We associate truth with one, a whole. When something is not one, but fragmented, our skepticism rises immediately. Such is the case with religious denominations. No religion has one unanimous tradition.
- Hindus have Vedic traditions, Vedanta, the Bhakti movement, Shaivism, and more.
- Judaism has Orthodox, Conservative, Rabbinic, Hasidic branches, and more.
- Christianity has Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism, Oriental Orthodoxy, and more.
- Islam has Sunni, Shia, Sufism, Kharijites, Salafism, and more.
These examples describe some of the main branches of each religious tree. Although the branches are not complete, we have not even mentioned the schools within each branch, as if these are leaves per branch. It goes without saying that religious trees, branches, and leaves are living organisms that can emerge, flourish, and die.
Theological Complexity
The denominator for humans to turn toward belief is equally responsible for the existence of the fragmentations: our separating mind.
If anyone chooses Jesus as the son of God, or Mohammed as the prophet of God, we do base our choice on ideas, talk or religious texts. In all cases, we have our interpretation, from which we cannot exclude our mind. In fact, we use our separating mind from the very beginning:
- What do the passages tell us at first glance?
- What is the meaning of the words in their original language?
- How should the text be interpreted?
- How do the texts relate to each other?
- Do they contradict each other?
Especially with the question of ‘how we came to believe,’ we face texts of such complexity that our mind simply doesn’t understand the technical workings. We struggle with the interplay of our will, God’s will, our mind, God’s interference in our mind—in Christianity, the interference of the Holy Spirit, etc. And if we don’t understand the technical functioning of the world of the Gods inside us humans, how can we talk with certainty about concepts like ‘freedom of will’?
The Result
As a result (although the denominator for believers are often the central theses of a philosophy, or a belief, or a theory), when it comes to the interpretation of theological issues (or the technical functioning of reality), many theories emerge. I presume especially among scholars, theologians and philosophers, because they face the many possible answers of the hard questions.
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