Everything Under the Moon

These posts from the other thread start an interesting discussion.

Ula wrote:I consider myself a Christian in that I believe Christ's message was of a enlightened person, with magick abilities who was trying to tell us that there is a creator who is both masculine (Father) and feminine (Holy Spirit or Sophia). No where does he say that any other gods/goddesses are false or not true. I don't know if the deities or various faiths are real beings or just archetypes. They are however examples for us to follow. I am still very unsure in the religion side of things. I am very much so a witch and that is totally separate from my religion.

stariebird11 wrote:Ula your comment reminded me of something I heard at church a long time ago. It talked about how God told them not to put other gods before him. Would that be a sign in the bible itself that there are infact other gods? I'm not sure. But like I said in my original post, I think the gods are connected to the Horned One, or God himself. Just a thought :)

Truthseeker wrote:God said not to have any other gods BEFORE Him/Her, is this not an indication in itself that there ARE other gods but we just are not to place them higher than God/dess nor to worship them? (My view)

The Judge wrote:Yes, it does appear to be a confirmation from the Bible that there are indeed multiple gods. But one must consider the time this book was written. With the prevailence of plytheistic religions in the area around them, they probably had to put something in there about it or people would just follow 2 religion.

They couldn't have that so they wrote that in. Just my opinion. Perhaps they were of the mind that these religions followed false gods and they were trying to point it out there.

We'll never know the truth of it but it is a theory. I think I contradicted myself there though. Such is the world of religious theory. Contradiction upon faith upon contradition. (thats not supposed to make sense if you were wondering, :) )

In Genesis 1:26 it states: Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all[b] the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Here according to Moses God refers to himself as Us. Some say this is God referring to the Trinity and that this refers to Christ reincarnate. It could also be taken to me as being polytheistic. That a group of gods/goddesses are present at creation. Other references by god as plural are Genesis 3:22, Genesis 11:7 and Isaiah 6:8.

Often god is referred to as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. To me this sounds more like I am chief god not [b]only[/b] god. One other example I have is from 1 Samuel 5 where the arc is taken to the temple and statue of Dagon. The statue is not destroyed but is found bowing at the arc.

If you read Gnostic text they imply that the Old Testament god is false and that the Most High is the god Christ talks about. That the Jewish god is just a regional god like any other.

I don't use the Bible to justify my beliefs per se. It is the main reason I left the Christian faith and set out to find an alternative. There is too much oppression and exclusion in the Bible for my taste. I do think it is as significant a tool for myth as any other pantheon. If you can believe all gods exist why would not the god or gods of the Bible?

You bring up a good point, but what of the Catholics. They follow the Bible but say that Christ is not a god, but is the messenger of god. A prophet, per se.

Edit: having re-read my post, I see that it isn't very helpful. I'll leave the body, comments removed.

I live in a very Catholic area and they all believe Christ is God. Not sure where you get your info from. Also I don't see why a priest of any kind need to be present to discuss anything at this board. If the topic is too heavy or too uninteresting that is one thing but do suggest those here can't talk about Jesus without a Priest is pretty dumb.

And I can recognize using smilies to be condescending.

That's not how the smilies were posted.

I see your point. I'm using the information I remember from years ago, so it's got a few holes in it.

Anyway, sorry about that. I was simply trying to be constructive. I'll leave you to it then.

Doesn't matter. Anything more than what color candle should I use and can I make this guy like me are really all that gets discussed here.

"If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you."
Deuteronomy 13 NIV

For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
Exodus 34:14

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exodus 20:3

It might just be me, but I've always gotten the impression the bible does not take kindly to the idea of following more than one god. Wether or not this is truth to others doesn't matter, but the scripture is pretty straightforward.

If I am intruding I do apologise but I thought I might offer some perspective.

Blessings

No, I take it that the bible's intent is to make others follow the bible through fear and I won't live in fear of a diety. I'd put my boot to his chest. :p Come what may. Soldiers being how they are.

Anyway, that's good evidence for supporting the existence of multiple gods from the bible. Granted there is the part about false prophets but all religions have that in there religious text somewhere.

Sorry, I'm a bit distracted at the moment. I'll think of more to add later.

All faiths are like that, the God of Christians is more jealous than other because he is an only child. But all Gods have their threats if you do not follow them. If I remember well, for Vikings changing Faith automatically put you in the realm of Hel, the goddess from which the word defining Christian hell came from, and I think hers was worse than ours.
Besides, quoting the Bible doesn't come to much, it was written by so many different people whose belief were just slightly different from one another and who skilfully contradict themselves at every other turn.
The Christian Faith comes from an ages where people were tired of the promise of earthly pleasure and needed something more true, more lasting. A heaven to which they could aspire, which they could deserve. Who says God is a man but men? For all we know, he could be a collective of Gods referring to themselves as 'I', the queen calls herself we, so...