"Thou Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me"

[loinburger]

You're missing the point, Rufus. Atheists!!! Talking about stuff!!!!!

[SlowwHand]

The funny thing about this answer, which I assume was directed at Che, is that (1) Che's answer is exactly right, and (2) I know very, very few Christians who would have answered as accurately.

1) I wasn't talking to Che particularly. You accept what you want.
2) Christians could be tired of debating atheists. I know I don't bother.
3) loinburger is an idiot.

[Imran Siddiqui]

And Slowwhand shows his massive ignorance with point (3)

Next he's going to try to call KH a moron, but that's ok because KH won't be able to read it

[Straybow]

That is exactly what they meant when first written. The ancient Hebrew for a long time tolerated the worship of multiple and local deities, as long as their national war god was preeminent. They moved more toward monotheism over a a period of centuries, a process not completed until their exile in Babylonia.

It its oldest face, that part of that "Word" (commandment) translates to "before my face", meaning the the physical symbols of other gods should be place behind his.

While the amazingly flexible, context-dependent language can literally mean this, whether that is the intent of the original text is dependent on how much the interpreter buys in to textual criticism.

One should ask the question: "What would it look like if all gods were powerless religious inventions except one true God, who variously punished the Israelites for their idolotry and delivered them when they called out to Him?"

But since that question leads the academically uninviting conclusion that God is real and philosophizing and theologizing is mostly pathetic self-aggrandizement, it doesn't make for a popular thesis topic.

[Felch]

I'm going to guess Confession, Mass etc.

Seeing as he included Shi'ites, it's likely he also includes veneration of saints, and religious hierarchies. The issue of saints really busts the balls of some people.

[Thoth]

Saints are wankers in disguise. Polytubbies are better people than most saints.

[JEELEN]

In view of the claim(s) that Judaism hath always been monotheistic:

"... it is still disputed whether God in the earlier parts of Genesis was one or many. Genesis 1:26 has been the subject of much contention: "And Elohim said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."[1] Such a verse suggests there were multiple entities involved in the creation of the earth. However, linguistic factors must be taken into consideration. Elohim is morphologically plural in Hebrew, but generally takes singular agreement when it refers to the God of Israel, and yet in this case the "our" and "us" seems to create a presumption of plurality. Whatever possibility of henotheistic or polytheistic intention this verse may suggest is certainly precluded by the contents of the rest of the Hebrew Bible. Throughout the book, in both events and teachings, the aforementioned idolaters and polytheists become the anathema of the ideal monotheistic Israelite religion. God is also quite clear as to where he stands in this regard. For example, when Moses returned with the Ten Commandments, the very first law stated, "you shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3). Monotheism, then, became the central tenet of the Jewish religion.

Many scholars argue that development of monotheism was important for creating a unified state of Israel in the Ancient Near East, where the high god El coexisted with many family, tribal and city gods. A key passage is found in a story in which God appears to Moses in a burning bush and says, "I am Yahweh. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty [El Shaddai], but by my name Yahweh I did not make myself known to them" (Exodus 6:2-3). Scholars believe that Yahweh was the god of Midian and the family of Moses' wife. This story argues that all Israelites really worshipped the same God, but were using different names. Therefore all the tribes of Israel could live together in religious peace. In some cases family gods were more like guardian angels watching over individuals and were prayed to as intercessors, not as gods. To the extent they were worshipped, this would have a form of henotheism.

This foundational focus on monotheism continues even today. Judaism claims that the Torah provides the clearest textual source for the introduction and further development of what is often called "ethical monotheism." This term entails two principles: first, that there is one God from whom emanates one morality for all humanity; and secondly, that God's primary request is that people act decently toward one another.[2]

Christianity

Christians believe in the one God of their Jewish origins, but nuance their monotheism with the doctrine of the Trinity. The classic Christian "three in one, one in three" formula was first developed by the theologian Tertullian at the beginning of the third century C.E. Christians generally profess that the one God is manifest in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit/Ghost. The Father is said to be the God the creator who has been present before time and during creation. The Son, Jesus, is said to be God the savior incarnate in human flesh, an affirmation of the absolute supreme being in real human life who makes possible the redemption of humanity. The Holy Spirit, meanwhile, is said to represent the ongoing revelation touching the hearts of human beings.

Despite the idea that these three seemingly different persons manifest themselves separately, the power of the one transcendent God is never diluted or mitigated by their manifestations. While the human perception of God's revelation may change, the one supreme reality of God never changes. Typically, Christian orthodoxy holds that these three persons are not independent but are instead homoousios (a Greek transliteration), meaning that they share the same essence or substance of divinity. However, critics have suggested that the Trinity in itself refers to three separate Gods and, as such, is a form of tritheism.

The theological intricacies of the Trinity have caused many debates, and spurred the development of some minority Christian denominations and sects that deny the idea of Trinity ..."

(http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/...aic_monotheism)

As concerns atheists being more objective that religious persons: atheism is the belief that no gods exist, whereas religious people believe that God or gods do exist. As there's nothing objective about either belief, it would be interesting to know why atheists would be more objective than theists.

[CrONoS]

As concerns atheists being more objective that religious persons: atheism is the belief that no gods exist, whereas religious people believe that God or gods do exist. As there's nothing objective about either belief, it would be interesting to know why atheists would be more objective than theists.

No you're not interested... believe me. This discussion have been held in this forum, and after 2 pages, it became boring.

People are usually much more interested in showing to others how they have the right answer, than truly searching for Truth.

Edit:
nah, forget it

[SlowwHand]

And Slowwhand shows his massive ignorance with point (3)

Next he's going to try to call KH a moron, but that's ok because KH won't be able to read it

Imran, this was in reference to the post before mine. For that post, he's an idiot.
You're not far from joining him.

[Zkribbler]

And is Zkrib an atheist?

No.

[Ben Kenobi]

What are they there for? Is God saying it's okay to worship other gods as long as they come "after Him," that is, as long as He's Number One?

It's in Exodus 20:2-3

I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

First commandment. YHWH identifies himself on Mount Sinai, as the same God who liberated the Israelites. This is important. It establishes the identity of God as YHWH, the God of Isaac, of Jacob and of Abraham.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

"Before me". In testimony to me. IE, YHWH sees all and knows all. To bow down and worship another god, is to have another god 'before me'.

[Ben Kenobi]

oh, no, forgot that accordingly to Ben, the bible is translated correctly to english

I said no such thing.

I said that the Rosetta stone translated the heiroglyphics into ancient Greek, and then were translated from ancient Greek into English.

I'm quite unsure as to where your misunderstanding has arisen.

[Ben Kenobi]

They were only allowed to worship this one, however. Later, they came to deny the existence of all other gods.

Are you claiming that Abraham, the father of the Israelites was a polytheist?

[Ben Kenobi]

If I remember correctly Judaism wasn't monotheistic

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.

Prior to that Yahweh was the esteemed local god

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

but other gods were still worshipped for their specific purviews (eg Yahweh was a warrior god, so the jews also had to worship a neighboring fertility god to ensure a good harvest)

Not in Judaism.

[Ben Kenobi]

Maybe, but if god got into a hissy fit back then and made a lot of noise, why don't he do it now where things are even worse ?

That's a good question. Israel is God's nation and his chosen people. Salvation has been extended to the gentiles by the sacrifice of Christ on his cross.

God has promised that he will return again in the last judgment of the world, but not before.