Theism

OK, so you chose to look at the side that believes there is a God, somehow.  Theism is not as simple as it sounds.  It is not just the Jewish, Christian, or Muslim God.  Not all theists are correct but they at least start with the truth---mankind is not the supreme being in the universe, and that is not saying aliens are included.

1)  The Monotheist.  This person believes that there is only one God.  But you still have to believe that either then God is personal and intervenes or He is impersonal and allows you to discover universal truths on your own.  A personal God will hand down written texts for His followers to read and learn abut morals and philosophies.  An impersonal God is written about and the followers learn about life though each other.

2)  The Polytheist.  This person believes there is more than one God.  There are those that worship gods or pray to gods and rely upon a moral system that they feel takes them a better place in the end. And there are those who believe that gods are in the elements or can only be talked to with rituals called paganism.

3) The Moral Polytheist.  This group is somewhat of a mixture between humanism and theism.  They add a little bit of God in with the advancement of the human race by using moral codes.  One big issue they have is "what moral code" do they use?  So many over the years have fused with other beliefs and added a few gods and texts into their belief systems.  Moral polytheists have books but are written by philosophers who claim to have some enlightened idea.  Most of the writings have some background that tries to help the individual understand his surroundings.  Most of these were started with either folklore or traditions.  Most of these are a collection of the culture and added to certain texts.  Most of the time no one can pinpoint the origin, they can only be "dated back to" a time period. There are more that can be added to list but this page couldn't hold them all.

• Hindus, Confucianists, Shintoists and others that would take up too much room to add to the chart are basically religions from Asia and are some of the oldest ones known to man.

4)  Pagan polytheists if they have books are more like spell books or ritual books.  They do not have a list of how to live life.  They may have code of conducts or "standards" but they are not based on any traditions.  They will be added to as time passes.  They are highly structured in rites and ceremonies to achieve their higher plane of life.  Again there are more that can be added to this list.

• Animists use elements of the earth and believe the earth itself may perhaps be a god.  These are your tribal or African ethnic religions that have even traveled to the Americas such as voodoo and Rastafarian.
• Mythologists of course are those of long ago such as Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Norsemen.
• Neo would include those who believe in chants, spells, or "brotherhoods/sisterhoods" such as Wicca, New Age and so forth

5)  Impersonal Monotheists believe in a Supreme Being.  But they believe that they can either explain God through nature or experience.  They may use written texts that are already written.  They may expand on those texts by adding some human philosophy.  But they will always change the meaning of those texts to fit everyday life or think they are fixing a controversy or explaining why life is the way it is based on God and His relationship with man.

• Deist is a person who says that there is a God but He really doesn't intervene in human existence.  There is nothing "magical", miraculous, or supernatural events that happen or that can not be explained.  He created mankind, the universe, and all the natural laws that guide us and let us be.  This is very close to empiricism except for the Deist will accept the idea of God. All the happens still needs a logical explanation that fits into God's natural laws.
• Gnostic is a person that believes God and myth are very similar.  God is more poetic, analogical, or even imaginative if He is real.  Notice it is also close to being agnostic.  Religion and psychology can be one of the same.  One instead of reaching heaven with God can reach Gnosis.  If anyone understands that, then you have reached Gnosis.

6) Personal Monotheists believe in God and one that will talk, interact, and intervene on behalf of His people.  They have texts that are supposedly given to them by God Himself or through a certain messenger.  They will have prophets not philosophers.  They are well organized and ideologically inspired.  They are the movers and shakers of all the religions.  Why?  Because they are the closest to the truth.  They have more to fight for and that fight is based on their passion for their faith.  This is what gives them the worst names in religion.

• Muslims believe in Allah.  Yes, that is the name of God in Arabic but it will not be the same God as the Jews and Christians in the end.  Muhammad was his messenger.  They disagree on who should have become the successor of Muhammad.
• Jews believe in YHWH, the One True God, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Reformed Jews are considered liberal.  They want to become more modern without sacrificing the traditions.  Orthodox Jews believe in traditional Judaism and adhere to the Talmudic text as well as the Torah.  Messianic Jews believe in Jesus as the Messiah but keep to many of the Jewish roots.
• Christians believe Jesus is God and man, the Son of God, the Savior of all mankind.  Catholics believe in the authority of the Pope as God's representative.  Protestants do not.  Eastern Orthodox is very close to Catholicism but they also do not believe in the authority of the Pope. Pseudo Christians are those who call themselves Christian but veer from the true teachings of the Bible. Christian beliefs

The one and only choice to understand the full truth is to know that there is a God, a personal God, one that sent His Son to live like us and then gave up His life for us.  All else is a lie.

If you want more then click on these links:

Atheism
The Atheist