One aspect of Christianity that I have always found to be at odds with their own holy book is the belief that there is no other God but Jehovah. In the Book of Genesis, there is more than one passage in which God supposedly uses the pronoun, we. As I hope all of us remember from our earliest classes of English composition, we denotes two or more.
This same issue raises its head again in Psalm 82. The very first verse reads as follows:
For those who interpret the Bible literally, I don't see another way to interpret this line other than what it states in a straightforward manner. This passage does not say among the people or among the angels; it says AMONG the gods. So, how can a fundamentalist Christian say there is only one god?
To see what other questions I've asked about the Christian Bible, go here.
This same issue raises its head again in Psalm 82. The very first verse reads as follows:
God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.The noun congregation -- just like the pronoun, we -- indicates more than one entity. More to the point, the second clause above EXPLICITLY states that there are, in fact, other gods.
For those who interpret the Bible literally, I don't see another way to interpret this line other than what it states in a straightforward manner. This passage does not say among the people or among the angels; it says AMONG the gods. So, how can a fundamentalist Christian say there is only one god?
To see what other questions I've asked about the Christian Bible, go here.
Jehovah's injunction to "have no other gods before me" implies the existence of other gods, else why would Jehovah feel the need to forbid "having" them. You could argue that the phrase "before me" means it's OK to have other gods but only if Jehovah continues to be top god, ie you can have other gods, just don't have them before (in front of) Jehovah.
ReplyDeletemasterymistery at
cosmic rapture
It's the evolution of Judaism. They started out same as everyone else in the region, polytheists. Later, with Abraham, they got into what's called henotheism: the other gods were acknowledged, but not to be worshipped, they had their one national god that competed with the others. Eventually this evolved into true monotheism.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, sacred texts are often (but by no means always) not allowed to evolve, leaving them stuck with the "we" and "other gods."
This is why literalism is a fool's game. It's also why a historical context and understanding helps a lot.
Again Brandon is on the mark.
ReplyDeleteAnd the whole of the Bible, really , is the exploration of an I-thou relationship. (Not so far off from contemplating an I-Tao relationship.)
Can we let up on the "Christianity" until you get to the N.T. And then when you're through with that, let's move on to Kierkegaard.
I think I need to remind you all that the Tao Bible series -- particularly in the OT -- is looking at the Bible as a literalist, fundamentalist does and contrasting it with my Taoist take. The reason I have chosen this narrow perspective is that the fundamentalist Christian view is on the rise in this country (membership in more mainstream denominations is way down) and impacts all areas of collective life.
ReplyDeleteThen you won't mind my "literal" interpretations of the TTC!
ReplyDeleteBaroness,
ReplyDeleteYou are free to interpret anything any way ya want! :-)
After reading "The evolution of God" I went back and reread some of the plural verses. Funny how those verses look in a new light.
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