Quote from: Ian AbsentiaThis form of monotheism -- which clearly devolves into a functional polytheism -- could be deeply nuanced and intricately developed.

Nuanced? Intricate? Complex? Sure it is. No one doubts that. What's at issue is that Hinduism does not conform to the law of noncontradiction (that contradictory propositions can not both be true in the same sense at the same time) instead, the Hindu sensibility that the "truth" is the biggest most inclusive set of ideas as exemplified in the blind men and Elephant example. More blindmen = more truth.

If non-contradiction was in play, then the blind men would also say "There's this one guy who says the Elephant is fire, but since that doesn't make sense and he's phoning in his answers from 500 miles away... we're going to count him out because he contradicts what we know about the Elephant."

Both religions presume that the other is a subset of itself but for different reasons. Hinduism seems like a superset of Christianity because it can accommodate all of Christian religion whereas Christian belief is unable to accommodate even a small fraction of Hindu religion. Therefore, the reasoning goes, Hinduism is 'bigger' and contains more wisdom since all of Christianity can be contained within it.

Christians, on the other hand, believe that Hindu truth is a subset of Christian truth because we have the blind men who matter, and we're continually kicking the contradictory blind men to the curb. I mean, you wouldn't think much of a physicist who simultaneously believed every formula and hypothesis ever written eh? Much better to have the true formulas on the desktop and sweep the false ones into the round filing cabinet.

Quote from: RPGPunditWhat most RPG fantasy pantheons feel like is not polytheism at all, its some weird kind of "serial monotheism".

RPGPundit

Too true, Pundit!

-clash

For the sake of clarification,

Quote from: RPGPunditNo, sorry, I should clarify that I wasn't concerned with metaphysics of the actual game universe

^This is what I was talking about.^

Quotebut with religious systems in the game setting.

^This is what a number of other people were replying to me about.^

Apologies if it derailed the thread (but I hope it was helpful in its own way).

Quote from: Malleus ArianorumNuanced? Intricate? Complex? Sure it is. No one doubts that. What's at issue is that Hinduism does not conform to the law of noncontradiction (that contradictory propositions can not both be true in the same sense at the same time) instead, the Hindu sensibility that the "truth" is the biggest most inclusive set of ideas as exemplified in the blind men and Elephant example. More blindmen = more truth.

If non-contradiction was in play, then the blind men would also say "There's this one guy who says the Elephant is fire, but since that doesn't make sense and he's phoning in his answers from 500 miles away... we're going to count him out because he contradicts what we know about the Elephant."

Both religions presume that the other is a subset of itself but for different reasons. Hinduism seems like a superset of Christianity because it can accommodate all of Christian religion whereas Christian belief is unable to accommodate even a small fraction of Hindu religion. Therefore, the reasoning goes, Hinduism is 'bigger' and contains more wisdom since all of Christianity can be contained within it.

Christians, on the other hand, believe that Hindu truth is a subset of Christian truth because we have the blind men who matter, and we're continually kicking the contradictory blind men to the curb. I mean, you wouldn't think much of a physicist who simultaneously believed every formula and hypothesis ever written eh? Much better to have the true formulas on the desktop and sweep the false ones into the round filing cabinet.

Methinks you have seriously failed to understand the real meaning of that Elephant story.

The actual meaning of the Elephant story is all about how belief and clinging to belief negatively affects one's ability to experience Truth.

The various blind men each think they know what the Elephant is like because they have had some small experience, and then filled in the details with their own imaginations, based on their own notions and prejudices, instead of reality.  It is their unwillingness to admit that they don't know everything that leads them to these false understandings, and keeps them from Truth.

A man who can see, in the parable a metaphor for Enlightenment, does not need to speculate and fill in the blanks, he will not be lost in mental conjecture.
Religion is like the blind men, it takes bits of truth and stuffs them full of subjective notions; sometimes it can get closer, sometimes further, but in every case it is a poor substitute for Enlightened vision.

RPGPundit