Where does the Bible say all other gods are false?

Question

In response to this question: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylc=X3oDMTB1a2x0anY5BF9TAzIxMTU1MDA0NDMEc2VjA3BlZXBfZQRzbGsDcQ--?qid=20070809154254AAsKudi

A couple people commented that Christians insist everyone else's gods are false because "the Bible says so." So I am curious as to what specific verses say that.

I just did a search for "false" over on bible.com and couldn't find a single reference to false gods. Several false prophet references, a few false messiah references, and dozens and dozens of false witness references, but not a single verse about false gods. (which doesn't mean they aren't there...just that I couldn't find them in my relatively simple approach.)

Commands not to worship other gods DO NOT COUNT. "Not to be worshipped" and "do not exist" are entirely different claims.

Answer 1

Psalm 4:2 (New International Version)
"How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame [a] ?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?"

Psalm 40:4 (New International Version)
" Blessed is the man
who makes the LORD his trust,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods"

Jeremiah 13:25 (New International Version)
" This is your lot,
the portion I have decreed for you,"
declares the LORD,
"because you have forgotten me
and trusted in false gods."

Jeremiah 16:19 (New International Version)
"O LORD, my strength and my fortress,
my refuge in time of distress,
to you the nations will come
from the ends of the earth and say,
"Our fathers possessed nothing but false gods,
worthless idols that did them no good."

Amos 2:4 (New International Version)
This is what the LORD says:
"For three sins of Judah,
even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}.
Because they have rejected the law of the LORD
and have not kept his decrees,
because they have been led astray by false gods,
the gods [b] their ancestors followed,"

Psalm 4:2
How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame ? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods ? Selah

Psalm 40:4
Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.

Answer 2

Bible False Gods

Answer 3

Scripture is clear in this matter:

Act 19:26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:

2Ki 17:29 Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.

1Ch 16:26 For all the gods of the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

Jer 10:10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.
Jer 10:11 Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
Jer 10:12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
Jer 10:13 When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
Jer 10:14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

Among many, many, others, of which some have been quoted previously by others, which I saw no need to re-post. All of the supposed "gods" mentioned elsewhere, were idols created by men. Chunks of wood, stone, and metal, which were not alive, but were worshipped anyway.

Paul

Answer 4

As I've been trying to point out, those saying their bible calls other gods "false" don't know much about history OR their bible . . . in one translation it's "false," in another it's "foreign," but in all of them what's really being recorded is the evolution of the indigenous Hebraic religion from polytheism to henotheism to monotheism . . . which is WHY the contradictions occur; what is said in one phase of their beliefs will differ from what was said in another era.

All of this muddle could be well and truly sorted out by recognizing xianity for what it is---another ancient pagan religion---and studying the bible in a genuinely scholarly fashion, like any other cultural mythology is studied, instead of trying to shoehorn "inerrancy" and literal, word-for-word Truth™ into it and proceeding from there.

Keep in mind, I bear xianity no ill will, though there's any number of xians of whom I'm not terribly fond . . . I just happen to think far too many of them miss the boat on the beauty and wisdom of their own sacred texts, and need to stop pretending they're the only ones "in the room."

Answer 5

Wait - you first say where is "all other gods are false" and then you change it to "All other gods do not exist". Which is it?
(something can be false and still exist.)


Although the phrase "all other gods are false" may not be in the bible - and that would depend upon the certain translation that you use - certainly the principle is found again and again.

See 1 Corinthians 8:4
Jeremiah 10:11
Ps. 115:4
Isaiah 45:20
Isaiah 46:7
Jeremiah 16:20


god bless

Answer 6

Here is an interesting verse

Psalms 82:1 God standth in the congregation of the mighty, he judgeth among the gods.

Not only does this verse show there is more than one god BUT it also shows God is with them. Now can can later verses state that there is no other god when this verse says he is with them?

Answer 7

Then,we come to strange idea that other gods, aside from the Bible's deific star, exist, because, if they referenced in a manner that is not specifically condemning them and dismissing their reality, then he is acknowledging that they do exist, just subservient to himself. So, in that case, what is the Christian pantheon?

Answer 8

The only stricture on belief in god that's in the Bible is that the Jews that the god of Abraham rescued from slavery is supposed to be worshipped as the highest god by those he rescued.

Answer 9

There have always been many gods. The concept of a single god is quite recent. There were very good reasons why some people created this concept of one god. Politics and religions are really bedfellows.

One or many gods? They are the fiction of the human mind, created by man to subjugate the weak.

Answer 10

"False" does not mean the same as "do not exist"

False in the sense that it's meant concerning false gods means 'not the correct true one'.
So the verses that say you shouldn't worship 'other' gods applies
Try Exodus 20