"Thou Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me"

[Ben Kenobi]

If somebody's only source for religious history is a (inerrant?) bible then the only conclusion that can be drawn is that the jews were always monotheists. History is written by the winners, and monotheism won.

Then I would be interested in the source of your assertion that they were not monotheists. I seriously doubt that it dates back earlier then several hundred years.

I've provided a source which says otherwise. Kindly do the same.

[Ben Kenobi]

The ancient Hebrew for a long time tolerated the worship of multiple and local deities, as long as their national war god was preeminent.

There's no evidence for such in scripture. The peoples of Canaan, (Philistines et al), had their own gods, but the Israelites were devoted to their one God, YHWH, and him alone from the time of Abraham.

The account of exodus dates back before the return of Israel to the promised land, and there the ten commandments were given, which certainly do not tolerate the worship of gods other then YHWH. This is long before the babylonian exile, and the destruction of the first temple.

They moved more toward monotheism over a a period of centuries, a process not completed until their exile in Babylonia.

According to whom?

[Ben Kenobi]

Many scholars argue that

That is supposed to be a source?

[Ben Kenobi]

And Slowwhand shows his massive ignorance with point (3)

Loinburger is many things, but a theologian, he is not.

[KrazyHorse]

Old August 3, 2009, 01:22
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[Drake Tungsten]

I was almost tempted to see what caused Ben to post 40 times in a row. Almost.

[Drake Tungsten]

As for the thread topic, the Jews would have been better off worshipping Gozer than the He Who Shall Not Be Named.

[KrazyHorse]

I would join a church of Gozer.

[Drake Tungsten]

Your knowledge of engineering, metallurgy and physics would be invaluable in the construction of the building needed to bring about the end of the world.

[Ben Kenobi]

Drake, KH, I was summoned to the thread, and so I replied.

[Thue]

In the Danish bible the formulation is "no other gods than me".

[JEELEN]

There's no evidence for such in scripture. The peoples of Canaan, (Philistines et al), had their own gods, but the Israelites were devoted to their one God, YHWH, and him alone from the time of Abraham.

The account of exodus dates back before the return of Israel to the promised land, and there the ten commandments were given, which certainly do not tolerate the worship of gods other then YHWH. This is long before the babylonian exile, and the destruction of the first temple.

Actually there are several indications of polytheism in the bible texts, simply because Judaism as a unified religion didn't crystallize until well after Jesus' time. See also below.

While it is true that many of the children of Israel apostatised and worshipped the great calf and other gods, it's not true that Judaism was polytheistic.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all worshipped the same God, YHWH, and Judaism is very clear on this that there is only one God.



No, as the above shows. Exodus is part of the pentateuch and was written by Moses.

Today Judaism may be quite clear on the issue of monotheism, yes. The Pentateuch - commonly known as 'The Five Books of Moses' were actually written by several identifiable authors, none of them Moses; they weren't written until about the time of the Babylonian exile.

[MikeH]

I failed to get this statement into the new Poly moderation rules, about myself.

[loinburger]

Then I would be interested in the source of your assertion that they were not monotheists. I seriously doubt that it dates back earlier then several hundred years.

I've provided a source which says otherwise. Kindly do the same.

I cited my source in the same post that I made said assertion, you dumbass. And are you saying that all modern scholarship is worthless? Should people stop doing biblical research since they have no hope of convincing morons who believe that the bible is inerrant? "Welp, I was going to research which of the many biblical authors said what, and what scriptures were ultimately removed from the bible and when/why they were removed, and which biblical claims were supported or refuted by archaeological evidence, and which biblical scriptures coincide with those of neighboring religions, but alas, I wasn't born several hundred years ago so Ben won't listen to me "

[rah]

Yes there is no reason to ever think again because BEN has spoken the ultimate truth. Idiot.