Is every god (except the Creator) in the bible a false god?

Question

At John 1:1 some translations refer to Jesus as "a god".

Trinitarians argue that because there is only one true God, that this rendering of the verse would make Jesus a false god. If that rendering is true however, the question is whether ALL gods, other than THE God, in the bible are false?

tik_of_totg:

Wow, you are the only one (so far) who has read the whole question, understood what I was asking and actually answered it fully. Well done!

I think that some people are misunderstanding my question. I'm asking if the bible refers to other gods (not creators) in a GOOD way, that it, not referring to them all as FALSE gods.

I didn't use that scripture as proof of the trinity, but rather, I used it because (that translation, and a few others) refers to Jesus as A god.

Answer 1

1 Timothy 3:16
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Answer 2

John 1:1 say "In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God and the Word was a god."

The Word was a god NOT God.

There are many gods, Satan is also considered a god. Jesus Christ is considered a god. But they are not God.

Psalms 83:18 "...that men will know, you who's name is Jehovah, you alone is the most high over all the earth."

Answer 3

B4 I read the details.....
No, Jesus is a Mighty god.
A reflection of his Father & God,
the one true God, Jehovah.
Satan the Devil is real, an actual spirit person,
& he is called a god.
But this last one is a slanderer, & a manslayer,
and did not standfast in the truth.
Neither of the last 2 mentioned are:
the God,
Almighty God,
The Alpha and the Omega,
Ancient of Days, or
Jehovah.


edit:
sheyna,
yes, to ur Q @ the end.
I remember when I 1st realized that, myself.
It was kinda like: 'hey, umm, that's not right.'

Answer 4

If we should see, for example, someone being called the `TRUE prophet', that should mean that the person so described is TRULY a prophet. In either case this certainly does not have to mean that all other prophets must be FALSE. Even if it was said that this one was the "ONLY true Prophet," we would probably consider him the ONLY prophet in the HIGHEST of the word, but that still would not make ALL other prophets of God FALSE prophets.

For God to say that he is the TRUE God does not demand that ALL others called `god' or `gods' are FALSE gods as a few trinitarian apologists imply. The inspired scriptures when speaking of FAITHFUL angels, prophets, God-appointed judges, kings, and magistrates clearly calls them "gods" on occasion. These are called "gods" in the sense of faithful servants of God, representing the true God.

At John 17:1, 3 Jesus prays to the Father: "FATHER, .... this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." - New International Version (NIV). Here the Father ALONE is not only very clearly identified as the only true God, but Jesus Christ is again pointedly and specifically EXCLUDED from that identification ("AND Jesus Christ whom YOU [the only true God] have sent").

Notice how this respected trinitarian Bible has rendered John 17:1, 3 - "FATHER,....This is eternal life: to know thee WHO ALONE art truly God, AND Jesus Christ whom THOU hast sent." - New English Bible (NEB).

So, the title "the TRUE God" does not have to mean that there are no others who may be called "gods" or "a god" in a subordinate but righteous sense. It is, however, an EXCLUSIVE title for God, the Most High, only true God, Jehovah. And clearly it refers EXCLUSIVELY to the FATHER. No one else is the God or the True God. (Compare Ps. 86:10; 2 Kings 19:19; Is. 37:16.)" RDB

For much more, see:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JWquestions-and_answers/message/880

Answer 5

I believe there is only one true God, Jehovah, ( =God of Abraham ) and there is no other gods. Other gods are false gods.

I believe that in John 1:1 Word is God. ( see verse 14, and Word became flesh, that is Jesus ) )

Answer 6

No. Isa. 9:6 says that Jesus would be called Mighty God. John1:1 calls him "a god." At John 1:18, Jesus is called "only-begotten god." Imperfect human judges were also called "gods" BY Jehovah himself. 71 In Psalm 8:4, 5 David speaks prophetically of how the Word of God became flesh and David calls the angels of heaven elohím or “gods,” using the same word that occurs in Psalm 82:1, 6. The Authorized or King James Version reads: “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels; and hast crowned him with glory and honour.” Hebrews 2:6-9 applies those words to Jesus Christ, how in becoming flesh he “was made a little lower than the angels.” (AV) However, An American Translation renders Psalm 8:5 to read: “Yet thou hast made him but little lower than God.” The Book of Psalms, by S. T. Byington, translates it: “And you have made him little short of God.” Moffatt’s translation reads: “Yet thou hast made him little less than divine.”

