I've been thinking about this for a while now and I've come to the conclusion that the concept of monotheism is not more valid than polytheism. Monotheism is an artefact of the Jewish religion. For some reason they distilled their divinity down to one multi-tasking God from the multitude available to them in the Mesopotamian and Egyptian region.
I therefore propose that just as there are many of everything in this universe there are also many gods and the Jewish religion did the world a disservice by promoting only one God who in the end never came through for them as did the Gods of the Egyptians the Greeks and the Romans.
Who's to say there is only one God?
by Spectrum 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Spectrum
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Shining One
How do you define the word 'God'? The Almighty one would not reside within creation itself )in eternity) nor be a part of that creation except for specific purposes in a limited frame of time.
If you mean by 'god', a higher order of life than human beings then that does indeed leave many options open but then we are viewing the types of beings in comparison. If they are not God Almighty, then they are of the created order. A person might view them as a 'god' simply because of the supernatural characteristics.
Even the ancient religions from the middle east spoke of a 'Most High God' as one called 'El'. Hence we have a name for God, El Shaddai and others that are more of a description of specific actions that he takes.
Polytheism cannot stand by itself, i.e., it needs a single, all powerful being empowering it.
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stillajwexelder
the bible itself says there are many gods
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Narkissos
With the old Deities hath it long since come to an end:- and verily, a good joyful Deity-end had they! They did not "begloom" themselves to death -- that do people fabricate! On the contrary, they laughed themselves to death once on a time!
That took place when the ungodliest utterance came from a God himself- the utterance: "There is but one God! Thou shalt have no other gods before me!" -- An old grim-beard of a God, a jealous one, forgot himself in such wise: -- And all the gods then laughed, and shook upon their thrones, and exclaimed: "Is it not just divinity that there are gods, but no God?" He that hath an ear let him hear.Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra.
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JH
Like Stilla said, the bible says that there are many gods, but it also says tht there is only one Almighty one.
Psalms 83: 18 That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah,
You alone are the Most High over all the earth. -
Spectrum
Shining One,
"How do you define the word 'God'? The Almighty one would not reside within creation itself )in eternity) nor be a part of that creation except for specific purposes in a limited frame of time."
My definition: Having the ability to make decisions independent of or at least co-decide with the others.
It's a good point that God would reside outside of his creation. You can assume one God from this if you assume one creation. But I don't assume one creation
The ancients fashioned their Gods according to their prevailing culture and societal norms of the day. Hierarchy was the order of the day within mesopotamian society and so they fashioned their gods in the same way.
"Polytheism cannot stand by itself, i.e., it needs a single, all powerful being empowering it."
Why?