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Understanding the Concepts of God in different Religions
If ideas have like a certain force, then the concept of God is as powerful and massive an
idea as any. A shift in one’s notion about the divine shapes controls other ideas that govern his or
her life, such as, the ideas about power, freedom, politics, and time. Today, there is great
uncertainty about the idea of God. Our comprehension about the universe in the current times is
much more thorough than was the enlightenment of our ancestors that the concept of God they
based on their inadequate information are by no means sufficient to explain the universe. God, as
presented in various holy books and other influential sources of thought, is outside of nature and
thus beyond our domination. This paper will examine, specifically, the differing ideas of God in
two religions, namely, the Hebrews and Hinduism. Therefore, having a brief summary of these
two religions is important to have a clear picture of the focus of this informative essay.
The words Hebrews, Jews and Israelites all refer to the same people, the chosen nation in
the Old Testament. Each term seeks to emphasize a particular aspect of these people’s origin. In
Genesis 14:13, the writer of the Bible uses the term Hebrew for the first time to refer to
Abraham. Later, in Genesis 39: 14-17, it refers to Joseph. Furthermore, the scripture does not
give any specific reason why it refers to the nation that came from Abraham through Isaac and
Jacob as Hebrews. The term, however, does refer to this nation as descendants of Abraham.
Exodus 9:7 refers to this nation as Israelites. When the nation dividend, however, the ten
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northern tribes arrogated themselves the name Israel and the other two became the tribe of Judah.
Both the nations were taken captives; the Israelites by Assyrians and Jews by Babylonians.
However, once captivity ended, they returned to their homeland and united under the designation
of Israel. In light of this, Hebrew was the original name for whom we call Jews today.
On the other hand, Hinduism, a religion mostly practiced in India and Nepal, is the third
largest religion in the world after Christianity and Islam. Nevertheless, there exist many Hindus
outside India. Hinduism is a congregation of many traditions, closely related and with similar
themes, but lack a unified set of beliefs and practices. Additionally, it lacks a common scripture
and agreed set of teachings. Hinduism’s specific date of origin and its founder are unknown.
However, according to descriptions of modern Hinduism, it results from religious development
in India spanning over four thousand years, which makes it the oldest religion in existence.
Following diverse traditions within Hinduism, the idea of God also varies depending on
particular beliefs and practices of each community.
Concept of God in Hebrew
Hebrews arrived in Palestine from the desert as they pursued their nomadic lives.
According to their beliefs, God was a god of the nomads. He cared for them, fought their battles,
and protected their herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. In relation to their clansmen, they showed
responsibility but showed none to alien nations. (Heiser, 277) Particularly, this was a reflection
of the ideas they held about God. Before freight from Egypt, the concept of God remained vague
in minds but became clear following spiritual leaders’ teachings. Additionally, in understanding
Deity, man included all gods, then subordinated foreign gods to his or her tribal deity, and finally
secluded all these gods from that Supreme Being, The True God. In the same token, Hebrews
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synthesized all gods into their concept of the Lord God of Israel, who they called Yahweh.
Accordingly, they kept Yahweh for themselves and believed that each tribe had a separate god.
Consequently, their notion was, there were as many gods as there were nations.
According to Heiser (2009), Hebrews saw everyday operation of nature, for example,
rain, drought, and storms as part of Yahweh’s plan for the universe. Hebrews attributed
anomalies in nature to Yahweh claiming that they were the judgment to disobedient Israelites
and alien nations. In addition, these anomalies stressed the magnitude of the unexpected in nature
that depicted the great power of divine action. For example, the Plagues were judgments by
Yahweh against Pharaoh. Through these Plagues, Hebrews saw Yahweh mirrored in Nature.
Similarly, saving the Israelites from Egypt and creating dry land in the Red Sea were more
actions of wonder that proved Yahweh is superior to Egyptians’ gods.
Following the death of Moses, Hebrews’ enlarged concept of Yahweh rapidly reverted to
the desert idea of God, who used anomalies to punish them. In addition, after settling in the
Promised Land, a land full of milk and honey, this concept deteriorated further because they
came near to losing all notion of monotheism, they nearly lost the opportunity to become the
chosen nation. Conversely, Joshua took to uphold Moses’ concept of Yahweh as he wrote, “As I
was with Moses, so will I be with you”. Further writing depicted Yahweh as a “God of power,
judgment, and justice.
Concept of God according to Hebrew Scriptures
In the Hebrew Bible, Yahweh plays many roles and possesses diverse personalities.
According to Exodus 34:6, He is a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and with steadfast
love. However, He is also a vengeful God, which creates a conflicting notion. Yahweh has a real
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personality as the Hebrew bible depicts Him in nonphilosophical human terms. He experiences
anger, patience, jealousy, and love. In addition, physical imagery gives God a clear description.
Specifically, in Deuteronomy 26: 8, He delivered Israelites from Egypt with a “mighty hand and
an outstretched arm”. Equally important, Yahweh is accessible to humankind through prophets
and spiritual leaders. Despite the inability to have a one-way dialogue with Him, He listens to all
complaints. According to the Hebrew Bible, Yahweh has two attributes, namely, His creative
ability and His oneness. The Bible begins with the creation story where God creates heaven and
earth in six days. (Tasker, 33) God’s role as a creator plays a significant role, as it is in this
context that humans get the description of being in God’s image.