The New World Translation reads: “You also proceeded to make him a little less than godlike ones.” Is this last translation a teaching of polytheism or the worship of many gods? Not at all! Why not? Because the Hebrew Scriptures actually contain these things and apply the title elohím or “gods” to men and to angels, and still those Hebrew Scriptures did not teach polytheism to the Jews.

Although Jesus, the obedient angels, and human judges are all called gods, what must be remembered is that they are not rivals to Jehovah and his sovereignty. We worship the same God that the Lord Jesus Christ worships, and that is the “one God, the Father.” This worship we render to him through the Son of God, our “one Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 8:6.

Answer 7

1Timothy 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

Greek w/Strong's numbers

For 1063 therefore 1519 5124 we 2872 0 both 2532 labour 2872 and 2532 suffer reproach 3679 , because 3754 we trust 1679 in 1909 the living 2198 God 2316, who 3739 is 2076 the Saviour 4990 of all 3956 men 444, specially 3122 of those that believe 4103.

Strong's
living 2198 - ζάω - zä'-ō - alive/living
God 2316 - θεός - the-o's - God
Saviour 4990 - σωτήρ - sō-tā'r - saviour/deliverer

Matthew 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Let us look at what God Almighty calls His family -
Hosea 1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

Furthermore let use look at another verse of prophesy -

Amos 5:5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

Bethel - one of two places that was set an alter to two golden calves, "Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt" (1 Kings 12: 28-33).

Did the religion in Bethel bring you up out of slavery? Will the religion of Bethel save you?

Answer 8

Yes every god except the YHVH God are false.


And Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord" Mark 12:29

But see, Jesus is God. God is a plural God. He is in many forms.


"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1

If you read that verse in Hebrew, there is a word in there (right after God) that does not get translated into English and it consists of two Hebrew letters. Aleph and Tav. Those are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. If one was to translate the verse literally and change Aleph and Tav to the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet it would be Alpha and Omega, therefor reading:

"In the beginning God, Alpha Omega, created the heavens and the earth."

"It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life." - Revelation 1:8

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." -John 1:1-3

The Word is the unreadable word in the first sentence in the bible. The word is Alpha Omega a.k.a. Yeshua (Jesus). So Jesus Is the creator, buddy.

Answer 9

The truth is that there is no true god. It is only the perception you have of the creator of the universe which to many people is something different based on where you are from. There are nations that can trace their civilization to times before the God of Christians and hard as it may be to accept, the fact remains that it is true.
What explanation does anyone have for that? They are demons? That kind of thinking is what caused the large scale genocide of millions of native americans who became hostile because they saw from those settlers the same thing they saw from the norse people centuries before. They do have a recorded history, so they do share this information. They are not savages like many people think so they thought never crosses their mind.
Even the Chinese have a flood story and it happened a lot longer before the Christian flood, so why do some Chinese become Christians.

The answer is fear.

Answer 10

God is one as said in deut :4 and in mark 12:29 "hear o isreal the lord our god ,the lord is one.
PLESE READ THIS CAREFULLY WITHOUT BEING BAISED U WILL SURELY FIND THE ANSWER.
1. GOD: Qualities ill-befitting God— (a) A hissing God (?) ISAIAH 5:26, 7: 18, ZECHARIA 10:8 (b) A "roaring" God (?) ISAIAH 42:13, JEREMIAH 25:30 (c) A "barber" God (?) ISAIAH 7:20 (d) A "penitent" God (?) JEREMIAH 15:6, GENESIS 6:6 (e) A God "riding" a cherub (?) 2 SAMUEL 22:11 (f) A God murders 50,070 for looking into a box (?) SAMUEL 6:19 GOD WITH A SMALL "g": In Arabic, Hebrew and Greek there is no differentiation between a capital "G" for God, and a small "g" for god, as in the languages of the Western countries today; yet the Christians have played fast and loose when translating the Bible i.e.
(a) " In whom the god (the Devil) of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not "2 Cor 4:4 (b) "And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. " Exodus 7:1 Compare the above with JOHN 1:1, where the Christians have used capital "G"'s and "W"'s when referring to Jesus.

