Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

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A fellow user, VIDEODROME, pointed out this commandment in another thread where the discussion was about Christian views/opinions on deities other than their own. In particular the bolded statement is striking. Clearly Jesus' dad did not want people honoring other gods. I suppose it is taken for granted that it means there "are no other gods". But then he goes on to the second bolded statement where he admits jealousy does play a part in his judgement of mortals; jealousy of other gods. He also seems to offer a pretty stark fate for several generations of those who worship other deities.

Belief does not require worship, however, so perhaps this interpretation is what helped allow many superstitious pre-Christian cultural traditions to continue in spite of the Abrahamaic mysticism prevalent for so long; mysticism that has no room for other sources of power or enlightenment, as evidenced by the words of Yahweh about his fellow gods.

So what do modern Christians think about the old gods and other gods? Is it a possibility that they exist or existed according to the mythology as you understand it? Or do you think even the consideration of this idea is blasphemy?

I understand scholars say that Judaism, at this stage, was a henotheist religion, i.e. they accepted that there were other Gods, but only worshipped one.

That's interesting. It seems such a concept could either result in tolerance of other religions or extreme contempt for them and especially their adherents for their "vincible ignorance"

I wonder if this is the biggest reason for the No Graven Image commandment.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Seems to support that other commandment by forbidding Icons or Idols from being sculpted as symbols of worship.

I wonder if the Catholics cleared this up to have statues of saints. I know they're adamant they don't "worship" the saints.

I've always wondered when the switch was made from henotheism to monotheism.

About modern Christian views of the ancient pagan gods:


Atleast some modern Fundies worry about "demons" luring us astray in the modern world, and one Australian book author writing about archeaology said thats what the gods of the ancients were.
So - I guess those Gods DID exist but they werent what they seemed- they were all agents of Satan- or something. Atleast in the view of modern Fundies.

( incidently the book was an answer to Van Daniken's "Chariots of the Gods" - the psuedoscientific bestseller about ancient ET's visiting our ancestors. The Australian author did a good job of debunking and showing how most of Van Daniken's books are drivel, But then he got crazy himself- "those creatures in myths werent ancient astronauts- they were demons!").

Whatever dude.


About when the change occured: the story starts around 2200 BC when Abraham is thought to have made the covenant. But most books ive read seemed to agree that he was contracting with one jealous God - out of many, and didnt think of Yaweh as the ONE god. There were many inferior rival dieties, but we cleave to our diety.

By AD 700 "there is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet" was the latest variation on Abraham's idea of monotheism.

Not a speck of ambiguity there.

By the end of Rome and the start of middle ages there was just one God- three rival religions worshipping him- but just one god

So somewhere between 2200 BC, and 700 AD the flip was made from "the god we pick out of many" to "the only god that exists" in the evolution of the JudeochristianMuslim tradition. Not sure when it was.

How Jesus and his Jewish neighbors concieved of it I dont know.

But interestingly: the Pharoah Iknaton- way back in 1500 BC- went through the whole 2900 year evolution in one flash of insight when he invented his heretical Egytian Monotheistic worship of the one god Aton.
He wrote a poem about how all of the gods not only of egypt but of other lands were all really manifestions of the Aton.

I've always found Atenism interesting. I've also wondered how old the Hindu belief that all gods are manifestations of Brahma is.

Not all Hindus believe that. Some Hindus teach that all Gods are manifestations of Shiva, Krishna, or Vishnu.

Well, the manifestations of the one, then.

It seems logical they would make that statement, that the old gods or whatnot were demons. Baal for instance seems particularly hated in their mythology despite being a god worshiped by probably millions of people. Though Baal is a pretty easy target, with the child sacrifice and all. Mars/Ares/etc might have evolved into arch angel concept as the embodiment of heavenly might. Hm, speaking of Satan. It often seems that Christianity is really ditheistic from what people say about Satan. He occupies a god-like place, as do the saints and other "heavenly beings". Though I'm certain Catholics and many other denominations would deny this.



I suppose it is possible the conflict with Islam, and Islam's uncompromising theism, ended up influencing Europe extensively. The crusaders brought back many ideas from the middle east. Crusades arose as a response to the Jihad imo. It was inevitable that the Christians would respond and be influenced by this sort of religious-panic/fervor (basically the same thing I guess) motivated social mobilization.



The Egyptian priest caste did not like that very much to say the least. I guess they weren't ready for that. I don't know why its such a big deal, really. One god, two gods, seventeen gods. Are people interested in truth, or tradition? That usually seems to be an easy question to answer unfortunately.

A religion I find interesting is Bahá'í. Their mythology is fairly inclusive of other deities as messengers of truth, all from the same source. How such a profoundly good concept is considered blasphemy to so many people in the world in regards to their own religion is something deeply wounding to the human species

Yes, sometimes. However, there is considerable diversity in Hinduism. Some Hindus only recognize their own particular God or Goddess, such as Shiva or Shakti.

What unites Hinduism is not its theologies (forms of "God talk"). What unites it is the Vedas, the body of religious scriptures.

I know. I just wanted to know where the particular monotheistic belief that some Hindus have comes from.

The belief that all the gods are God, comes mostly from Ramakrishna in the mid 18 hundreds.
Non-dualism is much older but is closer to pantheism "everything is God".
I personally don't like the poetry of radical ecumenicism I have a hard enough time buying that all Jews worship the same God let alone all religions.

Pantheism... that's when you really like pans, right

It is Latin dummy is means you believe Chimps are God.

Just to throw this out there, the Chasiddic translation of that passage states: "You shall not have the gods of others in My presence" which is interpreted as: (I'm cutting and pasting this) Heb. אֱלֹהִים אִחֵרִים, which are not gods, but that others have made them for gods over themselves. It is impossible to interpret this passage to mean: gods other than I, since it is a disgrace for Heaven to call them gods along with Him. Alternatively: strange gods, for they are strange to their worshippers. They cry out to them, but they do not answer them, and it appears as if it [the god] were a stranger, who never knew him [the worshipper]. — [from Mechilta]

I like the Chasiddic translations because they are uber anal and ultra specific when translating the original Hebrew.

Here's what they have instead of "jealousy:" You shall neither prostrate yourself before them nor worship them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a zealous God, Who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me

They describe God's zealous nature as basically, God will be seriously pissed if you worship idols. Jews see the golden calf as an example of this. God was gonna wipe out all the Israelites because of the golden calf, but Moses said that if you do that, leave my name off, I don't want to be part of it. (Jews are always arguing with God.)

Based on that and a whole lot of other things, for Jews, there are no other Gods. Why Jews can be cool with other religions is a whole nother story....but it is there.

How you guys all doing, I'm a new guy:)