The first commandment.
What other gods is he referring to? Obviously he is acknowledging the existence of other gods.
The biblical god is saying it is ok to worship zeus IF you put me first.
2007-06-17 11:22:39 · 36 answers · asked by Gorgeoustxwoman2013 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Indeed. I pointed this out to a Christian once and got the whole "he means false gods" rant, but that interpretation makes the second commandment redundant.
I like his rationale about the first commandment though, claiming that it has to be that way because he's a jealous god. Kind of makes you wonder how he can be considered perfect if he is a sinner (envy being one of the seven deadly sins and all)...
2007-06-17 11:29:52 · answer #1 · answered by Dazcha 5 · 3⤊ 3⤋
This commandment is the perfect evidence that the Bible was written by humans and not by any god or even dictated by any god. Only from a very limited human perspective would humans believe that other gods existed besides their own. It is modern Christian teaching that the god of the Bible is the only ONE real God. The rest are just human made gods. Only ancient humans would think that other gods existed to have a need for an edict against false gods. If the Bible were 'inspired' or 'dictated' by the only real god that existed then that god would simply announce their singleness as the only god and leave it at that knowing that the worship of anything else is simply due to ignorance.
2007-06-17 12:04:48 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
> What other gods is he referring to?
There were other gods mentioned in the Old Testament -- the gods of Egypt, Ba'al, Asherah, and a few others. They appeared to have real power, i.e. turning a staff into a snake. Moses (and later prophets) recount that the god of Israel was more powerful than these other guys.
Today, fundies will tell you that the other gods were either fallen angels, or powered by fallen angels.
> The biblical god is saying it is ok to worship zeus IF you put me first.
Wrong. This is a "me only" kind of statement.
2007-06-17 11:53:35 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't see why there can't be "other gods." But they may all be alternate names for one another, you know. Monotheistic God and polytheistic Zeus & Co. may be like facets of a shape -- different incarnations of the same thing, almost. O different representations, or different perspectives on the same thing.
I think that what it means is that there are other gods, and you can acknowledge them as gods and maybe pray to them if they are more sutied to help you, as long as you bear in mind that they are still the same as God, and not separate. That way you won't be intentionally betraying God which would be like betraying all the gods and that's bad.
I am NOT trying to convince anyone. That's just what I think, and that is how I live my life. To me, all religions are facets of a higher truth, and therefore must be respected as such, all equally.
2007-06-17 18:38:36 · answer #4 · answered by Mysterious Bob 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, Zeus was in a different neighbourhood, but that was the original idea. The early Hebrew saw their gods as one of many. Did you know that the word elohim is plural? There's definitely an awareness of other peoples and other gods in the texts. A few are mentioned by name.
Canaan was a crowded place.
2007-06-17 12:00:09 · answer #5 · answered by The angels have the phone box. 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That’s true. Man has always made false gods. An old adage says, "God created man in His own image, and man has been returning the favor ever since." Hindus have millions of gods. Sometimes gods are made of wood or stone, other times man makes up a god in his mind. Whatever the case, making a god to suit yourself is called "idolatry," and is a transgression of both the First and Second of the Ten Commandments.
2007-06-17 11:29:21 · answer #6 · answered by Jason M 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
There are plenty of other gods. Not only the famous ones, the pagan variey, but ones that go by the name money, posessions, idols, etc. When one worships, they give their time, money and general devotion to whatever it is. I remember a friend who had a motorcycle once. He spent time with his bike, he spent time and money on his bike and this even more than his family, at times. After he got saved, he began to realize that there were other things he was putting before God. Jesus said, "You cannot serve God and mammon (money)." It is also written, "You cannot serve two masters." So, here it is in the New Testament the very same idea that there shall be no other god before the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The idea is clear, to me, that it is not OK to worship other gods, because worship places something higher than others. Jehovah God and Him alone is worthy of worship. After all, He created everything and it is not right to worship the creation above the Creator.
2016-05-18 00:40:36 · answer #7 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I love beautiful Lord Krsna because the Veda's say He is the Supreme God! His other expansions and demigods come from Him--He is a sweet loving cowherd boy and He never gets jealous -He lets everyone do or worship as they wish--He is all about love--thats why we are all here in this world-we wanted to turn our attention to our own selfish interests and He lets us do that-He comes to earth now and then -like once in a trillion years-- to attract our attention back to Him-but He is a loving person-at the same time He is the Supreme all powerful -maby the bible said it like that because that God might be the god we call Yama which in our Vedic scriptures is a powerful demigod in charge of punishing the sinners-- So he is strict because he dosnt want people to do bad things-kinda like a strict father-
2007-06-17 14:17:44 · answer #8 · answered by mata 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Or it could be saying that there have been no other Gods before Him, that He is the first and only and that anything worshiped other than God Himself came after Him and most likely created by mankind.
2007-06-17 11:34:46 · answer #9 · answered by Ahmad H 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Who did he give this too? Moses. Where did Moses and the people of Isreal just come from? Egypt.
Egypt had a huge number of man-made gods that God was speaking too along with any other thing that you would use in your life to take God's place. But God isn't saying that there are other Gods like him. Just man made gods with no power.
2007-06-17 11:38:39 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
that's not really true. God's not saying, "I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no other gods before me, but go ahead and have them after me". He's saying that it's wrong to worship other beings or things as gods, in other words making something or someone into a false god to put in His place.
hope this answered your question, and God bless you.
2007-06-17 11:33:33 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