2. GOD: His contradictory attributes— (a) "No man hath seen God at any time John 1: 18 (b) " (God) whom no man hath seen, nor can see .,."I TIMOTHY 6:16 (c) "And he (God) said, Thou canst see my face: for there shall no man see me, and 1ive. EXODUS 33:20
Contradicted by: (a) "And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend Exodus 33:11 (b) 'And they (Moses, Aaron and seventy others) saw the God of Israel . ." EXODUS 24:10 (c) "And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved GENESIS 32:30
And as a special favour God shows his back parts to Moses "And I (God) will take away my hand and thou shalt see my back parts . . . " EXODUS 33:23

3.GOD: Is not a fabricator of confusion— (a) "For God is NOT the author of confusion . ." I CORINTHIANS 14:33 Contradicted by". (b) " . . I make peace, and CREATE EVIL . . ." ISAIAH 45:7 (by But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and AN EVIL SPIRIT from the Lord troubled him. I SAMUEL 16:14 (c) "And for this cause God shall send them a strong delusion, that they should BELIEVE A LIE." 2 THESSALONIANS 2:1 1

4. GOD: Further contradictory qualities— (a) GOD AS AN OMNIPOTENT BEING: "And Jesus saith . for with God ALL THINGS are possible MARK 10:27, also MATTHEW 19:26 Contradicted by. "And the Lord was with Judah, and he drove out the inhabitants of the mountain, but COULD NOT drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had Chariots OF IRON." JUDGES 1:19 (b) GOD'S ANGER ABIDETH FOR A MINUTE: For his (God's) anger endureth but a MOMENT." PSALMS 30:5 . Contradicted by: " And the lord's anger was kindled against Israel and he made them (the Jews) wander in the wilderness FORTY YEARS..." NUMBERS 32:13 (c) GOD DOES NOT SHOW ANY SELF-REPROACH: "God is not a mar, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent . . ." NUMBERS 23:19 Contradicted by. " . . and the Lord REPENTED that he made Saul king over Israel " SAMUEL 15:35 Also: ; And the Lord REPENTED of the evil which he thought to do unto his people (Israel)" EXODUS 32:14 (d) GOD'S MERCY ENDURETH FOR EVER "For the Lord is good; and his mercy is Everlasting." PSALMS 100:5 Contradicted by: "I (God) remember that which Amalek did to Israel (four hundred years before) . . . Now go and smite Amalek and UTTERLY DESTROY ALL they have, and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling ox and sheep, camel and *** (the donkey) I SAMUEL 15:3 (e) GOD DWELLS IN LIGHT: " . . (God) dwelling in the LIGHT which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see . . " 1 TIMOTHY 6:16 Contradicted by: "Then spake Solomon, the Lord said that he would dwell in the Thick Darkness." 1 Kings 8:12 (f) GOD DOES NOT ENTICE MAN: 'Let no man say he is tempted, I am TEMPTED of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, NEITHER TEMPTETH he any man" JAMES 1:13 Contradicted by: 'And it came to pass after these things, that God DID TEMPT Abraham . " GENESIS 22:1
JESUS (pbuh) A "GOD"?: Powerless (a) "I can of mine own self W NOTHING . . ." JOHN 5:30
HE HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE HEREAFTER (b) "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, NEITHER THE SON, but the Father " MARK 13:32 HE WAS IGNORANT OF THE SEASONS (c) 'And seeing a fig tree afar of having leaves, he came if happily he might find any thing there on. and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, FOR THE TIME OF FIGS WAS NOT YET." MARK 11:13

Answer 11

One God: three personages. Go to this website. It gives a good explanation. http://www.biblicalanswers.net/trinity.html

Well, now that I have so many boos..lol I have to add.
I know that verse you are referring too can be confusing. John is the Gospel that proclaims Jesus as deity. Jesus in this reference is not "a" god but "the" God.

As far as other gods...no they are false. They are not referred to as deity in the same way that the Father, Son and Spirit are proclaimed. I am sorry for the misunderstanding. The other gods and idols that were praised are highly regarded by the people who worshiped them in the Bible. However, they are never mentioned as good. Most of the time these gods are the ones that required sacrifices of children and other "vulgar" acts. I hope this helps more.