Positive: superus -a -um, situated above, upper, higher.
Comparative: superior -ius, of place: higher, upper; of time: earlier, former, past: of rank: higher, greater.
Superlative: supremus -a -um, of place: highest, uppermost; of time or succession: last, final: of degree: highest, greatest; of rank: highest.
As you can see from the Latin above, the similar words in English haven’t changed in meaning very much over the centuries. For instance, supreme is defined as:
– highest in rank or authority; paramount; sovereign; chief.
– of the highest quality, degree, character, importance, etc.
– greatest, utmost, or extreme.
– last or final; ultimate.
Although sometimes we over-use the word or its derivatives, we’re always ranking things, places, ideas, values, scores, athletes, office-holders, and whatnot. But, no matter what we’re ranking, you can’t have more than one supreme at a time!
Sometimes we speak of God as the Supreme Being. That sort of presumes that on a scale or ranking of gods or divinities, there’s one on top!
Actually, in ancient times it was common among many peoples and in many places to worship multiple gods or divinities and to rank them. For example, for the Romans, the highest ranking, most powerful god was Jupiter. (That why the biggest planet in our solar system was named after him!)
When you study the Bible, you learn of the gradual development of monotheism—the realization that there is only one god.
Abraham and his immediate descendants worshiped and obeyed a god they thought of as their personal or family or tribal god. He was theirs and guided and protected them.
It was a long, slow development to arrive at the belief or realization that there is only one God and that no other gods exist at all.
Even so, still among monotheistic believers there are some lingering, sort of polytheistic attitudes.
For example, Jews, Christians, and Muslims all believe that there is only one God, the Supreme Being—and there can’t be three different Supreme Beings.
So, if all three are worshiping the one God, they are worshiping the same God.
If good Jews, Christians, and Muslims aspire to live on with God someday, they will be living together. If their destiny is to be living together, why have they treated each other so badly so often?
They are fellow creations of the one and same God, even though they may use different names for God, worship God in different ways, and have different customs.
And, of course, there are other religions and other ways of worshiping the one and same God, and the same applies to them.
We shouldn’t disparage worshiping the one and same God in different places or using different languages and practices.
We shouldn’t consider people who misunderstand or betray the teachings of the one and same God as though they were the truest and best exponents of the one God’s values and teachings.
We shouldn’t keep fighting over possession and control of parts of the one world, if we truly believe that the one and same God made it to be shared by all.
Above all, we should treat every other person as a brother or sister, created by the one and same God to live with us in the one and same world.
13 February 2022