Whose God are you worshipping??

by Crazyguy 18 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Crazyguy

  In the early writings of the bible it’s mentioned that the Israelites worshiped false gods, gods of the stars and other celestial bodies. Ezekiel even bloviates against this in his writings and King Josiah is said to have abolish these practices. Jeremiah mentions that God would even destroy the city were sun worship was being practiced a place called BethShemesh in Egypt. (Jer.43:13)

  But did every writer of the bible agree or believe that this god Jehovah was distinct from any sun god? Well it’s interesting to read at Psalms 84:11 that god is referred to as a Sun. Also Hosea seems to believe that the god he is worshipping is actually a god from Egypt for at Hosea 12:9 and 13:4 in the older bible translations like the KJV, these verses stated god is from Egypt. At Malachi 4:2 it even says that god is a Sun god with wings. What?? It’s of note that the city of BethShemesh is also none as O’n, Annu and in Greek, Heliopolis and this is where the Sun god with wings Amen-Ra was worshipped. Its also worth mentioning that Solomon’s Temple is described as facing east towards the rising sun (Ezekiel 8:16).

  I found it very interesting that a 1st century writer by the name Diodorus Siculus stated that the Jewish god was Iao. So who was Iao, well he was none other than Helios the Greeks version of the sun god. Now can this guy Siculus be taken seriously, most Christian apologists will refute his writing on this subject, but in 1929 in Israel not far from Jerusalem they found a Jewish/Christian synagogue called Beth Alpha. This Synagogue was believed to be built in the 6th century AD. On the floor was three mosaics the center one was the Zodiac and in the center was a drawing of none other than the Greek god of the Sun, Helios. Then in 1948 they found the Dead Sea scrolls and on one of the documents was the name Iao.

  So I ask again,, whose god are you worshipping?
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  freemindfade

  Excellent thoughts, I too often feel the jw.cult idea of (2+2=5) god is not true to the bible. They present him as consistent throughout, however this is not true in many ways. In the pagan world there is repetition and duplication of gods and ideas, but jwdom states that this is satan trying to confuse the matter and god has always been consistent. simpletons! history and archeology show otherwise. And if satan was trying to confuse the matter, in my book, god would have let him do waaayyyyy to good of a job
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  Crazyguy

  I need to state that Siculus was not a first century writer he was alive before 0 and up to about 60 ce.
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  Crazyguy

  Freemindfade, I have come to the conclusion that the writers of the Bible weren't necessarily talking about the same God and the Jews were never really monotheistic.
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  freemindfade

  CrazyGuy

  me too. If you read the OT the majority of the time they were involved in pagan worship. Just because some people condemned it who cares. Egyptians invented monotheism first. Hebrews took ideas from everyone. Including them.

  Also the bible says they fought with the Canaanites, history says they were canaanites
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  Crazyguy

  Update on this subject, another early 2nd century theologian named Melito of Sardis also stated the god of the Jews was Helios.
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  Crazyguy

  Another update I noticed in the bible at Nehemiah 8:17 that Joshua's father was named Nun. Well no big deal right, except that the father of Amen-Ra was the God Nun. Wasn't Jesus name in Aramaic also Joshua?

  Revelation 3:14

  14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

  These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.

  Amen who?

  And they call me Crazy!
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  CalebInFloroda

  You might want to look at some of these verses from a more critical text than the KJV or at least slow down before jumping to these conclusions which actually have a basis in Christian Fundamentalist groups that have an anti-Semitic agenda than actual critical analysis and archeological history.

  First off the Jews recognize far more about their idolatrous beginnings than you realize we do. You may want to watch the PBS documentary series "The Story of the Jews" by British historian Simon Shama. If these are your current beliefs about Jews that you posted above, you will be shocked to learn what history and archeology really shows...and it isn't the story Christians learn in Sunday school or the type of story Cecil B. deMille whitewashed for Hollywood.

  You may want to abandon your KJV Bibles or any Old Testament translated by Gentiles and take up a few Hebrew classes at your local synagogue. Conservative and Reform Jews are open to everyone, and some Orthodox communities might be more welcoming than you think to educate people in the own language. Hebrew isn't hard. Why rely on scholars when you can read the text for yourselves?

  If you don't want to learn a new language, then why not try the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures) translation by the JPS (Jewish Publication Society) and thus get as accurate a translation in English as possible? The NJPS is in modern English, and I highly recommend the CJPS for those who have never experienced how Jews culturally read Scripture (CJPS is The Contemporary Torah: A Gender-Sensitive Adaptation of the NJPS).

  Jews acknowledge that the Scriptures offer a more polished mythology of our own religion's beginning than what really happened. But these details above are very off. Why not learn the real ones instead? It would still show we were quite polytheistic up until the time of the David dynasty (and a little bit afterwards too). I am just letting you know that the details above are not the facts, even though the general idea is not too far from the historical truth.
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  Crazyguy

  I'm totally willing to learn the facts and the real truth as was really written. The thing is that there's a conspiracy to cover up the real writing I believe as well as mistraslations etc. One example is the early writing of Genesis it says 'God created the heavens and the earth'. Well the accurate translation is 'the gods created the sky and the earth'. Anyway my first post about early historians reporting that the Jews worshiped Helios, I stand by this and you can verify yourself, but yes when it comes to the Bible many things are written incorrectly.
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  CalebInFloroda

  We Jews worshipped a lot of pagan gods in our history, but Helios was not one of them.

  Helios was invented in the 4th century BCE. The false gods my people worshipped were much older, of the Mesopotamian basin, and similar if not identical to the Canaan gods later rejected by the time of the First Temple. Helios was developed by the Greeks, a civilization that was still scratching its butt theologically when we Jews were developing the cult that would later become worship of YHWH. They weren't too far behind, no, but your claim is just slightly off, an anachronism. I have a feeling you might not believe me even if I took you to a museum and showed you the differences between the gods that Jews worshipped and how late Helios was on the world scene by comparison. Your intentions are correct, but the god you are mentioning isn't.

  As for the other comment....That's why I say you should learn Hebrew.

  If you did you would know that the verse you are mentioning, Bereshit (Genesis) 1.1 reads: BERESHIT BARA ELOHIM ET HASAMAYIM WE'ET HARAETZ.

  In English that is: "When G-d created heaven and earth..."

  In Hebrew ELOHIM in reference to HaShem doesn't mean "gods" anymore than the masculine pronoun "he" means that HaShem should be referred to as "he" or in the masculine. I speak Hebrew daily, and use the word ELOHIM all the time. There are definitive rules that some Gentiles tend to ignore and think they know better of than we native speakers of our own language who claim similar to what you just stated, but it isn't correct.

  I even use ELOHIM and ELOHEYNU constantly in speech and prayer, and it refers to a singular G-d in reference to YHWH due to the cultural etymology that the syntax is built upon. That's why I say you should learn Hebrew.