Don Munro placed the following on the ASA listing:
>>Could you tell me where I could find a logical proof on the subject of
>>one God vs. many "Gods", that there is or ever could be only ONE
>>God. I already know many proofs for the existence of God, but how do I
>>show that logically there could only be ONE God, not many? Please give
>>me website addresses, book titles, or e-mail me the info directly. I am
>>an aspiring Christian apologist. Thanks. My e-mail address is
>benjamin_emerson@hotmail.com
Let me take a stab at it, Benjamin. If I'm off the mark, somebody else
will correct me, I'm sure.
I'd be surprised if one could ever prove the existence of "one God," or
many gods, for that matter, to the satisfaction of a skeptic. To prove
something, you would have to invoke some ground rules that both you and
the person you want to convince could agree on. I don't know of any. I
have non-Christian friends and associates and while we can agree on many
issues, even on the existence of a Supreme Being, I have not found any
common ground that we can use to "prove" the existence of a single God,
or of a multiplicity of gods.
For starters, you would have to agree on the definition of a "god." The
Romans and the Greek believed in many gods (Mercury, Hercules, Diana,
Pan, Mars, etc. etc.) but, if I recall correctly, these were sort of
second rate gods. Jupiter of Zeus was the head honcho. So, what
defines a "god?" Can a "god" be at a lower level than a Supreme Being
and still be called a god? Depends on your definition, I would think.
Some religions do believe in a large number of gods, but, if I
understand it correctly, these are specialized gods, like the Romans and
Greeks had. One god may be in charge of agriculture, another in charge
of war, another in charge of the weather, etc. The gods then sort of
form a board of directors, with the Supreme Being the chairman of the
board or the CEO. So, the minor gods cannot be all powerful because if
they were, you wouldn't need more than one. That might be an argument
against multiple gods but, again, it would depend on your definition of
a "god."
As Christians, we don't need proof. We have God's Holy Word as revealed
in the Bible and in His Son.
Hope this helps at least a little bit. Maybe some other person on the
list can give you more help.
Chuck Vandergraaf