Concept of God in Hinduism
A perception exists that Hinduism is a polytheistic religion. Indeed, most Hindus would
authenticate this, by professing belief in many gods. While some Hindus believe in the existence
of only three gods, namely, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiv, some believe that God exists in a
thousand forms. However, educated Hindus, who have adequate knowledge of their scriptures,
insist that a Hindu should believe in only one God. (Badlani, 133) Nevertheless, a common belief
in Hinduism is the philosophy of Pantheism, which considers everything, whether living or nonliving, as Divine and Sacred. Therefore, the common Hindu considers everything as God and
thus worships them. Among the animals, most Hindus worship cows, monkeys and snakes.
Others even revere some human beings as manifestations of God. They make sculptures of these
gods and worship them.
Like all other religions, Hinduism states that God is merciful, kind and the giver of all
wealth. However, it believes in Avatarhood, God’s incarnations on earth, even outlining a long
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list of Vishnu’s incarnations. The Hindu trinity consists of Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the
Sustainer and Shiv the Destroyer. According to the Dasam Granth, a Sikh holy book, there are
24 incarnations of Vishnu. However, Hindus mention only ten but the most significant include
the Fish, the Tortoise, the Narsingh, and the Dwarf gods, Rama, Krishna, and Kalanki. From this
list, the most revered are Rama and Krishna.
Hindus consider God not just as a Supreme Being, who commands human beings to trend
according to His ways, but also as a personal God who individuals should worship out of love. In
addition, true Hinduism belief states that God is beyond any attribute of the form, color or shape,
despite many Hindus making numerous images to worship Him. Kapoor and Mohinder (2005)
refer to the attributeless God as Nirguna Brahman and the one with attributes as Saguna
Brahman. These forms avail a basis for Hindu worshippers to follow easily the otherwise
incomprehensible Supreme. Consequently, Hinduism supports both worships, as both Nirguna
Brahman and Saguna Brahman is ultimately the same God.
Nevertheless, a question may arise, “Does it mean that there is no evil force against
God?” In Hinduism, the concept of good and evil is at a lower level. There exist divines called
Devas, for example, the sun, the moon, and air, who protect and support the world. On the other
hand, demons referred to as Asuras disrupt these life support mechanisms. Conflict does occur
often between these forces but Hinduism epics detailed talks about them.
Concept of God according to Hindu Scriptures
According to Verna (2009), the Hindu Scriptures give a different concept of God. The
Bhagavad Gita, the most popular among all the Hindu Scriptures, separates the one True God
from other demigods. Pursuant to Bhagavad Gita 7:20, people who are materialistic worship
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demigods besides the one True God. In the same token, the Upanishads articulates that God is
the only one and there is no likeness of Him. In addition, the scriptures allude to the inability of
humans to imagine God in a distinct form. Conforming to the Vedas, the most sacred of all
Hindu scriptures, they echo a similar concept. The four principle Vedas include Rigveda,
Yajurveda, Samveda, and Atharvaveda. Particularly, Yajurveda 40:9 states that those who
worship sambhur, created things, sink deeper into darkness. The Atharvaveda praises God as a
verily being without any evil against Him.
However, Rigveda, the oldest of all the Vedas and the most sacred, gives the Almighty
God different attributes. Among these attributes, Brahma means The Creator, a god with four
heads with each having a crown. Vishnu is the second beautiful attribute of God as articulated in
Rigveda 1:3 as The Sustainer. (Verma, 55) He has four arms with one of the right arms holding a
Chakra and one of the left arms holding either a conch shell or riding a bird or lounging on a
snake’s crouch.
Conclusion
Conclusively, the concept of Yahweh has undergone an extensive development of all the
mortal propositions of God. Its continuous evolution compares wells with the rebirth of Buddha
idea amongst the Hindus of Asia, which led to the notion of the Universal Absolute, as the
concept of Yahweh finally led to the notion of Universal Father. Nevertheless, it is important to
note that, while the Hebrews changed their prospects from the tribal god of Mount Horeb to the
merciful and loving Father, His name remained unchanged, Yahweh. Consequently, the attribute
of Monotheism appears in both religions, which views that only one God exists. Additionally, it
views God as both immanent and transcendent.
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Polytheism is also common in both religions. In other words, it is a belief in more than one god.
Before Hebrews upheld the notion of the Universal Father, they believed in tribal gods
categorized according to each nation. Additionally, they had the God of the Desert and Yahweh.
Similarly, many Hindus worship multiple gods. Majority believes that God exists in three forms
while others believe He exists in a thousand forms. In the same token, they form animal imagery
of God, which they worship. In addition, having various incarnations of Vishnu supports
polytheism largely.
Finally, according to both religions God is the Creator and the Sustainer of the universe.
However, He depicts conflicting personalities. On one hand, He is merciful, gracious, kind,
loving, and the giver of all wealth. He provides for the Hebrews while in the desert, protected
them and their animals. On the other hand, God is jealous, shows anger, and uses forces of nature
to judge the disobedient humans. In addition, in Hinduism Trinity, Shiv is the Destroyer. In
summary, these two religions’ concepts of God depict great similarity.
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References
Badlani, Hiro G. Hinduism: Path of the Ancient Wisdom. New York: iUniverse, Inc, 2008. Print.
Heiser, Michael. "Monotheism, Polytheism, Monolatry, or Henotheism? Toward an Assessment
of Divine Plurality in the Hebrew Bible." Faculty Publications and Presentations (2008):
277.
Kapoor, S S, and Mohinder K. Kapoor. Hinduism: An Introduction : History, Scriptures, Prayers
and Philosophy. New Delhi: Hemkunt Publishers, 2005. Print.
Tasker, David R. Ancient Near Eastern Literature and the Hebrew Scriptures About the
Fatherhood of God. New York: P. Lang, 2004. Print.
Verma, Rajeev. Faith & Philosophy of Hinduism. Delhi, India: Kalpaz Publications, 2009. Print.