Did that title catch your attention?  You know why it did, don't you?  It caught your attention because of the bold title, "The One True God."  Likely there is a little part of you that is saying, "The one true God, eh?  We'll see about that!  He can't say there is only one true god."

Maybe.

The story is told of four blind men who were taken to an elephant to touch it and tell what it is like.  One touched the leg and said, "Ah...an elephant is like a tree."  Another touched the side and said, "No, an elephent is like a great wall."  Another touched the trunk and said, "No, an elephant is like a large snake."  Still the fourth touched the tail and said, "You are all wrong.  An elephant is like a rope."

 The story (in its various forms) is told to illustrate the fact that all of us are blind to what God is really like.  We each have our perspectives and nobody is really wrong, just different; we are all touching a part of God, and if we were to all put our perspectives together--finding the commonalities and discarding the differences--we would come up with what the one true god is like (provided we are monotheistic).

Absurd.

The story only illustrates that it takes a sighted one to bring the blind to the real thing and clarify things for them.  Furthermore, if all of us are blind, who is the sighted one?  Surely not the ones telling the tale, otherwise they are claiming they can see clearly and so contradict the very point they are trying to make.  They also fall under the condemnation of the Proverb that says, "Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?  There is more hope for a fool than for him."  Even secular philosophers say, "There are the foolish who think they are wise and the wise who know they are fools."

Maybe this tale has a grain of truth, but the people are eating the leaves--not the grain.

Two strangers were discussing their girlfriends with each other.  "So what is she like," asked the first.  "Oh, man, she is SO beautiful!  She has a perfect figure, dresses well, smells nice..."  "Wow," said the other, "mine is like that, too!  What does she look like?"  "Well, she has long, dark hair; smooth to touch; a balanced make-up: not too much, not too little."  "What a coincidence!  My Candace is just like that, too!"  "Oh really?!  Candace?!  That's my girl's name, too!"  "Wow!  What are the chances?"  There was an odd pause.  The second man said, "Uh...my Candace is the quiet type."  Another odd pause.  "S-s-so is...uh...my Candace."  "My Candace works over at the department store here."  "You know, maybe we should go and meet...uh...Candace."  "Yeah, let's do that."  So the two men headed off towards the department store.  They walked into the women's section and the second man smiled and said, "There she is," and waved.  "Who? You mean that girl at the cashier's desk?  She's blonde!"  "No, man...the girl standing on the platform!"  "What girl?"  "HER," he exclaimed, pointing at..."THAT'S A MANNEQUIN!!!"  "SHHH!!!  He didn't mean that, sweetheart.  You're for real and our love is real."  Just then a security officer walked up to the two and said to the second man, "Sir, you'll need to leave.  We don't want you creating a scene like last time."  The first man began cracking up.  "Oh, man!  Your Candace...is a...*ha-ha*...a mannequin!"

It is true enough that though one entity can have many different and paradoxical features it can still be one and the same thing.  Equally true, however, is the fact that equal features do not equal one and the same thing.  And the differences are not always negligable, but often times essential.

Why are there so many religions--really, so many gods?  I think it has to do with the fact that many people can't deal with the fact that God is one way and not another.  And so they end up creating their own god or gods and end up in Voltaire's headlock: "God created man in his own image," he said, "and man returned the favor."

So who is this one true god?  However we conceive of him (all of creation is female by contrast, but that's another thread), he is who he is.

Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?'  Then what shall I tell them?"

God said to Moses, "I am who I am."