand.