In the 10 commandments, God says "thou shalt not have any other gods before me".?

Question

Does this mean there "ARE" other gods out there? That they are just to be considered lesser?

Geri...good point. Wonder why it wasn't worded that way in the first place. Could this theory be an assumption too?

Answer 1

For God to admit he is a jealous God, is a confession that there are others like him. The hebrew word for God is Elohim and this is a plural word, so the translation should read- GODS. Besides u cannot get jealous of anything less than yourself. Only what is equal to u or greater than u.

Peace

Answer 2

Yes, it is pretty clear that the God of the Israelites of the Old Testament was far from the universal god.

And any person who has actually read the Old Testament knows that any other answer is simply untrue.

+++How could the God of the Universe be so cruel and blood thirsty?+++

So the question then is how could the god of the Old Testament, the "jealous god", the "vengeful god" YHWH be so cruel and so petty?

How could a deity capable of creating all galaxies, all planets and all life seem at once to have such character faults?

+++What did Jesus think?+++

Jesus asked exactly the same questions and in fact provided specific answers.

Jesus founded the Nazarenes, also known as the gnostics.
http://one-faith-of-god.org/new_testament/apocrypha/nazarenes/nazarenes_0010.htm

Jesus believed the god of the old testament was not god, but satan, the ultimate deceiver pretending to be god.

This of course makes perfect sense, for any god that commands its followers to kill, has to be twisted and evil.

However, the Sadducee High Priests with Paul of Tarsus created the parasite religion called christianity to deceive even those who thought they follow Jesus.
http://one-faith-of-god.org/new_testament/apocrypha/founders_christianity/founders_christianity_0000.htm

So which god do you think the Vatican worships? The universe, or the "jealous god" of the Old Testament??

Answer 3

Friend, This is referring to false gods 1) in religion 2) in everyday life. We are not to put anything between us and the true God of creation. This includes the gods of other religions. A person's automobile can be a false god. Their money. Their fame. Their success. With some people, their minds and their false intellect are their god. You name it. A person who is seeking truly to serve God will seek to put these things in the proper place in life. Good luck. P.S. One more thing. The most powerful false god, apart from Satan himself, is the vanity of man. That part of the self that wants to be worshipped by other men. The Apostle Paul referred to this as "the old man."

Answer 4

Kind of.

The First Commandment forbids idolatry. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc.

In the lands that surrounded Israel, there were many who worshiped false gods including the Egyptians. Later the Jews had to deal with the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses worshiped by their Governors and occupying forces.

Today people put many things in front of God in their lives including money, status, self, power, etc.

With love in Christ.

Answer 5

There are pagan Gods. Remember your Greek and Roman Mythology. They had tons of them. Today some people still worship Diana. Some worship Outerspace aliens.

Answer 6

yes there are other Gods mentioned several times in the bible
so other Gods are acknowledged
what you make of this is up to you

edit
I do wonder
why if God meant money etc
the commandment doesnt read
thou shall not put material possesions before me

Answer 7

thats my understanding of it. i guess one would be able to build a shrine to a demi-god and worship it as long as you proclaim there is an almighty above it. or above anything for that matter. people seem to think that they dont worship other gods in thier life but they do everyday like money. they worship money but they also proclaim a God most high

Answer 8

Pretty much.

Read Genesis where God seems to be plural.

The stories were originally polytheistic and later partly edited to reflect the new monotheism.

Answer 9

Another way of saying it which also in the bible, is not to worship idol gods. Egyptians worshiped Anubis, Ra or whoever and that they were idols and they were not "God". God proved he was jealous and he used Moses to to prove he is the one and only God.

Answer 10

No. This commandment is meant to impress upon believers the fact that there are many things about which one may be tempted to place upon the pedestal of godhood and you are warned not to do so. For there is only one God and He is Him and that's that.